A-06

Terry Lunn, CFPIM, CIRM, NSA

Presenting for Success

You have 10 minutes at the next vice president staff meeting to explain what youre doing. This workshop will give you a working plan to make your time in the sun really sizzle. Bring your computer, your strategic objectives, and do two exercises to help prepare for such an event. Following this presentation, participants will be able to Prepare a plan for effective presentations. Evaluate PowerPoint and other technologies to help. Give a one-minute, impromptu presentation. Captivate a Business Audience, advises us to prepare a presentation with steak, sizzle, and style. Others suggest incident, point, and benefit, which is closer to my list. David Poeples, in his book Presentations Plus, says to think in terms of Why are we here? Whats in it for me? Be specific. Even APICS Train the Trainer and Learning Dynamics programs have their own suggestion of introduction, body, application, and summary. All of these tricks of the trade seem to boil down to think through to a focus that will lead to some sort of action. If we are giving a presentation in our company, then, what should be that focus? I suggest always aligning your presentation with one or more of the companys strategic objectives. I do not care how long or short a presentation one has to give; tie it somehow to the key objectives that the audience is keenly interested in achieving. Take a moment right now to sit down and record several of your companys most important strategic objectives. We should be able to tie our cog in the wheel to those objectives. Some might be to introduce new, customer-friendly products; reduce lead times, both internal and external; improve inventory turns; foster supply chain partnerships; and so on. The challenge is to tie what we are talking about to the bigger picture. Two points are If we cannot tie our talk to the bigger picture, it might not be worth talking about. Too many people do not know what the bigger picture is. My suggestion is that you personally make it your business to know exactly what the strategic objectives are so that we can analyze our audience as to what is of paramount importance to them! Then we can properly prepare for our presentation, and it will come naturally how to speak. A conclusion from this part of the article is that you should now have a piece of paper with your company strategic objectives defined, and you should be ready for review on a moments notice.

INTRODUCTION
So, now you have only a few minutes to prepare for an impromptu presentation. We are told by some that this thought generates more fear than death! Thinking back on the training for presenting that I have had, the admonition is to do three things: prepare, prepare, and prepare. You say, Very funny. But what is a person to do? One way to look at the problem is to think in terms of only a few things to do to get ready. My suggestion is to think in terms of Presenting a couple of facts. Defining the underlying cause of those facts (this I call a causal focus). Asking the audience for something. See Figure 1 for this magic formula to use.

Magic Formula
Facts Causal focus Ask for action

Figure 1. Most experts seem to all have their own list of three things. Sue Gaulke, in her book 101 Ways to

2003 International Conference Proceedings, 2003 APICSThe Educational Society for Resource Management

Presenting for Success

Give an Impromptu Presentation

We have chances every day to articulate our own activities. It might be in a department meeting, staff meeting, or our opportunity to stand in the office of the company president and explain to her what we do. You may have only a few minutes to prepare an off the cuff discussion, or you may have only a few seconds when called upon in a meeting to say what you think about a subject. Then there are times when you can go back to the office and sweat over a full-blown PowerPoint presentation.

Prepare
1, 2, 3 ABC Time line Simple complex Events conclusion Symptoms problem
Figure 2 No matter how much time you have to prepare, here are a few ideas of how to organize your remarks. We have several listed in Figure 2. Many times, there is a sequence that just makes sense. A-B-C sequence, 1-2-3 steps, or chronological order all seem obvious. A more subtle way might be to proceed from the events that have occurred to some sort of conclusion. A variation is to list the symptoms of a problem and the process used to define the underlying cause of that problem. In many instances, you might migrate from the simple to the more complex issues. This all ties in to the previous section in that we wish to identify the issue in the terms appropriate to the objectives of our audience. What are their hot buttons and what is the improvement effort we are undertaking? As an example, I have one client in Ohio who is always interested in inventory turns. No matter what the subject presented, this audience is always ready and eager to hear about how the project improves turns while retaining a high level of customer service. Another client is interested in customer-friendly new products, so every presentation should have an element of how we improve creativity. One presentation I recently gave to a client in Minnesota was to the vice president of manufacturing, who was most interested in simplifying

workflow to the demand pull concept. Also in the room was the vice president of finance, who was very concerned about overtime and costs. What to say to hit both issues? How about how our project will have more effective and timely uses of our capacity by simplifying kanbans and reducing setups? Both gentlemen made notes of actions to take. The important point is to get into the head of your audience and see if and how you can relate your presentations to their current wants, needs, and objectives. So now let us practice by taking a few moments and reviewing your next presentation in light of what we have discussed. Write the points downprobably something like threeon a piece of paper, in a few concise statements. Now, define how the conclusion relates to what your audience is interested inprobably the company strategic objectives defined above.

Evaluate Using Technology

Now that we have defined the content, we can turn to the actual presentation itself. This is the part that most people spend the most time on, but it should be the least. When we have prepared appropriately as defined above, the method of actual presentation is not the main thing any longer. Although the experts agree that audiences do, in fact, find a special something in every successful presentation, no matter how long it is. And that something is

Is it an art or a science? Is one born with enthusiasm, or can it be practiced? I believe that there are some techniques that one can practice in order to bring enthusiastic, excitement, and conviction to any presentation. One author calls it passionthat a presenter should have a passion for the subject under discussion. So, we can gain enthusiasm by being passionate about the subject. Most people in business today do have an excited streak about their work, so let it show. Another way for enthusiasm to show is to be open with your audience. Get them involved in what you are saying and doing. Several ways to be open and get that audience involvement are shown in Figure 3.

2003 International Conference Proceedings, 2003 APICSThe Educational Society for Resource Management

Presenting for Success the very marker from your hand and add their own perspective. One company I know of has white boards that produce copies. As a discussion progresses during a meeting, the attendees will fill up the board with process designs, steps, procedure points, etc., and at the end of the meeting, all the attendees come up and sign the board. Then they produce a copy for everyone. This all has the effect of getting the audience to buy into the very presentation itself. And I think that is exactly the goalget the audience to buy into what we are saying. In APICS classes, we get that by making the students repeat the words and say the concept themselves. We wish for every audience to internalize the concept and make it their own. We want the audience to internalize, even if we are only debriefing the company president on our departments activities for the last year. We want him to say, They did a wonderful job last year, or something like that.

Openness
Lean forward Erect back Open eyes Smile Nod

Figure 3. Show a lot of interest in your subject and your audience. You can do this by leaning forward in your chair, sitting/standing straight with an erect back, and opening your eyes yes, thats right, force your eyes to spread open. Try it right now! Smile a lot, nod in agreement, and use lots of open gestures with open palms, open arms, etc. All of these actions will help one cultivate enthusiasm for the presentation at hand. A big question in many peoples mind is when to use PowerPoint and the so-called formal presentation. When doing after-dinner speeches or workshops with small (under 10) groups, I like to sit down and use the computer without a projector to become closer to my audience and not so formal. Use PowerPoint as the guide to make your points and a place to record your action minutes. As a matter of fact, I have used PowerPoint presentation tools when giving a debriefing report to as few as two people. The focus is not on the glitz of the PowerPoint tool, but rather on the importance of the subject. Another point regarding PowerPoint programs is not to rely on the program to deliver the message. Remember that YOU are the message. PowerPoint is only a sequential flipping through of the ideas. So use it only for that. Keep it as a tool only to remind us of the ideas. Perhaps some new techniques, such as mindmapping, might find their way into PowerPoint, but that takes time to professionalize such variations on the normal logic of PowerPoint presentations. So let us augment the computer PowerPoint program and use flip charts or white boards, for example. I always find it useful to be quick and spontaneous by writing some ideas on the board or sketching how processes are linked together. We have even listed action steps to take during the presentation for a summary. I have also found that as soon as you open up to accept this kind of audience involvement, they will come up and take

Audience buy-in
Internalize Say it themselves Focus Make their point

Figure 4. We can get that audience buy in via several methods (see Figure 4), including the idea of getting them to make our points for us. If we have thought through the process of facts and what their causal focus is, then the action ought to be pretty obvious. Believe me, there is nothing better than having a senior executive summarize your presentation in her own words. Maybe the important point is to let you and your audiences come to the proper conclusion, and then when you ask for the call to action, it will be a simple, Why of course. One issue that a lot of people ask regards the use of props. Should we or should we not use props and gimmicks to sizzle up the presentation? I think we should use every tool at our disposal to get the audience to buy into our presentation. However, we should avoid using props for the sake of just trying to impress the audience. Most

2003 International Conference Proceedings, 2003 APICSThe Educational Society for Resource Management

Presenting for Success of the time in business, there is some issue on the table for discussion. I find it is helpful to have specific examples of the situation. I do not assume that everyone knows all about the issue. So, I like to bring examples of shop work orders, parts, pictures from the shop, and other items designed to make the situation very real. See some more ideas in Figure 5. discussed. A host of options are available, including reports, pictures processes, sample kanbans, etc., as shown in Figure 6. Try to always have the audience go away with something that reminds them of what you ask for.

Takeaways
Report Chart PPT 3-up 3Sample photos

Ideas -- to show
Shop order Kanban A part (good or bad) Pictures of .. Report Graph
Figure 5. An important point is to be sure to have equal representation. Be careful to accent the good things that happen and not just the bad. Remember that errors are usually caused by a bad process and not by a bad person. With one client, we have let our kanbans become way too complex by trying to be all things to all people. Hence, a typical kanban card is very useful to put on the table for everyone to see how complex we have made the standard. So, now consider your assignment. You should be able to prepare your next presentation with an eye to what the facts are and how can we best describe them. Sit down, gather the evidence, and put it in order so we will all arrive at the proper conclusion or causal focus. Now think about your audience and ask how you can get them involved so that they are a part of the solution.

Figure 6. Remember earlier I said that PowerPoint is useful as a reminder of the points made and how we made them? So, a set of handoutsthree up might be called for. Another tool inside PowerPoint is the meeting minutes feature, which allows one to add action items to a list as the show is progressing, and the items appear on the last slide(s), including dates and the names of persons responsible. What a way to end the meeting, with the notes of actions agreed to right there! So, one of the takeaways could be the PowerPoint action list as a part of the presentation notes. Another choice is to create just a plain action list that can be duplicated and distributed. In most business situations, it is a matter of planning actions. I always think in terms of short-term activities to do. Plus, there are long-term plans to resolve more difficult, underlying causes. If one is just giving that two- or three-minute impromptu presentation, we might not have a fullblown course of action that we want our audience to embrace. Perhaps all we wish to do is give them some phrase to remind them of our encounter. An excellent example is one client who, after discussing the achievements of the planners for last year, left the crowd hanging on every word with the idea that his people had elevated themselves to be full service planners. Now, here is the real meat of this write-up: Take out a sheet of paper (that one you have been using all through our discussion) and write down exactly what you want the people to do because of the time they have spent with you during your presentation. Another way to look at this concept is to define exactly what you think is important to the audience. What is the key to success for them?

Coming to Closure
All this preparation is leading to a conclusion. Ask the people for something. What is next? Suggest the next step, define the next process, or develop the next improvementsome logical next step needs to be said. One author says that we should think in terms of upping the energy level. Another method is to think of a focus that leads to action. Let us bring our presentation to closure. We can accomplish much of this idea by creating some form of what I call a takeaway. Give the people something that summarizes the concept

2003 International Conference Proceedings, 2003 APICSThe Educational Society for Resource Management

Presenting for Success Put yourself in their shoes, and try to define what is most significant to them. If we only have a couple of seconds or minutes to stand and be heard, it is hard to go back and forth developing a plan. However, the more times we practice, the better we become at shortening the process. So, I hope you accept every opportunity to practice, and you will develop your skills to the point that your time in the sun will really shine. Someone asked me what would be the thought to leave with everyone about this presentation. After all, I did not ask the audience for anything. A writer once gave me a sign that hangs over my desk that says, Pare it down into a tight, elegant linguistic dart. For this presentation it would be: Focus leading to action.

CONCLUSION
Steve Covey has said that it is best to begin with the end in mind. And that is especially true in preparing presentations. While I described the process from the front to the back, we should go through the entire process of gathering facts, identifying the underlying cause, and then reaching the conclusion of action required. Then we can clearly define what we want our audience to do, and we know what to ask for. This clearly is the way to start with what will be the end. Preparing a presentation is an iterative process when we have the time. Let us remember to review the facts, define the causal focus, and ask the audience for some action. This is the iterative process that will lead to successful presentations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Terry Lunn, CFPIM, CIRM, is a worldwide recognized expert, speaker, and author with more than 20 years of experience as a consultant in the field of production and inventory management.

2003 International Conference Proceedings, 2003 APICSThe Educational Society for Resource Management