Just Add Water. Michael Baldwin

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      A lack of focus on the presenter’s part is obvious. It confuses the audience, creates frustration, and causes them to tune (or walk) out. And they don’t tune back in. If you pretend that every person you present to is Steve Jobs, you won’t risk wasting his or her time because you didn’t do your homework

      Boil your CCO down so it doesn’t contain a single extra word, and build your presentation from there. It’s your foundation. Everything in your presentation must serve your CCO. If it doesn’t, get rid of it.

      EXERCISE

      Write down your CCO. Your goal is to have one simple phrase without buzzwords or jargon or a single extra word:

      “to convince [ my audience ] that [ my main point ]”

       If you aren’t crystal clear about your objective within the first 90 seconds of a presentation to Steve Jobs, he might get up and walk out.

      exercise

      You Are the Driver, Not Your Slides

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      You know what it’s like to be at the mercy of your slides—that sickening moment when you realize everyone’s glazing over and you’re only halfway through the key points. You’ve been reduced to a narrator.

      Don’t let this happen. The relationship between you and your slides should always be:

       You = Master

       Your slides = Apprentice

      Many presenters have this backward and as a result are marginalized in their audience’s mind. Take the way we interpret a cartoon. We see the image, then read the caption, in that order. The caption deciphers the image. When presenting, you, the Master, should provide the caption. Without your explanation, your audience would have no clue what the cartoon on the left is about. With it, however, the meaning—and the humor—is unmistakable.

      YOU are whom the audience came to see.

      YOU are the expert.

      YOU should be the focus of any presentation you give.

      YOU should offer the explanations, context, and references that make any slide you create make sense to an audience.

      Your slides allow you to share images, video, graphs, and tables, which are there to serve and amplify YOU. They should never be the star.

      “Paper or plastic?”

      Start Your Trip Powerfully: With a Story

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      Even 32,000 years ago, the need to congregate and share was in our DNA. It remains there today, fueling the explosion of social media. Storytelling will always be part of our sharing process. If you’re a parent, you see firsthand the pivotal role it plays in educating and entertaining your children, while creating a bond between you both. Stories have the power to plant situations, scenes, characters, and images in people’s minds that they’ll never forget.

      There’s no more effective way to engage an audience and capture its attention—right from the start—than with a story that communicates your CCO.

      There are three elements to hitting the jackpot when it comes to story:

       a CCO

       a story that illustrates your CCO

       a personal story

      Personal storytelling can also eliminate hurdles presenters can face when they first start to speak:

       nervousness

       disconnection from their material

       disconnection from their audience

      If you can come up with a personal story, you’ve hit the jackpot.

      STORY

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      Things I am passionate about…

      No preparation. No rehearsing. No nervousness. Everyone can talk about his or her passions, from one to the next, rapid-fire, without skipping a beat.

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      You’d be amazed how these hurdles disappear when you’re telling a personal story. Pick a memory—your first crush, your favorite vacation—and start talking about it. Do you feel the need to rehearse? Do you feel disconnected from the events you are recounting? Do you feel nervous?

      No. Because you actually lived the experience. And when you talk about it—far from trying to make sure you get it right—you’re connected with the players and emotions. And if you’re like every single person I’ve worked with, you automatically become animated and engaging.

      If you don’t have a personal story that applies to your presentation,