There is an important rider here, however. This picture of a 'good' presentation is contradicted in the influential sectors of scientific,
academic and medical circles where a different paradigm and different expectations appear to predominate: long, complex, impersonal sentences, distance from the audience (note:
not the more personal 'listeners'), focus on the content, and an excess of visual aids. So this article concentrates on improving business presentations, while offering plenty of opportunities to relieve suffering among the audiences of scientific congresses around the world.
The R in this formula for successful presentations stands for RESULT, a 'good' presentation that applies to virtually any and every speaker. Question: How many speakers can achieve this desired result? Answer: Anyone and everyone who applies and uses this formula! Compare it to baking a cake: leave out an ingredient or change the proportions and you'll get a cake that differs from that promised by the original recipe! So let's move on and look at the three essential ingredients to help you 'bake better cakes'!
M = Mechanism
If you want to present more easily, comfortably, and with more power and control, then it's important for you to assimilate a new and different |
'mechanism', or model, of what a presentation looks like.
A full training course provides insight into the primary differences between the 'old' - and potentially boring lecture model - and an energetic, businesslike presentation that both reaches the listeners and ensures that the speaker achieves his goal.
Let's now look at just some of the differences:
Old: Start your presentation with something like 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very pleased to be here and to see you all here today. I want you to know that I'm looking forward to telling you about ...'
New: Begin non-verbally (silence, eye contact, the gentle smile of relaxed jaws); go on to use words that relate to the listeners and their reality; involve them immediately, come to the point quickly and make it totally clear to them why it's to their advantage to be present at this presentation. Example: 'You and your organisation have arrived at a crucial crossroads in your history. Crucial and uncomfortable, because it means change.
Crucial - because change is essential if you are to maintain your market share. Uncomfortable - even painful - because you are being challenged to let go of old, yet well-known structures and ways of doing business. |
We're here today to look at the implications of this process ... and to spend some time enjoying the exciting perspective of a new road to a successful future.'
Old: Use a 'title visual' (overhead sheet or PowerPoint slide) to state who you are, where the meeting is taking place, who the listeners are, the title of your speech, the date and time. Display a second visual with all the points you intend to cover ('list of contents'), which you also read aloud. At the end, project a list of conclusions, which you also read aloud, including some new information you forgot to mention earlier.
New: Begin and end your presentation yourself - alone. Just you. |
No visuals to distract the attention. Never compete with the screen! Use a short sentence simply to indicate not the details, but the general direction of your presentation and what the listeners can expect to take away with them at the end. This approach allows you more freedom of direction and emphasis within your presentation. Conclude with five short, dynamic sentences summarising what the listener has heard, seen and experienced. Use the last sentence to motivate him to take action.
Old: Your conclusion contains expressions such as: 'I've tried to explain ..', 'I hope that I've made it clear ...', 'If you have any questions ...' and - the Golden Oldie - 'Thank you for your attention.'
New: Your final words are a clear indication to the listener that the next step to be taken is entirely up to the listener, and is to his advantage. Use only 'you' ('I' is forbidden!) and also make this your last word. The actual ending is non-verbal: raise the voice in volume and/or intonation for the final few words, make eye contact, smile, enjoy the silence, wait, then gently nod your head as a signal that you really are finished ... and receive the applause.
Old: The logical structure forms the backbone of your speech. You progress logically from topic to topic ('abc ... z'), all the while supported by more or less the same information projected on the screen. You present your subject on the assumption that everyone listens, understands and remembers everything you say the first time they hear it.
New: The backbone of your presentation is the message, the one essential conclusion that the listener should draw after experiencing your presentation. You talk around this message, including repetition from different points of view. |
The assumption of this approach is that nobody hears and understands everything the first time!
Old: The visuals present more or less the same information as what the speaker tells. Copied in their entirety, these visuals constitute the handout. The assumption is that the audience uses the handout during the lecture in order to follow it better, and can use it later as a source of reference.
New: Screens full of text are not visual aids, they are visual nuisances! You, the speaker, are your most important visual aid! Other props that you may use are there to support and hammer home any internal pictures and impressions your words may create. The right props are simple, more symbolic than extensive, and add a degree of entertainment to your presentation. Never compete with your visual aids, but integrate them fully into your story. As far as the handout goes, assume that almost nobody looks at it. If your listener can follow your presentation just from the sheets, then you've got the wrong sheets! Copying them wastes time, energy and paper. If you nevertheless choose to prepare a handout as an 'anchor' for your presentation and the presence of the listener at your event, then make it either short and concise (one or two pages for business presentations) or a complete, valuable, easily accessible document with additional information for a seminar or congress compilation. It is therefore not a copy of what you tell!
Suggestion: use this document as the basis for an article that you get published - it is then a useful part of your PR activities.
You will surely appreciate from these few examples that for many speakers the mechanism or model for an effective presentation means letting go of old habits.
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And as the saying goes, 'old habits die hard'. It means practising so as to create a more exciting and dynamic presentation ... because this approach gives you, as a speaker, more space and opportunity for your originality, enthusiasm and creativity, and that winning contact with your listeners.
T = Technique
You will probably be amazed at just how simple these techniques are. Which might indicate they are somewhat more challenging to put into practise! However, mastering these techniques will help you feel more confident and your demeanour will be more professional.
Some examples:
Before starting to speak, take the time to slow down and simply be present.
Be aware of any physical barriers there are (such as a table) and close the gap between you and your listeners. Yes, even if you intend to use a lectern for the bulk of your lecture, see if you dare begin and end 'out there', at the front of the podium.
Drop your shoulders and let your arms hang loosely at your sides, your hands relaxed.
Consciously breathe out three times and wait before breathing in. When you breathe through your mouth you look as if you're smiling!
Look around and make eye contact. Then and only then - and it seems like a century - may you begin to speak.
Use this 'neutral position' at the beginning, just before coming to your conclusion, at the very end - and at every moment during your presentation when you want to give yourself and your listeners a brief respite.
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When on the point of projecting your first visual (or showing a prepared flip chart), first prepare the listeners for what they are about to see presented. Show it, and wait several seconds before you continue. When you change visuals, first summarise what the audience has seen and understood, use that statement as a transition to what they are now going to see and hear described in detail ... and only then may you change the visual in a silence, which is functional not just for your listeners, but for you, too.
If you want to indicate something on the screen: - either use words ('look at the first column
of figures ...') - or, when using the overhead projector, take a whiteboard marker and circle or underline directly on the transparency - or place a pointer on the sheet (a symbolic hand + finger, cut out of cardboard or plastic is different and amusing) - or, when using the beamer, use the software to highlight the spot, or add in a pointer (a circle or arrow in a contrasting colour). Never point directly on the screen (the telescopic pointer and the laser pen are forbidden!).
Instead of wanting to tell so much, ask more questions: use positively phrased closed questions to which the answer is 'yes', and rhetorical questions to which you already know - and provide - the answer.
Keep involving the listener by using 'bridging expressions'. These are word constructions that help you bridge the gap between you and your audience. One example is the direct, closed question: 'Is that clear?', 'Are you following me?' Other expressions are: 'You'll surely agree with me that ...', 'You're sure to recognise ...', 'Your own experience has most likely confirmed that ...'. These expressions are ideal for presenting a truism without insulting your listeners! Anything, to get a 'yes' reaction!
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When you write on the flip chart, write. When you talk, talk and make eye contact. How and where you stand helps you - this is also a technique you can learn! Learn to write in large capital letters, using a movement from the shoulder not from the fingers and the wrist. Learn how to 'flip' the pages easily and quietly - taking an extra page certainly helps! Despite the onslaught of electronic media, you'll find that the flip chart is an ideal tool for reaching groups of 30-40 participants.
You will surely agree that technique alone will not make you a top presenter. (This fiction looms large in current advertising for electronic presentation equipment!) But just as with all skills, mastering basic techniques is essential.
C = Composure
Chances are you've noticed that the first words and the first few minutes of a presentation are perhaps the most awkward and challenging. Also, that the deeper you get into your subject, the easier it becomes. Vital keys to improving both your performance and your presentation are provided by insight into what's going on in your body as you present.
Breath
In this article you've already read twice about pausing and creating moments of silence. While taking the obvious risk of simply touching the top of the iceberg, some theory is necessary. Tension (fear) blocks movement of the diaphragm, the muscle that allows deep, relaxed abdominal breathing. Breathing influences your voice, and correct, deep breathing gives you the power to communicate. Besides that, it helps you feel more confident. Whenever you feel tense, breathe OUT ... deeply. Really empty your lungs. Now here's the hard part: breathe out through your mouth ... and WAIT before breathing in deeply. Again, through your mouth. Hold the air in your lungs briefly before again exhaling deeply. |
Posture: arms
You may be one of those speakers who wonders what you should do with your hands. The answer is simple: nothing! Just let them hang at your sides. When you become aware of the weight of your hands, then you'll have released some tension from your shoulders. This is the tension that restricts your gestures and limits their functionality. Relax your shoulders and fingers, make eye contact with your listeners, talk with them instead of at them and you optimise your chance of functional, meaningful, supportive gestures.
Posture: body
Support your body with your weight evenly on both legs and feet. Relax the knees. Place the feet parallel at about the width of your hips. In case you missed the instruction: place your feet (including toes) parallel. This position is ideal for starting and ending your presentation, as well as for each pause you take. Posture: head
Keep your head straight and your chin in. Look in the mirror to see how you stand! Look around with your head, not just by moving your eyes.
Silence
There is power in silence. Do you dare to stand still, to allow silences between your statements and questions? These are the moments before, during and after your presentation when you relax with awareness, when exhaling through the mouth conjures a smile on your face ... and when your listeners also have a moment to take stock of what you have just said.
Remember that tension affects your whole body. The techniques you've just read about are but a few of the many that will help you feel comfortable, present and confident. They will help your voice carry your message across in words and sound, and make the necessary contact with your listeners. After all, they're the ones you want to influence!
M + T + C = R
This is a powerful formula to make your presentations more effective. Use the ideas you've read about, accept the discomfort that accompanies experimenting, and enjoy the result! |
David Bloch
PERFECT PRESENTATION
Presentations - Consultancy - Training
Seminars - Workshops - Individual sessions
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Are you one of those people who finds presenting an unpleasant task? Or are you someone who looks forward to the challenge, and takes pleasure in putting across a message in an original and memorable way? One thing is more or less certain, and that is the concept of what a 'good' presentation is - or should be: relaxed and entertaining, yet with a message of value and significance; the right amount of the right visual aids; appropriate humour; contact with listeners who feel involved ... |
