Presenting With A Partner

By Author: Mike Faber
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There are times when you'll share "the stage" with a business or personal partner. Perhaps one of you has a better grasp of technical or other aspects of your subject. Perhaps you are quite good at facilitating questions from the audience, or recording input on a flip chart for later use. However you choose to share presenting duties, resist the temptation to "just wing it." While sometimes these situations are impromptu, even five minutes to prepare will aid both your presentation and the audience. Here are some steps to insure that all members of a presentation group get the chance to show their best work.

1. Pinpoint why you're sharing the presentation duties. This should include a brief summation of the specific talents and knowledge that each presenter adds to make for a better audience experience.

2. Agree on how much time you'll need for the entire presentation.

3. Specify who will be doing what, and the time allotted for each segment. This sounds simple but skipping this step can sink the whole ship! You will want to know who is responsible for the introduction of your topic, introduction ...
... of speakers, body of the presentation, Q&A, summary and wrap-up. If you have supporting data, slides or handouts assign a person to manage distribution of that information.

Record your task and segment assignments and keep them handy as a reference during the presentation. Make sure you have a back-up plan in case you need to make changes at the last minute. Years ago, I presented a leadership development class to a group of 20 professionals. The final video case study was a real tearjerker, a plant manager who poured his heart and soul into his work and his employees. He literally cried on camera as he spoke of his devotion to his work force. With a riveting introduction, I popped the videotape into the machineand saw a blank screen! It turned out that last video segment had been deleted from the presentation! My back-up plan was not well prepared, and I ended up acting out the final video as though I were on stage. My audience was amused, though probably not impressed or educated! Since that "surprise", I've made a habit of double-checking my resources and material beforehand, and outlining for myself what I'll do in the event that things don't go according to plan. In the case of my missing video, I should have had a brief summary of the video's key message handy, so that I could encourage group discussion to bring out the learning points.


About the Author Mike Faber is a professional coach, helping people improve their sales and public-speaking skills. Mike has 25 years of experience as a television and radio broadcaster, and spent the last 17 years in financial services sales. At the end of 2004, Mike left a large San Francisco-based investment firm, to start his own coaching practice.