Storytelling and Presenting

Effective Communications and Storytelling

aka: The Minto Pyramid

Good for “elevator pitch” also:

• Start with the conclusion: “We should do this …”.
• Breakdown the support points: “Because 1,2,3”.
• Organize / structure thoughts as a Hierarchical structure (aka one sided mind map)
• Breakdown each of the support points again if needed “1 is true because of 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3”, continue going down the hierarchy until no more questions appear.
• Don’t use more than 5 supporting points (ideally 3 really).
• In fact before doing the conclusion is better to do a bit of context, using the “The Problem System” described bellow.

The hierarchical structure

• Meta structures:
  • Cause & Effect: top is effect because of cause 1,2,3.
  • Divide the whole into parts: top is total that is composed by 1,2,3.
  • Classify: top is animal kingdom that is split into then Mammals,Fish,Reptiles.
  • Logical Order, like time: top is result for that to happen then we need 1,2,3.
  • Questions, Why? How?: these are very common, they fit into previous classifications.
  • Decision trees function in the same way.

Document using Hierarchical structure

Top level is the main title, each subsequent level is a section, then subsection, etc…

Reference:

• http://www.barbaraminto.com/
• http://www.slideshare.net/shachihp/minto-pyramid-presentation

Presenting

Communications rely on 3 questions

• What you want them to know ?
• What you want them to do ?
• How you want them to feel ? (emotional connection increases potentiality of message to stick)

BodyLanguage

• Posture (Confident attitude):
  • Stern up (chest), even when sitting down
• Legs (stable solid position):
  • Feet a shoulder apart (see Obama, James Bond, etc..), even when sitting down
  • Don’t move around, moving is associated with fleeing, beware of that.
  • No strange positions and movements, bobby, bouncer, Elvis knees (when sitting), etc…
• Arms:
  • BBC presenter hands.
  • Palms down - certainty, for sure, absolutely, decisive, conclusive. End of a negotiation.
  • Palms up - inviting, with possibility, typically an ask from audience.
• Tension:
  • Get a good balance of body tension, too much will became harsh (affects voice), too little does not look confident enough.
• Eye contact:
  • Constantly scan fully the room, make sure to get eye contact with everyone. People will start looking at the phones laptops without the constant eye contact.
  • Don’t look too long same person.
• Smile:
  • Depending on the message, but almost always good in general.

Everyone will be a bit different and need to work on their weak spots.

Voice

• Pitch
• Avoid monotone voice, try keep some variation in voice.
• Low pitch associated with seriousness.
• High pitch associated with excitement.
• Pace
• slow = serious
• fast = exciting
• Pause
• Add pauses especially for serious stuff, creates a break in the rhythm, gets attention.
• Voice Projection (volume)
• Strong in general is good
• Passion
• Introduces feeling, that can augment the message trying to pass on,
  • Makes others trust you fully believing the message you transmitting.

Structured Presentations Systems

The Skeptical System

Works by answering typical skeptical questions from audience, how expert presenter is in the matter (establishing credibility), whats in it for me, etc…

Break the presentation in a sequence of 4 parts, answering the “skeptical” audience questions:

• Why should i listen to you?
• Credibility: i have many years of doing this … Part of a specialized team, etc..
• Context, history
• Whats in it for me ?
  • You will get: …
• How does it work ?
  • Solution: By doing this …
  • Number 3 facts (say 3 things, use fingers to enumerate, and last one is…)
  • Case studies if needed (good to introduce emotion, personal stories, real events)
• What now?
  • 1 specific easy to do action to do today, to get towards the goal
  • Thanks 2x: Thanks, let me know is there are questions, thanks.

To do the presentation, write a A4 paper separated into 4 areas, with the trigger words in each section, to guide the presentation.

The Problem System

Another way of structuring a presentation. This one is very often found in TV advertisement, even movies. Works by starting with creating the problem, create the need to be resolved and then serving the solution.

• Problem
• I would like to make you aware of a problem…
• Somewhat taps into the fear natural system we have.
• Even better when audience can relate to the problem as their own.
• What if (promise of problem solving)
  • What if i can tell you the problems identified before are all solvable
  • Problem addressing.
• Solution
• The solution is …
• Because … Enumerate 3 things. (say 3 things, use fingers to enumerate, say “and last one is”)
• Action
  • Offer 2 options, 1 is the real one, then offer 1 less good, that makes the real one look better. Ex: You can either buy 2 with a discount, or 1 without discount.
  • Both options need to work in my favor.
  • Thanks 2x: Thanks, let me know is there are questions, thanks.

  Again is enough to use an A4 paper divided in 4 with the trigger words, to guide the presentation.

During presentation

• Anchoring:
  • Associate common gestures or expressions with anchors, of bad vs good, that can be used later on.
  • Energy balls. Left down is bad, right up is good. Presenter needs to mirror the audience, so presenter right = bad, left = good.
• Timeline:
  • Hands moving left to right show timeline. Presenter needs to mirror audience.
• Big and small
  • Open including all audience means big things. (like the gain from the solution)
  • 2 pinched fingers (thumb and index finger), means small meaningless cost.

Powerpoints

• The person is the central point of the presentation, not the powerpoint.
• Don’t just read what on the slide. (otherwise can just email the slides).
• Use slides sequence as a storytelling structure.
• Less is more. Delete everything non essential.
• 3 main bullet points per slide max, brake down into 3 more sub-points if needed.
• Use images, covering the whole slide.
• Eye candy matters.

Handling Objections

• Empathize
• I understand your problem
• Avoid Buts: Yes… But… (don’t go into defense mode !). But=Nevertheless=”Don’t you think that”.
• Clarify
• Tell me more (palms up)
• Use open ended questions, let the person speak.
• Gives some thinking time.
• Could be useful to disarm it, by asking rest of people in room if have the same problem.
• Avoid saying too soon: lets handle this after the meeting, only in last case scenario.
• Propose
• Best way is to offer a good solution.
• So if we do this will it help ?
• Offer a solution: if we guarantee this… if we send you an email with the options by end of week, etc…
• Check
• Check that the person has got their answer and is fine with proposed solution, don’t move on without it. Even if someone else opens up more objections.