As part of my role I am required to give presentations at least 3 times a week. These are not always the same presentations and almost never to the same audience. Over the past year I have identified some of the key steps to conducting successful presentations, that is not to say I have implemented them myself, however I have discovered them .. this coming year will be implementation ..
''Open Strong''
'Start with the content that you are most confident and familiar with. First impressions last. This will give you the confidence to nail the other pieces'
''Open and Close each section with outlines. Have clear transitions''
- "I have 5 things I want to share with you today. They are .. So let's get started."
- "The first thing I want to share with you is ..."
- "So that was X ..., and that was the first thing I wanted to share with you today."
''Know your story and build Milestones'' - Rathermemorizing your script use milestones. These milestones will be the key points on your slide. Don't just repeat verbatim each milestone as you come to it, rather echo it x3 using different words and describe "what does this mean" .
E.g. for the key point - "less aware of opportunities" we can use the talking points:
- They were less aware of opportunities, less cognosent of market dynamics, less up to date on their industry. What did this mean? This meant that there was an opportunity cost as they missed out on potential windows of opportunity.
''Clear Theme + 3''
Have a single clear theme and 3 main points that speak to that theme.
''Have a chat''
Speak to the audience as you would to friends. Be conversational. Don't speak like Steve Hawkins. Albeit, he can't help it.
''Begin with the End'' - Identify the key messages you want to leave the audience with. Use this to work backwards and create your Story.
- Incresed Productivity = increased profit
- Reduce time spent gathering = More time on high-value tasks
''Narrate'' - We all like to listen to stories and they make absorbtion of information so much easier. [SPADO]
- Set the Scene - What could be HEARD? What could be SEEN? What could be FELT?
- Identify the Players and what they were hoping to do/Achieve
- Describe how the plot Deviated from expectaions
- Describe what was the result of this Other Outcome
In addition to Stories, the use of Analaogies, Facts, Examples and Metaphors [FAMES] can realyy be used to enhance a presentation, facilitate understanding and ensure recall.
Create a dialogue between parties "She asked, How did you manage to improve search" "To which he responded.."
''Strategic Pause'' - During your presentation you may need to pause, so have a few options:
- use "OK?", "Right?" at the end off each sentence.
- have a glass of water strategically placed. They will just have to wait for you to finish your drink.
- Ask a question to them.
Pausing after a statement or fact also has powerful effects. A la Clinton and Obama - Try it!
''Engage The Audience''
- Use descriptive language - onomatopoeia, analogies, metaphors, anecdotes, examples.
- Relate and refer to thier realities
- Ask them questions:
- Is this making any sense or am I speaking technicalese
? Don't be afraid to say no!' - Are you getting a feel for what it is/what it can do? Don't be afraid to say no!'
- 'What would you like to see/hear?'
- 'Is there anything you would like covered in more detail?'
- Make the presentation appear personalised - using their examples - use inclusive words - You, Our, We
- Use Humour: It puts you at ease and the audience.
‘’ WOW the audience - be Passionate‘’ Use phrases like:
"This is really awesome.." "The really cool thing here is.." "The extraordinary thing about this is.." "The amazing thing here is .." "What I find really cool is.."
‘’ Make numbers meaningful‘’
"It is a 12GB memory stick" vs. "It has enough memory to allow you listen to new music tracks all the way to the moon and back"
‘’ Use Personification‘’ e.g. it comes into the pipeline and the readers sitting in there say, hmmm, there's a company give it a company sticker(tag), there’s a person’s name give it that person's name sticker(tag), .. At results processing time when a user clicks the company BBC: we are essentially putting a shout out for "all the documents that contain the query term microsoft and yahoo that have the company sticker BBC report to the front page, please" they assemble ordered by relevance..
''Rhytmic Voice'' When speaking, create a repeatable rhythmic tone for sentences. e.g. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton
- High tapering to Low pitch through sentence and emphasize the last word.
- Breaking the sentence into n-part pieces and hopping through them. e.g. "We need, to be, the best"
- Emphasizing certain words and drawing them out.
- Pausing to control the audience, it is a powerful tool that can be used by regular people who wish to appear dominant.
Aim to sound conversational; warm, sincere and convincing – as though you really mean what you're saying.
''Open Slides with questions'' So, How do we believe we can assist ACME Co.?, How do we go about achieving this? , What are the methods involved?
''Repeat 3'' Fire home the key message by repeating it in 3 times using different words/analogies.
- "We need to be in first place; We need to be number 1; we need to be the best; "
- "We strive to be better; challenge the process; push the boundaries"
''Use Visuals''
- Use powerful images to describe key concepts - a la Steve Jobs - NO CLIP ART!
- Create an image in the audiences mind
- If you picture in your mind a a graphical equalizer
- Visualise for a moment a large stack of paper
"Pave the way for Key Points"
"- I would like to highlight ..."
"- This next slide describes ..."
"- Let me show you how ..."
"- If there is anything you should take away from this session it is this ..."
"Summarise Key Points"
"- So what did we learn there? We learned ..."
''Close Strong''
'Are there any areas where you believe FAST fall short of your requirements?'
"Map Features to Benefits"
- Never simply read off a feature list, Instead,
Map the features to Value-Added benefits that will resonate in their particular reality
Its better to alleviate real-life negatives vs. create abstractpositives - No longer have to spend time..versus It saves a lot of time.
"SLIDE CONTAINS THE WHAT – SPEAK TO HOW WE COVER THE WHY & HOW"
''Prepare, Prepare, Prepare'' - Even the best presenters that look natural have spent hours preparing, know your content so well that you simply need prompters to move you along. Steve Jobs spends at least 10 hours preparing.
''Smile, Smile, Smile & laugh'' - Think of some funny clips before each presentation - Borat, Ricky Gervais. Make a light joke and laugh at it lightly. Its contagious!
''Believe, Believe, Believe''
Wide Eyed - Makes you look interested and engaged. Try not being engaged with wide eyes! Just doesn't happen.
Tense Abs - This deepens and projects your voice further.
Listen to yourself speak - Listen to what you are actual saying, don't just say it from memory. so that you do not jump words. Help you sound thoughtful. Alows you visualise the next section ahead of you.
Give a gift - If a user answers your interaction questions give them a gift. This will incentivise others to interact and enable you to engage your audience more effectively. Providing the gift is decent that is!
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