The New Articulate Executive: Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader, 2nd Edition

Seven Killer No-Nos

The lesson here was a need for flexibility and perhaps even an entirely new approach in a world where change is a daily fact of life and every second counts. Several elements conspired to make things go badly for the vice president:

1. His presentation was designed improperly. He never would have had the problems he did had he simply reversed the order—in other words, he should have begun with the conclusion. That, after all, is what his audience was waiting to hear—but never did.

2. He had planned to speak too long—forty minutes. A maximum of eighteen minutes, plus twenty-two minutes of question and answer (Q&A), would have served him better.

3. He used too many visual aids. Not only that, but he used them incorrectly and picked the ...