Developing a compelling presentations culture e book

EXECUTIVE SERIES
No. 1
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Developing a
Compelling
Presentations
Culture in
Your
Organization––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
JOHN LOWE

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
EXECUTIVE SERIES
PUBLICATION 1
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Developing a Compelling
Presentations Culture
in Your
Organization
JOHN LOWE
“In the vast majority of companies and
organizations in the world, there are no
stated, accepted, executive-sponsored
expectations for exceptional
communications.”
What an opportunity missed!

COPYRIGHT
©2013 Be Compelling Now, LLC.
All rights reserved under the International Copyrights Convention. Please note that much of this book
is based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. You should use this information as you see
ﬁt, understanding your particular situation may not be exactly suited to the examples illustrated
herein, and you should adjust your use of the information and recommendations accordingly. The
author is not responsible for any situational outcomes which do not meet your expectations. Any
trademarks, service marks, product names or features are assumed to be the property of their
respective owners and are used for reference purposes only. There is no implied endorsement if used
herein.
becompellingnow.com

ABOUT
Order your copy of Remarkable Presentations >
John Lowe is a well respected communications coach and author of
Remarkable Presentations, How to Develop and Deliver What Your
Competitors Don’t, available on Amazon. With over 25 years of award-
winning experience as a sales professional, John has delivered powerful
presentations which regularly won key deals for companies such as
Apple, HP, KPMG and Blackboard. He is a Certiﬁed Vistage Speaker, a
TEDX presentations coach, a member of the faculty at the Ty Boyd
Excellence in Speaking Institute and an Advisory Board Member of the
Raleigh Business Alliance.

John Lowe, Chief Message Coach
john@becompellingnow.com
919-264-4591
PAGE 4

EXECUTIVE SERIES : PUBLICATION 1
PAGE 5

WHAT IS A PRESENTATION
CULTURE?
it is estimated that over 30 million presentations are
delivered each and every day. If surveyed, most professionals
would consider a “presentation” to be a report or talk given in
front of a room accompanied by a slide show or other visuals.
While this is certainly what is considered the standard
presentation, it is suggested that the official definition of the
word presentation be considered.
pre·sen·ta·tion prē-zen-tā-shən (noun)
: something set forth for the attention of the mind
: a descriptive or persuasive account
This definition says nothing about where or how the
information is delivered, or to whom. It does not require
visuals of any kind, or a discussion of any given length. When
this is taken into consideration, the types of presentations
given each day expand tremendously.
PAGE 6

Let’s face it, a presentation is any opportunity you have to express your
message. It is fundamentally the expression portion of
communications.
Considering how critical this is, what is more important than
creating standards by which those communications be shared
with peers, team members, and those outside the organization?
In fact, communication is the life-blood of an organization. At
the end of the day, it comes down to people communicating
with people about their ideas, plans, goals, commitments,
projects and proposals. Every opportunity for that to happen
is an opportunity for success or failure.
In order to propose and support such standards, it makes sense
to develop an organizational culture around this critical issue.
Creating a culture, an accepted norm for participation with
which all members of the team are expected to comply, will
provide a framework for uniformity.
Much like a company has a culture of individual development,
or customer service, or product innovation, or fiscal
conservatism, a culture of compelling presentation quality will
provide a benchmark for the effectiveness of the organizational
communication, in all its forms.
PAGE 7

PAGE 8

WHY DEVELOP SUCH A CULTURE?
Informal surveys or personal discussions quickly reveal that
most presentations of any sort are less than compelling. In
fact, they are more often than not average to poor. How
many times have you felt your time was not well spent by
participating in meetings, sales or marketing presentations,
speeches, webinars, seminars, training sessions or other
communications events? It is much more common for people
to express frustration vs. excitement following a presentation
of any sort.
There is also formal surveyed evidence that this is true. For
example:
most executives say 90% of sales presentations are a waste of
their time
professionals surveyed said 50% of meetings were a waste of time
executives said the number 1 requirement for business success is
effective communications
sales and marketing execs say over 50% of sales reps do not
represent the solution adequately
PAGE 9

Imagine if the majority of presentations given by members of
your organization were truly impactful, engaging, and
memorable.
Imagine if people, both inside
and outside your company were
eager to hear presentations given
by your team, and the reputation
for your organizational
communications was first class.
Imagine if your organization was
recognized by the industry and trade media for the quality and
engagement of your message delivery.
What effect do you think that would have on your success?
Making this effort is hard, but it is oh-so rewarding. It is also
among the most cost-effective development programs. Of the
many ways to develop an organization, creating a compelling
presentations culture can demonstrate an immediate return on
investment. Since so many presentations are given on a daily
basis, it is easy to see a rapid improvement.
PAGE 10

If there were a supported, concentrated, focused process on
organization-wide excellence in presentations quality and
effectiveness, it would result in the following benefits:
• individual personal development would rise
• individual morale would improve
• individual and team performance would increase
• internal miscommunication would be minimized
• product demand would accelerate
• brand recognition would be enhanced
• leadership development would be better
• customer satisfaction and loyalty would increase
• organizational reputation would climb
• sales revenues would skyrocket
These benefits are all critical reasons why an organization
should invest in developing a compelling presentations
culture. In fact, achieving only two or three of these benefits
would justify the effort.
Developing this type of cultural shift is not easy. It requires an
adoption of a new paradigm of presentations. It also requires
executive acceptance and promotion, for without leadership
setting the example, the program will surely fail. It requires
development at all levels of the organization, not just sales and
management. These apply to external presentations, but many
PAGE 11

people lead internal meetings, and developing the
communications at this level results in perhaps the greatest
return on investment. Not only are meetings and
communications efficiencies enhanced, but it also increases the
identification and development of future leaders.
By focusing on presentations skill development, people are asked to
confront perhaps their greatest fear, that being “public speaking”.
Confronting and conquering your greatest fears ranks at the top of
personal development.
Most people do not like making
presentations, and do not relish the
thought of dealing with it at all. In
fact, in lists of people’s greatest
fears, public speaking regularly is
listed higher than death. That
means, many people have stated they
would rather die than give a speech.
This is precisely why accepting this challenge and developing
this culture is so valuable an effort. The personal development
which results is immeasurable in terms of enhancing the
professional quality and confidence of an organization’s
people.
PAGE 12

In making the case for a compelling presentations culture, let’s
examine the different types of presentations made within an
organization, and how raising the bar will benefit the
organization as a whole. Once again, “presentations” are not
always in front of a room with a PowerPoint slide deck. We all
make multiple presentations every day.
Presentations in your business may include:
✴internal meetings
✴solution updates
✴training sessions
✴executive strategy meetings
✴partner updates
✴media presentations
✴shareholder events
✴trade shows
✴webinars
✴sales presentations
✴customer events
✴seminars
✴one on one meetings
✴hiring interviews
✴“town-hall” meetings
How can you make them all compelling?
PAGE 13

PAGE 14

EXTERNAL PRESENTATIONS
First, we will examine the most commonly expressed examples
of presentations, those given to audiences outside the
organization. These often have to do with selling or marketing
the offerings of the company, and are critical to the overall
institutional success.
Sales Presentations
Most companies spend a great deal of resources on hiring,
training and getting their sales team in front of prospects. They
spend almost nothing on ensuring that the reps can present a
compelling story, and engage in a meaningful prospect/client
discussion. Surveys have indicated that buying executives (a) think
most sales presentations are a waste of time, and (b) overwhelmingly
prefer a conversation to a slide presentation. Most sales people,
however, are not comfortable changing the way they do
presentations, and when surveyed, they listed help with the
value proposition discussion as a training priority.
PAGE 15

•A sales presentation is any opportunity the rep has to share
solution-based information with prospects or customers.
•It is any opportunity they have to further the prospect along
the sales cycle.
•It is any opportunity they have to establish a trusted advisor
relationship.
These are mission-critical opportunities, and organizations
should invest significant resources toward ensuring that their
reps are the best they can be at taking full advantage of these
chances to move the buying process forward.
Trade Show Presentations
Speaking at a trade show or other industry event is perhaps
the best chance to obtain
multiple, qualified, hot leads.
Many companies don’t even
try to get approved for a
presentation slot, and of
those that do, few take full
advantage of it by preparing
and delivering a compelling
message. Most either give a
company-sponsored product demo, or they contract with a
customer to provide a user testimonial presentation. In either
PAGE 16

case, they often fail to make a connection with the audience,
and fail to deliver valuable, problem-solving information.
What if you could have the undivided attention
of 20-40 very interested prospects in a room
for 40 minutes? What most business people do not
understand is that presenting at a trade show or industry event
is the absolute best way to get real, hot leads. These people
didn’t come to the session to get off their feet for 40 minutes.
They have a problem they think you can solve! They want to
be informed, and they want to be impressed. Unfortunately,
they usually leave without either being accomplished.
Executive Speeches
Corporate executives are often called upon to represent the
organization at functions, events, and customer conferences.
When doing so, they are seen as the face of the organization.
They represent the competency and trustworthiness of the
company. The audience, almost always people who for
whatever reason are interested in the organization, is looking
for that person to impress them with their knowledge and their
communications skills.
So many times, executives fail to deliver. They use the excuse that
they are so busy they do not have time to properly prepare.
Consequently, the organization misses a great opportunity to
PAGE 17

win more friends, supporters, investors, partners and possibly
customers, as well as fails to enhance their reputation
Web-Based Presentations
With the advent of easy and inexpensive delivery technology,
coupled with shrinking travel and event budgets, more
companies are resorting to web-based presentations to sell and
inform key prospects, customers and stakeholders. This is a
great tool, saving huge amounts of time and money. When
used properly, the attendees appreciate the savings and the
experience.
However, those delivering these
events tend to simply present a
slide show via the internet.
Without the advantage of face
to face communications, these
slide events become incredibly
boring and tedious, and usually
miss the mark with the
audience. You’ve been in the audience for these types of
presentations. What was everyone doing? What were you
doing? Checking your mail or texts on your phone, right? Or
looking at your laptop. Or leafing through some other
information. When delivering a web-based presentation, the
PAGE 18

emphasis has to be on engagement. Otherwise, the
information is lost in translation.
Customer/Events
Customer events are most often new product rollouts or user
conferences, or executive briefings. These are opportunities to
share customer-specific information and further cement, or
even repair, the vendor-customer relationship. Once again,
critical opportunities to communicate in an impressive,
engaging manner, and have your customers walk away
wanting to do more business with you.
Many times these turn out to be company-focused events instead of
customer-focused. Presenters want to dump as much
information as possible and try to impress their audiences with
their knowledge, features and developments. They fail to put
the emphasis on solving the customer’s problems, soliciting
feedback, engaging and creating dialog vs. lecture. Any time
there is the opportunity to interact with customers, especially
when providing valuable information with the goal of selling
them more stuff, you have to keep the focus of the event on
them and their problems. As soon as it becomes a company
advertisement, they start wondering why they spent their time
and money to attend.
PAGE 19

Marketing Messages
While not considered to be “presentations”, marketing
messaging, delivered via advertisements, web sites, marketing
materials, white papers, videos, case studies, etc. are indeed
presenting the value proposition to the target market. They are
the most widely viewed form of organizational presentation,
and often mistake benefit statements and “about us”
information for impactful messaging.
Because marketing messaging is not delivered via a
conversation or even in person, the message needs to appeal to the
“old brain” receptors of the target audience. (Old brain refers to the
emotional, “why” section of the brain which dominates
decision-making.) Otherwise, it is received as simply more
noise in an otherwise overwhelmingly noisy marketplace. For
example, look at any number of web sites, and you will see
that 90+% of the information on any home page is about the
company, not the prospect. It’s about the “what”, not the
“why”.
More and more, the focus of marketing messaging is shifting
from sell to engage, meaning you pull in your prospects by
sending out quality, informative, interesting and compelling
information which informs, not sells your prospect. They
make the decision to engage with you.
PAGE 20

The way you present your value message speaks loudly about
whether you are a “transaction” oriented company, or a
“relationship” oriented company.
Public Relations
Whenever someone from your organization addresses the
media, participates in a public forum, or offers information on
your behalf, it is critical that the
information be shared in a way
which represents the company in a
positive manner. This may
influence key partners, markets,
investors, prospects or
customers. Most PR presentations
or statements are framed in a
conservative, “stale” format. This is the safe approach. It is
also the most boring. When developed and delivered in a
compelling way, PR statements can be used as an indirect
marketing tool, to drive demand, branding and differentiation.
If you are going to communicate anything to the
outside world, why take less than the utmost
advantage of that opportunity?
PAGE 21

PAGE 22

INTERNAL PRESENTATIONS
Internal presentations often have to do with strategy, solution
development, marketing, human resources, budgeting, and the
like. These are the presentations most often taken for granted,
as the audience is perceived to be forced to listen by their
required attendance. Unfortunately, because of this, many
internal messages are poorly developed, delivered and
received, and result in reduced efficiency, participation,
creativity, morale, motivation and results.
Team Meetings
How often does your company have team meetings that are
considered great or outstanding? How many result in
attendees saying a particular meeting was well worth their
time? If yours are like almost all others, the answer is not very
often. Many times, meeting organizers do not plan well, and
do not develop a meaningful presentation. More likely it
consists of bulleted talking points to guide the discussion.
Possibly useful. Definitely boring.
PAGE 23

Team members want to be engaged, they want to make good use of
their time, they want to share constructive ideas. However, many
meetings are dominated by a set agenda that provides little
initiative for involvement. Imagine an organization where
meeting attendees are anxious to attend and walk away
inspired to do their part!
Strategy Sessions
A strategy session is most productive when participation and
creativity are the focus. A strategy presentation needs to
promote those qualities by laying the foundation for the “why”
message. All too often, these sessions are dominated by data-
driven discussions, with charts, graphs and spreadsheets
providing the information to
be used as the basis for the
strategy development.
A well- developed
presentation which creates
an interest and motivates
attendees to share ideas
provides the best results.
PAGE 24

National/or International Sales Meetings
These events are expensive, time-consuming and critical to success.
Often, they fall short of
expectations and results. The
“general session” and the
“awards presentations” are
normally not the problem with
these events. Those are scripted
for maximum motivation and
entertainment, although general sessions
dominated by talking executive heads with bullet point slides
still are the norm.
The biggest problem resides in the breakout sessions, where
sales reps are educated about solutions, policies and processes,
market data, competitive updates, forecasts, etc. These all-
important opportunities to inform the team are often the
most boring and least appreciated of the event program.
Presenters focus on what information they need to deliver
instead of why its important and how to deliver it in a way
that the reps would most benefit from. Sales people want to
know what’s in it for them, and how can the information
presented make them more money. AND...they want to have
fun. Knowing how these folks are motivated is the key to
developing and delivering a great event.
PAGE 25

Project Updates
Groups and departments within companies have numerous
opportunities for project updates. These are usually very
important to update the team, key stakeholders, or sales/
marketing on the status, progress and timelines for completion.
Often, they are treated in “quickie” fashion, meaning the intent
is to give a quick update and get on with the day. The problem
is, this minimizes the chance for feedback, creative ideas and
suggestions which may very well positively impact the project.
Attendees are often left with the feeling that the information
could just have easily been “mailed in”.
Partner Sessions
Many times there are partners involved in projects,
developments, funding, strategy or other activities. Partners
need to be treated with the same respect and involvement as
internal players. In fact, there is an argument to be made that
it is valuable to make a better impression on partners, as they
have potential influence beyond the walls of the organization.
When partners are treated as “insiders”, and provided with
information that not only informs but impresses them, they are
PAGE 26

more likely to go above and beyond to contribute to the
success of the organization.
PAGE 27

PAGE 28

SETTING EXPECTATIONS
In the vast majority of companies and organizations in the
world, there are no stated, accepted, executive-sponsored
expectations for exceptional communications. There most
certainly is the desire, and perhaps even the unstated
expectation of such results, but very rarely does that represent
itself throughout an organization as a key, driving principle for
the institution as a whole.
What an opportunity missed!
At the same time, leaders will tell you that one of the key skills
that has propelled them to the top is their ability to
communicate well. Prospects will tell you that the number one
desire they have is to easily understand the value proposition
which is being presented to them. Managers will tell you that
their biggest challenge is how to most effectively communicate
with their team.
PAGE 29

Perhaps most telling of all is the fact that miscommunication
is listed as one of the top problem creators in any
organization.
Why then are there few compelling presentation cultures? The
most prevalent answers seem to be as follows:
1. Time – everyone is too busy to focus on the development of
consistently high quality presentations.
2. Resource priorities – there is only so much money available for
training and development.
3. Change – it is difficult to get most people to change the way they
present information.
While all those things are true, it can be argued that
developing a compelling presentation culture can help to
alleviate every one of those issues.
•Compelling presentations can increase overall institutional efficiency,
thereby creating better time management and reducing the numbers of
meetings which frees up more time for more important responsibilities.
•Enhancing the quality and impact of sales and marketing presentations
can increase the number of deals won, and thereby increasing revenues
which provides more money for training and development.
PAGE 30

•By accomplishing the aforementioned two goals, organizational team
members see the results and benefits, and are consequently more open
and willing to adopt change.
Developing such a culture is a 5 step process.
1. Executive Support – Institutional leadership must
embrace the program, and communicate it down through
the team via their words and actions. This sets the level of
importance.
2. Leadership/Management Training – The organization’s
leaders should receive training and coaching on their own
presentation skills, which they can then share with their
teams.
3. Sales Focus –Because the sales team has the most
impactful opportunity to demonstrate an ROI on this
process, a focus on improvement by this group will be
critical to valuation and adoption by the organization as a
whole.
4. Event Coaching – Since large internal and external events
reach so many at a time, it is imperative that presentations
at these events consistently demonstrate the compelling
culture.
5. Meeting Management – There should be a focus on
helping the entire organization to understand the concepts
behind running or participating in regular meetings in an
impactful and meaningful way.
PAGE 31

The development of a compelling presentation culture, and altering the way
the organizational story is told, should not be overlooked as a foundational
way to establish brand quality and consistency, organizational excellence,
maximized efficiency and enhanced corporate reputation. It can be the
foundation for an entirely new and enhanced outlook regarding the
institutional brand, and how it is represented to the world.
What if your organization achieved a similar reaction to
every presentation made by members of your team?
PAGE 32

At Be Compelling Now,
John specializes in helping
organizational leaders and
teams to (a) develop and
deliver powerful, engaging,
memorable business
presentations and business
“stories” which create a
competitive advantage and
get decision-makers to act, and (b) build a culture of
compelling communications within organizations and teams.
Be Compelling Now delivers public and in-house workshops,
and is available for keynotes, team and individual training,
“big-deal” coaching, meeting facilitation, special event
presentations and webinars. John is a Certified Vistage
Speaker, and a TEDX presentations coach.
John Lowe, Chief Message Coach
john@becompellingnow.com
919-264-4591
PAGE 33

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