Look to the Future, Not the Past!

Why are people concentrating so much on history? Especially in presentations.

Change is imminent, have the ability to learn from the past and quickly move on to adapt for the future.

Being from the military I am all too familiar with its obsession with history, namely in presentations and briefs. Almost ¼ of the time spent in most corporate presentations is where they have been and who is involved. This is outdated ‘ego feeding’ and is in need of a change.

Having said this history is somewhat important, we learn from mistakes and are becoming increasingly efficient at it. The time has come to learn quickly and incorporate the changes, not to dwell on them. If your company’s history delivers a point for change, use it in the body of the presentation, not the introduction. Example.

In 2006 shipping had a major problem with [loyalty/timings/marketing etc]. We identified this and are employing the following process for combating it.

If delivering a presentation to clients, perhaps you need to include proof of what your company has done. If this is the case, keep it sharp and focused on how you delivered the solution.

Tim’s Car Yard needed [xyz] to operate more efficiently. We allowed them to thrive by [abc].

This delivers a sharp, concise point which includes the history.

Carefully think about your target audience, how much attention would you give to a presenter’s whole speech if he or she droned on about his or her accomplishments for the first 15 minutes?