Create a lasting impact in presentation

At some stage in our lives, we are faced with having to stand up in front of a group and make a presentation.  For some, this is a natural part of our working or social life; we may even look forward to it. As training professionals it is quite easy for us after our years of experience.  For others it is a nerve racking experience which fills them with dread.

This article is for all those who have to make presentations and who would like to enhance their skills. 

The skills of presenting are not unique to any presentation.  All presenters use the same set of skills and techniques whether they are a television compere, a management trainer, a sales person, a manager, or captain of golf club.   They may use the skills slightly differently, but they are the same skills.

These skills can be grouped under two main headings; preparation and delivery.  The preparation stage includes all the thought and work that goes in before the presentation is made - planning what you are going to say and how you are going to say it, preparing visuals and notes, etc. Delivery deals with your voice, body language, nerves, etc.

I always share this WHAT IS SAID is never that important but HOW IT IS SAID always counts.

How to be a powerful and impact-full presenter:

Make Reading a Habit.

Readers are leaders . The more you read the more you will be able to deliver an impact-full presentation. Because journey of books and articles and case studies gives you wisdom that helps you instantly while giving a presentation

Preparation

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.  This is probably more true of making presentations than any other activity.  Nobody, not even a professional presenter will make a good presentation without adequate preparation.  It is the foundation of all presentations and is the primary weapon in the fight against your nerves.

Preparation involves a series of distinct stages which you should follow.  Some of these stages involve only a little thought but you should still make sure to go through them, they are all part of the process.

Objectives

The first question you have to answer in your preparation is why you are making the presentation at all.  There must be a general objective as well as a specific objective relating to the subject matter.  General objectives must fall into one of the following categories:

To persuade or sell

To teach

To stimulate thought

To inform

To entertain

Whatever your general objective, you always need to try and entertain your audience.  This means putting your material over in such a way that it is interesting and people want to listen.

The specific objective will depend entirely on your subject matter.  You should always write down your specific objective in one sentence and try to phrase it in terms of what your audience will do after your presentation.

Create the LIKABILITY factor.

People will always listen to those who they like .To create this likability factor presenter has very short period of time it may be few seconds how he starts and grab the attention of the audience or loose them.

This has various benefits:

It focuses your mind right at the start.

Selection of material is based on achieving the objective.

When your notes are complete you can again check that you are meeting your original aim.

You may be able to test whether your objective has been achieved by what the audience do after your talk.

It is possible to have more than one specific objective, but be careful that this does not muddle your thinking and, therefore, your presentation.

 Know the Logistics of the Presentation

Audience

Anyone who has sat through a presentation and wondered if they are in the right room will know the importance of researching your audience. The audience you are talking to are the most important people in the whole exercise.  You need to know:

How many of them are there?

Who are they?

What do they know about the subject?

What is their attitude to the subject, to you and to your objective?

Why are they there?

What are their expectations and needs?

All the above points will determine the material used and the approach to the presentation.  You have a duty to those who listen to you to make sure your talk is pitched at the right level for them.

Venue

It is important to consider where the presentation is going to take place. There may not always be a choice of venue, but is very useful to see it beforehand, especially if you have not spoken there before.  The ideal venue must be:

Quiet and without distractions like picture windows, noise, interruptions, etc.

Large enough for your audience.

Equipped with the facilities you and your audience will need.

Comfortable, but not too comfortable.

Laid out in a way which suits you, your audience and your objective.

Seating Layout

Seating layouts can vary enormously and again; there may be no control over the layout.  The following are a few of the many variations possible - there are advantages and disadvantages to each.

Theater Style

People sit in rows.  Most common with large audiences.  

Formal atmosphere and eye contact with audience more difficult to achieve

Curved Rows

Similar problems as with Theater Style but slightly less formal

Horseshoe or “U”

Single row of people arranged in a horseshoe shape.  Informal and conducive to participation

Cabaret Style

People sitting in groups around a table.  Useful if you want to break the audience into formal discussion groups

Note that people have a great tendency to sit at the back of rooms if given the choice.  Ideally you want the audience as near as possible.  The environment you have to speak in can either hinder or help.  The aim is to minimize the hindrances and maximize the good points.

Timing

Knowing how long you have to speak is important.  Too often speakers drone on long after the expected finishing time.  The time of day at which you will speak is also important.

Time of day can affect you and the audience.  After lunch is known as the graveyard shift among trainers.  Audiences who have had a good lunch will probably feel more like taking an afternoon nap rather than listening to you.

They may also be getting tired.  People’s ability to concentrate for long periods is not good.  Concentration levels over a two-hour period look something like this:

When listening to a talk concentration is usually fairly good for the first 20 minutes or so.   For some people, it can be as short as five minutes.   After that, maintaining concentration gets harder and harder until they hear the magic words ‘in conclusion’. Concentration improves slightly at that point in anticipation of the end of the presentation.

You, too, have good and less good times of the day.  Some people are better first thing in the morning, others late in the afternoon.  If you find speaking to groups a nerve-racking experience, it can be wise to try and find a time of day when you feel physically and mentally able to cope with the task.

Structure

Having defined your objective, identified and researched your audience, organized or researched the venue and found out how much time you have and when, it is now time to consider what you are going to say.

Any talk will almost certainly fail unless careful thought is given to the content.

Unstructured, rambling talks tend to be difficult to concentrate upon and unless the main points are made very clear for the audience, the message will be forgotten quickly.

The structure of any talk is quite simple; there is a beginning, a middle and an end:

1. Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em.
2. Tell ‘em.
3. Tell ‘em what you’ve told ‘em.

Each serves a different purpose and each is essential for a good presentation.  The following stages will help through the preparation of the material and ensure that your presentation is well structured and interesting.

Middle

The first part of a presentation to prepare is not the beginning, but the middle.  This is the substance of the presentation; the beginning and end will follow easily if the middle is well prepared.  The key work about the middle is ‘logical’.  It must flow in a logical sequence, from your audience’s point of view.

Preparing a Logical Sequence of Ideas

Step One  Brainstorm as many ideas as possible and get them down on paper.  Don’t worry about the order or any finer details, just get as many ideas down on paper as possible.  A useful technique for doing this is by making pattern notes.  Pattern notes enable the brain to relate to information far more naturally and efficiently, by forming an interrelated pattern rather than a list.  Pattern notes are also easy to do.

Take a plain sheet of paper. Write your objective on the top and the specific objective or theme in the center of the page

Write down all the ideas and thoughts you have on the subject, starting from the center and branching out along lines of connecting ideas.

Don’t restrict yourself and don’t make any attempt to put them in order. Once your pattern notes are complete, leave them aside for a while.  When you return to them you may have thought of other ideas.

Step 2. List your main points in logical sequence.

Step 3. Transfer and tidy your pattern notes into a ‘tree’ based on the sequence.

Step 4. Decide how much you are going to say.  You will probably have far more points than you can use.  It is important to keep the number of points to a minimum.  Depending on the topic, one point every five to ten minutes is plenty.  This may not seem very many, but if you are to leave the audience with a very clear picture of what you have said, you cannot expect them to remember masses of points.  Selecting the material you are going to use should be based on the objective, the audience and the time available.  

Sometimes it makes sense to select on the basis of what you must say to achieve your objective, what the audience should know and what it would be nice for them to know.  This step is one of the hardest.  It is always tempting to tell people everything you know about a subject, especially if it is one you know well.

When trying to persuade people (which will frequently be the case) it is useful to consider the following approach

State your proposal or what you want them to do.

Anticipate objections - concede any flaws in the argument, it takes the sting out of any criticism and makes you appear open and honest.  Even if you do not express the weaknesses out loud, it is important to identify what they might be and select your material accordingly.

Prove your case - select your best reasons for your proposition.  

Do not overload your talk with lots of reasons. Quality is better than quantity.

Show your evidence.  Build in practical examples of the facts you are relying on.

Anticipate the worst.  Prepare answers for the questions you would least like to be asked.

End by repeating your proposition.

Remember every gesture and facial expression of yours count

Whenever you speak to a group of people you are competing with their own vivid imaginations.  

When you are listening to people talk, you can easily find yourself drifting off into your own little world.

Most people have mental pictures in their minds.  As a speaker, you need to talk in pictures and give them to your audience rather than let them drift off into their own.

This often means simplifying confusing ideas or figures into something concrete and real.  Use examples that are pitched in terms your audience understands and finds relevant.

Finding examples is crucial where the subject is basically boring.  You do not always have exciting subjects to talk about.  However, careful thought can usually yield suitable illustrations from your own experiences.

Beginning

The beginning serves to tell the audience what to expect and should contain:

Something to capture the attention of the audience immediately.

Showing the audience why they need to listen to what you have got to say.

 What is the relevance to them?

An introduction to you and a justification of why you are qualified to speak to them.  You have to gain credibility at the very beginning.

An introduction to the subject and how you are going to approach it.

The logistics of the presentation.  How long it will be, whether there will be breaks, where the toilets are, etc.

How you will handle questions - during the presentation, at set points or at the end.

You may also want to introduce your objective (or not)

End

At the end of the presentation, you need to remind the audience of the main points by summarizing your talk.  You should also tell them what is going to happen next if there is some follow on from the presentation.

The closing section of your talk should be just that.  

It should be conclusive.  

It should not drift to a halt with words like “I think that’s all I’ve got to say”.  

Remember that what you say last is the thought you leave with your audience.  

Therefore, if you want to stimulate them into some action, you should tell them what to do next. 

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Thank you so much for reading the complete article. I am Subhan Sharif Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker .Organizations engage me to train their employees and Universities invite me to speak to young corporate graduates.You wish to ask anything please feel free to comment here. YOU can connect with on LinkedIn or at [email protected] JUST email me.