Presenting In The Boardroom

Company Headquarters:
Presenting in the Boardroom
Billie Berry
PSP110
April 25, 2006
Instructor Wendy

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Boardroom Setting:
Preparing for a boardroom meeting puts you in an atmosphere all its own. To achieve maximum quality throughout your presentation/speech, there are a few outlines you should go over and follow:

The Boardroom:
Familiarize yourself with the room before the meeting. Allow time to get comfortable with the room. Unlike theater seating or classroom seating, a conference room gets you up close and personal. These types of settings are usually a table with chairs facing with the audience looking at each other, not you. There are three positions of seating referred to as Power, Input, and Observer seats. You can carefully arrange your audience to your advantage making your presentation more successful. You can, as well, sit in the chairs to get an idea of how the audience will see you. You will want to avoid seating your team on one side, and the other team on the other side. Mix them in the observer, power, and input seats.

Before the Meeting:
• Know who is going to be there
• Set time aside for key decision makers, give them a preview of the presentation
• What types of power sources will you have access to
• Test the presentation equipment

Seating:
• Create space for yourself
• Add or remove seats within your triangle
• Those who sit diagonally opposite you are in the power seats, these seats mirror the presenter and give the occupant an implied power
• Those in the input seats have a better view of the presenter, they will interact when prompted
• Your audience in the observer seats have no view and have to shift in their chairs to get a view
• Tip the scales to your favor by placing people in certain seats
• Put a couple of key players from the other team in power seats
• Save some of the observer seats for your team

Knowing your Audience:
• What kind of background do they have
• Why are they there
• How much of the subject matter do they know, if they have little knowledge of the subject matter, they can be left clueless if your presentation comes up short
• How much time is allotted for the meeting
• What size is the group going to be
• Who are the leaders


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• What type of attitude does the audience have for you
• Who does your presentation need to be geared toward
• What is the consensus of the subject

Self-Analysis:
Once you finish the analysis of your audience, follow with a self-analysis.
• What is your knowledge of the subject
• Is there adequate time allotted in the preparation for the type of presentation you have planned
• What is your interest concerning the subject
• Make extra notes of what you already know
• Make a list of the subject matter that you are lacking
• Research and gather the information you may be missing
• Focus your research on proving your points, clarifying your points, and adding interest to your points

Gather Information:
It will be helpful to have a variety of information to be used in your presentation.
• Examples
• Quotations
• Stories
• Comparisons/Contrasts
• Statistics
• Audio-Visual Supports

Occasion-Analysis:
The final presentation analysis step of your presentation is to find the answers to the following questions.
• What is the purpose of this meeting
• What is the agenda and where do you fit on the agenda
• What is your exit strategy after the presentation
Be fully prepared for the logistics, prepare and follow a checklist for each presentation.
• Persons contact information (phone, fax, cell phone numbers)
• Written conformation for the times of the meeting
• What tools are going to be available (podium, power supply, computers, lighting, etc..)
• How are the seating arrangements
• What type of sound systems are available
• Will there be water or beverages
• What type of introduction will have (straight to the point, funny, etc..)

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• What procedures will have to handle the question and answer segment
• What are the expectations following your meeting (follow up meetings, reception)

Organizational Outline:
Prepare your organizational outline using the following format.
Introduction
• Distribute 15% of the meeting to capture the audiences attention
• Give the audience a little preview of the presentation by letting them know what you are going to cover
Body
• Distribute 75% of the meeting time to the body of the presentation
• Make three main points
• Arrange your points logically (time, topic, problem, and solution)
• Support your points with facts
Conclusion
• Distribute 10% of your time to the conclusion of your meeting
• Remind the audience of the points discussed
• Ask the audience to do something in response to your meeting
• Close the meeting with a memorable statement

References:

George Torok, (2006), Presentation Skills Success, Retrieved April 22, 2006 from http://www.speachcoachforexecutives.com/



Randall P. Whatley, (2006, 2004), Presentation Development, Campaign Guide, Audience Analysis, Presenters University, Retrieved April 22, 2006 from http://www.presentersuniversity.com/index.php