Part 1 and Part 2 discussed the importance of planning and preparation. Now we get to the main event, the actual act of presenting. 

Present

Storylines and arcs. Stories have universal appeal; we all appreciate a good yarn. A presentation is an opportunity to tell a compelling narrative. Like all stories, presentations have a logical beginning, middle and end. In this instance the end
is "Point B". However, a good structure and flow does not complete the story. Stories have emotional elements such elements of surprise and suspense, and villains and heroes. The classic tale Cinderella has all of these – surprise (pumpkin turning into a carriage), suspense (will she make it before midnight) and villains (her step sisters).

I am not suggesting that you turn your presentation into a fairy tale ;-), but having the right combination of function with emotion will make your presentation more enjoyable – and memorable. "Made to Stick" is an excellent resource of "SUCCES" factors. 

Opening Gambits. The term gambit is used in chess to describe an opening where an offer is made (by usually sacrificing a pawn) to secure a subsequent advantage. In presentations,  gambits are techniques used to get the attention of the audience in the crucial opening minutes. Although stories are a great way to open, they aren't the only options. Here are others referenced in Weissman's “Presenting to Win” book: Question, Factoid, Retrospective/Prospective, Quotation, Familiar Saying and Analogy. 

Mannerisms to Avoid. Just as your slides should avoid visual distractions, your “on stage” presence should also avoid them. We all have our pet mannerisms. Unfortunately, some of these can be distracting to positively humiliating in front of audiences. Hopefully, dry runs with friends who will give you critical feedback will help you to root them out. Here are a few examples to avoid   

• Pacing up and down the room, like you've had too much Red Bull
• Fidgeting with glasses/your hair/change in your pockets
• Burying hands deep in your pockets
• Overusing the laser pointer
• Pointing a finger at someone in the audience

Don't read every bullet on every slide! Years ago, Nathan Myhrvold put out a memo that said (among  other pithy things), "the Audience Can Read". The point is, the audience is reading and listening and watching you; it’s your job to keep them engaged in more than one way.

Answering (Hard) Questions at the end. This is usually where many presenters fall into a trap. The mistake is this – you get so focused on presenting that when you finally get to the end, to the last slide, and open up for questions – you think your job is done. You let your guard down. And just like that – you fall in! Because you are lulled into thinking it is over, you are more vulnerable to make mistakes. 

Politicians are great reminders of foibles such as forgetting the "open microphone" or visibly showing with body language that they "want to get the hell out". Jerry Weissman has another book aptly named "In the Line of Fire". He uses examples of Presidential Debates to make his points about the  importance of keeping on your toes the moment you open up for questions. 
 
At that very moment, there is a subtle but important shift – you are shifting the focus from you to the audience. In other words, you are giving up some control. But you can still control factors like time; i.e. how many questions you want to take. 

One of the key things in Weissman's book is the importance of understanding the question and accurately responding to it. This sounds obvious, but isn't so easy in real life because often the essence is buried as the
questioner is forming the question by thinking it out aloud. So it is often punctuated with "Umms" and many "wrappers" that you have to mentally unwrap to get to the core issue.

This is again the "Roman Column" concept discussed in Part 1. It highlights the importance of being an active listener. Only when you've understood the Roman Column, you may proceed to answering it. Now, what happens if you don't understand the question? Ask the questioner to help you out. It is better to do this then get embarrassed later. 
 
Another point in the “In the Line of Fire” book is about "Top Spin". The term comes from racquet sports like tennis where the person hitting the ball puts an extra edge causing the ball to rotate as if rolling in the same
direction as it is moving forward. "Top Spin" in Jerry Weissman's terminology is when you not only effectively answer the question, but also take the opportunity to reinforce core points in your presentation (e.g. audience benefits and getting to Point B).

Overall, it is a great book to help you prepare for facing the various type of questions you are likely to encounter. 
 
Recommended Reading        
Plan: Presenting to Win (Jerry Weissman) and Presentation Zen (Garr Reynolds)  ·       
Prepare:  Beyond Bullet Points (Cliff Atkinson) and Slideology (Nancy Duarte) ·       
Present:  In the Line of Fire (Jerry Weissman) and Made to Stick (Chip Heath and Dan Heath) 

If there's one "must read" book, I'd say "Presenting to Win". It is the book I would recommend to begin with; and it is the book that helped me avoid the cardinal sins of presenting. And, it got me interested in the rest!

In Part 1, I introduced 3 Ps: Plan, Prepare and Present. 

The important point to reinforce from Part 1 on planning is: start with audience in mind, and to capture your thoughts in analog (on a whiteboard, notepad, etc.) even before you open up PowerPoint. Moving on to Prepare

Prepare 
 
Perform dry runs – so your final one isn't dry:-). Have you ever noticed how great artists take time to practice
before every performance (e.g. on Broadway). The same goes for athletes. Ditto for presentations. The more you practice, the more confident you are. Speaking personally, it has made me less nervous and less prone to mistakes.

A great way to prepare is with people you know, i.e. trusted colleagues, family and friends. The less they know your material, the better.This will help you avoid the Curse of Knowledge referenced in the book  "Made to Stick". In other words, it will help you avoid language and/or terms that are difficult to understand, statements that make the audience feel like you are talking over them (or down to them), and so on. It will also help hone your Q&A skills. 

If you can't find someone, talk to your pet – dog, cat, goldfish,  whatever. They pay attention and don't talk back :-)Finally, practice by talking to yourself in front of a mirror. 
 
Anticipate Murphy’s Law – have a backup plan or two! One of the ultimate back up plans is – no slides.  This is hard, but think about it – if you can communicate most (if not all) of what you want to say without slides, then you're probably the best prepared you'll ever be. It also serves to fine tune the "elevator pitch".

I also like to make JPG images of my slides (an easy option of the Save As menu in PowerPoint) so that in a pinch, I can always project the images. Sometimes you end up in situations where you don't have PowerPoint handy (or the correct version) so it's always a good idea to have images. Which is probably another reason to avoid too many animations and transitions in your slides. 
 
Do reconnaissance missions. Whenever possible, do a lay of the land check. I have avoided many potential embarrassments this way. Try to get to the exact location you'll be presenting early enough so you can get a feel for the small, but important things that might impact the outcome of your presentation. For example, 

• Are you presenting alone or in a panel?
• How will the audience be facing you?                
• Can they see everything you have to present? Is the room long or wide or both?
• Is the room dark or bright – will that affect your slide background (dark vs. light)? 
• Is the projector bright enough?                
•  Will the cords reach so that everything is positioned well without you tripping over it? 

What if you can't get there early and you have to make adjustments? Obviously remain calm and try to do the best you can. In a pinch, remember what I said about no slides?

Years ago in Dallas, I decided to do a startup. Coincidentally, it was on cloud computing (it didn't have the buzz it does today). I quit my stable job, and with my co-founder, started knocking on doors to raise money for our fledging venture. We were directed to "go west", so we cashed in our frequent flier miles to meet with an Angel Investor in the Bay Area. It was like getting an audience with the Pope. We met for breakfast.

After the polite hellos, he got straight to the point: "What's your story?" I started babbling about a "Services Gateway" and other esoteric terms related to cloud computing. He stopped me and said, "What's your insight?" Take 2. I then got into how much experience I had, my co-founder's background, our professional accomplishments  (we were proud of our patents, books authored, and so on.). He stopped us again and said something like "my admin has more experience than you guys. So what?  What's your insight?"

It was a rude shock. Things went rapidly downhill in  just five minutes after our initial hello. At this point, I was planning my exit  strategy – how to walk out gracefully. But I must have evoked some empathy because he knew we were struggling and had taken a flight from DFW just to see him. So he offered for us a chance to meet with his brother down in LA. He said, "You guys have something, but I don't understand it. Maybe he can help". We changed our travel plans to meet his brother near Long Beach.

The story with his brother was disastrously similar; except, the brother was willing to spend more time with us. Midway through our spiel, he said words that I'll never forget. "You are describing a four legged animal in a forest. Until you describe the trunk, I don't know that you are talking about an elephant. I'll then decide if I am interested in the elephant or if I should run away".

So what did I learnt from that? 

• Plan - Anticipate the Audience. Give Insights, and avoid "History Lessons". No one cares about your background, your team, what you do unless it relates to the specific topic. Even so, that comes later. 
• Prepare – To Tell your Story. I would add, prepare to do it anytime, anywhere. NO SLIDES! This is your elevator pitch; at the end of the day, it's the essence of your message. 
• Present – "the Trunk" up front. Get the essence out quickly so that the audience can give you permission to
  proceed (meaning they are tuned in. Not tuned out, even if they are politely nodding).

Plan
Most presentations (and projects!) fail because of failure to plan. Have you experienced the following five “cardinal sins of presenting”?  Source: Presenting to Win by Jerry Weissman. I have committed all of them – now
I know better.

• No clear point 
• No audience benefit 
• No clear flow 
• Too detailed 
• Too long

How do you avoid these pitfalls? Here are some tips from Jerry’ book.

• Get the audience from Point A to Point B. Point A is the general state of the audience. Most likely, people are indifferent but willing to give you a chance. If you are lucky, they are interested and will stay that way. If you are unlucky, they are indignant (hostile). Anticipating the state of the audience allows you to mentally plan for what you want to say. What are the (rude) questions likely to come up? What are the obvious questions for which you need to have answers (even if it is "I don't know, haven't figured that out yet". I use this exercise to generate a list – let's call it List A. Point B is where you want the audience to go. Where do you want to take them and what should they do when they get there? Again, I use this exercise to generate a second list - List B. I keep these lists in mind when planning my presentations; and later on, to checkpoint when I am done. 

• What's in it for you (aka WIFFY… pronounced "whiffy"). This is the audience benefit taken from their point of view; their motivation to get to point B.
• Plan Analog. I find that many people start off trying to write out their presentations in PowerPoint. Much as I love PowerPoint, it's the wrong thing to do at this stage. This is the time to let your creative juices flowing; to think about your Lists A and B, and start writing down all the ideas you can as fast as they pop into your head. You can use a whiteboard, notepad, sticky notes or whatever works. Sometimes the topic is
  important enough that you want to get collective ideas with your team. 
• Structure ideas. It is said that orators like Cicero used to speak for hours on end with great lucidity. Cicero used Roman Columns in the buildings to associate with his key points. Each column was a mental trigger and represented an important idea he wanted to communicate. Reviewing your lists A  and B, now is the time to get key ideas together into "Roman Columns". It is like creating affinity diagrams. 
• Organize ideas into common flows. From childhood, we tend to associate with common patterns – linear, cyclical etc. Use these to your advantage to your organize your ideas; your audience will be able to follow along. Some helpful patterns - composite (parts of whole, e.g. when presenting elements of a strategy), funnel (boiling ideas down to insights and recommendations) and extensions (building on an existing idea to a new opportunity).

Next, I'll cover Preparation and Presentation.