Want Presentations that Rock? Joey Asher’s 15 Minutes Including Q&A Delivers

I'm hosting and participating in Digest 30 Books in 30 Days. I finished reading slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte, which reminded me of 15 Minutes Including Q&A by Joey Asher. I decided to revisit the review I did back in 2010.

In another blog post, I'll review Slide:ology. You don't know what you don't know. There's so much to do to create presentations that rock. You'll find information that you can readily apply. And it makes a great complement to 15 Minutes Including Q&A.

Book Grouping

I'm grouping 15 Minutes Including Q&A, Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, and Slide:ology.

 15 Minutes Including Q&A The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs slide:ology

Reading a book summary is an excellent way to get the key concepts from business books. It’s also a great way to decide which books to buy to explore more deeply. Click the Readitforme link to join. Think of this subscription as your speed-reading superpower. You read the summary, therefore, you can digest and process the book faster.

5 Great Ideas from 15 Minutes Including Q&A by Joey Asher

1.  15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy PresentationsIf you’re focused, you can say anything you want to say in seven minutes
2. Speak to your audience like you’re having a highly animated dinner conversation
3. Start your presentation by putting your finger on the key issue or question that your audience cares about
4. Presenting is a spoken art. You can’t prepare by simply flipping through your slides. Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse
5. Know the first two lines of your presentation to help you relax and build your confidence

Have you read?

Make Every Second Count by Robert Bly, Review

Three Questions to Ask and Answer Before Preparing Your Presentation

1. Problem: What problem needs to be solved?
2. Three Things: What are the three things that you absolutely want your audience to remember?
3. Call to Action: What action would you like your audience to take after the presentation?

“The best presentations are conversations where the listeners participate and get what they want. If there are lots of questions, then the chances are that your listeners are going away with what they need,”

says Joey Asher in his new book, 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations.

Though this book is only 4 X 6 inches and 106 pages, it’s filled with lots of useful information and tons of examples. At the end of each chapter there is a key takeaway which is a synopsis of the chapter. I was asked to review this book, and I’d like to share my thoughts with you.

The author Joey Asher suggests that presentations should be 15 minutes long, equally divided between the presentation and the question and answer section. There shouldn’t be more than six slides for your PowerPoint, which are created after you’ve fleshed out what you’d like to cover in the presentation.

Is it a surprise that someone would write such a book in an age with micro-blogging at 140 characters, in a world with people who have short attention spans?

15 Minutes Including Q&A has three sections: Part I: Prepare a Seven-Minute Rifle Shot Presentation, Part II: Allow Listeners to Fill in the Blanks and Raise Objections with Q & A, Part III: Deliver the Presentation with Intensity.

Breakdown of Your Presentation

Here are the five steps for a great presentation:

1. One: The Hook – 30 seconds – Quick identification of the problem/issue/challenge and resolution.
2. Two: The Preview – 30 seconds – Three key points/messages to solve the problem.
3. Three: The Body of the Presentation – five minutes – Restate and expand on each of the three points, and provide examples to illustrate each point.
4. Four: The Recap – 30 seconds – Repeat the three key points/messages.
5. Five: Call to Action – 30 seconds – What next? And what do you expect from the audience?

This presentation model focuses on problem/solution, challenge/response and question/answer. And there is a strong emphasis on question and answer section. So the format is more engaging. The book walks you through the process of creating your presentation in the form of telling a story.

The Formula for a Good Presentation 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 professionals to use this model effectively require them to know what the key issues are that affect their audiences. They have to be focused, and know their content inside out. If you do not 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 could also email them with one or two questions.

To ensure that you know your content, and come across as being confident, and an expert, simply mean that you Rehearse, Rehearse and then Rehearse some more. And if you are terrified that you’ll be asked questions in the Q & A that you cannot answer since an equal amount of time is dedicated, think about 15 questions that the audience would likely ask, and prepare answers for them, so you are ready for almost anything.

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Final Thoughts: 15 Minutes Including Q&A by Joey Asher

I liked this book because it’s easy to read and has information that you can immediately apply. It’s practical! Even though it’s for presentations, the model will work for some forms of writing. It’s always important to keep it tight, always focused on the needs of your audience (reader or client). A challenge for this idea, is to convince people that quality is more important than quantity. I recommend 15 Minutes Including Q&A by Joey Asher.

This book, 15 Minutes Including Q&A is an excellent book. It offers some good tips to improve your presentation. I will group this book with The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and Slide:ology.

 15 Minutes Including Q&A Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

If someone clicks on a link and buys something from Amazon, the company will pay me a very small commission. First published September 2010