Description
This portfolio work project will give you practice with professional writing expectations, as well as motivating and persuading others by telling a story.
Create a brief slide presentation, with graphics, and preferably your voice presenting, that analyzes the tools and strategies that leaders can use to build trust and collaboration, and explains why you believe storytelling is one effective tool for you to use to lead your team.
The Creating a Presentation in the MBA Program Resources and the GuidelinesforEffectivePowerPointPresentations[PDF] Download Guidelines for Effective PowerPoint Presentations [PDF]document will help you with this presentation.
The Ariel Group explains that a story needs to follow a basic four-step format that gently leads the audience into the story, through the story, and connecting the story:
Executive Essentials: Storytelling.
Use this format, based on page 9 of the Ariel group resource, to create six slides (not including cover page and references):
Slide 1. Cover slide with title and your name, and a graphic for interest (be sure to credit graphic artist in the reference slide).
Slide 2. Introduce the subject matter or business content, much as the introduction to a paper would do.
Example: “NASA has a reputation for communication issues among teammates, but our team is going to change all of that. This presentation does this and that.”
Slide 3. Building Trust and Collaboration. Discuss the importance of trust and collaboration in the workplace, then identify and discuss at least two tools or strategies (other than storytelling) leaders can use for building trust and fostering collaboration.
Slide 4. Storytelling. Explain ways in which leaders can use storytelling to build trust and relationships.
Slide 5. Transition into the story. This slide should transition into your story, setting the expectations of the audience of what is to come.
Example: “I once worked at another company that had some major communications issues. It wasn’t life or death like here at NASA, but we did have some serious problems in communications that impacted our ability to be effective. Let me share with you a story to illustrate a vision of how we can work together . . .”
Slide 6. Tell the Story. This slide should actually tell your story:
Set the stage.
Describe the conflict.
Describe the resolution.
Example: “About 10 years ago I was working as a shift leader at a manufacturing facility where safety was supposedly part of the culture, yet we had a frighteningly bad safety record . . .” Continue the story.
Slide 7. Connect the story to a teaching point or subject matter. This slide should bring your story back to the issue at hand.
Example: “In this situation, we learned this and that. Here at NASA, we can do the same thing. We can prove that communications this and that.” Think of this like explaining the moral of the story.
Slide 8. References. Include references here
Content and Organization. Attach a PowerPoint presentation that has a cover page, seven content slides per the above, and a references slide. You must have exactly eight slides—learning to follow established guidelines is important in school and the workplace.
Audio Presentation. Your slides must be presented with audio; this is an important part of storytelling. Most learners simply record directly into PowerPoint, but you may use other recording software if you wish, as long as your courseroom faculty can access it without a password to see your slides and hear your presentation. If you have a disability that makes audio a problem discuss it with your faculty or coach.
Slide Appearance. Your slides should be modern, professional, and effective. This means using color and some graphic design. Templates in PowerPoint can help with this. There are many free graphics websites you can use for graphics. Be sure to provide an APA citation for any graphics.
Presenter Notes. Note that your slides should not be text heavy. However, you should make ample use of presenter notes. While the presenter notes do not have to be a word-for-word transcript, they should be very close to what you say in your audio.
References. Your presentation must be evidence based, and as such must have APA formatted citations. This includes a reference slide at the end, but also intext citations on the slides themselves or in the presenter notes.
Refer to the writing resources in the MBA Program Resources, especially paying attention to the MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines, under Writing Skills, for more information.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies through corresponding scoring guide criteria:
Competency 2: Apply leadership strengths and behaviors to workplace situations.
Apply storytelling skills to a workplace situation where trust and collaboration are essential.
Competency 3: Recommend evidence-based strategies for leading and collaborating in complex environments.
Analyze the tools leaders can use to build trust and relationships, foster collaboration, and help employees feel engaged with their work.
Explain ways in which leaders use storytelling to build trust and relationships.
Competency 4: Communicate effectively through academic and professional writing.
Develop text using organization, structure, and transitions that demonstrate understanding of the relationship between the main topic and subtopics.
Integrate appropriate use of scholarly sources, evidence, and citation style.
Convey clear meaning in text through sound grammar, usage, word choice, and mechanics.
Unformatted Attachment Preview
executive essentials ebook
The Executive Essentials eBook series was
created to provide business executives
with clear, concise, immediately applicable
tips and strategies to improve specific
leadership and presence skills.
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CONTENTS �
4. Real Life Example: Ariel Group
CEO Sean Kavanagh Shares
a Story He Uses in Business
5. Remembering and Using Stories
6. Types of Stories
10. How to Integrate a Story into a
Conversation or Presentation
11. General Tips for Telling Stories
13. Review
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WHY IS STORYTELLING
AN ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR
ANY EXECUTIVE TOOLKIT?
Storytelling is a powerful Leadership tool. Stories may be the
most effective way to convey information to an audience while
also building a relationship with them. When you tell stories,
especially personal stories, it helps people relate to you and
allows you to show your vulnerability as a leader. Stories can be
used to communicate your values, help to develop trust, inspire
your employees and move your audience to take action.
Even simple stories from your childhood can contain universal themes relevant to your organization’s or clients’ key issues. You can leverage the
archetypal nature of stories by cataloguing some
of the significant moments in your personal and
business life as a resource to draw on when planning any presentation.
Specific business uses for storytelling include:
• Share Yourself: Share moments that made you
who you are or that clarified your values so
that others understand your leadership perspective.
• Share your Organization: Share values of your
organization. What makes up the DNA of your
organization?
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LET’S �
START �
WITH A �
STORY
It has been a stressful eighteen months. The recession has hit business hard and I’m about to send a second child off to college. I’m working
long days and I’m managing tight budgets at the office and at home.
One dark evening in mid January, I’m standing in my kitchen transferring three days of dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. The children
have used every cup and bowl we own, including a decorative Bavarian
beer stein that is now encrusted with fossilized cereal! I’m muttering bad
language under my breath.
“Hey pops whassup? How was your day?” Clare, my 17-year-old daughter enters. I tense, expecting this to be an expensive conversation.
Sean Kavanagh,
our CEO, recently
told this personal story at a
learning association meeting
about the impact of stress on
our ability to listen and how
that can undermine our most
precious relationships:
“Sooooo, I wanted to ask you something. Julie’s family is going to
Vegas and then Miami for winter break and they’ve invited ME! Can
I go?” I explode.
“We’ve had this conversation! We have a lot of expenses right now
and you still owe me money from last summer. You are supposed
to be saving for college. I can’t believe you’re even asking!” She explodes back.
“I can’t believe you are yelling at me! You’re not even listening to
me. Julie’s Dad has free tickets. I just picked up more hours at the
restaurant. Ugh! You never listen. And you’re never around and you’re
always pre-occupied and we never have any time alone together.
You’re just mean and grumpy all the time!”
She pauses, picks up a piece of paper and throws it at me. “Oh and
by the way, here’s my report card. I made honor roll. Again!”
She runs to her room in tears.
What did my daughter teach me here? Well I learned that under stress
I have much less patience, I don’t listen and I jump to conclusions. And
that this behavior can cause a breach in a precious relationship.
The lesson for me is to be sure to take my own emotional temperature
at home and at work, particularly in times of stress or extreme busyness.
I also learned that it is important to stop, be fully present and truly listen
to what others are telling you before answering. This is hard to do when
stressed out and in a hurry but not doing these things can cause great
damage to relationships and ultimately, to productivity.
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GETTING
STARTED
REMEMBERING AND
USING STORIES
You already have dozens of stories at your
fingertips—the tricky part is remembering
them when you need them. Here are three
ways to get rolling:
1.
Begin cataloguing
stories from your
life that might serve
as powerful illustrations of your ideas.
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TYPES OF STORIES
Begin to think about stories you could tell by jotting down one
or two ideas in each of the following categories. Think about
when you might use the story.
PERSONAL:
• Moments that made you who you are or that clarified your values
• Moments when you discovered your voice or leadership potential
• “When I was 17…”
I could tell a personal story about…
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TYPES OF STORIES
PERSONAL BUSINESS:
• Heroic moments – difficult but worthwhile struggles or extraordinary feats in business
• Overcoming resistance to change
• Moments of truth
• “When I was working at…”
I could tell a personal business story about…
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TYPES OF STORIES
GENERAL BUSINESS:
• Dangerous mistakes in business
• Stories of how your company has handled these things in the past
• Stories of how the future could look: bright or dark
• “The day Jack Welch started at GE…”
I could tell a general business story about…
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TYPES OF STORIES
UNIVERSAL MYTHS OR FABLES
• The Trojan Horse from Homer’s “Odyssey” as a metaphor
• The “Three Little Pigs” fairy tale as an analogy
I could use a myth or fable about…
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USING STORIES IN A
BUSINESS SETTING
HOW TO INTEGRATE A STORY INTO A
CONVERSATION OR PRESENTATION
Now that you have a variety of stories at your fingertips, it’s
time to try incorporating one into a conversation or presentation. Here is a basic format to get you started:
1.
Introduce the Subject Matter or
Business Content
• Conversation example: “I think you’ve been doing a great job heading this initiative despite
the hiccups you’ve encountered along the way
and I want to make sure you don’t beat yourself
up over this too much…”
• Presentation example: “Today I would like to
speak to you about a new marketing strategy
for our product…”
Tell the Story
• Set the Stage
• Describe the Conflict
• Describe the Resolution
• It’s 1982. I’m out on the soccer field with my
son when he turns to me and says…
4.
Connect the Story to a Teaching Point or
Subject Matter
2.
Transition into the Story
• Conversation example: “In fact, back when
I was a team leader, I had a similar experience…”
• Presentation example: “Let me share with you
a story to illustrate a vision of how we can work
together…”
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GENERAL TIPS FOR �
TELLING STORIES
Take these tips into consideration when practicing your story. Go with your gut in terms of
how “big” to make your story depending on
your audience. Obviously you’d want to tone it
down when talking across a desk vs. presenting at a large conference.
Get in Touch With Your Inner Thespian
• Use your voice and body the way an actor
would: be expressive.
• Play the different characters in the story,
when appropriate, rather than just talking
about them. Let your body and voice change
in small ways to suggest how they looked
and sounded. Speak as the characters; even
a brief dialogue will help capture your audience’s imagination.
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GENERAL TIPS FOR �
TELLING STORIES
Excite Their Senses
Emphasize the Emotional Impact
• Sensory details help people visualize the story. Try “marble conference table” instead of
“conference table,” or “ten pound computer
printout” instead of “computer printout.” These
examples evoke senses of vision and touch.
You can also appeal to your audience’s sense
of smell, hearing and taste.
• Slow down to accentuate and experience for
yourself moments of real feeling: anger, fear,
joy, a realization, etc. If you feel something, the
audience will.
• Make sure to be selective with your use of sensory details. One or two are sufficient at the
beginning of a story to set the scene; then use
them sparingly throughout.
Be Succinct
• Boil it down. It’s possible to tell a powerful,
complete story in under a minute.
• Make the conflict clear. No story has drama
unless there is conflict. For example, instead
of saying “Company X’s costs were higher than
their profit, underscore the conflict by saying
“Company X was on the verge of going out of
business.”
• Highlight the “emotional arc” of the story. How
does the main character change? Is he/she
different at the end of the story? What did he/
she learn?
• Use “bullet phrases” instead of lengthy sentences. For example, the word “CRASH!” can
be more powerful (when spoken expressively)
than saying “Suddenly, the car I was driving
collided with another vehicle.”
• Have a clear beginning, middle, and end—each
can be as short as a sentence or two.
>
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REVIEW
EXECUTIVE ESSENTIALS eBOOK
The Executive Essentials eBook series was
created to provide business executives
with clear, concise, immediately applicable
tips and strategies to improve specific
leadership and presence skills.
Business uses for stories:
• Share yourself
• Share your organization
• Teach a lesson
• Provoke Change
• Change perspective
• Build a relationship
You already have a library of stories at your fingertips:
• Personal: Moments that made you who
you are or clarified your values.
• General Business: Dangerous mistakes, company stories, stories about other leaders.
• Personal Business: Heroic personal moments in business or difficult struggles you learned something from.
• Universal Myths or Fables: Trojan Horse, The Three Little Pigs, etc.
In telling a good story:
• Re-experience the moment
• Use bullet phrases
• Use sensory details
• Play the roles
• Use present tense
• Be succinct
Format for integrating a story into
a presentation or conversation:
• Transition briefly into story
• Tell the story with a beginning, middle and end
• State what you learned (personal insight)
• State what “we can learn” (business message)
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CAPELLA UNIVERSITY
Guidelines for Effective PowerPoint Presentations
Have you ever been bored during a PowerPoint presentation? It is probably not your fault.
PowerPoint is best used as a tool for using visual information to tell your story. The combination
of your words, along with the visual images you project, should wake up your viewers, not put
them to sleep with bullet point after bullet point.
These guidelines will help you present more compelling, dynamic presentations.
Slide Design
People like pictures; they do not like lists. And since PowerPoint is a tool for displaying visual
information, not a word processor, you should think of your presentation as images, not just
words. Do not display anything that does not help tell your story, convince your audience, or
make your point.
The same rules that apply to good, clean writing apply to good, clean design—make every word
and every image count. Eliminate the non-essential, and you will increase elegance and the
clarity of simplicity. Do not shoot for typical; shoot for great! Remember that great presentations
connect with people’s minds and their emotions.
Writing
Keep it simple: Do not make the mistake of thinking that your audience will not understand
anything if you do not tell them everything. Find the essence of your message and stick to it.
•
Present ideas succinctly, with lean prose and short sentences or phrases.
•
Always use the active voice rather than the passive.
•
Avoid most negative statements and watch out for double negatives.
•
Use consistent capitalization rules, remembering that a mix of upper- and lowercase is
easiest to read and understand.
•
Always check spelling and grammar.
•
Include a final references slide and in-text citations when needed.
Tell a story: Remember that you are telling a story. What is that story? Can you reduce it to a
few sentences or, better yet, just one sentence? Like filmmakers pitching a concept, you should
be able to pitch the purpose of your presentation. Do not begin creating content until you have
the pitch down.
Then, lay out your ideas and shuffle, reduce, and shake them up until you are satisfied with the
content and order and are ready to begin creating the slides.
Develop a clear, strategic introduction to provide context for the presentation. Present one
concept or idea per slide, and organize your ideas logically between and within slides. Do not
use more than one conclusion slide to recap main ideas.
You may wish to use a roadmap slide at the beginning of the presentation to give audience
members a preview of what they can expect. Make sure the map you design reflects solid logic
and structure, and that the presentation that follows does not go off-road. As PowerPoint expert
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CAPELLA UNIVERSITY
Garr Reynolds puts it, “Good stories have interesting, clear beginnings, provocative, engaging
content in the middle, and a clear, logical conclusion” (Reynolds, 2005).
Consider your audience: Before you begin to design your presentation, think about your
audience. Who are they? What do they expect from you? Why are they at the event? What
types of stories would be meaningful?
Follow the 70 percent rule: if something does not apply to at least 70 percent of your
audience, do not include it.
Be your own worst critic: Do several run-throughs of your presentation prior to its delivery. If
you can, rehearse with an actual computer and projector (assuming you will be using one in the
presentation).
Throughout, keep asking yourself, “Why? and “So what?” about each piece of information you
present. If you cannot clearly answer your own question, it probably does not belong.
Visuals
Keep it simple: Use a consistent design throughout the presentation and strive for powerful
simplicity. Do not let your message and your story get lost in slides cluttered with what Edward
Tufte calls “chart junk.”
Transition effects are best avoided. But if you do use them, use them sparingly and select ones
that are not too flashy and that fit the content.
Make it yours: Most templates provided by PowerPoint have already been seen by everyone in
your audience a million times, so do not use them. Create your own!
Repeat design elements (use the master slide design feature to ensure consistency), and keep
fonts, colors, tone, and layout consistent.
Use color wisely: Use contrast between backgrounds and text: dark fonts on light backgrounds
or light fonts on dark backgrounds.
If the presentation will be used in a dark room, a dark background with white or light text is best.
For well-lit rooms, use dark text on a white or light background.
Use images and media: Develop relevant images for your presentation. Do not use irrelevant
images or images just to fill space.
Use video and audio when appropriate. You can use video clips directly within PowerPoint. If
you use audio, use it intelligently and for logical reasons, such as for interviews—do not ever
use canned sound effects.
Use animations only when needed to enhance meaning. If selected, use them sparingly and
consistently.
Maintain alignment: Use consistent horizontal and vertical alignment of slide elements
throughout the presentation. Leave ample space around images and text, and maintain
consistent spacing.
Consider the font: Use sans serif fonts such as Arial or Verdana. Remember that mixed upperand lowercase text is easiest to read and understand.
Use a font size no smaller than 24 points for slide titles, and no smaller than 18 points for
headings and explanatory text. Optimal sizes are 36 points or larger for the title and 28 points or
larger for other headings and text.
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CAPELLA UNIVERSITY
When in doubt, reduce: According to the segmentation principle of multimedia learning theory,
people comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments.
However, that does not mean that presentations can do without a logical flow. Take advantage
of the slide sorter view to see how your entire presentation flows from the point of view of your
audience.
Remove any extraneous bits of visual data that can be eliminated to increase visual clarity and
improve communication. Use no more than eight lines of text or five bullet points per slide. Use
simple tables to show numbers, with no more than four rows and four columns. Reserve more
detailed tables for a written summary.
Speaker Notes
Remember that the slides are there to support what the speaker says, not make the speaker
superfluous. Use the Speaker Notes feature of PowerPoint to document what the speaker is to
say, and let the slides play a supporting role.
While the slides allow you to highlight key information, convey messages, and tell a story,
PowerPoint Speaker Notes allow you to provide an explanation of the message and discuss its
application and implications to the field, discipline, or work setting.
Portions of these guidelines were adapted from:
Reynolds, G. (2005). GarrReynolds.com. Retrieved from http://www.garrreynolds.com
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