Part VIII

PART VIII: Team Presentation

Chapter 17: Four Speakers Should Sound Like One Team

A team presentation can easily sound like four individual mini-presentations. That’s not what you want. The judges should experience:

One team. One story. One recommendation.

Speaker Transitions

Don’t use awkward transitions such as: “Okay, now I’ll pass it over to Sarah.”  Instead, connect the ideas.

“Now that we’ve established why retention is the central issue, Sarah will show how the economics support our recommendation.”

The transition reinforces the story.

Consistency Between Speakers

Agree on:

• terminology;
• pronunciation;
• key numbers;
• recommendation wording;
• tone;
• pacing;
• slide transitions;
• response to likely questions.

The audience should never hear two different versions of your strategy.

Don’t Divide the Presentation Into Equal Pieces

A common team mistake is: “There are four of us, so we’ll each get exactly three minutes.” That may be fair. It may not be effective. Divide speaking roles according to:

• the story;
•  individual strengths;
• complexity of the section;
• transitions;
• credibility.

The goal is not equal airtime. The goal is the strongest team presentation.