Do you want presentations that are cool? All 15 Minutes of Joey Asher, including Q&A installments

“The best presentations are conversations where listeners participate and get what they want. If there are a lot of questions, chances are your listeners will walk away with what they need,” says Joey Asher in his new book, 15 Minutes Included. Questions and answers: a plan to save the world from bad presentations.

Although this book is only 4 X 6 inches and 106 pages, it is packed with lots of helpful information and tons of examples. At the end of each chapter is a key conclusion that is a synopsis of the chapter. I was asked to review this book and would like to share my thoughts with you.

Author Joey Asher suggests that presentations should be 15 minutes long, split evenly between the presentation and the question-and-answer section. There should be no more than six slides for your PowerPoint, which are created after you’ve developed what you’d like to cover in the presentation. Is it any surprise that someone would write such a book in an era with 140-character micro-blogging, in a world with people who have short attention spans?

15 Minutes Including Questions and Answers has three sections: Part I: Preparing a Seven Minute Rifle Shooting Presentation, Part II: Allowing Listeners to Fill in the Blanks and Raising Objections with Questions and Answers, Part III: Giving the Presentation with intensity.

Breakdown of your presentation

1. Step 1: The hook – 30 seconds – Quick problem/issue/challenge identification and resolution
2. Step 2: The preview – 30 seconds – Three key points/messages to solve the problem
3. Step 3: The body of the presentation – five minutes – Repeat and expand on each of the three points, and provide examples to illustrate each point.
4. Step 4: The Summary – 30 seconds – Repeat the three key points/messages
5. Step 5: Call to action – 30 seconds – Whats Next? What do you expect from the audience?

This presentation template focuses on problem/solution, challenge/answer, and question/answer, and there is a strong emphasis on the question and answer section, making the format more engaging. The book guides you through the process of creating your presentation in the form of a storytelling.

The formula for a good cover story

• start with the point
• Tell the story chronologically
• Keep it tight but give some details.
• The more personal the story, the better.
• Remind the audience of the point at the end

For practitioners to use this model effectively, they need to know the key issues affecting their audiences. They have to be focused and know their content inside out. If you don’t know what the issues are, Joey Asher suggests that you call a few people who will be attending the presentation and ask them, or you can email them with a question or two. To make sure you know your content and come across as confident and knowledgeable, simply rehearse, rehearse, and then rehearse some more. And if you’re terrified of being asked questions in the Q&A session that you can’t answer because the same amount of time is spent on it, think of 15 questions the audience is likely to ask and prepare answers for them, so you can be ready. for almost anything.

5 big ideas

1. If you’re focused, you can say whatever you want in seven minutes.
2. Talk to your audience as if you were having a lively dinner conversation.
3. Start your presentation by putting your finger on the key issue or question your audience is concerned about
4. Presenting is a spoken art. You can’t prepare just by flipping through the slides. Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse
5. Know the first two lines of your presentation to help you relax and build your confidence.

Three questions to ask and answer before preparing your presentation

1. What problem needs a solution?
2. What are the three things you definitely want your audience to remember?
3. What action would you like your audience to take after the presentation?

I liked this book because it is easy to read and has information that you can apply immediately. It’s practical! Although it is for presentations, the template will work for some forms of writing. It is always important to keep it tight, always focused on the needs of your audience (reader or customer). One challenge for this idea is convincing people that quality is more important than quantity. I recommend 15 minutes including questions and answers: a plan to save the world from Joey Asher’s lousy presentations.