Presentation is Everything

It was the moment that every father dreads. My wife and I sat together in our living room with our daughter's boyfriend. He had invited himself over for dinner and we were pretty sure he was going to ask our permission to pop the big question. He was nervous. There were several periods of silence. He then began to stutter and stammer in an attempt to bring up the subject of engagement. At least, that's what we thought he was trying to say. He spoke as if a dentist had recently shot his mouth full of Novocaine. It wasn't going well.

Then, out of the blue, he asks, "Can I use your bathroom?"

My wife and I stared at each other in disbelief as the young man rocketed to the bathroom. I was convinced that he was tossing his cookies in there. However, I was proved wrong a few minutes later when he returned from the bathroom. He had changed clothes and was now dressed in his best attire. He was also carrying his laptop.

"I'm really nervous, and I'm not doing a great job of getting this out," he said, laying his laptop on the coffee table and propping it open. "So, I've put together a little presentation."

And put together a presentation, he did. There were several slides providing visual and historical evidence of their love for each other. There were charts and graphs quantifying their relationship growth (in "love units"). He even worked in a Q&A slide.

To make a long story short, we did give the young man permission (we've seen this coming) and my daughter is now engaged.

My future son-in-law provided me with a great reminder. Whether you're delivering a sales pitch to a lead, trying to provide customer service to an angry customer, or delivering a presentation to prospective in-laws, getting the desired results often hinges on the quality of the presentation.

Comments

[Drew McLellan]

Tom,

Congratulations on your family's big news! Wow...powerpoint to get engaged? Seriously glad we are not young people any more!

Drew

[Tom Vander Well]

Thanks, Drew. You said it!