Ability to present well, to sign during the meetings or in conversations is extremely important in building what we call your personal brand. There's a great quote from Carmine Gallo. In the age of information, the knowledge economy you are only as valuable as the ideas you have to share. Poor presentation skills means that leaders fail to inspire, products fail to sell, entrepreneurs fail to attract investors, and careers fail to soar. Great presentation skills will help you stand th part in the world of ideas. I strongly believe this to be true. But presenting complex ideas and convincing others to accept your ideas is difficult. As I mentioned in the course introduction engineering topics can be particular challenging to talk about. Engineers need to explain difficult concepts. Discuss intricate technical specifications. Present complex data and processes. And at the same time persuasively argue that the recommendations should be implemented. To make things worse, modern audiences have short attention span and are used to multitasking. For example, a survey by Nielsen and Harris Polls shows that close to half 46% of listeners admit to doing something else during coworkers presentations. A lot of people texted, checked email, surfed the Internet or Social Media, and 17% of the respondents confessed to falling asleep during the presentation. A lot of people are also deadly afraid of public speaking. In the same survey 12% of respondents said they would prefer to ask someone else to present, even if it ment a loss of an opportunity to advance. Nearly one in ten of those survey said they would pretend to be sick to avoid public speaking. So, how do we talk about difficult topics to distracted others. First, let's make sure that our presentation are clear and easy to follow. As Gayle explained last week, the end result of thinking strategically about what to say should be a very clear and concise key message. In the Plano School District example she used this key message. Solar energy is clean, sustainable, and locally produced. Solar panels on Plano school buildings will reduce the amount of energy required from the electric grid and stabilize long time electricity costs. When we get the committee's approval to move forward we will develop a detailed plan for budget and for review. Okay, this is our key message. But what specifically are we going to say to convince the School Board to let us install solar panels in Plano? Old, well-tested brainstorming is a great method to think through your content. Write your key idea on a big sticky note. Then throw different ideas and arguments supporting your high-level message on the wall. Literally, I advise my student to use sticky notes and put their ideas on the wall in the office. When you are brainstorming ask yourself, right now my audience knows this about my topic. In order for them to know that I need to provide this information or say these things. Right now my audience believes that fill in the blank. If I want them to believe some specific things, then I need to say these things. Right now, my audience does. I want them to do some specific things. First, does gather your arguments, facts, and data. You will sort them later. Let's look at an example of how we can brainstorm what to say to the school board in Plano.
