Читать книгу Just Add Water - Michael Baldwin - Страница 4

FOREWORD

I have spent 25 years in advertising, trained as a professional actor, delivered nearly 1,000 theater workshops at the flagship Apple Store, and made branding and marketing presentations powerful enough to convince even Steve Jobs. For the past five years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping senior managers, VPs, CMOs, and CEOs become better presenters.

I love the art of presentation. And I hate what’s become of it. We were off to such a spectacular start 32,000 years ago with the simple, powerful cave paintings: the gold standard for presentations. Even Picasso was moved by their uncomplicated beauty and ability to communicate. But we’ve been in a downward spiral ever since. I’m all too aware of the drill: a mandate comes down from on high or from a client, a scramble ensues for all the relevant data, and everyone and their sister have to add their two cents before signing off. The result is a schizophrenic, overloaded presentation that nobody is happy with. Too many people spend weeks preparing a presentation only to see it tank, and don’t know why or where to turn for help.

I’ve worked with six clients a day over the past five years and witnessed the frustration, confusion, and fear that so many people have about public speaking. I’ve seen these same clients transformed over the course of my training—and the joy and empowerment they feel as a result. This book is a distillation of that one-day program—and it works.

Here I turn the fundamentals of creating, organizing, and delivering content into easy-to-remember concepts. Just Add Water is shorthand for “easy.” In the time it takes to fly from New York to Denver, it will give you the techniques to save time and energy in your preparation process and provide you a visual overview of what effective presentations look like. You’ll discover how to create simple, powerful presentations that work.

“Nothing will accelerate your career faster than developing your ability to communicate.” —Stand and Deliver