Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection)

Book description

Three breakthrough books help you deliver outstanding, winning presentations — whatever your goals, whatever your audience!

Jerry Weissman has helped the world’s top executives create the most important presentations of their lives: make-or-break investor presentations that have raised hundreds of billions of dollars from demanding, expert investors. Now, in this amazing collection, Weissman teaches everything you need to create and deliver the most compelling, successful presentations of your life! First up: Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, Updated and Expanded Edition, Weissman’s start-to-finish guide to connecting with even the toughest audiences...telling them compelling stories that focus on what’s in it for them… and moving people to action! Next: In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions...When It Counts, Weissman shows how to answer even the toughest questions with perfect assurance… avoid the defensiveness, evasiveness, or anger that destroy careers… brilliantly control the entire exchange with hostile questioners! Finally: Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters revealshow the world’s best presenters have actually applied the principles of outstanding communication. Packed with unforgettable examples from the media, sports, politics, science, art, music, literature, the military, and history, this book teaches 100% actionable lessons for supercharging everything from content and graphics to delivery!

From world-renowned presentation consultantJerry Weissman.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters
    1. Contents
    2. Dedication
    3. Praise for Presentations in Action
    4. Introduction
    5. Section I. Content: The Art of Telling Your Story
      1. 1. A Lesson from Professor Marvel, a.k.a. The Wizard of Oz: How to Customize Your Presentation
      2. 2. Obama and You: The Most Persuasive Word
      3. 3. The “So What?” Syndrome: ... and How to Avoid It
      4. 4. Beware of Jokes: Dispelling a Common False Belief
      5. 5. Presentation Advice from Abraham Lincoln: Clarity, Ownership, and Add Value
      6. 6. It Ain’t What You Say, It’s How You Say It: Lessons in Structure from Jeffrey Toobin and Andrew Weil, M.D.
      7. 7. Presentation Advice from Mark Twain: Brevity Takes Time
      8. 8. Presentation Advice from Mike Nichols: How to Find Value in Your Story
      9. 9. Show versus Tell in Hollywood: The Wrong and the Right Way to Tell a Story
      10. 10. Slogan Power: Why the U.S. Army’s “Be All That You Can Be” Succeeded
      11. 11. How Long Is Too Long?: When in Doubt, Leave it Out
      12. 12. The Elevator Pitch in One Sentence: How to Describe Your Business Succinctly
      13. 13. Do You Know the Way to Spanish Bay?: The Correct Way to Practice
      14. 14. Getting to “Aha!”: The Magic Moment
      15. 15. This Is Your Pilot Speaking: A Lesson in Flow from the Airlines
      16. 16. Presentation Advice from the iPhone: Substance and Style in Your Story
      17. 17. Presentation Advice from Steve Jobs: The Power of Positive Words
      18. 18. Presentation Advice from Novelists I: Begin with the End in Mind, Then Write, Rewrite, and Rewrite
      19. 19. Presentation Advice from Novelists II: Storyboard and Verbalize
      20. 20. Microsoft Slogans Score a Trifecta: Three Persuasive Techniques
      21. 21. Presentation Advice from a Physician: Audience Advocacy
      22. 22. Presentation Advice from a Politician: Audience Advocacy
      23. 23. Ronald Reagan Meets Lenny Skutnik: The Catalyst of Human Interest Stories
      24. 24. Human Interest Stories: A Double Advantage: Two Ways to Use Anecdotes
    6. Section II. Graphics: The Correct Way to Design PowerPoint Slides
      1. 25. The Presentation-as-Document Syndrome: Never the Twain Shall Meet
      2. 26. Blame the Penmanship, Not the Pen: Operator versus Machine Error
      3. 27. You Can’t Use a Sentence As a Prompt!: Less Verbiage Is More Useful
      4. 28. Baiting the Salesperson: Selling Is about In-Person Communication
      5. 29. PowerPoint and Human Perception: Scientific Support for Graphics Design
      6. 30. PowerPoint Template: Combined Picture and Text: The Best Positions for Pictures and Text
      7. 31. Shady Characters: The Wrong Way and the Right Way to Build Text
      8. 32. “I Can Read It Myself!”: Three Simple Steps to Avoid Reading Slides Verbatim
      9. 33. A Case for Case I: Initial Caps or All Caps: Text Design in Presentations
      10. 34. A Case for Case II: Serif or Sans: Font Design in Presentations
      11. 35. What Color Is Your PowerPoint?: Contrast Counts
      12. 36. Presentation Advice from Corona Beer: Peripheral Vision Counts
      13. 37. The Cable Crawlers: How Television Animates Text
      14. 38. Computer Animation: Three Simple Rules
      15. 39. PowerPoint and the Military: Sometimes More Is More
    7. Section III. Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
      1. 40. The Art of Conversation: Eye Contact and Interaction Start at Infancy
      2. 41. Presentation Advice from Edward R. Murrow: The “Person-to-Person” Role Model
      3. 42. Nonverbal Communication: Look Them in the Eye
      4. 43. Presentation Advice from Pianist Murray Perahia: Concentration Creates Control
      5. 44. Presentation Advice from Actress Tovah Feldshuh: Concentration Creates Communication
      6. 45. Presentation Advice from Michael Phelps and Dara Torres: How to Control Stress under Pressure
      7. 46. Presentation Advice from Frank Sinatra: The Art of Phrasing
      8. 47. Presentation Advice from Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa: The Importance of Breathing
      9. 48. The One-Eyed Man: Necessity Is the Mother of Invention
      10. 49. Bill Clinton’s Talking to Me!: The Power of Group Dynamics
      11. 50. Liddy Dole and Person-to-Person: From Law School to the Republican National Convention
      12. 51. Fast Talking: Fun or Maddening
      13. 52. Presentation Advice from Titian: Position, Position, Position
      14. 53. Presentation Advice from Musicians and Athletes: The Value of Effortlessness
      15. 54. Presentation Advice from Vin Scully: From Reagan to Barber to Scully
      16. 55. “Ya’ Either Got It or Ya’ Ain’t”: The Fear of Public Speaking Is Universal
      17. 56. How to Eliminate the Fig Leaf: A Presentation Lesson from the Military
      18. 57. Unwords: Even Barack Obama Says Them
      19. 58. To Slip or Not to Slip: Been There, Done That
      20. 59. The Free Throw: A Presentation Lesson from Basketball
      21. 60. 10 Tips for 30 Seconds: Help for Job Seekers
      22. 61. You Are What You Eat: Ten Tips about Food and Drink in Presentations
    8. Section IV. Q&A: Handling Tough Questions
      1. 62. Speed Kills in Q&A: The Vanishing Art of Listening
      2. 63. A Lesson in Listening from Barack Obama: How to Handle Multiple Questions
      3. 64. If I Could Tell Jon Stewart...: Talk Shows Include Listening
      4. 65. What Keeps You Up at Night?: How to Handle the Most Frequently Asked Questions
      5. 66. Spin versus Topspin: The Political World versus the Business World
      6. 67. When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?: How to Handle False Assumption Questions
      7. 68. Madoff and Cramer Plead Guilty: How to Respond When Guilty as Charged
      8. 69. Tell Me the Time, Not How to Build a Clock: Keep Your Answers Short
      9. 70. Presentation Advice from Jerry Rice: Grasp the Question before You Answer
      10. 71. Politicians and Spin: Putting Lipstick on a Pig
      11. 72. Murder Boards: How Elena Kagan Prepared for Tough Questions
      12. 73. Ms. Kagan Regrets: Nonanswers to Tough Questions
    9. Section V. Integration: Putting It All Together
      1. 74. The Elephant: The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts
      2. 75. Presentation Graphics Meet Linguistics: Symmetry in Graphics Design
      3. 76. One Presentation, Multiple Audiences: 12 Presenters, 12 Stories, 1 Set of Slides
      4. 77. The Art and Science of Oprah Winfrey: The Secrets of Oprah Winfrey’s Appeal
      5. 78. Right or Left: The Deep Roots of Human Preferences
      6. 79. Graphics Synchronization: The Missing Link
      7. 80. The House That Jack Built: Make All the Parts Fit
    10. Footnotes
    11. Acknowledgments
    12. About the Author
    13. Financial Times Press
    14. Index
  4. In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions. . . When It Counts
    1. Copyright
    2. Dedication
    3. Table of Contents
    4. Early Praise for In the Line of Fire
    5. About the Author
    6. Introduction: Agility Versus Force
      1. Challenging Questions
      2. Martial Arts
      3. Effective Management Perceived
      4. Baptism Under Fire
    7. Chapter 1 The Critical Dynamics of Q&A
      1. Defensive, Evasive, or Contentious
      2. Presenter Behavior/Audience Perception
    8. Chapter 2 Effective Management Implemented
      1. Worst Case Scenario
      2. Maximum Control in Groups
      3. The Q&A Cycle
      4. How to Lose Your Audience in Five Seconds Flat
    9. Chapter 3 You're Not Listening!
    10. Chapter 4 Active Listening (Martial Art: Concentration)
      1. The Roman Column
      2. Sub-vocalization
      3. Visual Listening
      4. …You Still Don't Understand
      5. Yards After Catch
    11. Chapter 5 Retake the Floor (Martial Art: Self-Defense)
      1. Paraphrase
      2. Challenging Questions
      3. The Buffer
      4. Key Words
      5. The Double Buffer
      6. The Power of "You"
      7. The Triple Fail-Safe
    12. Chapter 6 Provide the Answer (Martial Art: Balance)
      1. Quid Pro Quo
      2. Manage the Answer
      3. Anticipate
      4. Recognize the Universal Issues
      5. How to Handle Special Questions
      6. Guilty as Charged Questions
      7. Point B and WIIFY
      8. Topspin
      9. Media Sound Bites
    13. Chapter 7 Topspin in Action (Martial Art: Agility)
      1. Michael Dukakis Misses a Free Kick
      2. The Evolution of George W. Bush
      3. Lloyd Bentsen Topspins
      4. Ronald Reagan Topspins
    14. Chapter 8 Preparation (Martial Art: Discipline)
      1. Lessons Learned
    15. Chapter 9 The Art of War (Martial Art: Self-Control)
      1. The Art of Agility
      2. Force: 1992
      3. Agility: 1996
      4. Agility and Force: 2000
      5. Agility and Force: 2004
      6. The Critical Impact of Debates
      7. Lessons Learned
    16. Chapter 10 The Role Model
      1. Complete Control
    17. Endnotes
      1. Introduction
      2. Chapter 1
      3. Chapter 3
      4. Chapter 4
      5. Chapter 5
      6. Chapter 6
      7. Chapter 7
      8. Chapter 8
      9. Chapter 9
      10. Chapter 10
    18. Acknowledgments
    19. Index
  5. Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, Updated and Expanded Edition
    1. Praise for the First Edition of Presenting to Win
    2. Contents
    3. Foreword to the Updated and Expanded Edition
    4. Preface
    5. What’s Past Is Prologue
    6. Introduction
    7. The Wizard of Aaahs
    8. The Mission-Critical Presentation
    9. The Art of Telling Your Story
    10. A New Approach to Presentations
    11. The Psychological Sell
    12. Chapter One. You and Your Audience
      1. The Problem with Presentations
      2. The Power Presentation
      3. Persuasion: Getting from Point A to Point B
      4. Audience Advocacy
      5. Getting Aha!s
    13. Chapter Two. The Power of the WIIFY
      1. What’s In It For You?
      2. WIIFY Triggers
      3. The Danger of the Incorrect “You”
    14. Chapter Three. Getting Creative: The Expansive Art of Brainstorming
      1. The Data Dump
      2. Managing the Brainstorm: The Framework Form
      3. Brainstorming: Doing the Data Dump Productively
      4. Focus Before Flow
    15. Chapter Four. Finding Your Flow
      1. The 16 Flow Structures
      2. Which Flow Structure Should You Choose?
      3. Guidelines for Selecting a Flow Structure
      4. The Value of Flow Structures
      5. The Four Critical Questions
    16. Chapter Five. Capturing Your Audience Immediately
      1. Seven Classic Opening Gambits
      2. Compound Opening Gambits
      3. Linking to Point B
      4. Tell ’em What You’re Gonna Tell ’em
      5. 90 Seconds to Launch
      6. Winning Over the Toughest Crowd
    17. Chapter Six. Communicating Visually
      1. The Proper Role of Graphics
      2. Presenter Focus
      3. Less Is More
      4. Perception Psychology
      5. Graphic Design Elements
    18. Chapter Seven. Making the Text Talk
      1. Bullets Versus Sentences
      2. Wordwrap
      3. Crafting the Effective Bullet Slide
      4. Minimize Eye Sweeps with Parallelism
      5. Using the Build
      6. Bullet Levels
      7. Verbal Style
      8. Visual Style
      9. Text Guidelines
    19. Chapter Eight. Making the Numbers Sing
      1. The Power of Numeric Graphics
      2. Bar Charts
      3. Pie Charts
      4. Typography in Numeric Graphics
      5. The Hockey Stick
      6. Subtle? Yes, But . . .
    20. Chapter Nine. Using Graphics to Help Your Story Flow
      1. The 35,000-Foot Overview
      2. Graphic Continuity Techniques
      3. Presenter Focus Revisited
      4. Graphics and the 35,000-Foot View
    21. Chapter Ten. Bringing Your Story to Life
      1. Verbalization: The Special Technique
      2. Spaced Learning
      3. Internal Linkages
      4. Internal Linkages in Action
      5. Verbiage
      6. Summary
    22. Chapter Eleven. Customizing Your Presentation
      1. The Power of Customization
      2. The Illusion of the First Time
      3. External Linkages
      4. Gathering Material for Customization
      5. External Linkages in Action
    23. Chapter Twelve. Animating Your Graphics
      1. How Versus Why and Wherefore
      2. Perception Psychology
      3. Cinematic Techniques
      4. Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
      5. Animation Options
      6. Animation and the Presenter
    24. Chapter Thirteen. The Virtual Presentation
      1. Anytime, Anyplace, Anyone
      2. How the Virtual Presentation Works
      3. Preparing for Your Virtual Presentation
      4. Connecting with Your Invisible Audience
      5. Creating a Winning Virtual Presentation
      6. The Future of the Virtual Presentation
    25. Chapter Fourteen. Pitching in the Majors
      1. End with the Beginning in Mind
      2. It All Starts with Your Story
      3. Practice, Practice, Practice
      4. Every Audience, Every Time
    26. Appendix A. Tools of the Trade
      1. The Presentation Environment
    27. Appendix B. Presentation Checklists
      1. The Four Critical Questions
      2. WIIFY Triggers
      3. Seven Classic Opening Gambits
      4. Sixteen Flow Structures
      5. Twelve Internal Linkages
      6. Seven External Linkages
      7. Five Graphic Continuity Techniques
    28. Acknowledgments
    29. About the Author
    30. Financial Times Press
    31. Index
  6. So What?: How to Communicate What Really Matters to Your Audience
    1. Contents
    2. About the Author
    3. Foreword
    4. Chapter 1 What You Need to Know in 850 Words
      1. Practicing What I Preach
      2. Take-Away Ideas
    5. Chapter 2 Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
      1. It Keeps You Current
      2. Take-Away Ideas
    6. Chapter 3 How I Learned to Think This Way—You Can, Too!
      1. Take-Away Ideas
    7. Chapter 4 Your World View—Making the Invisible Visible
      1. Take-Away Ideas
    8. Chapter 5 What’s in It for Them?
      1. What Is Your Moment?
      2. Take-Away Ideas
    9. Chapter 6 Who You Always Wanted to Be—Yourself
      1. Before the Presentation
      2. During the Presentation
      3. After the Presentation
      4. Take-Away Ideas
    10. Chapter 7 Winging It Versus Orchestration
      1. What Went on Here
      2. 30,000 Feet Versus Sea Level
      3. Take-Away Ideas
    11. Chapter 8 Getting Your Audience Engaged
      1. If At First You Don’t Succeed
      2. The So What Positioning Statement Generator
      3. Take-Away Ideas
    12. Chapter 9 Tie a String Around Your Finger
      1. You Must Remember This
      2. Take-Away Ideas
    13. Chapter 10 Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
      1. 21-Day Challenge
      2. A Final Thought
      3. Take-Away Ideas
    14. So What? A Final Word
    15. Glossary
    16. Acknowledgments
    17. Index

Product information

  • Title: Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection)
  • Author(s): Jerry Weissman
  • Release date: August 2011
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 9780132808491