The Power Presentations Pyramid Analysis
Many people think that public speaking and having to present something in front of people can be very nerving and difficult, but like many other things it can be made easier when you have an outline of what you need to present and how to present it. These tools can be used not only to organize yourself and make it easier for you to deliver your context to the audience, but it can actually strengthen your presentation. Clarity is very important in these circumstances because the most effective presentations are those that are easiest for the audience to comprehend. Jerry Weissman, the author of “Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America’s Top Speaking Coach”, is well known as the world’s number one corporate presentations coach. His résumé includes working with the top brass at companies such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Yahoo, Intel, Intuit, and Netflix among many others. In his book, he teaches techniques and strategies to deliver strong presentations. In chapter 13 of his book, he describes his context of what he calls “The Power Presentations Pyramid”.
Weissman believes this chart in order from the bottom to the top, is how to become a power presenter. “The foundation of the pyramid, as it is for every presentation, is a solid story that is illustrated by the graphics of the slide show.” (Weissman, 2009). This pyramid is an extremely successful tool in making a presentation because it keeps the presenter organized while building the of the presentation itself. This format of delivering a presentation is successful in painting a picture of your story in your audience’s mind. This is extremely important to do because it sells yourself and your presentation on the audience. Lastly, ending with a Q&A is a crucial part of a presentation because it allows you to reinforce key points in your story from your audience’s questions, as well as clarifying any points your audience may not have understood. Q&A’s are also very important because your audience may try and test your knowledge on the topic of your presentation, and it only strengthens your presentation when you are an expert on the topic.
References
Weissman, J. (2013). The power presenter. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
