I’ve just been on holiday. And like most people I bought some books at the Airport. The first book was by James Patterson, the second by Jeffrey Deaver and the third by a new author. What I loved about the first two books was that they had a really clear premise, someone got murdered and someone else had to find the killer, and second there was a clear structure to the book and the characters. There were easy to read.

But the third book was different. I just couldn’t figure out what the book was about. I had to keep reading the back page to try and pick up the thread of the story. Also there was no clear structure, the book kept changing locations and characters. After sixty five painful pages I just gave up and left the book in the villa for someone else to read, after-all I suppose there’s a chance it was just me (it wasn’t).

I just couldn’t help making the connection between books with no premise and no structure and change management presentations with the same problem.

I have sat through so many presentations, made by external and internal consultants, managers and leaders where there was a clear remit to present the findings of an analysis, explain why the problem occurred and then point to the direction of the solution, but they failed to engage the leader. This happened because there was no clear definition of the problem, premise, or coherent structured points for how to improve the business. In short the leader got lost, bored, and like me on holiday, lost interest in the story. What’s worse is that in most of the cases, the analysis and the solution were good. But the consultant lost out simply through lack of structure.

See here’s 7 points to help you plan your next presentation

o Write out the main problem you are trying to solve in the presentation

o Start planning by asking three questions you will answer in your presentation

o Write three answers under each of the questions

o Under each of the answers make a note of evidence that supports each point

o Make sure you have different types of evidence, mix statistics and stories

o After each of your three answers write a short summary

o Write out your conclusion in one sentence