Dag, we have benefited greatly from your approach. It is simply the most powerful presentation tool I have ever used. It has helped me to distinguish, differentiate, and position our firm to win in spite of withering competition. And our hit ratios are well above the industry benchmarks.”
—Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Horst Construction
Excellent and persuasive communication has certain requirements.
These lectures address these requirements…
Excellent communication is concise…
...so how do you determine appropriate levels of detail and focus your message for maximum impact?
An excellent presentation and proposal has a strong and logical continuity…
...so how do you come across as lucid and persuasive, and determine the logical order of the persuasive message?
An excellent presentation and proposal supports its arguments with forceful graphics…
...so how do you design visuals that bring home a point? How do you present them so they won’t overwhelm the audience, and that facts will be remembered?
An excellent presentation and proposal uses selected facts specifically directed at buyer’s interest.
....so how do you match the content to the audience’ interest, personal agenda, biases and perceptions?
An excellent presentation ensures professional delivery by any level speaker.
....so how do you make sure your professional staff communicates effectively, and how do you help inexperienced speakers come across with trust and confidence?
An excellent presentation and proposal drives to a productive conclusion...
a contract.
...so how do you win client trust and confidence, help them remember you, and win the client’s approval—the YES vote?
Since we implemented this program we have not lost a single sale. Some of our proposals are pending.”
—WT, Cedar Rapids, IA (quoted 9 months after seminar)
“
Dag, your process is a ‘winner.’ We’re now 3 for 3.”
—DM, Anaheim, CA
“
Dag, the selection committee at this state DOT told us they’d never seen anyone go from third place prior to the interview and then win the job on the strength of their presentation. Thanks for your help!”
—Transportation Engineer, Chicago, IL
Lecture Descriptions:
Communication Challenges (45 minutes)
Accurate Communication Requires Interactive Dialog. The assumption that we understand is wrought with problems, as outlined in this video. Communication failures result because of…
Different Frame of Reference
Inferences & Assumptions
Built-In Filters
Ambiguity of Words
Poor Comprehension/Retention
Each of these causes are presented with exercises and examples related directly to the professional services businesses. Suggestions are given for how to prevent the problems described.
This lecture lend itself as an introduction to the issue of communication, easily accomplished in a brown-bag luncheon setting.
Winning Interview Presentations
Winning Interview Presentations and Proposals (5 hours 24 minutes total) This is the complete seminar entitled Design and Delivery of Winning Interview Presentations that Dag normally conducts over a two-day period and which includes about 6.5 hours of exercises and workshop activities. You can focus on just playing the tapes or expand the content by conducting workshop activities. These chapters should be presented in the order listed.
Introduction and Overview
(17 minutes)
The introduction establishes the purpose for the program and sets the stage for what is coming. This program solves common communication problems. As a result of this lecture series you will be able to develop presentations which are…
Automatically audience oriented—a must if you want to get the attention of the decision-makers
Logically and selectively organized (you cannot cover everything)
Easily controlled (effective time management results)
Predictably productive (you increase the rate of audience approval of your recommendations) and
Automatically speaker supportive (the visuals will support the presenter, not the other way around!)
Ch. 1 Effective Visual Aids (1 hr 30 min)
a. Effective Visual Aids
b. Cue-Note Type “Bullet-Charts”— a No-No
c. Hints For Best Results
This chapter addresses five areas of concerns that impacts communication and presents the common problems with conventional, ‘bullet-chart,’ or ‘cue-note’ type presentation visuals. The lectures are in themselves demonstrations of the value of graphic-based visuals and elimination of word-visuals. Users of the PowerPoint presentation software will here find a better way to create effective interview and technical presentation visuals.
The recommended structure of the presentation visuals…
Assures legibility under any circumstance
Assures comprehension of your message—the audience will understand what you say when you say it
Enhances the audience’ motivation to continue listen
Enhances recall of your message and
Improves your persuasiveness
You will also learn why we say that cue-note type “bullet-charts” don’t belong in Theme- Modular presentations because they…
Invite digression and excursion
Lead to low understanding and recall and
result in poor comprehension
In the Hints section, you will learn which of the many media choices represent the optimum one for small group settings, what the optimum image size is (you will receive a template giving the best font type and sizes), what the best set-up is, and the best way to address the visuals.
The easiest presentation to create is the one reflecting our interests—as depicted in the picture—yet this is also the most boring presentation for an audience. This chapter shows how to analyze an audience and determine the motivational factors that impacts their decisions. The audience analysis tool, known as the ‘Five W Format Filter,’ is used to determine the presentation and proposal theme and the benefits to be emphasized. As a result of this analysis, your presentation will become automatically audience focused!
This chapter walks the viewer through the steps of designing the presentation. Participants can view the complete tape and then do a workshop activity wherein they design a presentation in accordance with the instructions, OR they can design a presentation as each step is presented. You will find that this process is marked by logic and simplicity, and that it helps create a sharply focused message which is inherently oriented towards the audience’ interests.
Ch. 4 Organizing Presentations for Various Situations (44 minutes)
The modularity of the process (hence the Theme-Modular process) enables creation of short and long presentations. The modular presentation structure also meets a variety of time and audience needs: It will…
Help create succinct executive summaries
Assure the appropriate level of detail for the amount of time and type of person with which you deal
Expand to any time-frame (hours and days or more)
Accommodate Diverse Audiences and
Facilitates any Special Needs you may have for your presentation.
The storyboard techniques are effective tools for managing both time and the message. After viewing this chapter, the participants can storyboard their own workshop presentations. They would go through the checking process and give a proto-presentation (a proto-type presentation) from the storyboard. This process…
Makes it easy to manage complex communications
Eliminates the classical dry-run problems of too little and too late in terms of assessing the content
Is an excellent method to test the content of your message before you test it on the ultimate audience, and…
it saves time when you use the process!
Ch. 6 Winning Proposals (33 minutes)
The proposal message design process is identical to the presentation design process. This lecture shows how to translate the presentation message into a strong proposal. You will learn that starting from inherently persuasive presentations easily creates equally effective proposals. That is because the process solves the critical problems of lack of reader orientation, poor organization, and the lack of time, and speeds up the reader’s accurate comprehension of your message.
“
One thing Steve left off of his email was that we pretty much got the job from just the proposal. They said it was strong and aggressive -- they didn’t want to have a formal interview, just a discussion. By the time our team came back from the “discussion,” they called to tell us it was ours. They didn't interview anyone else.”
—RO, Contractor
Conclusion (6 minutes)
…and to be effective means you achieve the outcomes you are looking for— namely increased win-rates
You’re Shortlisted! You’re Qualified! But Your Price is High! Now What?
This lecture lends itself to a brownbag session. Four strategies for communicating the value of your price (fee) is presented. This lecture can be viewed at any time. One client overcame a 5:1 fee disadvantage by establishing the credibility of their fee—thus diminishing the other firm’s credibility.
Accurate Communication Requires Interactive Dialog. The assumption that we understand is wrought with problems, as outlined in this video. Communication failures result because of…
The introduction establishes the purpose for the program and sets the stage for what is coming. This program solves common communication problems. As a result of this lecture series you will be able to develop presentations which are… 
You will also learn why we say that cue-note type “bullet-charts” don’t belong in Theme- Modular presentations because they… 
In the Hints section, you will learn which of the many media choices represent the optimum one for small group settings, what the optimum image size is (you will receive a template giving the best font type and sizes), what the best set-up is, and the best way to address the visuals.
The easiest presentation to create is the one reflecting our interests—as depicted in the picture—yet this is also the most boring presentation for an audience. This chapter shows how to analyze an audience and determine the motivational factors that impacts their decisions. The audience analysis tool, known as the ‘Five W Format Filter,’ is used to determine the presentation and proposal theme and the benefits to be emphasized. As a result of this analysis, your presentation will become automatically audience focused!
This chapter walks the viewer through the steps of designing the presentation. Participants can view the complete tape and then do a workshop activity wherein they design a presentation in accordance with the instructions, OR they can design a presentation as each step is presented. You will find that this process is marked by logic and simplicity, and that it helps create a sharply focused message which is inherently oriented towards the audience’ interests.
The modularity of the process (hence the Theme-Modular process) enables creation of short and long presentations. The modular presentation structure also meets a variety of time and audience needs: It will… 
The storyboard techniques are effective tools for managing both time and the message. After viewing this chapter, the participants can storyboard their own workshop presentations. They would go through the checking process and give a proto-presentation (a proto-type presentation) from the storyboard. This process… 
The proposal message design process is identical to the presentation design process. This lecture shows how to translate the presentation message into a strong proposal. You will learn that starting from inherently persuasive presentations easily creates equally effective proposals. That is because the process solves the critical problems of lack of reader orientation, poor organization, and the lack of time, and speeds up the reader’s accurate comprehension of your message.
…and to be effective means you achieve the outcomes you are looking for— namely increased win-rates
This lecture lends itself to a brownbag session. Four strategies for communicating the value of your price (fee) is presented. This lecture can be viewed at any time. One client overcame a 5:1 fee disadvantage by establishing the credibility of their fee—thus diminishing the other firm’s credibility.
