They may be experts at setting strategy and managing a leading organization, but unfortunately not all of our CEOs can walk up to a podium with confidence and truly engage their employees, investors, or stakeholder audience.  How about your CFO? CIO? Are they able to lead a presentation that captures and keeps the audiences’ attention and teaches them something?

Coaching the leaders of the organization to be better communicators with their respective stakeholders is a critical skill of today’s communicators—and one that our skills maturity assessment highlights as a common development area for today’s communicators. Our goal here at the CEC is to help you be a better coach, and thus enable better communication across your organization.

Recently, the oh-so-talented team of executive advisors at the Corporate Executive Board gathered for a few days of training (yep–we’re trying to make our presentations more engaging and effective for our members as well!). Below are 10 of the top tips from CEB’s masters of effective presentations. Share them with your leaders in your next coaching session!

1. Start with Confidence, Purpose & Content. The audience should know you’re in charge right away, and that they will learn something very quickly.
2. Half as Long, Twice as Good. Commit to every point you make. Never half-say anything: say it confidently or don’t say it at all. If you can’t decide whether to say something, don’t—everything is premeditated and focused.
3. You’re Happy to be Here. Don’t just smile. Be excited to be here and let it show.
4. Silence is Power. Be comfortable with silence. Use it to own the room throughout the presentation.
5. Believe it. Show us that you truly believe your message.
6. Prioritize. You are here to tell the audience what is most important. Which information matters most? Where should they focus their attention? Tell then what to do, what matters, and why.
7. Don’t Talk What. Talk Why. Why are we talking about this? Why should we care? Why is this hard? Why do we believe we should change? Why are we showing you this information? Always be answering why—that makes for a much more fascinating presentation.
8. Don’t Address Slides. Address the Audience, Using the Slides. You are here to teach and engage people in the room. Use the slides to do that, but make sure you address the people, not the slides.
9. Transition with Purpose. Never say “page 9” as your transition. Tell me why we’re leaving page 8. All transitions are about why.
10. Manage the Clock—Openly. Managing time from the very beginning. Once you have a time problem, it’s too late to solve it.

CEC Related Resources:

• The Modern Communicator’s Skill Set/ Skills Maturity Assessment
• Communication Coaching and Teaching Skill Development
• Enabling Leader-Employee Communications

CEC Related Blog Posts:

• Why Your Leadership Communications Support Misses the Mark
• Strongest and Weakest Skills for the Communications Profession