Scalable Presentations: Idea Pitch to Keynote Address

If face is the index of the mind, presentation is the index of the thought it represents. A great presentation can enhance an average thought, equally an average presentation can diminish a great thought. Professionals are required to make presentations of different durations (from 5-minute idea pitch to one hour keynote address) to audience of diverse nature (from one-on-ones to participants in a large conference). Presentations span across industry, government and academia, as there is increasing cross-fertilization and collaboration across major sectors.

Is it possible to devise a standard pattern for presentations that can scale over the length of time and type of audience, while allowing for the individual style and creativity to shine through? It appears so. I hope to capture a reusable pattern here, on top of which you can add your own secret sauce!

Defining Presentation in Three Simple Instructions

A presentation can be defined in three simple instructions: 1) State the core message, 2) Strengthen the core message and 3) Recap the core message.

I have described a “reusable presentation pattern” by developing these three instructions. The infographic shown helps convey and connect the elements of this thought process. Through repeated use of this pattern, our mind gets conditioned to think along these lines. Hence this approach becomes applicable not only to presentations prepared in advance but also to spontaneous or Extempore speech where the speaker gets only a few minutes of notice.

1) State the Core Message – “Specify What You Are Going to Say”

This is the shortest part of the presentation, but is the most vital, as ‘well begun is half done’. We can even go beyond to emphasize “poorly begun is risk of failure”.

1.a) Set Relevance

The first and critical element is to ensure that the audience is connected to the speaker. They need to know why the presentation is important to them and why they must be switched on now. Speakers can employ unique and creative ways to connect with the audience. An anecdote that fits well with the topic gets the audience immediately interested, as does humor that is deftly weaved throughout the presentation.

This step is essential even if the speaker and the audience know each other well, for example, as colleagues in the same company. A product manager presenting on competitive analysis to the product’s stakeholders in the organization could start with why the new data at hand is critical to everyone’s success, thus instantly establishing the relevance.

1.b) State Intent

As we may have experienced on a few occasions, an entire presentation goes through leaving the audience a little puzzled as to what the speaker was trying to convey! Some presentations leave the audience with mixed interpretations of the intent. Therefore, clearly state the intent of your presentation right in the beginning.

For example, a research team working on a futuristic technology has determined that their entire effort would become futile unless another project goes underway to provide a companion capability essential to build real-world designs. For presentation on that research review, you must state upfront that the call for action is to decide on initiating the companion capability, or redefine the charter of the current research to make useful impact. Any other multi-dimensional presentation taking the audience through a range of issues from technology barriers to project status to market factors would lead to the big mistake of not addressing the core issue.

I recommend not more than 10% of the overall duration for the entire first step of “State the Core Message”, say 2 minutes in a 20-minute pitch. This is the typical short-and-sweet appetizer, setting the stage for the main course.

2. Strengthen the Core Message – “Elaborate What You Are Going to Say”

Most presentations are perhaps inherently focused on this step. While it is possible to cover much ground here, three areas are highly important, especially from audience perspective: merits of what is being talked about, how those merits will be realized and what difference all of that would ultimately make. The following sub-items briefly illustrate these areas.

2.a) Describe Merits

The audience wants to understand the exact merits of what is being proposed. If it’s a business plan, its highlights and risks; if it’s a new technology, the breakthrough it encompasses; if it’s a new customer support mechanism, the additional benefits it would bring, and so on. This step can be easily expanded or compacted as demanded by the overall time plan.

2.b) Outline Method

The next question is how the merits can actually be achieved. “Yes, we see this could become a killer product, but can our development team meet the performance, quality, cost and time constraints?”

We would like (2.a) to be as attractive as possible and (2.b) to be as convincing as possible.

2.c) Show Contrast

Differentiation is the mantra for every activity. We don’t want a product that is an “also ran”, a marketing strategy that looks like a copy of another campaign or a new problem-resolution plan that appears to repeat the same mistakes with the earlier one. What is different, what has changed, why this over something else, how is this unique, are just the type of questions to be comprehended at this stage.

Our goal is to capture the audience’s imagination, create conviction in the merits of the idea presented, and build consensus. I recommend about 70% of the overall time for “Strengthen the Core Message”, say 14 minutes in a 20-minute pitch.

3. Recap the Core Message – “Summarize What You Have Just Said”

There are more than a few occasions when presentations run of out of time for this step, which unfortunately leaves the task incomplete! Therefore, it’s important we time our presentations properly to avoid an abrupt ending. The two key sub-items in this step are Recap Intent and Seek Feedback.

3.a) Recap Intent

This is essentially to close the loop from (1.b) in the first step. During the course of a presentation, even if it’s not particularly long, the audience’s thoughts, attention and interactions may drift away a little. Hence, it makes sense to diligently re-state the intent from the first step and highlight how the entire presentation is focused on a single purpose.

3.b) Seek Feedback

This step can be smartly managed to achieve a specific outcome depending on the type of presentation. Not all presentations may involve detailed feedback, as in some cases this is kept aside to handle Q&A. Or it is used to establish the next set of actions and follow-up milestones. This could also be an opportunity to iron out any ambiguity or doubt that persists about what has been presented.

In the final step, we get an opportunity to re-focus on the intent and future actions. I recommend about 20% of the overall duration, say 4 minutes in a 20-minute pitch. If necessary, it’s better to err on the higher side of this budget than on the lower side, borrowing time from the fat step in the middle.

Summary: Scalability by Design

Every presentation is an opportunity not only to share our thoughts but also to structure our thinking. I hope the approach shared here enables you to prepare great presentations in future, for the proof of the formula lies in the quality of the products it helps to create.