Successful Presentations – Theme, Attitude
Effective Presentation Skills with Tips from Drayton Bird
Oct 14, 2009
Successful presentations have one thing in common – an interesting theme, even drama. Drayton Bird, former International Creative Director and Vice Chairman of the multinational ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, has a lot to say on the subject of making presentations.
Does the Presentation Have a Theme, and Some Drama?
Most presentations are simply a boring and turgid recital of facts and figures, culminating in the presentation of the creative work – by which point, most clients have lost interest.
Why are they so dull?
Says Bird: "Because people fail to apply the same thinking to a presentation as they would do, say, a direct mail shot, or a TV commercial. They fail to remember that first of all, they must interest people. And the whole thing must have some point to it.
A great man once said: There is no theme to this pudding. And a theme is what you need for a presentation. A thread which runs through it and is pursued logically to the close."
And of course, just as with any piece of creative work, the presenter needs a striking opening which will capture attention. In fact, the presenter should remember that a presentation is a piece of creative work.
The Right Attitude is Important for a Presentation
"Napoleon once observed," says Bird, "In war, numbers are far less important than morale." This is true of many things, and certainly true of presentations.
If the presenter has the right frame of mind, he is far more likely to succeed than otherwise. If he remembers that the client is not his enemy but is coming in the hope of seeing good creative work, he will approach the whole affair in the correct way.
Bird explains this further: "The account executive's job is to show the client why what he has done is good and relevant. The presentation is an opportunity – a chance to demonstrate how excellent the agency is – not a ritual sacrifice."
But the right frame of mind depends on how well prepared the account executive is for his presentation. Whether he has followed all the rules of making effective presentations.
Bird finishes with this little gem – "One last piece of advice: make it fun for everyone. When clients come to agencies, they'd like to have fun. Don't be bores. Show that you are enjoying yourselves, and that you expect your clients to enjoy themselves."
How to Make an Entertaining Presentation
Drayton Bird advises ad executives to make their presentations fun and dramatic. They must be creative and create an interesting theme for their presentation.
Note: This is the third and final article based on Part One of How to Present Successfully by Drayton Bird. The other two articles in this series are: Successful Presentations – Where, Who,Tone and How to Make Successful Presentations - Structure, Rehearse, Time. Watch out for Part Two.
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