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“You are what you eat,” a phrase that has become commonplace in today’s lexicon, actually came into being in the 19^th Century. In 1825, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer, magistrate, and politician, published The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, in which he wrote, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”

Over time, Monsieur Brillat-Savarin’s treatise on cooking and eating has become a bible for foodies, and his phrase, in its shorter form, a slogan for dieticians. Brillat-Savarin’s modern counterpart, food guru Michael Pollan, the author of the bestselling Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Rules and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, has created a slogan with similar advice: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Just as food intake influences our physical beings, it also influences our presentations. Here are ten tips to keep in mind when you present:

1. Eat lightly. Follow Michael Pollan’s advice: have a small salad and/or clear soup or broth at most
2. Avoid nuts or crackers that stick in your teeth
3. Sip—do not gulp—water to moisten your mouth and throat
4. Take a nature break just before you present
5. Use sport-top bottles to avoid spilling and sloshing
6. Avoid coffee, tea, Red Bull, alcohol or other stimulants
7. If you need a stimulant, use the natural sugars in fruit juices
8. Avoid dairy products as they coat the throat with a mucosal film
9. Avoid carbonated beverages
10. If you have a cold or cough, use honey or medicinal teabags like Throat Coat

(Thanks to John Boladian of Microsoft Corporation for suggesting this post.)

On the occasion of the submission of his 2011 budget, President Obama assembled his economic team to join him during his speech. In the official White House photograph, the president is flanked left to right, by Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Larry Summers, National Economic Council Director. You’ll note that all of them are standing with their hands clasped in front of them, in what is known in the presentation trade as “The Fig Leaf.” In the Power Presentations nomenclature, the pose is known as “Body Wrap,” a subject I described in The Power Presenter as The Fight or Flight Syndrome:

                Every living being on the planet, from one-celled organisms to four-legged animals to two-
                legged humans, responds to imminent danger by standing its ground and fighting for its life,
                or by fleeing for its life. When a four-legged animal senses imminent danger, it scampers away
                to escape: the Flight reaction. When a four-legged animal can’t escape because it is trapped in
                the back of the cave, it will lash out at its attacker: the Fight reaction.

                In addition to lashing out, the animal will also protect its underbelly, the vulnerable part of the
                body that contains the vital organs. When a dog or a cat feels threatened, it hunkers down to
                the ground, contracting its forepaws and hind paws. In sum, the adrenaline rush sends a
                powerful signal to the limbs.

                When a two-legged animal senses imminent danger, its limbs respond instinctively to flee:
                the Flight reaction; or it puts up its dukes: the Fight reaction.

                When a two-legged presenting animal is faced with the daunting task of standing exposed in
                front of an audience, the solitary focus of attention for countless watchful eyes, it responds with
                the Flight reaction: pacing around the platform like a caged tiger. When a two-legged presenting
                animal cannot escape because it is trapped by the microphone, the computer, the lectern, and,
                particularly, by the expectant audience, it responds by protecting its vulnerable underbelly with
                its limbs. It does so in variations of protectiveness:

                        • Hands clasped below the waist in front (The “fig leaf”)
                        • Hands clasped behind the back (The “reverse fig leaf”)
                        • Both hands tightly clasped above the waist
                        • Half-clasped (One hand clutching the midsection)
                        • Reverse half-clasped (The other hand clutching the midsection)
                        • One or both hands plunged deeply into the trouser pockets
                        • Both hands clenched in prayer
                        • Both hands wringing in the manner of Lady Macbeth
                        • Both hands cupped together, while the fingers nervously twirl a ring
                        • The fingers of both hands playing Cat’s Cradle
                        • The fingers of both hands forming an Indian tepee

                The common factor in all these movements is that the upper arms press tightly against the side
                of the body, positioning the forearms and hands to be able to quickly dart down to protect the
                vulnerable underbelly. As a result, the elbows clasp the body as if they were attached by Velcro.
                All these positions have one common name: body wrap.

All these forms of Fight or Flight are in response to threatening circumstances. By any standard and any viewpoint—left wing or right—the difficulties of the U.S. economy are putting President Obama and his administration into threatening circumstances.

Will they fight or flight?

After months of ducking the media over charges of marital infidelity, Tiger Woods finally met the press by delivering a thirteen-and-a-half minute apologetic statement to a hand-picked audience, and he did not take questions. That did not stop the media from picking over the event like the leftover carcass of a Thanksgiving turkey. The commentary ranged from the sarcastic (London’s Telegraph commented: “Tiger Woods had bought a new shirt. But, rather like a schoolboy on his first day of term, it appeared to be at least one collar size too large”) to the sincere, as Alessandra Stanley, the television critic for the New York Times reported:

                On the Golf Channel, the analyst Charlie Rymer, a former PGA player, choked up. “We saw a genuine
                and authentic Tiger Woods,” Rymer said. His own eyes teared up when he described how “painful”
                it must have been for Woods.

Ms. Stanley, herself, approved of Mr. Woods’ candor:

                If Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina had delivered Tiger Woods’s ironclad apology instead of a
                lovelorn cri de coeur about his Argentine love nest, his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Jenny, might not have
                published a book about her marital woes. If John Edwards had been as truthful and forthcoming
                about his personal misdeeds, he might not be as much of a pariah as he remains even after expiating
                for his sins in Haiti.

The Wall Street Journal also gathered comments from experts in the field of “crisis management,” in particular that of Michael Sitrick, the Chairman and CEO of Sitrick and Company, whose firm has recently taken on the challenge of representing Toyota. Mr. Sitrick said of Mr. Woods’ delivery, “I would have done it with a teleprompter.”

Mr. Sitrick is spot on. Instead of a teleprompter, Mr. Woods chose to read his statement from written text placed on a lectern in front of him. This choice diminished the effectiveness of his delivery, as it would for any presenter who reads from either text or notes on a lectern.

To access his text, Mr. Woods repeatedly looked down, causing what are known as “nosedives.” Each time he cast his eyes downward, he broke eye contact; the vital expression of sincerity; and each time he bent his head, his voice dropped, making his words sound weak.

In sharp contrast is the moment (at 3:35 in the YouTube video) when he looks up and straight out to the audience, the camera, and the world to say, “For what I have done, I am sorry.” For the first time, the only time in an otherwise flat, stiff reading, the moment resonates.

The teleprompter, for all the commentary it has elicited, (including mine,) would have allowed Mr. Woods to deliver his carefully-crafted statement to the world with full voice and a sincere look in his eyes.

The blogosphere, the fiber optic cables, and the airwaves have been buzzing with stories about Sarah Palin who, during a television interview connected with her speech at the conservative Tea Party convention, used crib notes written on her palm. You can see the infamous moment on YouTube. To compound the moment, Ms. Palin, threw a stone at the White House from her glass house during her speech when she said, “This is about the people. And it’s bigger than any king or queen of a tea party. And it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter.”

The White House shot right back at her when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, during a briefing session, read a mock grocery list he had written on his palm, in a clear poke at Palin.

Frank Rich, the New York Times columnist who, until recently, is usually supportive of Obama, was not amused, “the president might have more profitably instructed his press secretary to drop the lame Palin jokes and dismantle the disinformation campaign her speech delivered to a national audience.”

Nancy Benac of the Associated Press summed up the sharp exchange on the subject, “Obama’s critics point to his podium and teleprompter as evidence of [his] disconnect. Palin’s critics point to her flesh-and-ink crib notes as one more sign she’s a lightweight. Or maybe all these two have shown is that they’re human and need a little help remembering key points.”

The fact of the matter is that every presenter needs a little help remembering key points. In the case of a president, because the media weighs, scrutinizes, and analyzes every word, the teleprompter is essential to avoid misstatements. In the case of politicians and personalities, their handlers prepare for public appearances with as much attention to detail as the Allies did for invasion of Normandy. But in the case of business presentations, there is margin for error. Audiences—who know just what it’s like to present—have empathy for presenters and are tolerant of imperfection.

Nonetheless, every presenter wants to deliver a clear story, free of gaffes. So how can you remember what to say when you are standing in front of an audience? The answer is the blinding flash of the obvious: Your slides are your crib notes.

A widely-held belief in business is that, if a presenter looks at a slide, he or she appears to be unprepared. Wrong! The instant a new slide pops onto the screen, your audience, in the blink of an eye, looks at it, and they do so involuntarily. Unlike the unblinking eye of the television camera which caught Sarah Palin glancing at her palm, your audience will be so absorbed in your slide, they won’t see you turning to look at it. As soon as you take that look, you will know just what to say next.

(You can read more about slides as memory prompts in a prior blog.)

In the previous blog, you read about how the skill of Marques Colston, the New Orleans Saints leading wide receiver, resonates with the listening aspect of responding to questions in Q and A sessions. Now let’s look at another factor that contributed to the Saints’ Super Bowl victory: preparation.

A Wall Street Journal article about the run-up to the big event reported that the New Orleans Saints and their opponents, the Indianapolis Colts, combined, spent 514,000 hours of labor per team. The article, based on a study prepared for Journal by the Boston Consulting Group, explained:

                With 53 players per team divided into three distinct units—each with their own intricate
                playbooks—a professional football team is a complex organism.

                Add a dozen coaches who study film late into the night, hundreds of grueling practice sessions,
                an annual college draft and the number of hours the players spend in the gym throughout the
                year, and the two teams that make it to the Super Bowl each season put in more hours of work
                than any team in any other sport…That’s about eight times the effort it took to conceptualize,
                build and market Apple’s iPod, according to BCG, and enough time to build 25 America’s Cup
                yachts. If both Super Bowl teams dedicated themselves to construction rather than football,
                their members could have built the Empire State Building in seven seasons.

The article went on to note that Tom Benson, the 83-year-old Saints owner, works as hard as his players and coaches.

                During his long days, he says he meets frequently with [his] executives—but that the grind
                doesn’t seem to get to him.

                “I can’t hardly wait to get to the office,” he says.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the bestselling Tipping Point and Blink, has a new bestseller with Outliers: The Story of Success, in which he describes other examples of preparation of epic proportions. In a chapter called “The 10,000 Hour Rule,” Mr. Gladwell describes the early days of the careers of Bill Gates and The Beatles, and how they developed their talents with marathon hours of practice.

This is not to say that you should spend five- or six-digit hours of practice for your important presentation, but it is to urge you not to relegate your preparation to cramming the night before—a practice all-too-common in business today. Remember the results of cramming in school? In educational circles cramming is known as massed learning; its opposite is distributed or spaced learning, a subject discussed in detail here and here. Start your preparation well in advance of your D-Day, and practice often.

You may not be preparing for the Super Bowl, but the success of your business proposal depends on your presentation.

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory and to Marques Colston, their talented wide receiver. Mr. Colston, who was the Saints’ leading receiver in the game with 7 receptions for 83 yards, is a four-year veteran who helped his team reach the Super Bowl with 70 catches for 1,074 yards over the season.

What makes for a successful wide receiver is a statistic called “Yards After Catch,” or its acronym, “YAC.” It refers to a play in which a receiver catches a pass for a gain of yards and then runs for additional yards. Superior receivers, like Mr. Colston, strive for long YACs. In the 2009 season, his YAC record was 285, a 26.5% increment to his total. The not-so-superior receivers, in their desire to become superior receivers, often take their eyes off the ball and start to run before they catch the ball. They then fail to make the yards or the catch. The play fails.

The analogy to Q&A sessions applies here. All too often, presenters, in their desire to succeed, start to provide an answer before they fully understand the question. If the answer doesn’t match the question, the answer—as well as the entire presentation—fails. The missing link in this equation is listening, a social skill that is rapidly becoming extinct in the 21^st Century.

Listening was the subject of a prior blog; but for now, let’s cut to the chase: Always listen before you answer. Do not take a single step into your answer until your hands are clutching the ball, until you fully grasp the true meaning of the question.

In the next blog, we’ll look at another reason behind the success of the New Orleans Saints, and its relevance to presentations.

In the previous post, you read about how musicians and athletes practice their art to the point of effortless grace; and that presenters, while not performers, must practice their presentations to the point delivering it with confidence and poise. The practice methodology to achieve that lofty state is Verbalization, the subject of prior blogs, as well as a case study in Presenting to Win. Verbalization means rehearsing your presentation aloud—just as you will in front of an actual audience, and doing it many times over.

Unfortunately, the way most businesspeople rehearse their presentations is to click through the slides and say something like, “Okay, with this slide I’m going to say something about our sales revenues…and then with this slide I’ll say something about our path to profitability…and then with this next slide I’ll show a picture of our lab and talk a little about R&D.”

Sound familiar? As a form of rehearsal, it is completely unproductive. Talking about your presentation is not an effective practice method for presenting; any more than talking about tennis would be a good way to improve your backhand.

An even more common presentation practice, is mumbling. The presenter clicks through the slides on the computer or flips through the pages of a hard copy of the slides while muttering unintelligible words. Neither of these methods is Verbalization. In fact, they are both counterproductive because they reinforce negative behavior.

Jason Trujillo of Intel Corporation described this behavior as “practice makes permanent,” a variation of the 2000-year old words of Publius Syrus, “practice makes perfect.” If you mumble, you reinforce mumbling. If you Verbalize your words just as you will say them in front of an actual audience, you will reinforce the correct words.

To illustrate the power of Verbalization, here is the story of The Bootstrap CEO from Presenting to Win:

                The man, who began his professional career as a scientist, had developed his esoteric technology
                in his garage and then bootstrapped his company without ever having to make presentations. But
                when his technology took off and his company was about to go public, he knew that he would have
                to stand and deliver the IPO road show. He retained my services and we went through all the steps
                you’ve learned in this book, except for the Verbalization.

                On the morning of the day he was to deliver his road show to the investment banking team that
                would be selling his offering, he panicked. I printed out his slides on paper, spread them out on a
                conference room table, and asked him to talk through them. But he stammered as he did, and his
                panic intensified. I asked him to start again. As he worked his way through the slides the second
                time, he stammered less and less. I asked him to do it again and again.

                By the fifth run-through, his stammering had disappeared; by the sixth, he was beginning to
                develop continuity; by lunchtime, when the bankers arrived, he was able to deliver a positively
                fluid presentation. The solid foundation of the well-developed story and graphics combined with
                Verbalization gave the apprehensive presenter the comfort level he needed.

Make this your lesson learned: Verbalize your presentation and you can approach the effortlessness of successful musicians and athletes.

Three musicians and two athletes share a performance quality that any presenter would do well to emulate. The musicians are jazz pianist Art Tatum, violinist Jascha Heifetz, and dancer Fred Astaire; the two athletes are baseball great Joe DiMaggio and any good trapeze artist. All of them perform their specialties with supreme effortlessness or, in the idiom of trapeze artists, without a net. The lesson for presenters is to stand up in front of a mission critical audience and appear supremely confident in describing their businesses. But this is far easier said than done, because presenters, unlike musicians and athletes, are not performers.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Terry Teachout, the Journal’s drama critic illustrated Art Tatum’s effortlessness in a YouTube video of his 1954 performance of “Yesterdays,”

                Close your eyes and it sounds as though someone had tossed a string of lit firecrackers
                into the Steinway. Open them and it looks as though you’re watching a court reporter
                take down the testimony of a witness in a civil suit.

Teachout went on to describe Heifetz’s ease, “[he] brought off his stupendous feats of technical wizardry without ever cracking a smile or looking anything other than blasé.” Fred Astaire and Joe DiMaggio were both noted for the consummate grace with which they performed their vigorous physical activities.

How can a presenter achieve that grace? The answer goes back to the old vaudeville joke about a visitor to New York City seeking directions. The visitor stops a man on the street and asks, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall? The man replies “Practice.”

Practice in presentations, however, takes on a special form called Verbalization, the subject of a prior blog. Simply put, Verbalization means rehearsing your presentation aloud—just as you will in front of an actual audience, and doing it many times over.

As an illustration of the power of Verbalization, the next post will be the story of The Bootstrap CEO.