Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Leadership Communication Chapter 5:Using graphics and powerpoint a leadership edge


Chapter 5: Using graphics and powerpoint for a leadership edge

Leaders need to know how and when to use graphics. Graphics improve presentations and documents, particularly if the material is primarily quantitative, structural, pictorial, or complicated that it can be illustrated more efficiently andmore effectively with the visual aid than with words alone.

Recognizing when to use graphics specifically, graphics should serve the following purposes:
Reinforce the message.
Reinforcing the message means that the chart captures and emphasizes the main ideas expressed by the speaker.

Provide a road map to the structure of a presentation.
Using a text chart to establish the agenda or discussion topics is the one very common method of establishing a road map for the structure of the business presentation.

Illustrate relationships and concepts visually.
Graphics usually work better than words to help an audience understand relationships or concepts.

Support assertions.
Graphics to support assertions are usually quantitative charts;however, you might use quanlitative charts if you have based your assertions on interviews or open-ended surveys and want to show your audience quotations from your subjects.

Emphasize important ideas.

Maintain and enhance interest.
Using graphics to maintain and enhance interest requires a word of warning. Essentially, adding interest means introducing some variety in your slides and looking for ways to make your presentation graphically interesting.

Selecting and designing effective data charts
For data charts to add to your presentation or document, you need to clarify your messages and then you can determine the type and content of the graph that will add to, support, or explain that message best. Excellence in statistical graphics consists of complex ideas communicated with clarify, precision, and efficientcy.

Creating meaningful and effective text layouts
The goal with any text chart is to make it as readable as possible and to make sure that it contains meaningful content. There are many guidelines for creating effective text slides:
1. Do not put too many words on the slide.
2. Do not have only one bullet or sub-bullet as a category.
3. Use hanging indents for text lists of more than one line.
4. Avoid having too many “widow words”
5. Keep the text simple but present meaningful content.
6. Make sure all bulleted items are parallel in structure.
7. Use some variation in how you lay out the text.
8. Maximize the impact of your title slide.
9. Work the text and graphics together to convey the message as at the right.

Employing fundamental graphic content and design principles
For chart to add to the presentation, they should convey your messages clearly and effectively to your audience. In addition, they should be legible and designed so that they contribute to communicating your messages.

- Conveying messages clearly and effetively
Keep charts simple but meaningful.
Include only one main message per chart or slide.
Make sure your chart title captures the “so what?”

- Selecting the most effective colors
The right colorsand fonts can make a difference in how effective your PowerPoint presentation is. Selection should focus on colors and fonts that show up best when a presentation is projected. The secret of effective color choices is not so much the choices of one colors but the choice of one in contrast to the others used with it. In summary, when using colors
Keep them simple and select colors that work well together.
Ensure the colors are easy to see when placed against each other.
Check text color,in particular, to see that it contrasts with background colors sufficiently to be clearly legible.
Make sure the colors support the image you want to project and the message you want to convey.

- Selecting the most effective fonts
With computer projected presentations, a light font on dark background is best. F\For overhead presentations, a dark font on the white background projects better in most settings. In summary, the guidelines for colors and fonts are:
Stay with the basic colors.
Go to contrast in background and fonts.
Use a dark background for computer-projected presentations.
Use white, cream, yellow, or light gold font on dark backgroung.
Use a sans serif font.
Make your font at least 20 points for text and 28 points for titles.
Do not use all caps in titles or text, underlining, and red font on blue backgrounds.

Making the most of PowerPoint as a design and presentation tool
- Deciding on layouts and templates
The most common format used in PowerPoint is the horizontal or landscape.
- Using Templates
- Designing your own templates
- Creating document using PowerPoint
- Inserting graphs and other objects
- Using animation

To summarize, when using graphics and PowerPoint, you want to follow these guidelines:
Decide on your message, determine what information or data best supports it, and then decide how best to show that data graphically.
Use graphics for the right reasons, such as to reinforce your message, to provide a road map of your presentations, and to support asertions.
Select the right kind of graph to illustrate your message.
Use integrrity in selecting and designing all graphics, making sure any graphs do not distort the data.
Keep your graphics simple.
Use a title that captures the “so what?” of your slides so that your audience see immediately the message the graph is communicating.
Create your PowerPoint template or modify the standard ones so that the presentation reflects your persanality or that of your company.
Make the font size and any graphic images large enough for the audience to see even from the back of the room.
Be careful with your color selections; go for contrast but be conservative.
Avoid overusing or misusing animation.

Leadership Communication Chapter 4: Developing anddelivering leadership presentations.

Chapter 4: Developing and delivering leadership presentations.

There are three “P’s” Approach to predentation development and delivery.
Plan – Determine strategy , analyze audience, organize and establish logical structure.
Prepare – Develop introduction, body, and conclusion. Create graphics, test the flow and logic, Edit/proofread, and practice, checking room and equipment.
Present – Get nerves under control, deliver, using PPT effectively, handle Q&A’s, and conduct post-presentation assessment.

Planning your presentation In the planning phase of developing your presentation, you need to

Determining your strategy
To write effectively, you must define the purpose of your presentation clearly and specifically and develop a communication strategy using the communication strategy framework: context,messages,spokesperson,media/forum,timing,and audience.

Analyze your audience

Select the medium and delivery method
There are three common types of presentations :

-Round-table presentation is an interactive exchange between the presenter and audience. the round-table presentation encourage an informal,interactive discussion, and receive input from audience members, build consensus or gain agreement on conclusion or recommendation, check the accuracy of facts or identify sources of missing facts,surface and resolve major issues, and present a lot of information in a short amount of time.

-Stand-up extemporaneous presentations is the most effecive form of presentation if structured and delivered correctly. There are three adventageof this presentation that allow you to : maintain eye contactand rapport with your audience, make adjustments based on the audience’s response, and appear confident and knowledge.

-Impromptu presentation means you are called onto deliver them without much warning. So, there are many techniques that will help you peformmore effectively,such as: do not rush into speaking, start by giving your name and saying something informal, refer to something that a previous speaker said, thnk very simply of the primary message you want to deliver, and state your message and your supporting topics before you dive into details.

Organize and establish your logical structure
The organization or structure of a presentation proceeds from the needs and interests of the aodience, your purpose, and the demands of the subject matter. When you start to uotline or map out your presentation, you will preferfirst to the analysis of your audience to determine the most effective structure.In most cases, it works best to state the conclusions or recommendation first and then provide the supporting data. When creating and organizing a presentation as a team, you should establish the format first, and since most presentations routinely use the ghost pack(a pack that establishes the format and contain the slides they think they are going to use,even if only an idea exists at this point.) that the team can easily assign each section or chart to a specific team member.

Prepare a presentation to achieve the greatest impact
Developing the introduction, body ,and conclusion

- the introduction
you should start quickly, get to the point and establish a positive relationship with your audience. You should introduce your overall message and each of your supporting topics.

- The body
The body should be concise and specifically focused. Throughout your presentation, provide transitions to lead from one topic to the next and one graphic to he next and make sure the presentation is so well organized and logical.

- The conclusion
Summarize what you have said by going back over the main points and reinforcing them.

Creating the graphics

Testing the flow and logic

Editing and proofreading

Practicing to facilitate ffective delivery
Practicing a presentation by giving the presentation out loud, checking the room and setup, and timing(speaking under a time constraint).

Presenting effectively and with greater confidence
Getting nerves under control – the most important way to overcome nerves is to be well prepared and put the presentation into perspective and remember that the audience is human and forgiving. Try taking a few deep breaths, thinking something pleasant, and being yourself.

Eye contact – Good speakers really look at the people in their audiences, not over their head or out the window, and do not look down at your notes or read from them; only glance at them as necessary.


Stance and gestures - To project confidence and establish a positive ethos, you want to stand straight and tall and look out at your audience and your goal should be to maintain a comfortable, relaxed stance, appropriate to the situation.

Voice and speech patterns – As a leader, your ability to present will be an important part of your job. To ensure you are effective, you probably will want to video one of your presentations and observe closely how you look and sound.

Delivering effectively with visual aids – the good techniques for delivery using PowerPoint, overhead, or other visual aids. In particular, you need to be aware of your eye contact, stance, voice, transitions, and timing.

Handling Q&A
Effective handling of Q&A requires thorough preparation, careful listening, and the humility to say,:I do not know, but I will find out for you.”

Overall effect
Ultimately, your ethos will determine the overall effect of your presentation. A leader must project a strong, positive ethos in all presentation situations. The best way to project a positive ethos is to believe in what you are saying and to be fully prepared. In summary, to appear confident and project apositive ethos when presnting, you need to do the following:
focus your energy on your audience.
Create and maintain rapport.
Aopt a secure stance.
Establish and maintain eye contact.
Project and vary your voice.
Demonstrate your messages with gestures.
Adjust pace of delivery based on the audience response.

Leadership Communication Chapter 3:Using language to achieve a leadership purpose


Chapter 3: Using language to achieve a leadership purpose

The use of the right words in the right way to achieve the outcome you intend. As a leader, you want the audience to perceive a positive ethos in your tone, to see you as confident, and to trust and believe you .

Achieving a positive ethos through tone and style need to possess confidence not only in your knowledge on the subject but also in your ability to capture the content in the right words used in the right way.

Communicating concisely clear writing is direct, to the point, and free of jargon, pomposity, and wordy constructions. Writing concisely requires practice and a critical eye for your own style. Following the ten guidelines will help you achieve greater conciseness and a style that is more direct and forcful.
Avoid the overuse of the passive vioce-the actor should usually come first in the sentence
Avoid expletives, such as “there is” or “it is”-whether for the “it is….that”contruction in particular
Avoid the use of prepositional idioms
Avoid the overuse of relative pronouns-“who.” “which,” and “that”
Avoid the repetition of words and ideas – you need move the repeated words into the introductory sentence.
Do not overuse descriptive words, particularly adverbs(-ly words)
Avoid weasel words, ambiguoes noncommittal words
Be aware of jargon(language used in particular disciplines) and other kinds of gobbledygook
Avoid nominalizations (a jargon word used by linguists that means turning verbs into nouns by adding – tion)
Avoid redundancies

The resulting lack of clarity can even suggest your thinking is careless, superficial, and imprecise or that you are too busy or do not care enough about your audiences to Tke a time to make your communication clear and concise. It take time to find “le mot juste,” but the more positive ethos you create should be worth the time you spend.

Using business language correctly A confident and concise style and an appropriate tone contribute to apositive ethos. Correct use language in business communication is indeed important. For the leader, it is crucial. Your credibility as a leader, your ability to represent yourself and your company, and your ethos all depends on using language carefully.

The language rules that matter – the rule that govern the English language are numerous. According to servey finding, matter is more important than others in contemporary business communication.

The power of punctuation – allow us to follow the complete thoughts embodied in sentences and dietinguish between them. Punctuation makes reading easier and can lead to misreading if used incorrectly. For example, the colon(:) is used to introduce lists or to signal that what follows explains or elaborates what has come before. The semicolon(;) is used to separate closely related independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction.

Additional punctuation rules
1.Quotation marks – should always be placed outside periods and commas, inside semicolon and colon, and inside or outside question marks and exclamation marks.
2.Commas after introductory phrase
3.Commas with items in aseries – usually place comma before the “and” with items in the series.
4.commas with nonrestrictive clauses(meaming that they can be removed from the sentence without chaging the meanings).
5.Apostrophes – added with an “s” to noun show ownership; “’s” is added to singular and plural noun not ending in “s”.
6.Parentheses – used in pairs to ser off interrupting information in a sentence when dashes would give the information too mush emphasis and commas might lead to misleading.
7.Ellipses – is defined as “three spaced periods.”

Sexist language – shows a bias or preference toward one gender over another, often by implying exclusion of the nonpreferred gender such as, the us of Ms, A note on letter salutations, and the use of words endingin “man”.

Employing efficient and effective editing techniques

D = Document (overall coherence, organization, formatting, tone)
read the comlplete document aloud for flow and tone.
Map the structure, noting major and minor ideas.
Add headings
Break up long paragraphs into smaller paragraphs or make lists.
Circle all pointer or transition words at the beginning of paragraphs.
Check to see that attachments and exhibits are idntified in the text of the document.
Look at the document.

S = Sentences (structure,clarity, conciseness)
After you have made any necessary organizational changes, go back through and underline conjunctions.
Try combining short simple sentences into compound or complex sentences.
Cut out prepositonal idioms and other wordy expressions.
Check for lack of parallel structureand misplaced.
Highlight each “this” and “it” to make sure your reference is clear.
Mark “to be” constructions to see if you can substitute a strong active verb.

M = Mechanics (typos, spelling, usage, diction)
Underline the conjunctions should help you find sentence errors.
Note use of punctuation marks.
proofread the entire document.
proofread the document backwards to catch typos and spelling errors.

Making computer tools work for you word processing reograms have made creating documents much easier, but they have also cause some problems such as, jumping into the writing of document without adequate planning, seeing only the screen version causing us to lose the sight of the document as a whole, replying toomuch on spelling checkers, depending on grammar checkers when they are extremely limited in what they can correct, proofreading from the screen may cuse missing many typos and other errors, as well as Moving words and phrase around easily causing us to leave in extra words and omit necessary ones. There are many adventage of using computer tool that can work for you and use it to make your writing more efficient and effective,such as:

to perform your idea generation, recognize that what you enter.
take adventage of features such as word search to look for commom redundancies, wordy expressions, unclear references, or words you may tend to misuse.
Experiment with different formatting to see what your document more accessible and readable.
Recognize the limitations of spell checkers, but always run them to catch careless errors.
Do the final proofreading from hard copy,not on the computer screen.

However, you need to concise and ensure that your language is clear,crisp, and meaningful. Besides, you need to avoid careless grammarical and usage erroes.

Leadership Communication Chapter 2:Creating leadership documents


Chapter 2: Creating leadership documents

There are 2 types of documents: 1) correspondence and 2) reports. Leadership documents are correspondence and reports by which managers and executives assert their influence in a wide range of organizational setting.

Selecting the most effective communication medium to help you decide which is the best in your situation.

Creating individual and team documents – you should go through each step in order until the final phase by 1)analyzing and planing 2) creating and developing and 3)refining and proofing. Your purpose and strategy affect content, organization, format, and style. They will govern how you approach the process ans how you complete it .

Creating team document – leader must manage the process of document creation within the team setting. Teams use one of two ways to divide the tasks:
1) The single–scribe approach: one person on the team does all of the writing eith the others providing the contents to the scribe.
2) The multiple-writer approach: the team devides the writing among the team members accoeding to the selections for which they have provided most of the content.
Whether working alone or with a group, you need a method for controlling the versions of your documents. To keep the version straight, the team should decide together when drafts are due, who is to receive them, and in what order they are to circulate through the team.

Organizing the content coherently means to hold together which is what you want your documents to do.

Organization and content – usually you will want to organize your document deductively, stating your main message, conclusion, or principle recommendation directly at the very beginning of the document and proceeding through secondary arguments and supporting information.

Opening with power – use your analysis of your audiences to determine how best to begin, but try to state your main point as early as possible in your document so that the reader knows your reason for writing.

Developing eith rrason – your logical structuring should be MECE means your supporting topics do not overlap, and you have provides aequate justification for each one. MECE also suggests a balance for your sections.

Closing with grace – you should end as quickly and directly as you began by providing a sense of polite, unrushed closure.

Conforming to content and formatting expectations in correspondence baesd on the purpose, strategy, and audience. Good formatting reveals and supports the organization. Format is important in helping your audience see the structure and logic of your document and in making it easy for them to skim or read.

Including expected content in reports the type of report, the company style, as well as the industry standards will often dictate content and organization. As a leader of an organization, you may write report that inform, instruct, or persuade. Besides you may team up with or supervise others in writing the reports.

A formal full-length report – should have a table of contents that reveal the organization and allows readers to see the overall contents and select the sections revelent to their needs and interests.

Including exhebits in reports – there are 1)exhibit Placement - insert the exhibitas close as posible to the text that discusses it sush as in an appendix at the end of the document. 2) Exhibit labels – you must reference the exhibit by its number in your text discussion just prior to its appearance.

Handling research information in reports- usually include information obtained from primary research(surveys, interview,or direct observation) or secondary research(publishe materials in books or webs).

Proposals and progress reports – A proposal msy be writtten as a formal report with a letter of transmettal, executive summary, or as a formal letter. A progress report presented formally as reports that allow you to highlight progress on a project or task.

Executive summaries – must accurately summarize the major messages of the original document.

Formatting business documents effectively that make readers can easily skim the document, correspondence, and report . besides,the readers can find the key messages and select what they want to read. The document should conform to the following business writing standards:

Layout – letter and memo should follow standard conventions and report formats should be appropriate for the method of delivery to the audiencs.

Spacing and Alignment – should be single spaced with double spaced between the paragraphs.

Font type and size – should usse one of the traditional serif fonts.

Using headings – make it easier for the audience to access the information in the document.

Formatting lists – using bullets or numbers.