3. A Perfect Presentation

Fascinating to see the excellent use these presenters have made of Grammar to Go.

I hadn't intended spending the whole day at Phil's offices, but the more I saw, the more I wanted to know. We had started our morning by listening to a sales update, from the East of England Sales Director and one of his team leaders. Both Phil and I had been struck by the difference in quality and confidence of the two men. The fact that the team leader had been using Grammar to Go, while his director had not, had been painfully obvious. The former gentleman's presentation was littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, which spoiled his presentation, and made him appear less confident and professional. The team leader, on the other hand, had presented a faultless update, enhanced by a clear and accurate set of slides. And I'm sure you can guess who received the most applause!

The Guide by Your Side

At lunchtime, Phil had introduced me to the team leader.
"Congratulations", I said, shaking the young man by the hand. "Fantastic presentation. You must be very pleased with yourself."
"I'm relieved, actually", he replied, laughing. "I didn't have long to prepare, you see - in fact, I was only told I would be presenting two days ago!"
"Heavens! So you pulled together that speech and those slides in just 48 hours?"
"Less", he winked. "About four hours, to tell the truth. But I did have a bit of help."
"Aha - a willing colleague?"
"No - a new tool we're using in Norwich. Grammar to Go - don't know if you've heard of it? It really helped me make sense of the words and phrases I wanted to use. Of course, I had to structure the overall presentation myself, but I used the online tool to check over my grammar and spelling. Couldn't have done it without!"
My conversation with the team lead had left me feeling pretty pleased with myself, so I was very optimistic when, at 4pm, Phil ushered me in to the main boardroom for his own presentation.
"I'm using slides, too", Phil explained. "Unlike the chap you met at lunchtime, though, I've been working on mine for about four weeks. I was drawing blanks, though - until last week. Take a look at this." Phil handed me a sheaf of paper. "That was my presentation before I played around with Grammar to Go. Have a flip through that while I'm up there."
Twenty minutes and one very successful presentation later, I was shaking Phil's hand and congratulating him on a faultless speech and set of slides.
"See a difference?" he asked, winking. "Now - follow me. There's someone I'd like you to meet. Geoff over here works in our marketing department. I think the two of you could have a very interesting conversation..."

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