Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story

Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story

by Jerry Weissman
Released November 2008
Publisher(s): FT Press
ISBN: 9780137005062

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Book description

Named by FORTUNE Magazine as a "Must-Read"

"Jerry Weissman makes the challenge of producing and delivering effective presentations delightfully simple. Read it and benefit!"

Tim Koogle,Founding CEO, Yahoo!

“A great read for all of us who have ever struggled with any aspect of our public speaking skills. Presenting to Win contains the same timeless techniques that helped me [18] years ago.”

Jeff Raikes, former President, Microsoft Business Division, Microsoft Corporation, and CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

“Jerry is The Man when it comes to making great pitches. If your pitch doesn’t get a whole lot better after reading this book, something is wrong with you.”

Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director and Chairman, Garage Technology Ventures, and bestselling author of The Art of the Start

“Presenting to Win is the shortest path to applause for any presenter. It will be your bible for the PowerPoint Age. It’s loaded with easy actions and real examples that really work. I’ve used them. I know.”

Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit

Thirty million presentations will be given today. Millions will fail. Millions more will be received with yawns. A rare few will establish the most profound connection, in which presenter and audience understand each other perfectly…discover common ground… and, together, decide to act.

In this fully updated edition, Jerry Weissman, the world’s #1 presentation consultant, shows how to connect with even the toughest, most high-level audiences...and move them to action! He teaches presenters of all kinds how to dump those PowerPoint templates once and for all and tell compelling stories that focus on what’s in it for the audience.

Weissman’s techniques have proven themselves with billions of dollars on the line. Thousands of his elite clients have already mastered them. Now it’s your turn!

What you must do to tell your story

Focus before Flow: identifying your real goals and message

The power of the WIIFY: What’s In It For You

Staying focused on what your audience really wants

Capture your audience in 90 seconds...and never let go!

Opening Gambits and compelling linkages

Master the art of online Web conferencing

Connecting with your invisible audience

From brainstorming through delivery

Crafting the Power Presentation, one step at a time

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Praise for the First Edition of Presenting to Win
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword to the Updated and Expanded Edition
  6. Preface
    1. What’s Past Is Prologue
  7. Introduction
    1. The Wizard of Aaahs
    2. The Mission-Critical Presentation
    3. The Art of Telling Your Story
    4. A New Approach to Presentations
    5. The Psychological Sell
  8. One. You and Your Audience
    1. The Problem with Presentations
    2. The Power Presentation
    3. Persuasion: Getting from Point A to Point B
    4. Audience Advocacy
    5. Getting Aha!s
  9. Two. The Power of the WIIFY
    1. What’s In It For You?
    2. WIIFY Triggers
    3. The Danger of the Incorrect “You”
  10. Three. Getting Creative: The Expansive Art of Brainstorming
    1. The Data Dump
    2. Managing the Brainstorm: The Framework Form
    3. Brainstorming: Doing the Data Dump Productively
    4. Focus Before Flow
  11. Four. Finding Your Flow
    1. The 16 Flow Structures
    2. Which Flow Structure Should You Choose?
    3. Guidelines for Selecting a Flow Structure
    4. The Value of Flow Structures
    5. The Four Critical Questions
  12. Five. Capturing Your Audience Immediately
    1. Seven Classic Opening Gambits
    2. Compound Opening Gambits
    3. Linking to Point B
    4. Tell ’em What You’re Gonna Tell ’em
    5. 90 Seconds to Launch
    6. Winning Over the Toughest Crowd
  13. Six. Communicating Visually
    1. The Proper Role of Graphics
    2. Presenter Focus
    3. Less Is More
    4. Perception Psychology
    5. Graphic Design Elements
  14. Seven. Making the Text Talk
    1. Bullets Versus Sentences
    2. Wordwrap
    3. Crafting the Effective Bullet Slide
    4. Minimize Eye Sweeps with Parallelism
    5. Using the Build
    6. Bullet Levels
    7. Verbal Style
    8. Visual Style
    9. Text Guidelines
  15. Eight. Making the Numbers Sing
    1. The Power of Numeric Graphics
    2. Bar Charts
    3. Pie Charts
    4. Typography in Numeric Graphics
    5. The Hockey Stick
    6. Subtle? Yes, But . . .
  16. Nine. Using Graphics to Help Your Story Flow
    1. The 35,000-Foot Overview
    2. Graphic Continuity Techniques
    3. Presenter Focus Revisited
    4. Graphics and the 35,000-Foot View
  17. Ten. Bringing Your Story to Life
    1. Verbalization: The Special Technique
    2. Spaced Learning
    3. Internal Linkages
    4. Internal Linkages in Action
    5. Verbiage
    6. Summary
  18. Eleven. Customizing Your Presentation
    1. The Power of Customization
    2. The Illusion of the First Time
    3. External Linkages
    4. Gathering Material for Customization
    5. External Linkages in Action
  19. Twelve. Animating Your Graphics
    1. How Versus Why and Wherefore
    2. Perception Psychology
    3. Cinematic Techniques
    4. Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
    5. Animation Options
    6. Animation and the Presenter
  20. Thirteen. The Virtual Presentation
    1. Anytime, Anyplace, Anyone
    2. How the Virtual Presentation Works
    3. Preparing for Your Virtual Presentation
    4. Connecting with Your Invisible Audience
    5. Creating a Winning Virtual Presentation
    6. The Future of the Virtual Presentation
  21. Fourteen. Pitching in the Majors
    1. End with the Beginning in Mind
    2. It All Starts with Your Story
    3. Practice, Practice, Practice
    4. Every Audience, Every Time
  22. Appendix A. Tools of the Trade
    1. The Presentation Environment
  23. Appendix B. Presentation Checklists
    1. The Four Critical Questions
    2. WIIFY Triggers
    3. Seven Classic Opening Gambits
    4. Sixteen Flow Structures
    5. Twelve Internal Linkages
    6. Seven External Linkages
    7. Five Graphic Continuity Techniques
  24. Acknowledgments
  25. About the Author
  26. Financial Times Press
  27. Index

Product information

  • Title: Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story
  • Author(s): Jerry Weissman
  • Release date: November 2008
  • Publisher(s): FT Press
  • ISBN: 9780137005062