How to Wash a Chicken: Mastering the Business Presentation

by Tim Calkins

How to Wash a Chicken is not a book about public speaking (or chickens), it’s a comprehensive playbook for business leaders and people on their way up to give the best presentations of their lives, and embark on a circle of presentation success.

All too often, the best intentions and most innovative ideas get lost in a poorly executed presentation. Author Tim Calkins understands the power of a compelling presentation and the difficulty in accomplishing one. The brand strategist, professor and author has been giving presentations since he was eight, when he delivered his first official presentation with an uncooperative chicken at a 4-H competition. From business updates to project recommendations to marketing plans, Calkins has given more than five thousand presentations to date.

With concrete suggestions, helpful tricks, and step-by-step guidance that’s applicable to all industries, Calkins sets out to propel his readers to create and deliver effective business presentations and pitches. When all lessons from How to Wash a Chicken are applied, readers will be empowered throughout the preparation and presentation process. They will be able to present with more confidence and conviction than they ever had before, setting them on a path of professional growth.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

Published September 25, 2018

About the author

Tim Calkins is business author, consultant and teacher. He helps individuals and companies communicate clearly and build strong brands.

He is Clinical Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches courses including Marketing Strategy and Biomedical Marketing.

Tim works with major corporations around the world on strategy and branding issues through his firm Class 5 Consulting. Recent clients include Eli Lilly, Kraft Heinz and Hearst.

He is the author of books including Defending Your Brand and Breakthrough Marketing Plans.

Tim began his career at the consulting firm Booz Allen and Hamilton, where he worked on strategy and branding issues. He joined the marketing team at Kraft Foods in 1991. During his almost 11 years at Kraft, he led businesses including Miracle Whip, Taco Bell, A.1. steak sauce, Seven Seas and DiGiorno. While at Kraft he was responsible for the launch of more than two dozen new products.

He received his BA from Yale in 1987 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1991.

Tim lives in Chicago with his wife and three children. He loves to hike, canoe and ski.

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accidentally checked this audiobook out from my library’s Hoopla site, but I found it quite well done. I’ve read many business presentation books over the past few years, and most focus on the message. Here, the author spends as much time focusing on meeting logistics as the message. It was refreshing to read his advice in when to cancel a meeting – I had not seen other books cover this necessary political skill, and it is well described here. Another one of my hot buttons is team presentations. It seems most business presentations I’ve been involved with over the past few decades had two or more presenters, but the logistics of the dance of changing presenters is rarely discussed. Here, the author provides suggestions on limiting handoffs, and in making those handoffs as professional and quick as possible. The author also provides valuable advice in preparing for the “physical plant” of the room, testing lighting before the presentation for instance. About half of this book is traditional business presentation messaging advice, and the author quotes many of the books that I suspect many have read, like Nancy Duarte’s books, and Gallo’s book on Jobs’ presentation skills. Overall, I found this a valuable addition to the literature on business presentation, with good summation of state of the art from other books and a bonus focus on logistics and politics of presentations and meeting planning.

[Nick Fruendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough & helpful guide to acing your business presentation.

[Spencer Brauchla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helped me to recognize becoming a good presenter is an attainable goal. Complete with objectives on how best to present information. Very different than what I learned during my formal education, making this book more valuable to me than it likely would be for someone with a business-focused background.

[Lee Fritz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other than the extensive use of the term Personal Brand - which, okay, I understand but also detest and had a physical aversion to the more he discussed - this was a fine book with good tips on presenting (or when to not present). Our presentation skills group at work picked this as the subject of our first book club meeting. Accordingly, I made a number of notes, which I’ll paste below for your information and for my future reference:

Questions to ask presenters during practices:

Why are you presenting?
What is the objective?
Who is the audience?
What do they know?
What do they want to hear?
Does the audience already have an opinion?

5 things every presentation needs:
1. cover page including title, date, names, location
2. Purpose
3. Agenda
4. Executive summary
5. Conclusion

Tips in creating a presentation:

Only 3 or 4 bullet points per slide
If presenting with a group, consider working together with continual involvement and agreement on the core message, storyboard together, divide specific slide images/data production (don’t create individual sections - they will not flow)

Record practice presentations for presenter review
Go through presentation afterward and make notes, clarify sections, make corrections
Do not memorize the presentation

How to improve presentation:
1. Simplify slides and remove clutter
2. Avoid passive writing
3. Purchase a presenter (clicker) to advance slides.

[Cyndie Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would be a great book for individuals who are giving presentations within a corporate, business or business school setting. However I don't think this was exactly what I thought it would be (perhaps my fault) and thought it would include a bit more description of interactive presentation techniques for those of us teaching specific skills.

While there are some general presenting skills discussed, it is focused on presentations where the purpose is to make and get agreement on a specific recommendation, especially where office politics are involved and when there may be interactivity in the meeting, including multiple presenters. It's an interesting thought exercise to consider how it might be applicable in other contexts (for instance, as an outside consultant how can you come to better understand these politics and combine these skills with others like from Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, or as a professional speaker which TED like skills do make more sense?)

[Pratik Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book does provide a very logical approach to business presentations, but I love that it Tim Calkins focuses on the small things and how they can affect both the outcome of the presentation and your personal brand. I will be taking a lot of lessons from this book and be applying it to my professional life due to it's relevancy.

If you are someone that is new to presenting, this book will set you up to be successful from the start. The strategies and recommendations in this book truly help with understanding the basics of presenting.

If you have presented many times before, this book will help you take the next step in improving your presenting. I think one of the most important distinctions made in this book is that Tim Calkins talks about how Business Presentations are different than what people perceive as "public speaking". Most people imagine it as Ted Talks when in reality Business Presentations are incredibly different in the delivery and the dynamics of the presentation. This will help you understand the smaller things that can help you go from a good presenter to a great presenter.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book provides some insights into preparing for a presentation in the business world, the message is not complete. Author Tim Calkinds provides advice about public speaking that has roots in the usual textbook about public speaking. He also helps us understand how to make use of new technologies that have revolutionized changed what speakers can do to engage audiences.

However, the book works from the assumption that the words and images on the screen are the only thing that’s matters in a speech. The limits the work of public speaking is a matter of working from a script summarizes what the speaker is saying. The book doesn’t say much about the dynamics of eye-to-eye interaction audience and the sound of the speaker.

The advice is good stuff. It’s just not complete, especially for the naive speaker.

[Matthew Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is very simple to read and follow with very clear guidelines on how to do an effective presentation. Author is very experienced and it shows in his anecdotes and gives insights on how and why common errors don't work (putting a lot of content on slides, having people take different parts of a presentation, etc..). Focus is a bit more on business presentations - however, I think much of the content can be applied to anything.

[Russ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a pragmatic approach to a feature of most individuals careers which is at times disregarded. In a career, everyone is expected to deliver presentations from time to time and failing to deliver in a polished fashion raises serious doubt about all other work products; warranted or not.

This book is an easy must read for aspiring business professionals.

[Dan Cotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a very quick read with some great insights into presentations. Only small caveat would be if it were more focused or discussed more the presentation or webinar outside of the business meeting, but same principles apply.

[LY · Rating 3 out of 5]

最好有看過一些做得很爛的簡報和不知所云的講者，再看這本書會比較有共鳴。
如果要做商務簡報的話可以看這本書，作者輕楚的說明要如何製作簡報，還有事前分析你的觀眾，用「他們的語言」來說服他們，並在簡報當下注意他們的body language。
但是如果是做學術論文這種無可避免充滿數字和圖表，並沒有太多呼籲行動的報告的話，這本書幫助會比較少。
當然還是有些Common的論點大家都可以用的，包括不要一直盯著電腦螢幕，要注意你的觀眾，每張投影片的重點不宜太多，弭平資訊落差，提供背景資訊，站在在大家共同的立足點再往前推進。

[Bob Dolgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read! A comprehensive, accessible guide to business presenting. I felt like I was in Professor Calkins’ class again. I enjoyed the anecdotes from past presenting experiences.

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy-to-read book, which provides logical, concise, and doable advice on presentations. Worth trying in school and work.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice pointers on business presenting skills... not super innovative though.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

100023)

[Laurian Filip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and concise guide for improving your p presentations

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

dude, just use the oxford comma and don’t state the obvious like “don’t stand in front of the projector otherwise your audience won’t be able to see your presentation”

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended by someone at work. Playbook for preparing and presenting. Nothing revolutionary but a good, comprehensive delivery.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great refresher on how to do excellent and effective business presentations.

[Philip Koehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calkin’s book captures the foundation of presenting well. The chapters are short and organized in an easy to follow matter. The only downside is that the book was a bit boring at times.

[Abigail Kupka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good business advice!

[Tim Dent · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a former student of Professor Calkins, I put this on my list as soon as it was published. Calkins is one of the best public speakers I have ever seen, especially within a business setting. “How to wash a chicken” can set a good foundation for those trying to improve their presentation skills, from both a preparation and delivery aspect. After reading, it is easy to see why Calkins had so much success in the corporate world and now wants to help others improve their own careers.

[Nguyễn Minh-Trung · Rating 5 out of 5]

một quyển sách hay, helpful cả trong công việc nội bộ lẫn làm dự án với khách hàng.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

如何幫雞洗澡

[Kulpreet Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because there comes a time when we have to figure out how to improve our presentations ;)

Turns out a lot is possible. Worth spending a few hours with this one.