Recently,
participants in one of my training programs complained that they spent weeks to
prepare long, in-depth PowerPoint presentations to sell their ideas to a senior
executive. But he stopped them on the
first slide and asked them so many questions that they didn't have time to go
through the rest of the slides. While I initially
shared their indignation, here are some suggestions about how to view the
situation in a positive light:
· Remember,
the point of the presentation is to communicate your information to your
audience; in this case, your audience is the executive (and his team) and your
goal is for him to understand your project and make a decision about it. Whether he does that by looking at all your
slides or listening to the answers you give to his questions, you have achieved
your goal.
· Slides
are just the visual aids – you are the presentation. It is better that the executive asks you the
questions rather than asking you to be quiet so he can read each of your
slides. Your ability to answer the
question demonstrates that you have command of the information. The slides are just there to provide you
backup, rather than the other way around.
· The
exercise of constructing the slides is useful in itself. Even if you don't get to show all of them,
just the fact that you spent the time to prepare them means you know the
information well.
· Be
selective in what you include in your presentation and on the slides. Just because you know all the details doesn't
mean you have to say them or put them in the slides. Focus on the big picture in your presentation
and keep the details available to answer the questions.
· Creating
effective and focused slides takes time – so build that time into your
schedule.
· You
will be interrupted with questions –
expect them and be prepared for them.
You can try to respond with, "I have a slide later that answers
your question," but if the executive asks for the information, it's not
usually a good idea to make him wait for it.
Remember, you are there to communicate to your audience in whatever way
the audience wants.