Winning Strategies for Power Presentations: Jerry Weissman Delivers Lessons from the World’s Best Presenters

Book description

Craft and deliver outstanding presentations, speeches, demos, and more! Learn how, from the world's #1 presentation coach, Jerry Weissman -- and the experiences of dozens of the world's legendary persuaders! This book distills 75 best practices and techniques Weissman has developed through more than 20 years coaching executives on their highest-stakes presentations. In Winning Strategies for Power Presentations, Weissman identifies the elements of a great presentation, offering powerful new insights into contents, graphics, delivery, Q-and-A sessions, and much more. Weissman illuminates every technique with a compelling case study, drawing on the positive and negative experiences of communicators ranging from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, Jon Stewart to venture capitalist John Doerr, Stephen King to Mark Twain, Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. For the first time, he specifically and thoroughly addresses the unique challenges of making persuasive political presentations and speeches. This book also includes brand-new advice on a wide spectrum of "special presentation" issues, ranging from developing a richer public speaking voice to delivering scripted speeches, interviewing like a TV anchorperson to demonstrating products more successfully. For everyone who must speak and present more effectively in public: executives, managers, professional speakers, business leaders, project leaders, sales personnel, instructors, students, and many others.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication Page
  4. Table of Contents
  5. The Masters
  6. Introduction
    1. Natural and Universal
  7. Section I: Content: The Art of Telling Your Story
    1. 1. Mark Twain’s Fingernails
      1. How to Remember What to Say
    2. 2. Kill Your Darlings
      1. A Lesson from Professional Writers
    3. 3. How Long Should a Presentation Last?
      1. Be Brief and Concise
    4. 4. Follow the Money
      1. “So...?”
    5. 5. Fellini on Creativity
      1. Consider All the Possibilities—Before You Present
    6. 6. How Woody Allen Creates
      1. First Things First, Last Things Last
    7. 7. What’s Your Point?
      1. Leave Pointlessness to Woody Allen
    8. 8. Spoiler Alert
      1. What’s Your Point?
    9. 9. The Cyrano Parable
      1. The Story You Tell Versus the Slides You Show
    10. 10. “Does that make sense?”
      1. ...And Other Meaningless Words
    11. 11. Meaningful Words
      1. Words That Inspire Confidence
    12. 12. Writer’s Block
      1. How to Break Through
    13. 13. Writer’s Block II
      1. Easier Said Than Done
    14. 14. Never Say “Never”
      1. Well, Almost Never
    15. 15. From Bogart to Gingrich
      1. Who Did It?
    16. 16. Rupert Murdoch’s 90% Apology
      1. Who Did It?
    17. 17. Winning and Losing the World Cup
      1. He’s Just Not That into FIFA
    18. 18. John Doerr’s “Chalk” Talks
      1. Three Best Practices from a Top Venture Capitalist
    19. 19. Vinod Khosla’s Cardinal Rule
      1. “Message Sent Is Not the Same as Message Received”
    20. 20. The Outline Trap
      1. Britannica and Brainstorming
    21. 21. Having a ’versation
      1. “I” Versus “You”
    22. 22. “It’s all about you!”
      1. “...But they’re just not that into you.”
    23. 23. When Not to Tell ’em
      1. “Get on with it!”
    24. 24. Bookends
      1. Establish Your First and Last Sentences
    25. 25. The Sound of Ka-Ching!
      1. Scale the “You”
    26. 26. David Letterman’s Top Ten
      1. Pick a Number
    27. 27. Illusion of the First Time
      1. Road (Show) Warriors
    28. 28. In Praise of Analogies and Examples
      1. Add Value and Dimension
    29. 29. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama
      1. Masters of the Game
    30. 30. Aristotle: The First Salesman
      1. The Original Source
  8. Section II: Graphics: How to Design PowerPoint Slides Effectively
    1. 31. Vinod Khosla’s Five-Second Rule
      1. A Sanity Check for Every Presentation
    2. 32. Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the Water
      1. Better Box Thinking
    3. 33. Jon Stewart’s Right
      1. Positioned on Purpose?
    4. 34. Misdirection
      1. Magicians and Graphics
    5. 35. Obama Makes a PowerPoint Point
      1. The State of the Union and Presentations
    6. 36. Go in the Right Direction
      1. A Presentation Lesson from Akira Kurosawa
    7. 37. PowerPoint and Movie Stunts
      1. Use Graphics to Create Continuity
    8. 38. The Anti-PowerPoint Party
      1. Another Precinct Heard From
    9. 39. Signage Versus Documents
      1. Drive Your PowerPoint Home
    10. 40. The Graphics Spectrum
      1. Lives of Quiet Desperation
    11. 41. How Audiences See
      1. Follow the Action
    12. 42. Why Use PowerPoint at All?
      1. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
    13. 43. “But, I’m not an artist!”
      1. Rx: Infographics
    14. 44. The Kindness of Strangers
      1. Stand and Deliver
    15. 45. No More Mind-Numbing Number Slides
      1. Five Easy Steps to Bring Your Presentation to Life
  9. Section III: Delivery Skills: Actions Speak Louder than Words
    1. 46. Eight Presentations a Day
      1. Cause and Effect
    2. 47. Sounds of Silence
      1. Presentation Advice from Composers and Musicians
    3. 48. Stage Fright
      1. A Close Cousin of Writer’s Block
    4. 49. Swimming Lessons and Presentations
      1. Deconstruct and Reconstruct
    5. 50. Valley Girl Talk
      1. Invisible Question Marks
    6. 51. “What do I do with my hands?”
      1. A Simple Approach to Gesturing
    7. 52. “Look, Ma, no hands!”
      1. Anchorperson or Weatherperson
    8. 53. Foreign Films
      1. The Pause That Refreshes
    9. 54. Rx: CrackBerry Addiction
      1. Control Yourself!
    10. 55. The Eyes Have It
      1. Relax!
    11. 56. Why Sinatra Stood
      1. The Voice of “The Voice”
    12. 57. Presentation Counts
      1. The Rise and Fall of Rick Perry
  10. Section IV: How to Handle Tough Questions
    1. 58. Listening and Laughing with Johnny Carson
      1. Late Night Lessons for Presenters
    2. 59. Ready, Fire, Aim!
      1. Old Habits Die Hard
    3. 60. How to Deal with a Direct Attack
      1. “That was certainly a downer!”
    4. 61. No Such Thing as a Stupid Question
      1. A Lesson in Q&A from Dilbert
    5. 62. The Patronizing Paraphrase
      1. Trying to Channel Bill Clinton
    6. 63. Tricky Questions
      1. Be Transparent or Be Trapped
    7. 64. Robert McNamara Was Wrong
      1. You Must Respond to All Questions
    8. 65. Breaking into Jail
      1. The Elephant IS in the Room
  11. Section V: Special Presentations
    1. 66. Speak Crisply and Eliminate Mumbling
      1. Be Your Own Henry Higgins
      2. Athletic Articulation
      3. Primer
      4. Be Your Own Henry Higgins
    2. 67. How to Develop a Richer Voice
      1. Be Your Own Echo Chamber
      2. Resonance
      3. Be Your Own Echo Chamber
      4. The Pause Bonus
    3. 68. How to Deliver a Scripted Speech
      1. When the Words Count
      2. Teleprompter
      3. Vertical Text
    4. 69. Speaking to an Audience of a Thousand
      1. The Big Tent
      2. Image Magnification
      3. Actions, Speaking, and Words
    5. 70. How to Beat the Demo Demons
      1. Plan B and More
    6. 71. Bring Your Panel Discussion to Life
      1. How to Herd Cats
    7. 72. Mark Your Accent
      1. Eliza Doolittle Is a Myth
      2. Spanish Lessons
      3. Ears Versus Eyes
    8. 73. How to Interview Like a Television Anchorperson
      1. Seven Easy Steps
    9. 74. Ten Best Practices for the IPO Road Show
    10. 75. Cicero: Peroration
      1. Timeless and Borderless
  12. Endnotes
    1. Introduction
    2. Chapter 1
    3. Chapter 2
    4. Chapter 3
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
    8. Chapter 8
    9. Chapter 9
    10. Chapter 12
    11. Chapter 13
    12. Chapter 14
    13. Chapter 15
    14. Chapter 16
    15. Chapter 17
    16. Chapter 18
    17. Chapter 19
    18. Chapter 20
    19. Chapter 21
    20. Chapter 22
    21. Chapter 23
    22. Chapter 24
    23. Chapter 25
    24. Chapter 26
    25. Chapter 27
    26. Chapter 28
    27. Chapter 29
    28. Chapter 30
    29. Chapter 31
    30. Chapter 32
    31. Chapter 34
    32. Chapter 35
    33. Chapter 36
    34. Chapter 37
    35. Chapter 38
    36. Chapter 39
    37. Chapter 40
    38. Chapter 41
    39. Chapter 42
    40. Chapter 43
    41. Chapter 44
    42. Chapter 46
    43. Chapter 47
    44. Chapter 48
    45. Chapter 50
    46. Chapter 51
    47. Chapter 52
    48. Chapter 54
    49. Chapter 55
    50. Chapter 56
    51. Chapter 57
    52. Chapter 58
    53. Chapter 59
    54. Chapter 60
    55. Chapter 61
    56. Chapter 63
    57. Chapter 64
    58. Chapter 65
    59. Chapter 66
    60. Chapter 73
    61. Chapter 74
    62. Chapter 75
  13. Acknowledgements
  14. Index
  15. About the Author
  16. Financial Times

Product information

  • Title: Winning Strategies for Power Presentations: Jerry Weissman Delivers Lessons from the World’s Best Presenters
  • Author(s): Jerry Weissman
  • Release date: November 2012
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 9780133121131