# Presentation: 528135

## Gaining “Buy-in:”Making Persuasive Presentations to Your Bosses and the Public Larry TracyTracy Presentation SkillsIn Conjunction with The  Federal Consulting Group and the Federal Communicators Network 

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## WHAT WE’LL COVER

**Conceptual Overview of Presenting**
**Developing “Buy-in” Presentations with the S3P3 System**
**Persuading Skeptical Audiences**

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## CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW OF THE SPEAKING ART

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## FOUR-IN-ONE

***Every presentation is really four presentations:***
**The one you PLAN to deliver**
**The one you ACTUALLY deliver**
**The one you WISH you had delivered**
**The one your audience HEARS****  **

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## SIX QUESTIONS FOR PRESENTERS

**What is my message/objective?**
**Will this message/objective help my audience   solve its problem?**
**3.   What are obstacles between audience and me?**
**4.   Is there common ground between audience and me that I can exploit? **
**What action(s) do  I want the audience to take as a result of my presentation? **
**6.  How can I make my presentation memorable?**
**        **

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## THE ASAP FORMULA

**A****nticipate**
**S****tructure**
**A****nalyze**
**P****ractice**

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## THE THREE Cs

**   ****Credibility**
**                     ****Clarity**
**                                 ****Conviction**

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## FEARS OF AMERICANS

**S**
**P**
**E**
**A**
**K**
**I**
**N**
**G**

**D**
**Y**
**I**
**N**
**G**

**41%**

**19%**

_***London Sunday Times***_
***October 7, 1973***

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## THE FEARSOME FIVE

** ****Fear of rejection**
** ****Fear of evaluation**
** ****Fear of embarrassment**
** ****Fear of forgetting**
** ****Fear of questions**

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## BENEFITS OF NERVOUSNESS

**Properly controlled, can create enthusiasm**
**Nervous presenters more likely to plan and practice to avoid humiliation**
**Overly confident presenters more likely to “wing it,” resulting in a rambling, unfocused presentation and unsatisfactory answers**
**        **

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## CONTROLLING NERVES

**Know subject from both sides**
**Visualize success coming from your preparation,not wishful thinking**
**Work off excess nervous energy**
**Take three deep breaths**

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## DEVELOPING “BUY-IN” PRESENTATIONS WITH THE S3P3 SYSTEM

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## WHAT IS “BUY-IN?”

**Occurs when listener willingly and enthusiastically concludes that what speaker is advocating is in listener’s best interest**
**Is the result of the speaker fusing his/her objective with listener’s  problems, needs, concerns**
**Is the positive answer to the listener’s WIIFM**

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## THE S3 P3 SYSTEM

**PRACTICING**

**PLANNING**

**THE S3 P3 SYSTEM**

**S****U****B****S****T****A****N****C****E**

**S****T****Y****L****E**

**S****T****R****U****C****T****U****R****E**

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## STRUCTURE

**Hypothesize audience problem, your solution**
**Organize logically--and condense--relevant data**
**Know audience “hot buttons” **
**Intersect your objective, audience’s problem**
**Develop theme, logical flow**
**Focus on one main point**
***   ******Results in repeatable methodology***

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## SUBSTANCE OR STLYE?

-                                         ***BOTH! ***
***  ******“******I’ve put ***_***half-baked ideas into great presentations***_*** and seen them soar, and I’ve put ***_***great ideas into bad presentations***_***, and watched them die.”  (emphasis added)***
***                                              *****Professor Bob Garda,**
**                                       ****Fuqua School of Business, Duke University**

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**PLANNING**

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## AUDIENCE “INTELLIGENCE”

**Needs/ wants/concerns/problems**
**Listening style**
**Open-minded or opinionated?**
**Who are decision-makers?**
**Who influences decision-makers?**
**Personalities/idiosyncrasies**
**Hot buttons to push/avoid**

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##  EASY AS 3-1-2:STRUCTURING BACKWARDS TO “GET TO THE POINT”

**3-Bottom Line/Conclusion**
**1-Introduction**
**2-Organized data**

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## THE PLAN B PRESENTATION

**Need when time reduced at last minute**
**Facilitated by 3-1-2 System**
**Place content on 3x5 cards marked 2A, 2A (1),**
**        ****2A (2), 2B, 2B (1), 2B (2), 2C, 2C (1), 2C (2), etc**
**When time is suddenly reduced, pull out cards**
**        ****(1), (2) where appropriate, to reduce detail**
**       ****(and time), but still maintain coherence**

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## WRITE IT OUT OR “WING IT?”

***WRITE IT OUT, BUT...***
**Use spoken, not written, language**
**Reduce to outline**
**Further reduce to 3x5 cards**
**   *****Following this procedure assures logical flow and seeing “holes’ in your argument***

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## HARNESS CREATIVITY

**Subconscious mind will generate ideas**
**Carry 3x5 cards for when the muse strikes**
**Cell phone to record spontaneous brilliance**

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**PRACTICING**

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## THE PRACTICE THREE STEP

**Solo w/ tape recorder/ video camera**
**With colleague, spouse, friend**
**Convene “Murder Board”**

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## THE MURDER BOARD

**The Murder Board is to the presenter what the flight simulator is to the pilot**
**Presenter hones speaking skills under pressure**
**Role-playing colleagues ask tough questions**
**This allows presenter to develop focused responses to the questions of the actual audience**
**Facilitates staying within time limit**
** **

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**PRESENTING**

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## USING POWERPOINT

**DO NOT overuse “Bells and Whistles”**
**DO use some of the “Bells and Whistles”**
**DO use built-in color scheme**
**DO check spelling and grammar**
**DO e-mail copy to site of presentation**

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## MOVING ABOUT IN POWERPOINT

**To give the audience an occasional “break,” hit the “B” key--the screen will go black; hit he “B” key again--the slide comes back on**
**To return to a previously-viewed slide, or to view a back-up slide, hit the slide’s number, then “Enter”**

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## AVOIDING “DEATH BY POWERPOINT”

**When possible, limit slide to 30 words**
**Use large, bold font**
**10-to-1 rule (laptop to screen)**
**Avoid “distracting” transitions**
**Normally, dark background,white text **
**When you must make paper copies--black text, white background)**

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## BODY LANGUAGE

**Movement**
**Facial expression **
**Eye contact**
**Gestures**

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## VOCAL PROBLEMS

**ACCENT-*****regional or foreign***
**TONE-*****monotone or inflection?***
**PITCH-*****too high?***
**RATE-*****too fast, too slow?***** **
**VOLUME-*****Too soft, too loud?***
**FILLERS- *****“Uh,” “Y’know”***

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## ANSWERING QUESTIONS: THE “GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY”

**Anticipate (“Murder Board”)**
**Eye contact with questioner, others**
**Avoid saying “Good question”**
**Bridge from question to “bottom line”**

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## THE FINAL ARROW

**Reduced version of your “3”**
**Your “closing argument”**
**Audience likely to remember**
**Complete in about fifteen seconds**

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## POST- PRESENTATION ANALYSIS

**Counter-intuitive**
**Conduct immediately**
**Tape record**
**Concentrate on audience questions**
**Use as basis for next “Murder Board”**

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## PERSUADING SKEPTICAL AUDIENCES

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## THE COMMUNICATION NEXUS

**Audience problemsand needs**
** **

**Presenter’s objective**

**COMMUNICATION**

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## THE “PERSUASION” DILEMMA

***Presenter**** ***wants to persuade the audience to his/her point of view**
***Audience members *****do not want to be persuaded, only informed of “facts” **

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## COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

**Judgments formed when critical mass of cognitions (facts) are received**
**Mind does not like disharmony; protects existing judgments despite new, contradictory input**
**Excessive CD results in “Closed Mind”**
**Can be used to “turn” audience members by showing that their actions/opinions are inconsistent with their core values**

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## TACTICS FOR DEALING WITH ALL DEMANDING AUDIENCES

***Be balanced, acknowledge opposing view***
***Talk beforehand with “opponents”***
***Maintain composure under fire***
***Stay within evidence***
***Selective rebuttal/response***
***Watch non-verbals***
***Reverse quoting***

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## TWO SIMILAR, BUT DISTINCT, SPEAKING CHALLENGES

***BRIEFING THE BOSS:***** **
**   ****The internal presentation for funding, project approval. etc. **
***PUBLIC DEBATES/PANELS:***
**With opponents of US policy in front of  audiences opposed to that policy**
**        **

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## CHARACTERISTICS OF “BOSSES”

**Impatient and time-sensitive**
**Bottom-line and budget-oriented**
**Looking for competitive “edge”**
**More interested in answers than the presentation itself;will ask probing questions**
**More macro than micro (Beware of detailed presentations) **
**Seeking “information nuggets” to brief their boss**

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## “BRIEFING THE BOSS” (1)

**Get inside his/her head through question-anticipating Murder Board**
**Briefing likely to become “inquisition”  with “drill down” questions-have back-up material/slides readily accessible**
**Concentrate not just on **_**benefits**_**, but also on **
**  **_**consequences**_** of not adopting your proposal**
**           **

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## “BRIEFING THE BOSS” (2)

**Don’t sugarcoat bad news, but attempt to show upside, perhaps long-term benefit resulting from this short term setback**
**Present options briefing, with realistic advantages and disadvantages for each option. Be prepared to make recommendation**
**Don’t be afraid to say, *****“I don’t’ know, but I’ll get that information for you”***** (AND GET IT!)           **

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##  CHARACTERISTICS OF CRITICAL PUBLIC AUDIENCES

**Opposed to Administration in power**
**Contains some angry people**
**High degree of cognitive dissonance**
**Supports anti-government debaters**
**Makes assumption that the government representative will follow “party line”**
**Will be surprised when you are candid, (*****but don’t stray too far off the reservation)***
**      **

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## WHY SPEAK TO CRITICAL PUBLIC AUDIENCES?

**Democracy depends on informed public**
**Public should know what the government is doing FOR them, not what they believe it is doing TO them**
**Critics should not go unopposed in public arena**
**Will help your career to be known as the “Go To” person who accepts difficult assignments others avoid**

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## PUBLIC DEBATES / PANELS

***FACTS OF LIFE***
**You are the guest of honor at a public hanging**
**Your presentation is limited by USG policy**
**Your adversaries not limited by truth**
**Audience probably against you**

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## THE MURDER BOARD FOR SKEPTICAL AUDIENCES

**Recruit four fellow presenters to be “audience”**
**Schedule two days prior to presentation**
** ****Share “intelligence” to facilitate “role-playing”**
**Request “audience” to ask very tough questions**
**Audio/videotape**
**Request critique  of style/substance**
**Q&A on 3x5 cards**
**Revise presentation to incorporate changes**

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## TACTICS FOR DEBATES PANELS (1)

**Contact organizer, elicit details, develop rapport, explore common ground**
**For panel with two or more opponents, demand half the time be allotted for you**
**Be balanced, acknowledge opposing view**
**Demand questioners be recognized from audience, then go to microphones to avoid having the most angry people “capture” the microphones**
**       **

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## TACTICS FOR DEBATES/PANELS (2)

**Attempt to go second in debates *****so you can state your case while undermining that of your opponent***
**Maintain composure**
**Stay within evidence**
**Reverse quoting**

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## MY FINAL ARROW

***“******If, through some inscrutable act of providence, I were to lose all my faculties save one, I would wish to retain the gift of speech, for through it, I would soon regain all the others.”  *****Senator Daniel Webster***** ***

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## CONTACT INFORMATIONLarry TracyTracy Presentation Skills(703) 360-3222info@tracy-presentation.comwww.tracy-presentation.com

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**CONTACT INFORMATION****Larry Tracy****Tracy Presentation Skills****(703) 360-3222**_[info@tracy-presentation.com](mailto:info@tracy-presentation.com)__[www.tracy-presentation.com](http://www.tracy-presentation/)_