The Presentation: A Story About Communicating Successfully With Very Few Slides

The Presentation tells the story of David who, with the help of his boss, Barbara and the enigmatic Professor Edwards, is preparing for the most important presentation of his life. In a few short days, David will have to convince the Board that his division-along with his job and those of all his staff-is worth saving. He has the data he needs, and he thinks he has a good case, but can he pull it all together in a way that will capture the Board's attention and pitch his proposal successfully, in just a few slides...? Follow David as he learns: ... that you cannot add interest to your presentation, through fancy transitions, clip art, and so on; you can only draw out the interest inherent in it by solving a problem for your audience. ... that there is a vast difference between slides designed for a large, Ballroom style presentation to inform or entertain your audience, and a smaller, Conference Room style presentation designed to persuade or sell. ... how to decide what you should include in your presentation, and what you should leave out. ... and how to design a presentation when the goal is to persuade your audience to do something: invest in your company, buy your product, approve your project, support your initiative, or donate to your organization.

Dr. Andrew Abela has been designing and delivering effective presentations to senior executives-and training and coaching others to do so-for over 20 years. He is the Chairman of the Department of Business & Economics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and associate professor of marketing. Prior to this he worked as a brand manager with Procter & Gamble, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and he was the founding managing director of the Marketing Leadership Council, a best-practices research organization serving Chief Marketing Officers at hundreds of leading corporations worldwide. He is also the author of Advanced Presentations by Design (Wiley, 2008), which provides a comprehensive review of the extensive empirical research on effective presentation.