PRESENTATIONS PEOPLE LIKE

After more than twenty-five years as a professional speaker, I have a few thoughts on how to make presentations people like.? One that informs, persuades, empowers, and stirs the emotions.? One that is memorable when most are not.?

Sure, it helps to be born with certain traits that might give you an edge as a speaker, but the better perspective is that speaking is a skill that anyone can learn with the right effort.? Today there are so many free and fee-based resources you can use.? I have courses.? Others have awesome courses too.? Even more professionals have free tutorials on YouTube.? And so on.??

Other more detailed resources aside, here is a useful presentation crash course to get you thinking.? Great presentations that get people talking have the following characteristics.? I picked a quick “top 10.”? I recognize that this is a popular topic and a lot of you have key things you’d like to add – so drop a comment!? In no particular order:?

Less is more.? Never say with one hour and fifty slides what could be said in twenty minutes with five slides.? I’m making up numbers, but you get the point.? We almost always err on covering too much material.? Instead, share only what is essential.? Be ready to discuss beyond the essential, but your slide deck covers just the essentials.? Remember, simple and concise always trumps thorough and long.? Giving them just what they needed, explained clearly, and wrapped up five minutes early is always preferrable to sharing more than needed, forcing you to run late.?

Emotion is good.? Most people shut down their normal personality and present with zero emotions and no energy.? A few get weirdly animated due to nerves.? I like to say just go with personality plus.? That’s the normal you, but a little more energetic and engaged.? You’re not trying to act like someone you’re not, you’re just trying to create and share a little positive engagement with your material.? At a bare minimum, make eye contact and smile a few times.? You can’t tell them you believe in what you’re doing up there.? You must show them how you feel.? That’s the power of emotions.?

Words are weak.? They are the necessary evil of presentations. ?They matter a great deal and because we know this, we often overthink the material and make a few mistakes.? For example, we often want to show how smart we are by using big words.? Stop that.? Do so only when really needed, but in general resist this tendency.? Others will sense you’re managing impressions and unless you’re a worldclass actor, it makes you seem fake.? Choose simple unambiguous words and definitely do not indulge in too much jargon!

Unique is good.? I always like to find at least one way to do something different while presenting.? One thing that others don’t typically do.? This creates a contract effect that renders your presentation slightly more memorable just because it is different.? You might use humor, use a new or different type of audience interaction, or do something very different with your slides (believe it or not I don’t even use slides), maybe you wear a sweater when others wear a suit, maybe you do something provocative to make a point (e.g., praise the competition).? Get creative.? Unique is good.?

Structure matters.? One major variable impacting how well your material is received is coherence.? That speaks to word choice, slide construction, and presentation structure.? Structure: all presentations have a beginning, middle, and end just like a three-act play.? Start by gaining attention with a question or jarring fact.? Then act one: there is a challenge, all is not well in the world, but there is hope.? Act two:? some form of conflict escalates!? Act three:? a solution arrives!? Then a call to action (what are you asking of the audience?). ?No matter how short your presentation, this basic structure makes your material flow smoothly and adds coherence.

Slides should help. ?Not hurt – which is often the case.? Too many words, too crowded, overuse of technology.? Just because you can make a slide do something slick doesn’t mean you should.? Strive for fewer slides.? Think about ways to add impact with things other than words:? statistics, pictures, video, charts, etc.? Do not, however, overindulge these and allow them do dominate the presentation.? A small sprinkle is perfect.? Mostly the audience should look at you as you share your story.? Light use of the right words and non-word elements adds clarity and impact, but they are supposed to make the audience look and understand, not continue to stare at the slides.? The slides are your aides, not the other way around.?

Be redundant.? For efficiency, anyone editing your slides might be quick to point out redundancies.? Sometimes they are correct.? Sometimes not.? A small amount of intentional redundancy is very useful.? Do you know why advertising is such a big business?? Ads work.? One of the hallmarks of advertising is repetition.? After one viewing, the message is redundant, but… it starts to stick better and better with each new viewing.? A little goes a long way, but you need some redundancy.? You might reuse a slide, a key fact or stat, a phrase or saying, a photograph, or a combination of these.? Make the thing that is redundant very related to your core message, and it will make your message more sticky and memorable.

Be ready for anything.? I’m not referring to fire alarms or other possible anomalies.? I’m referring to the content you’re addressing.? Always assume the audience will have interests and questions beyond your slide deck.? If you love extemporaneous thinking and speaking, you have nothing to worry about – just wing it.? If you’re like most humans, you’d rather be prepared.? That’s why you need pocket slides. ?When making your deck, ask yourself about the questions others will have.? You know so and so might ask about this and that other person might want more detail on that, etc.? Make a few slides that would be useful, but do not include them in your main presentation.? When you take Q&A and hear a question that relates to a pocket slide, bring it up on screen and enjoy looking smart.?

Practice really helps.? Bad news – one practice run is not enough.? You nail your deck, rehearse alone, video yourself and analyze the footage, practice again to a friendly audience, and then try to do one more with an audience instructed to be critical.? You now have all the data you need to nail this presentation.? Polish and adjust your material and delivery.? Just a couple more solo run throughs are all most of us need.? Practice takes time and I know that time is precious, but believe me, it’s a great investment.? The first time you bomb in front of a group you’ll realize I’m correct, but is that how you want to learn that lesson?? Nope.? Time to make practice a habit.

Relatability is key.? Whether your audience is very professionally diverse (in terms of types of professionals and level of authority) or not at all diverse, you must find a way to make your talk relatable.? Many have talked about the Wiifm (what’s in it for me?).? You must tell them why they should care at the very beginning of the presentation, after grabbing attention as noted earlier.? Aside from the Wiifm, you become more relatable by using words, phrases, references, and examples they can understand.? This is part of knowing your audience.? Speak with enough members of the organization/audience before the talk to learn how they speak.? When you’re behind the mic sprinkle in a little of their language.? Make one or more examples specific to their products or services, a key event in their history, a big change taking place in their main market, etc.? Starting with a good Wiifm and using language and examples they understand absolutely makes them more likely to remember and act on your message.?

Two ideas to get you moving.? Present more and get feedback.? If you follow the guidelines above, you’ll be fine.? Do a brown bag talk at work.? Explain something to your team.? Speak at an employee resource group meeting.? Make opportunities to speak.? What?? You don’t want to?? Then enjoy always being nervous and always loathing presentations.? You only iron out those realities through repetition.? Next is feedback.? Believe me, you will have to beat it out of them sometimes.? They don’t want to upset you or be mean.? Make them get honest.? Bridging the gap between what you perceive regarding your presentation and what the audience perceives is crucial, and feedback is the key.?

You don’t have to try and become a professional speaker.? However, we know a lot about success at work.? Communication skills are always among the best predictors of long-term success.? Presentation skills are particularly crucial – they represent an abnormally strong communication context with the ability to impact your reputation.? Whether that impact is positive or negative is up to you!? Good luck, and if you’re serious and ever want me to watch a minute or two of you speaking – send me a message, I’m happy to watch and tell you what I see.?

WHAT’S UP WITH DR. D.?

I just lost a gig after I signed the contract…they didn’t sign.? They approved sending me the contract, then something happened, and they changed their mind.? Sometimes they tell you why (e.g., we lost the budget).? Sometimes they do not.? That’s what this one was… I guess I’ll never know!? Next one is late next week – contract secure – more on that later.

Last Friday I did a live session hosted by my new friend (and fellow LinkedIn Learning instructor) Terezija Semenski.? Like this week’s newsletter, we focused on presenting.? Specifically, how to deal with a fear of public speaking.? Fun topic, great conversation.? Check it out here:? https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/terezijasemenski_do-you-fear-public-speaking-youre-not-activity-7284674510501371905-zzK8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.?

Do you want to know what’s really on my mind right now?? Cold weather!? Houston is about to go into freezing territory for a small number of days and people are starting to freak out.? My son Parker and our granddaughter Haylee are out of their minds with joy.? They just enjoyed a weekend.? Monday they are off for Martin Luther King Day… and now we learn that on Tuesday and Wednesday school will be closed.? Five-day weekend – teen heaven.? I’m okay with that, assuming we don’t lose power.? That is the worst.? I must go cover some pipes now.? I hope you and yours are warm and safe!

Until next time – go learn something, maybe help someone, or at least do something interesting!

My courses:? https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/instructors/todd-dewett

My books:? https://tinyurl.com/yvwuvmaw

Me on stage:? https://bit.ly/3EfcDSb

Book me:? https://bit.ly/3WHeRB0?

All links in one place:? https://linktr.ee/drdewett.