How to Prepare, Stage, and Deliver WINNING PRESENTATIONS

In Summary: Listening Well Can Add Much to Communication

The listener can do much to advance or disrupt a presentation. The facilitative listener is a positive force and beneficial to the speaker and meeting productivity. Then, by examining presentations with a demanding ear, eye, and brain, the critical listener keeps the speaker straight and helps maintain the discussion at a level where it truly addresses the issues at hand.

A presentation built on solid ideas and support gains from a good listener. In the words of Samuel Hoffenstein's poem "Rag Bag II," a presentation with a shaky foundation and supported mostly by flam-boyance crumbles before a good listener, as:

Little by little we subtract

Faith and Fallacy from Fact,

The Illusory from ...