Jerry Weissman - Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters

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2011 by Power Presentations

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Weissman, Jerry.
Presentations in action : 80 memorable presentation lessons from the masters / Jerry
Weissman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-13-248962-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Business presentations. I. Title.
HF5718.22.W4495 2011
658.452dc22
2010050905

ISBN-10: 0-13-248962-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-248962-1

For my Lovely Lady Lucie again... and again

Jerry Weissman is the Jedi Master of presentations and effective communication. Presentations in Action is a wonderful compilation of 80 interesting examples and stories that will make you think and help you improve your presentations and public speaking. Ive added this important and to-the-point book to my Jerry Weissman collection. Another fabulous read from the Silicon Valley legend.

Garr Reynolds , author of Presentation Zen and The Naked Presenter

Across all fields there is one common trait of leaders: the ability to persuade groups to follow. This is the field guide to persuasion, thus the field guide to successful leadership.

Scott Cook , Co-Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit, Inc.

The best way to learn how to become great is to study the greatest. In Presentations in Action , the worlds #1 presentations consultant presents 80 succinct lessons explaining what made the masters effective. These simple lessons make it easier to be much better. Jerry taught me how to capture my audiences attention in the first minute of my talks with just six words, Tell a story, not a joke. What a difference.

Bill Davidow , Venture Capitalist, author of Marketing High Technology and Overconnected

Jerry gives you 80 secrets from the worlds best persuaders, compacted into bite-sized chapters that make them easy to read and easy to apply. Taken together they define the dynamics of communication that can and have changed the world.

Peter Guber , Chairman of Mandalay Entertainment

Theres nothing I love more than case studies and great presentations. Jerrys book provides case studies so you can make great presentations. It doesnt get more enchanting than this.

Guy Kawasaki , author of Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

Loved the book; it is the key to message received because what is said is less important than what is heard!

Vinod Khosla , Partner, Khosla Ventures

Eighty Presentations Ideas from the Masters is like listening to football advice from Vince Lombardielegant, purposeful, and direct. In this compact but complete book, Jerry Weissman gives you all the right slants on public speaking and presentations. My favorite is , advice from Frank Sinatrawho puts lyrics ahead of melody. Congratulations, Jerry, on an insightful masterwork.

C. Richard Kramlich , Chairman, New Enterprise Associates

Jerrys coaching has been invaluable for many of our c-suite clients as they prepare for their debut or return to the public markets. His high-impact presentation approach has been tremendously successful. In addition, Jerrys book series that detail his differentiating concepts have been incredibly instructive.

Michael Millman , Managing Director, J.P. MorganEquity Capital Markets

I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.

Confucius (551 B.C.479 B.C.)

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Introduction (00:51)

In the more than two decades I have been a presentations coach, many people have heard me tell them how to present effectively. They have also seen me show them, but the best results have come when I coached my clients to doto put the techniques into action.

It worked. Those clients presentations have raised hundreds of billions of dollars in public, private, and even not-for-profit financing; sold hundreds of thousands of products; formed thousands of partnerships; and gained approval for hundreds of internal projects.

Confucius was right about doing.

The techniques grew out of a variety of sources, going all the way back to my Masters studies in the Department of Speech and Drama at Stanford University and forward to my days as producer of public affairs programs at WCBS-TV in New York City. Although I didnt realize it at first, many of the techniques that go into producing a television program are the same as those required to create and deliver a winning presentation: telling a clear and concise story, designing effective graphics, presenting with confidence, and handling tough questions (the latter developed from my CBS assignment at the opposite end of the spectrum of preparing tough questions for the companys legendary inquisitor, Mike Wallace).

In 1988, I brought the accumulated techniques into the business world, where, after refining and applying them as a coach in the private Power Presentations programs, I made them available to the public in three books: Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, The Power Presenter: Technique Style and Strategy, and In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions. Taken together, the three books span all the essential elements of any presentation.

An important adjunct to the techniques was to illustrate them with examples of other presentations as lessons of what to do and what not to do. Most of those examples came from my work with prior clients and with public figures. As the years progressed, I accumulated a substantial repertory of case studies from the business world and video clips from the political world. During that same time, I found additional examples in such diverse fields as current events, politics, science, art, music, literature, cinema, media, sports, and even the military. These variations from pure business cases proved to be even more valuable as coaching tools and lessons because they demonstrated the universal aspects of all human communication; in doing so they added significant dimension to the basic techniques.