I HATE PRESENTATIONS

Classes are changing now, and I step into the elevator with a gaggle of students. They're going to class, but they look as if they're trudging to the morgue to identify a relative. Business school can be like that at mid-semester. From derivatives to depreciation, from value chain to valuation of the firm, gloom hangs in the hallways and dissipates only with the coming of spring.

And on the elevator, snippets of conversation reach me. Two animated girls chatter in grinding cartoon voices, and I catch a conversation mid-sentence. I think it was a conversation.

"... terrible on the mid-term. He's, like, so unfair! He, like, wouldn't give me credit for–"

"So totally –"

"–next week with the group project, so I said whatever. I hate presentations! But it's, like, twenty-five percent of our grade and it's, like, due next week, and we have to rehearse. I totally don't have time for this, and besides, I hate giving presentations!"

"Like whatever! Dude needs to chill out."

"Yeah, like ... I know what you mean. Group work sucks. Like, it really sucks! I never get a good group. And I never get, like, a good topic!"

"I hate presentations!"

"Totally."

The elevator doors open, and the ladies exit, the fog of angst wafting out with them. I calculate to myself – six intensive weeks, and these college students could become superior speakers and presenters, at ease with an audience, articulate and sure of themselves, presenting with clarity and with a powerful style unique to each of them. Admired by their peers. Sought by employers across the industry spectrum. No more "hate" for "public speaking." No more slang barbarisms ...

No more "like." No more "totally."

No more "whatever."

But they had disappeared into the jaws of the business school. They faded into that mass of students bustling to wherever you bustle, perhaps to sorority rush, to the next party.

Those ladies carried away with them the same problem that most business school students carry in their psychic backpacks, weighing them down without them knowing it – a distaste for everything that involves business presenting.

I hate presentations!

I hate public speaking!

I hate group work! I never get a good group! I never get a good topic!

I hate my group!

I hate it all!

How many times have you said it yourself? You hate public speaking. You hate giving speeches. You hate presentations.

If you happen to be giving a group presentation, it's even worse. Your imagined failure is multiplied. In group work, others now depend on you. And you depend on them. And you "never get a good group." All of that, and more.

Now, breathe deep.

If you're nervous about business school presentations ...

If you don't even know the point of presentations ...

If you pretend to know what a good presentation is, but in your heart you have no clue, and you just mimic your way through with your fingers crossed ...

If you hope to God you never have to deliver another presentation after you graduate ...

Then this book is for you – just for you. I wrote this book for you and no one else. It's just for you, the student, because I understand every one of your fears, your doubts, your jittery nerves, and your ignorance of what is desired from you. I understand you perfectly.

Visualization Time: Picture Yourself

Let's talk about the presentation itself. You know a bad presentation when you see one, don't you? We see them all the time, so often in fact, that who can be faulted for believing that presentations are supposed to be dull contrivances? You also know the superb presentation as well, and you surely know the superior presenter when you see him or her. But it's hard to figure out why it's so good. You can't quite put your finger on any single factor that imbues a presentation with power, but the whole of it speaks to you. You feel it across a range of emotions.

The speaker moves well, his voice resonates, he doesn't stumble, he dances expertly with his visuals, you never doze off, you remember what he says, and he stops and leaves you wanting more. You understand that you've been in the presence of a master.

Perhaps you believe that the excellence you perceive is the product of a "natural born" speaker. As a result, perhaps you think you have witnessed something that you can never be, something beyond your abilities. Perhaps you believe it's a gift.

Yes, it is a gift. It's the gift of unlimited potential, and everyone has it. Now visualize yourself actualizing this gift. Visualize yourself stepping confidently to the lectern and smiling at your audience. You feel in command and surely feel none of the butterflies that used to make you tremble. You have no fear. You aren't nervous. You exude an aura, or what we call professional presence.

You step out from behind the lectern and into the command position. It is apparent to everyone that you control the agenda. That they're about to hear something special, a business case that will yield something that only you can tell them and in a way that motivates and moves them to action.

Visualize yourself moving easily to and fro, gesturing precisely as you lay out the situation statement. Your voice hits the right notes with the right emotion as you serve up your value chain analysis.

You pause in the right places as you dramatize compelling story that incorporates financial analysis and the results of your SWOT analysis. Each of your teammates steps up and follows your lead. They shine and interweave their portions of the show seamlessly. Your presentation comes off as a well- orchestrated ballet, flawlessly...