How to Give a Presentation in a Job Interview

What's the situation here? You've been asked to give a presentation. Maybe it's a case study. Maybe they've asked you to present about you, whatever it might be, but you know what this is like. It's that, you know, the tummy's doing gymnastics. You've been asked to come in, build the PowerPoint or give me the Word documents or the spreadsheets. Bring the computer. Let's put it up on the screen or let's talk around the table, whatever the format might be. There are really about four things, so we'll talk about these four parts to giving a presentation. There's your movements, right? So how you move and how you use your hands and all that good stuff. There's the media that you're going to use. So are you going to create handouts, slides, you're going to pass the slides out, you're going to use the projector, those kinds of things. So there's different media that you can use. We're not going to really spend any time on that today. There's what you're going to say. We're going to spend a lot of time on this because this is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck, that content and how to deliver it. And then there's how to say it or how to say it. Here we go. How to say it. So your tone, your voice, your inflection, your level of energy and enthusiasm. But we talked a lot about movements and the hows in the body language session that we did. So if you didn't catch any of those previous three, I would highly recommend that you go and you catch them. They're on my YouTube channel. So grab it. But there's four parts. Now, I'm going to spend a lot of time on the content. And it's not just content that you can use in the presentation. It's content that you will be able to use really in answering any kind of job interview question where you have to tell them a little story. So you're going to get kind of a two for today. But before we get into that, I always think psychologically it's important for you to do a couple of preliminary things. You've got to recognize what is it that they're looking for in the first place. I call these things my six C's, okay? The employer is looking for a number of things as you do your presentation. What specifically are they looking for? Well, let's go through it. Communication, right? This is pretty obvious. They're trying to see how do you communicate? Are you articulate? Are you cohesive? Are you smooth? Is what's coming out of your mouth making sense? All that good stuff. But just basically what's your presentation style and really how do you carry yourself? So are you enthused? Are you energetic? Are you polished? Are you professional? Do you give off that good presence? And let's be honest, a lot of time, not everybody's asked to do these presentations in an interview, but a lot of the high communication positions, they ask you to do these things, right? If you're in marketing, if you're in PR, if you're in sales, or maybe a lot of external facing positions, but are you also, maybe you internally are a senior level person who's going to have to give persuasive arguments or pitches to your management team or the board or the CEO or whatever. So most of the time when you're asked to do this, they are evaluating your presence, how you're carrying yourself, because you're going to be doing that either internally or externally. And then another C is your comfort level. So are you comfortable with this entire environment, everything that you're doing? You might be clicking the clicker. You might be looking at the slides up on the screen. You might be talking across the table. You might be getting disrupted. Some of these people or employers who do this, lots of times, they will just be on top of you. They'll be interrupting you. They want to see how you behave under pressure. So are you comfortable with all this? That's another thing that they're looking for. And then the construction of your presentation. So this is more than just the structure of how you have outlined what it is that you are delivering. So there's the, well, okay, step one, step two, step three, step four. Is the person going through a cohesive story? Are they checking all the boxes? Are they giving us the information we need to know? Those kinds of things. That's part of the construction, but also the packaging. So have you put together a slide, a PowerPoint deck or a whatever, the handouts and all that good stuff. So you want to make sure that all that stuff is in order and that all your bases are covered. But is the construction complete? If you're looking up at the projector and you've got the slides, but the projector breaks, do you have the handouts? Are you well packaged in the construction of everything that you brought? And then there's the content. This to me is the biggest key of all. I mean, sure, presentations are about presenting yourself, but the insight and information and the sequencing in which you share it and all of that good stuff. This is where we're going to spend all of our time pretty much today. The rest of the talk is going to be on the content itself and how to generate the right content and how to deliver it. So this is what specifically are you telling us in the room? So are you actually identifying all the pieces of information that need to be covered in order to do whatever and accomplish whatever it is that the presentation is intended to accomplish? So what's the content? And then lots of times you need to make a persuasive argument. So is what you presented persuasive? So think marketing, think sales, think PR, think is this person, would I buy from this person? Is this person making a logical and a compelling argument that this is something that needs to be done, implemented, or my call to action needs to be acted upon? So those are the six C's that employers are generally looking for. A lot of times they'll give you a topic or an idea and ask you to craft something. You want to take those six C's in mind. Now, I really like this part of the talk because it's something that I don't think a lot of people do effectively. Now you understand what they're looking at, how they're evaluating you, but now you got to get into the part of your exercise of putting the presentation together where you got to think about what is it that they want, right? So what most people do, the mistake that most people make when they are given the interview presentation assignment is they immediately go into, oh my God, I'm so nervous. I got to figure out what to write. I got to figure out what to say. I got to figure out how to package it and so on. That's maybe the second thing that you need to do. But the first thing that I want you to do is I want you to just think about them. Think about them, okay? So is it a diverse group? Who are they? How many of them are there? Before you think about what you want to say, think about who they are because that should shape what you're going to say. What kinds of things would they be interested in? What language do I need to use? So I'm not talking about what language to speak in. I'm talking about what level of communication do you need to have about the subject matter? Is the group diverse and you're going to have to span? Is the group a senior level people where you need to keep the level of the discussion at the strategic level? Those kinds of things. So I want you to give some consideration to that and I also, probably the biggest one of all, this number three is what do they want to know? What is it that they're interested in? And if you think about all these things, it will really help shape your ideas, the creativity that you have, as well as the connection and making sure that your message is resonating with them. So I want you to think about this for a second. So every couple of times every week, I show up here and I talk with you. Today, I was going to talk to you about giving a presentation and the content of the presentations that you can give in an interview. Now, I don't sit down at my lovely desk here and just say, okay, I got to tell them how to write a presentation. That would be an epic fail if I just did that and then showed up. No, I spend a lot of time thinking about you. All of you. That's right. All of you. I think about you. Who would show up to my live show on a Thursday in the middle of the day? Somebody who needs some help, needs some coaching, might be looking for a job, might not like their job, might be frantic, might be frightened, might never have been ever taught how to give a presentation, might not have the first clue about what to include in it. Probably nervous, worried, whatever it might be. But I know a lot of you are going through this stuff. Spend a lot of time thinking about that and then, okay, so how do I break this down for them so that it will resonate with them? It will register with them. They'll be able to retain these ideas. They'll understand where I'm going with this. This will make sense to them. It took me seven or eight minutes to put this entire talk together today. It took me 30 minutes to think about you. So I wanted to tell you that because that's what I want you to do when you're putting your presentation together because it's going to take you longer than seven minutes. But think about that, 30 versus seven. So when I say think about them, I mean think about them. That's one of the biggest reasons I ... Well, I don't want to be presumptuous here, but I think one of the biggest reasons why you and I connect like this is because I spend a lot of time making sure that I think about you and providing you value in a manner that you need it delivered to you and that you can digest it. We connect because of that, because I think about you, because I'm obsessed with what you need, not what I think I should teach you. So I want you to take that approach. When you go into your presentation, I want you to think about them the same way. I want you to loop this 11 minutes into this video, and I want you to watch it again. I want you to think about me telling you I think about you. I want you to think about them. This is the key to being genuine. This is the key to being likable. You need to figure out what they need, what they need. This is a big, big deal. So all you sales people out there, what do your customers need? All you marketing people, who are the kind of people that have the issues or aspirations that you want to attract? Think about them. Okay. Now, here's a little something. It isn't mine. It isn't new. You probably heard about this, but every response that you give, every talk that you give, every presentation you make in an interview ought to have three parts, an intro, a body, and a conclusion. I'll show you the flashcard here in a second, but intro, body, conclusion. That's pretty simple, right? I want you to think about that, that I have to come in with some kind of intro, some kind of body, and some kind of conclusion, and the expression is, you probably heard this, tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them. Right? I want you to do this. Now, the magic in today's talk is not tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. Intro, body, conclusion isn't going to get you very far. The magic is, as we enter Andy land here, where I'm actually going to teach you what goes into each one of these sections, okay? Now, this is mine here, so now you're getting all me. I would like you to have a 60 second introduction that actually introduces you, what you're going to tell them, and all that good stuff, and that you frame it properly for them, so that you are actually giving whoever is listening to you an understanding of what it is that they are about to hear. Think about that. These are great little roadmaps, so that at any moment in time when you are telling me something I know where I am on your journey. It makes my brain relax, it'll help me not interrupt you, it lets me know I can just sit back, listen, and watch you go through this, that you will get to that point, or whatever. It also tells me how to listen to you. Think about interactions that you have. Think about friendly interactions you have with your husbands, and your wives, and your friends, and your loved ones, and whatever. If you said to somebody, hey, I'm going to tell you a little story, I just really want you to listen, because I just want to share. They can be quiet, it's easy. They relax. If you say, hey, I'm going to tell you a story, and I'm going to need your opinion at the end, then they're going to listen a little differently. They're going to hang on to certain things. They're going to know what they need, they're going to know what to discard, and all that good stuff. It is very, very helpful in raising the level of effectiveness of the communication. Here's specifically what I want you to tell them, in 60 seconds. Shouldn't take you any longer. For an hour presentation, certainly not. All right, four in 60. Four parts to the intro. I want you to tell them who I am. I want you to tell them what I'll cover, so the topic. Give the quick outline. This is what does the framing, and then this I cannot believe people miss, is you've got to share your level of enthusiasm for this topic, this subject, this opportunity, this interaction, whatever it might be, but you've got to get this in there. This gets you rolling into the body at a high point, so let's talk about this. Who I am. My name's Andy LaCivita. I'm a career coach. I'm going to cover giving a presentation today. Here's a quick outline. We're going to go through this. Boom, boom, boom. I'm so excited about this subject because whatever, right? I'm married. I'm a project manager. I was asked to come in and give an interview presentation on pitching a customer relationship management solution to one of your clients, so I'm going to give you that talk. I'm basically going to take you through the context of the business problem. I'm also going to share with you what the benefits will be. I'll explain exactly how I would implement this solution. I'll show you some case studies of where we've implemented it before, tell you what the risks are, how we'll overcome them, and then I'll give you my recommendation. I'm so excited about this. I love this subject because I've implemented this a half a dozen times throughout my career for Fortune 500 companies, and I can see the level of the raise in customer service that implementing these types of solutions has, so I couldn't wait to get here to talk to you about this. Right? 60 seconds. I know everything that she's about to say. I know who she is. I know why she's saying it and so on, so very, very important for you to go through this very quickly. You can snapshot the card. Okay, that's the intro. Every presentation needs to have one. All right, now, the body. The body, the main section's got five parts, generally speaking, so here they are really quick and we'll run through them. There's the context, so what's the issue? What's the issue? Why are we even doing this? We need more revenue. We need to save money. Our customers are leaving. Whatever the business issue, aim, aspiration, or expansion, or whatever it is, is. That gives context. Why and how are we going to benefit? That gives more context. The reason we're doing this is because, and here's how it'll improve us, and then here's exactly how I'm going to do it. Here's some places. I've done it before. We've done it before. We've investigated. We've whatever, but we've got some case studies. You can have research if you're a pioneer, and then here are the risks, so there's going to be challenges. There's going to be problems, so you got to cover them. This essentially is the body of any story that you tell, and you could kind of move some of these things around, but basically, this is the sequence you want to go in. You might expand some of these things. You might have to put some other things in, but the here's how is the biggest. I'm Mary. I'm the project manager. The reason that we need to put this customer relationship management solution together is because it sounds like your customers aren't happy. The wait times are long. They'd like self-service. They want to be able to access an app. You don't have state-of-the-art technology. They have problems with their products. You're losing them. It's difficult to onboard new customers and so on, so by implementing a new solution that allows them self-service, frequently asked questions and all this other good stuff, as well as an integration with sales and so on and so forth, we'll be able to, whatever the benefits are, keep our customers, reduce the turnover, so on and so forth, so you get to all that up front. Then, here's how we're going to do it. The first thing that we need to do is we need to segment your customers to make sure that we understand who your most vital customers are, those customers that either buy your best products, have been with you the longest, a combination of all. Those customers you want to make sure you cater to. 80% of your revenue is going to come from 20% of your customers. We need to find out who they are, and we need to evaluate their profile so that as we set up your new system, we're able to do that in alignment with those people who spend the most money with you, who you need to protect. As a matter of fact, we'll go out and survey them, and so on. It's the first thing we need to do. Then, we'll come back, we'll gather the requirements, we'll look at the systems, we'll see what's available in the market, we'll use a software package, we'll design the requirements, we'll implement the thing, we'll test it, so on and so forth. That's the here's how, and then, here's where we've done this before. There was this healthcare company where, let me explain it, or I did some research and I discovered, this is what it looks like we can expect. Here's how long it took them. Here's how long it took them to get paid back on their investment, and so on. Some evidence of the fact, what do I tell you guys? Hey, there was this woman, her name was Kelly, right? She's 50 years old. She wanted to change careers, and she wanted to change locations, and she wanted to start a new life. What did she do? She enrolled in one of my programs. She took the coaching that I gave her. She implemented these solutions. Here's what happened. Here's how many people she contacted. Here's how many people contacted her back, so on and so forth. Every time, there needs to be some kind of story around where you did it before, how you know this, what your research shows you, and so on. What projections you're making, what assumptions you're making, based on this never being done before. That's all case study related stuff. Then nothing goes according to plan, right? Wait, where am I? I'm backwards here. I'm in a mirror. Nothing goes according to plan, right? What's the quote I put in the interview intervention book from Mike Tyson, right? Everybody's got to plan until they get punched in the mouth, right? We're going to plan this. Here's how we would go through it, but I already know what the challenges and the risks are going to be because I'm experienced in implementing this. I know that anybody who implements a CRM solution encounters this challenge. It might be unique for you. We need to look at that. Here's how we're going to mitigate that. Here's what I think the risk is. Here's what the challenges will be. Here's what I think we should do to mitigate it, and in the event that we can't, here's the contingency plan. There's some of the high level risks that you want to call out in advance. What do I say when I give you a 14 day challenge about job searching? Hey, you're going to call that person. The challenge is going to be the person's not going to get back to you. Here's what you need to do. When they get back to you and they tell you no, that's a problem you're going to encounter. Here's what you need to say to them when they say no, right? We go through all of that. You get all these things in little bits in all my presentations. You think about those things. Think about those things. Think in advance the problems you're going to have. That's the body. Then you got to end strong, so you want to give them your recommendation. Here's what I would do, and here is the first thing we should do. I recommend that we start a project. We actually allocate the dollars. We'll go through what the estimate of the spending is going to be. The first step we need to take is to either review your customer segmentation strategy if you already have it, or we'll need to create one. I already have a list of Sierra vendors. We can review them and so on, but that is my recommendation. That's the call to action. This is what we need to do. If you don't do this, what's going to happen? What is the downside of not doing what I recommend? The additional risk you run of not implementing this solution is your customers are going to continue to fall off at the rate that they're falling off, which is X, which translates into Y dollars you're losing, and so on and so forth, and boom. Your call to action could be, and you need to hire me. Otherwise, if you don't hire me because I know all this, your company's going to have like the curse of the Bambino and forever going to be distraught because you missed out on an opportunity to hire the most awesome person. Whatever the call to action may be, just make sure you get it in there. Intro, 60 seconds, body, five parts, give or take, and then what's the recommendation and what's the call to action? What's the next step? What's the next thing you need to do? That's it. That's how I would conclude. You can pretty much use that formula for any story that you tell. Somebody's asking you to walk them through your resume. Hey, Mary, I see you're a project manager. I noticed you implemented the Salesforce automation system here. Can you tell me about that project? Let me tell you. Here's the business problem. Here's what we did. We were looking to raise these benefits. Here's how I went through it. Here's what I did. These are the challenges I encountered, and so on. Same kind of thing. Right off your tongue. Okay? Now, let's cap this off with just a few additional do's and don'ts. That's basically how I want you to go through everything. Now, additional do's, you can engage them appropriately throughout. The other thing is use stories where you can. Stories help with memory. Stories help with visualization. Stories help you connect yourself to the person. It gets them to listen, especially if the story is good. If the story is a little unbelievable, that's even better, right? If you can keep them on the edge of their seat, but try to do that throughout. Case studies, great spot for the story. Your experience, great spot for the story. Paint vivid colors, vivid pictures in their mind, and then the do nots. Don't read anything. Don't read your notes. Don't use note cards. Don't do any of that stuff. Use your PowerPoints as a medium to communicate. No frantic moving, no getting all crazy. Don't get nervous. Don't get any of that stuff. It's okay. If you forget something, collect yourself and keep going. They probably don't even know you missed it. You have no idea how many things I forget to tell you guys on some of these presentations, but I just keep right on rolling. Anyway. All right. I hope that serves you. Intro, body, conclusion. You got the formula. Now, I recap all of it, but you know where I'm going with this. That content can be used to give a presentation. It can be used to answer your interview questions, and I know you will do well with it.