某企业IBM咨询管理工具分析(doc 22页)(英文版)

There are three steps to making an IBM presentation:

Plan It offers advice on organizing your message, sharpening your focus on what you want to say, and arranging it in a manner that audiences can follow.

Prepare It is a resource for constructing graphic support materials in Freelance Graphics (PowerPoint is also supported). You will find instructions on how to include elements such as text, charts and graphs in a style that will be consistent to all our audiences - an "IBM look," in much the same way that our advertising and marketing materials have a distinct appearance.

Present It offers tips on how to deliver what you've prepared effectively to an audience. Presentations are not about showing a series of slides; they are about you, communicating a message, with visual elements in a supporting role.

Where to begin

Here's what you do first: Stop. Take some time. As Thomas Watson Sr. used to advise, famously: Think.

You are about to mount an argument. What do you need? Don't succumb to the temptation of collecting every apparently relevant item into a

jumble and then trying to reshuffle them into a coherent order. ("Jim has a nice chart on this, and Lisa has some good market data, I'll get those.")

That's the flawed technique behind many of the more overblown, leaden presentations you've ever dozed through. That's working backwards. Instead, start with nothing... and work forward.

Ask yourself this: What is my point? Every

presentation is an attempt to communicate

something. It may be a complex topic, with lots of

supporting data, but fundamentally there will always be something simple you want to say. It might be "IBM understands your business," or "This technology is the best for our requirements" or "We need more time to do this job right."

Figure out what you're trying to communicate, in its simplest, clearest, most concise form. Write it down, in one sentence. Does it make sense? Does it really cut to the heart of what you need to convey? If not, rewrite it.

If you only could deliver this one sentence to your audience, with no charts or any supporting information, would this be the one you'd choose?

Composing this basic sentence might take two minutes, or it might take an hour. It doesn't really matter which. Just get it right. Without a clear point of view, you are navigating without direction.

Get it wrong, and you'll struggle the rest of the way.

Get it right, and the pieces will begin falling naturally into place behind it.

Build your case

In her book Secrets of Power Presentations , Micki Holliday suggests answering the following questions as a first start to organizing your presentation:

? What does the audience need to know?

? What does the audience want to know? ? What are the possible benefits of a successful meeting for this audience? ("What's in it for me?") ? What questions might the audience have?

OK, you're clear about the point you need to convey. But it's safe to assume that your audience is not prepared to accept your message on faith. After all, if everyone in the room already knew what you wanted to tell them, and agreed with it, there would be no point whatever to your standing up and talking.

The purpose of your talk is to move your audience to your point of view. So you will have to build your case. You need to organize your argument.

Make a rough flow chart of the information you are going to present. Just sketch it out on paper - this isn't going to be a chart you'll show, and you'll probably have to revise it a few times anyway.

The organizing principle behind this is a pyramid: each statement you make will have one, or more likely several, supporting pieces of information under it. As you build your presentation in this outline form, a pyramid will form, with your basic statement at the top and everything else arrayed beneath it. Don't worry yet about the order in which you'll actually present each item. Just get them all down on paper to look at.

The Pyramid Principle book listed in our recommended reading list is devoted to this method of organization, and it's a useful resource. But the basic idea is really common sense, merely a way of laying out your information so you can arrange and, later on, present it logically.

Let's take a look at a hypothetical presentation and how you might organize its various elements, using this technique.

From the top down

Let's assume your basic point is: IBM's solution is your best option, because its combination of products and services is integrated and flexible, and because we understand your business challenges.

Now, put yourself in your audience's position. They want to know why they should believe this. They expect proof.

You have, let's assume, four reasons. First, IBM products work together. Second, IBM offers the flexibility of open systems. Third, IBM services tie everything together. Fourth, IBM has experience in the customer's industry.

This is the heart and framework of your pitch. Lay it out graphically.

You now see that you're going to open by stating your main point, and you're going to proceed through your presentation by offering facts and data in these four areas. Don't worry yet about which will come first.

Take each of your supporting arguments and do the same again. Build another pyramid under each of the four. Under "products work together" you might have information about each of the elements in the solution: servers, middleware, storage. You might want to talk about inter-divisional efforts in IBM to integrate technologies across our product lines. It would look something like this:

For this example, we don't need to bother creating all the pyramids that build downward, but you will

want to do this for your entire presentation.

Organize all the information that you might want to

include. You will then have a pyramid that

encompasses everything you need to convey.

Now, play with it. Look at the big picture. See

what's most important. Take out things that, while

you might think they're important, just won't

resonate with or be understood by your audience.

Move things around. Add or delete, but keep the

organizing structure intact.

Once you have a pyramid that seems to represent

your theme and the various points you need to get

across, you're ready to start creating the materials

you will actually show people: bullet points, charts,

graphs. Instead of organizing on-the-fly, you've

organized first. Congratulations: you now have a

clear picture - literally - of what information is

relevant to your presentation, what points it supports, and where it should go. Unfortunately, many people don't bother to begin with this formal, structured approach.

Although you haven't even created your first slide, the most critical (and often botched) work in creating your presentation is complete.

If this all seems too plodding, too restrictive and structured, don't worry: it isn't. By the time you have a presentation ready to show, the underlying organization will fade from view, leaving behind merely a framework that helps your audience focus more easily on your message, and enhances your own mastery of the material, since you understand thoroughly how it all fits together.

Now, let's take your graphical, pyramid outline and prepare a presentation.

Fallen Pyramids

Some people find it helpful to use a

pyramid on its side, with the topic in the

left-most box, and building the pyramid

out to the right, instead of below it. If you

use this method, you'll notice that the

pyramid more closely resembles a classic

outline structure. Unlike an outline,

however, the relative equality of the boxes

make it much easier to restructure and

re-order your presentation and establish

new relationships to item without altering

the entire organization, as often occurs

when creating an outline.

Where to begin

Visual elements such as

graphs, charts, and text can

enhance your ability to

communicate, helping your

audience follow your

message and quickly

understand various types of

information.

Used thoughtfully, they can

be valuable tools.

Used indiscriminately, or constructed poorly, however, they can actually detract from your message. They can clutter your presentation and confuse your audience.

This template will facilitate the preparation of your presentation and will help to continue establishing you as one of the best expressions of the IBM brand.

?It reflects IBM's corporate design style, which also influences our advertising and marketing materials. It is straightforward, clean, and simple.

?It's flexible enough to accommodate a variety of uses. Some may use it with little or no graphic elements, while others might need to convey far more

complicated data.

?It's simple to use. Although communications specialists and graphic designers have worked to create this template, anyone in IBM should be able to use it without any special skills or software beyond what is already

available.

Don't automatically assume you need to use presentation software to make your presentation!

Some of the most effective sales jobs are done just by speaking directly, sincerely and informatively about the subject, without hiding behind charts. In Say It With Presentations, noted presentation designer Gene Zelazny gives three basic types of media you should consider if you need visuals to help convey your message:

Lap visuals, so called because each member of the audience receives his or her own copy of the materials at the start of the meeting, if not before. Best for small groups, their use can open up discussion and help everyone participate as equal partners. The downside is that they may read ahead and start asking questions you would prefer to deal with later in the discussion. And you can also miss opportunities for eye contact if everyone is looking down reading.

Easels or white boards. Great for increasing interactivity among 15 or fewer people, since you're recording the audience's ideas as they come up. Downsides: Avoid spending all your time with your back to the audience; perhaps deputize a member of the meeting to help write down points so you can concentrate on their comments and reactions to you and each other.

On-screen presentations. While less personable than the other two methods, this is by far the most polished and suitable for large audiences. Since this is also the medium with the greatest pitfalls, this is the type of presentation we'll be working on in this section.

Title screen

By using a standard title chart and following the style consistently, we will add a professional touch not only to our individual presentations but collectively to all of IBM's face-to-face communications.

The title slide is a straightforward element, and generally requires only that you include your name, IBM organization, and speaking topic in the places provided. However, the template allows for other elements that might be required, and it's important to follow the guidelines if you will be using these.

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