Chapter 2. Types of Presentation
Emoji presentation?
‘That Is Ridiculous’!
My great friend, Asi looked at me across the bar & sighed. ‘Sharp that’s ridiculous. Investors won’t accept it.’ He’d just seen our latest presentation on my iPhone & the slide titles were all emojis. At first I thought emojis were stupid but changed my mind. They get simple points across quickly. They just don’t appear often in business presentations.
A New Presentation
It was time for a new presentation. We always make a new one for any event & you should too. It keeps it fresh & interesting for your audience & for you. You don’t have to say anything different, just in a different way. I’d seem some people try to use only emojis in tweets & Instagram. Why not try our first emoji presentation?
Let’s Use Emojis
We decided ‘let’s use emojis’ in the titles. The title of the presentation Seven frequently asked questions became 7⃣ FA❓It also started another trend, asking the audience questions. The way to stimulate your audience is by asking simple questions. We asked if they could guess what the emojis said. Like 🔎 on 💸 (focus on cash).
On The Road
Presentation ready, we went on the road. My friend Asi thought it ridiculous, what would serious analysts & investors think? In Singapore’s beautiful Fullerton hotel, we gave the first presentation & after finishing, asked what our audience thought? She loved it. ‘How do you come up with these ideas?’ she asked, amazed.
Round Of Applause
Then to KL & an investor lunch with 30 guests. Presenting to a large group it’s even harder to get a response. The presentation went well & after a question & answer session the audience burst into a spontaneous round of applause. Only the second time it had ever happened. An emoji presentation risk had paid off.
A Story Presentation
Most Often Seen
If emojis are too much, don’t worry, there are other types of presentation for you that don’t require taking much risk. The one you will most often see we will call a ‘story’ presentation. Like a company presentation, or personal profile telling what you do. There’ll be history, background, people, work you do, past progress & a vision of your future.
Story Slide Titles
You can make a story presentation or improve an existing one by telling the story in the slide titles. ‘Started 40 Years Ago; Management Has 30 Years Experience,, Our Product Is Number 1, Sales Have Grown X & We’re Expanding For More Growth’. Or, you can have sections like History, Management, Product, Performance, Future, with 2/3 slides per-section.
Everyone Is Interesting
Stories are a great way to present. Everyone loves a story & everyone can remember a story. So it’s important if you are making this type of presentation that you are telling a story. People usually tell me there’s nothing interesting about them, their product or company. But every one I’ve ever met has a fascinating story & it only takes a few questions to find it.
Sell With Feelings
The reason most people can’t find their story is they’re too fixated on presenting data. Ask them how the company started, about a challenge they overcame or a description of their product or service & they’ll suddenly light up & get excited. It triggers powerful feelings & that’s what you want to do with your presentation audience. Sell them using feelings.
Detail Comes Later
That means less data. If you see someone’s sales, profits, margins all on one cluttered chart with different scales & numbers everywhere, the only emotion it will cause is confusion. Show a simple chart of 3 years of profits going through the roof & the emotion generated will be great excitement. More detailed data can be shared later.
A List Presentation
Lists Are Simple
Another type of presentation you can use to make things simpler is a list. This kind of presentation can work better when your audience already knows something about you. Lists are simple & used in music, like top 40 songs & 7 Steps To Giving A Great Presentation. It’s a great way to build excitement & tension as you countdown to number 1.
Help The Audience
What do you think is the greatest concern of any audience? It’s the same as pre google when you were on a journey. Even if you had a map, you still weren’t quite sure how long it would take to get there. A list presentation is like the new technology of Google Maps, it tells your audience how long the journey of your presentation will take. Your audience will love it.
My Favorite Number
To tell your audience how long, you need to decide on a number for your list. Try to use odd numbers, they just work better. My favorite number is 7. Like the 7 Frequently Asked Questions (& The Answers) presentation above. it’s not too short & not too long. The highest number I ever used was 17,, 17 things about my colleague when she left my team in 2017.
Story In Numbers
Each number in the list tells the story by matching the point you’re presenting so it’s easier to remember. In 2012 I made a presentation called The 12 BWs about our company. Number 1 was that palm oil had become the number 1 largest edible oil. 2 was that production has doubled,, 3x plantation growth, our 4th mill & so on. If you want you can start with the highest number & count down.
The Key Point
Whichever direction you go keep the tension rising in your presentation. Create a logical story with a call to action conclusion. In the 12 BWs, 12 was about our share price about to break above its long resistance level of Rp1,200. This was the key point, a call to action & it was also a fun & amusing release of tension for the audience at the end.
The 3x3 Presentation
Just 3 Steps
The third type of presentation is the one I use most. We can call it the 3x3 presentation. Short & to the point, It works best when your audience knows something about you, & it can also work for a new audience. Start with a quick introduction overview of your topic, zoom in on 3 key topic points which each have 3 sub points & finish with a big call to action, all in just a few steps.
The 3 Somethings
A recent presentation I made this way was for a large audience of 100 investors & was called ‘Something Of Value, Something Useful, Something Rare’. The title was to make them curious. Something Of Value is a commodity, edible oil. Something Useful is the most used, palm oil. Something Rare is our palm oil company. Call to action. Buy our shares.
3 Sub Points
Your 3 points should represent big ideas. In the case of the 3 somethings I wanted to show the audience that commodities were defined as something valuable & were historically the greatest wealth creating stocks. Palm oil was too important for prices to fall & our shares had the essential ingredients for greatness. Each Something led on to the next.
One more thing
It was a logical progression to overcome all major objections the audience might have had to buying our shares. But to make the argument stronger you can add one more thing at the beginning or end or both. As palm oil & our shares were doing very badly, at the time, this was ‘Something To Go Through’ all great stocks e.g. Apple go through hard times before greatness.
Another more thing
For symmetry, the end had one more thing too. My call to action used a calculator which we put on our website, accessed through a link in the presentation to calculate a target price for our shares. With 4 data inputs, the audience helped to choose the inputs & like magic the calculator revealed a target which was 10X the price at that time. Buy, buy, buy.
‘That Is Ridiculous’!
My great friend, Asi looked at me across the bar & sighed. ‘Sharp that’s ridiculous. Investors won’t accept it.’ He’d just seen our latest presentation on my iPhone & the slide titles were all emojis. At first I thought emojis were stupid but changed my mind. They get simple points across quickly. They just don’t appear often in business presentations.
A New Presentation
It was time for a new presentation. We always make a new one for any event & you should too. It keeps it fresh & interesting for your audience & for you. You don’t have to say anything different, just in a different way. I’d seem some people try to use only emojis in tweets & Instagram. Why not try our first emoji presentation?
Let’s Use Emojis
We decided ‘let’s use emojis’ in the titles. The title of the presentation Seven frequently asked questions became 7⃣ FA❓It also started another trend, asking the audience questions. The way to stimulate your audience is by asking simple questions. We asked if they could guess what the emojis said. Like 🔎 on 💸 (focus on cash).
On The Road
Presentation ready, we went on the road. My friend Asi thought it ridiculous, what would serious analysts & investors think? In Singapore’s beautiful Fullerton hotel, we gave the first presentation & after finishing, asked what our audience thought? She loved it. ‘How do you come up with these ideas?’ she asked, amazed.
Round Of Applause
Then to KL & an investor lunch with 30 guests. Presenting to a large group it’s even harder to get a response. The presentation went well & after a question & answer session the audience burst into a spontaneous round of applause. Only the second time it had ever happened. An emoji presentation risk had paid off.
A Story Presentation
Most Often Seen
If emojis are too much, don’t worry, there are other types of presentation for you that don’t require taking much risk. The one you will most often see we will call a ‘story’ presentation. Like a company presentation, or personal profile telling what you do. There’ll be history, background, people, work you do, past progress & a vision of your future.
Story Slide Titles
You can make a story presentation or improve an existing one by telling the story in the slide titles. ‘Started 40 Years Ago; Management Has 30 Years Experience,, Our Product Is Number 1, Sales Have Grown X & We’re Expanding For More Growth’. Or, you can have sections like History, Management, Product, Performance, Future, with 2/3 slides per-section.
Everyone Is Interesting
Stories are a great way to present. Everyone loves a story & everyone can remember a story. So it’s important if you are making this type of presentation that you are telling a story. People usually tell me there’s nothing interesting about them, their product or company. But every one I’ve ever met has a fascinating story & it only takes a few questions to find it.
Sell With Feelings
The reason most people can’t find their story is they’re too fixated on presenting data. Ask them how the company started, about a challenge they overcame or a description of their product or service & they’ll suddenly light up & get excited. It triggers powerful feelings & that’s what you want to do with your presentation audience. Sell them using feelings.
Detail Comes Later
That means less data. If you see someone’s sales, profits, margins all on one cluttered chart with different scales & numbers everywhere, the only emotion it will cause is confusion. Show a simple chart of 3 years of profits going through the roof & the emotion generated will be great excitement. More detailed data can be shared later.
A List Presentation
Lists Are Simple
Another type of presentation you can use to make things simpler is a list. This kind of presentation can work better when your audience already knows something about you. Lists are simple & used in music, like top 40 songs & 7 Steps To Giving A Great Presentation. It’s a great way to build excitement & tension as you countdown to number 1.
Help The Audience
What do you think is the greatest concern of any audience? It’s the same as pre google when you were on a journey. Even if you had a map, you still weren’t quite sure how long it would take to get there. A list presentation is like the new technology of Google Maps, it tells your audience how long the journey of your presentation will take. Your audience will love it.
My Favorite Number
To tell your audience how long, you need to decide on a number for your list. Try to use odd numbers, they just work better. My favorite number is 7. Like the 7 Frequently Asked Questions (& The Answers) presentation above. it’s not too short & not too long. The highest number I ever used was 17,, 17 things about my colleague when she left my team in 2017.
Story In Numbers
Each number in the list tells the story by matching the point you’re presenting so it’s easier to remember. In 2012 I made a presentation called The 12 BWs about our company. Number 1 was that palm oil had become the number 1 largest edible oil. 2 was that production has doubled,, 3x plantation growth, our 4th mill & so on. If you want you can start with the highest number & count down.
The Key Point
Whichever direction you go keep the tension rising in your presentation. Create a logical story with a call to action conclusion. In the 12 BWs, 12 was about our share price about to break above its long resistance level of Rp1,200. This was the key point, a call to action & it was also a fun & amusing release of tension for the audience at the end.
The 3x3 Presentation
Just 3 Steps
The third type of presentation is the one I use most. We can call it the 3x3 presentation. Short & to the point, It works best when your audience knows something about you, & it can also work for a new audience. Start with a quick introduction overview of your topic, zoom in on 3 key topic points which each have 3 sub points & finish with a big call to action, all in just a few steps.
The 3 Somethings
A recent presentation I made this way was for a large audience of 100 investors & was called ‘Something Of Value, Something Useful, Something Rare’. The title was to make them curious. Something Of Value is a commodity, edible oil. Something Useful is the most used, palm oil. Something Rare is our palm oil company. Call to action. Buy our shares.
3 Sub Points
Your 3 points should represent big ideas. In the case of the 3 somethings I wanted to show the audience that commodities were defined as something valuable & were historically the greatest wealth creating stocks. Palm oil was too important for prices to fall & our shares had the essential ingredients for greatness. Each Something led on to the next.
One more thing
It was a logical progression to overcome all major objections the audience might have had to buying our shares. But to make the argument stronger you can add one more thing at the beginning or end or both. As palm oil & our shares were doing very badly, at the time, this was ‘Something To Go Through’ all great stocks e.g. Apple go through hard times before greatness.
Another more thing
For symmetry, the end had one more thing too. My call to action used a calculator which we put on our website, accessed through a link in the presentation to calculate a target price for our shares. With 4 data inputs, the audience helped to choose the inputs & like magic the calculator revealed a target which was 10X the price at that time. Buy, buy, buy.
