The Power Presenter

About the Author

Jerry Weissman is renowned as America's top corporate presentations coach. Over the past two decades, Weissman has trained CEOs and executives from leading companies such as Yahoo!, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Intel, and Netflix. He is the founder of Power Presentations, Ltd., and has played a pivotal role in the success of over 1,000 firms by helping them craft and deliver compelling business presentations. His expertise and strategies have been instrumental in raising financing, selling products, proposing partnerships, and securing project approvals.

Main Idea

The Power Presenter by Jerry Weissman introduces a comprehensive approach to delivering impactful presentations. Weissman combines technique, style, and strategy to guide presenters in engaging their audience effectively. The book outlines a seven-step plan for developing content into a compelling story, offers methods to overcome the fear of public speaking, and emphasizes the importance of body language, empathy, and synchronized graphics in presentations. The goal is to help anyone stand up and deliver with confidence and conviction.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Your Actions Speak Louder Than Your Words
3. The Crucial Task: Creating Audience Empathy
4. The Butterflies in Your Stomach
5. How to Prepare Your Content
6. Charisma Not Required
7. The Mental Method of Presenting
8. The Four Stages of Learning
9. Learn to Speak with Your Body Language
10. Control Your Cadence
11. Masters of the Game
12. What Every Speaker Can Learn from Barack Obama
13. Graphics Synchronization
14. Graphics and Narrative
15. The Power Presentations Pyramid

Introduction

When a company goes public, its senior management team must deliver a high-stakes presentation to potential investors. This presentation, known as an IPO road show, can significantly impact the company's success. For instance, Cisco Systems managed to raise their stock price from an expected range of $13.50 to $15.50 to $18.00 per share, attributing this increase to Weissman's coaching. This example underscores the power of effective presentation skills.

“Cisco originally expected to get $13.50 to $15.50 per share for its stock. But during the road show the company was so well-received that it managed to sell 2.8 million shares at $18.00 apiece, Don Valentine, chairman of the Board of Cisco Systems, said. He attributed at least $2 to $3 of the increase to Weissman's coaching.” - San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 1990

Your Actions Speak Louder Than Your Words

Audience Advocacy is the cornerstone of Weissman's approach. He encourages presenters to become advocates for their audience by considering their hopes, fears, and passions. This empathy-driven viewpoint transforms the presenter-audience relationship into a dynamic exchange of human emotions and ideas.

Weissman emphasizes the importance of the three Vs: Verbal (the story you tell), Vocal (how you tell your story), and Visual (your body language). Surprisingly, body language has the greatest impact, followed by voice, and then the story. This insight challenges the common belief that content is paramount. At the moment of truth, your body language and voice can speak louder than words.