Presentation Skills

This material can be used as a useful support to presentation skills training or as preparation to a presentation course. It can also be used in isolation to any formal presentation training. Spearhead Training has developed this material through many years of making presentations, analysis of the key elements to a successful presentation and through years of providing presentation skills training courses to a wide range of delegates working in diverse industries and markets. The material therefore incorporates years of experience as well as consideration to some of the latest techniques. The Managing Director of Spearhead Training is a gold medallist with honours in public speaking at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Copyright Spearhead Training Limited

The ability to make a presentation is an important business skill. Those with effective presentation skills will have a distinct advantage from those who do not. Developing your skills is a shrewd career enhancing decision.

This free material takes a look at all the usual problem areas associated with giving presentations and offers sound, practical advice to both the “novice” and “expert” presenter.

The information contained will not only improve your presentations skills, but can also be adopted for all forms of everyday communication – whether personal or business – as in reality you aiming to communicate as clearly and imaginatively in both situations.

The advantage of using this download is that you can decide when and how to use it. You can choose your own pace.

The art of giving relaxed, enjoyable presentations is one that constantly needs to be re-assessed; even the most experienced presenters can feel nervous or vulnerable when they take centre stage. Should you require further development including individual advice and feedback you should attend our presentation skills training course.

PRESENTATION SKILLS

You have been invited to give a presentation. What goes through your mind?

“I’m no good at standing up in front of an audience.”

“I’m not sure I know enough about the subject.”

“There will be people present who will try to catch me out."

“I don’t like the sound of my voice.”

“I’m too fat, too thin, too young, too old, too brown, too pink...”

“Something will go wrong with the equipment. The projector will break down, the slides won’t work, the microphone will blow up.”

“It is scheduled for the afternoon. They will all be half asleep after having had lunch.”

“My memory is useless. I will lose track of my thoughts half way through.”

“There will be one or two knowledgeable people there. They can be hypercritical.”

“I cannot control my nerves. My hands tremble, my legs turn to jelly and my throat dries-up completely.”

The simple truth is that most of us would rather throw ourselves under a train than stand up in front of an audience (which is why we try to avoid doing it).

The first thing to realise is that your anxieties are completely normal. You share them with the vast majority of people. The good thing is that the solutions to your problem are straightforward. These notes will give you the means to deal with any or all of your presentation doubts.

There are certain questions which you may need to consider before tackling the main issues.

Self Esteem

You may think of yourself as a modest individual. Perhaps you have been taught to value modesty and for this reason have avoided pushing yourself forward.

By keeping a “low profile” you have felt comfortable and quite happy to let others seek and frolic about in the limelight. This attitude is fine, but the following may be worth considering:

· Do you like the company of people?

· Do you value the attitudes and opinions of most people you meet?

· Are you intimidated by people as individuals?

· Are you quietly confident when in the company of two or three close acquaintances?

· Is your feeling of apprehension about presentations based on a fear of others or on fear of yourself?

· Do you measure yourself against those who seem to bring exceptional talent and confidence to their work?

· How do you feel about yourself in terms of friendship/family/work/leisure-time pursuits?

These are questions which you alone can answer. You know exactly where your strengths are and which areas of weakness you may need to consider eliminating.

The good news is that if you feel ready to communicate with others, then the means to do so is now available. Problems may still exist, but the solutions are close at hand and easily acquired.

This does not mean, however, that they will come without effort on your part. The effort is, in itself, enjoyable and the results will be rewarding (to you and to everyone who attends your presentations).

THE AUDIENCE

The inattentive audience

Think back to a time when you were in the audience at a presentation. Perhaps the speaker was well-informed and articulate. Perhaps the subject matter should have been of interest to you, but your attention wandered. You were not preoccupied when you sat down at the beginning of the talk, but you really had to concentrate hard in order to focus on the subject matter.

If this has happened to you then you may have blamed yourself. Your attention wandered, your thoughts drifted into distraction and you were more than relieved when the presentation came to an end.

However, you were not necessarily at fault. You may recall schooldays when you were prone to similar behaviour. The teacher admonished you for being inattentive and you became accustomed to thinking of yourself as a distractible pupil.

Your colleagues in class recall similar experiences. Their school reports, like yours, consisted of “James need to pay more attention in class”.

If you think about it, those reports were very misleading. Let us assume that you wanted to be attentive because you began your academic life with plenty of curiosity. Like everyone who ever embarked on a course to study, you were prepared to make some effort in order to satisfy that curiosity. What interfered with your plan was a simple mistake made by the person whose job it was to engage your interest.

Retaining Attention

Like the class-teacher, the person giving the presentation needs to observe two simple rules.

· The audience is made up of individuals. Each individual brings different levels of knowledge and interest to a subject.

· The individuals in the audience are more important than the presenter.

This seems straightforward, but let us examine the first rule:-

Every individual in the audience wants you to be interesting. They know how it feels to be in your position: they want to sympathise. They like to be engaged in the process. Being an audience-member is tedious when the speaker seems to be addressing someone other than you. You want to be considered and addressed individually.

What is the speaker thinking of as he/she ploughs through the agenda?

The untrained presenter is selfishly thinking, “I have to cover points A to Z. I have to show some slides and keep on going smoothly until I can wind up and get away.”

The result is that everything gets “wound up” except your interest! You look at your watch, gaze out of the window, become an avid shoe-gazer and breathe a hearty sigh of relief when it’s all over.

Unprepared

Such a situation is the result of the presenter having made inadequate preparation. He/she has thought of the presentation as a performance. They have to come and look on the audience as being a group, a mass of people. No thought has been given to the individual audience member and what is likely to be of importance or interest to them.

This situation can often be seen in business presentations. The unprepared speaker shuffles through the notes, bombards the audience with visual aids and leaves the group feeling uncomfortable.

....or over rehearsed

The other extreme is more horrific. The smooth-talking presenter, with a fine line of glibness and a series of anecdotes, punctuated with humorous interjections, may be a big success on the night-club circuit, but he/she is in danger of leaving the audience cold. The main ambition of such a speaker is to give a performance – to make the audience laugh. However, this incorporates many dangers which we shall examine closely.

¨ The individual who has been entertained (but learned nothing in the process) will remember nothing worthwhile from the event.

¨ Glib performances leave some people feeling inadequate.

¨ Humour is an individual matter. What makes one person smile in sympathy and recognition may leave someone else in doubt.

¨ The presenter’s objective may have been egocentric. The satisfaction came from gaining a certain amount of admiration and/or approval.

¨ The objective of every presentation should be in the sharing of information, ideas and opinions. Unless the person listening has been invited to share the experience and to make some changes in their thinking, it has left them feeling dissatisfied.

For these reasons, many of the most effective presentations are given by shy people. The modest speaker is one who puts the needs of the audience first. This is also true of extroverts, as long as they are not carried away by their own performances. Some political speakers are guilty of making us feel “left out”. They perform their speeches with skill but we seldom feel that we have been invited to share their ideas.  Presentation skills training can help to provide valuable feedback on your individual style.

Effective Planning

Business presentations should be easier. Most business people are mainly concerned with facts, ideas and opinions which make them more effective. It can be as simple as a financial incentive, but it is sometimes more to do with less tangible things; morale, company policy and practice, building developments, staff concerns etc. The person who is planning to present information for the benefit of others needs to put the word “share” on the top of the list.

Before beginning to prepare your presentation or talk it is worth asking some questions about those who will attend.

§ How many individuals are expected to be present?

§ Are they there because they want to be or because they have been told to attend?

§ What experience of subject matter do they bring to the occasion?

§ How can you be sure to make them feel comfortable?

§ What do you want them to think? Will you share your information with everyone individually?

§ Is someone likely to respond either during or after your presentation?

§ For how long do you intend to speak? (Remember that most presentations go on far too long. If you have any say in the matter when the agenda is being set, it is worth noting. A person who has to sit and concentrate for longer than necessary will be lost to you).

It is also worth noting that we are usually chosen to give a presentation because someone values your specialist knowledge. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes an agenda is set by someone who simply wishes to “fill the gap” in the proceedings. Your influence in such matters may be limited by this and your preparation time may seem inadequate. If you are experienced and confident, you may fulfil some of your obligations to the audience but it is more likely that you will panic and this will show.

It is useful to make your feelings known on the matter. Firstly, to the organisers. Let them know, if possible, that you wish to give the best presentation possible and that you require more preparation time. If this is not possible, tell the audience.

Do not be apologetic, but let them know that you are under-prepared. It is better to acquaint them with the facts than to attempt a confidence which you don’t feel. Honesty is easily shared, usually well-received and commonly understood.

The other recommendations in these notes should smooth your path to successful presentations, so whatever the circumstances, please read on.

PREPARATION

The Value of Preparation

Your talk will succeed if you are well-prepared. If that seems obvious, think back to the number of occasions when you shifted uncomfortably in your seat while a speaker shuffled through an unprepared talk.

The most vulnerable presenters are those who trust to luck and hope that inspiration will strike while they flounder through their set piece.

You wish to compliment your audience. Everyone responds well to the speaker who has paid attention to detail and shows concern for the comfort of the audience.

Before you begin your preparations, you will have given some thought to the people who comprise your audience.

Whether you are addressing clients, colleagues, visitors or friends, you need to ask one vital question.

“What do you wish to happen as a result of your presentation?”

You will want to bring about some change in the thoughts of the person who listens. It may be that you are offering reassurance, challenging existing ideas, conveying a sense of excitement about something new, or delivering vital news to those who need it.

Even if your presentation is to be given in a social setting, you will want the individual to change their mind about something. Let your thoughts range over the possibilities.

Are you about to deliver congratulations, good news, condolences or commiseration’s? What feelings do you wish to evoke? How will your presentation affect people’s thinking?

At this stage, you are not concerned with the details of the event. Your main objective needs addressing.

Writing a Script

Once you are clear about the consequences of your talk you may begin preparation. The alternative is a series of random jottings with no sense of direction.

You may have lots of information. You may have researched all the key facts, made extensive notes and written a densely worded script for yourself. Having done all this, you wish to convey your information, to communicate your enthusiasm.

Step back for a moment. Think of the individual who will be invited to share your knowledge. You want them to be comfortable and you know that this is only possible when you transform your notes into something digestible.

Most good written work is accomplished in two steps:

1. It is written 2. It is edited

The Spider Graph

Before attempting to rewrite, try throwing your ideas into fresh combinations. You may achieve this by brainstorming; by reassembling the main ideas so that they suggest new directions. Of course, you will want a logical order to emerge; that comes later. For now, it is worth drawing a spider graph.

Let your mind freewheel over the possibilities. Look back, look forward, look around and search for a “hook” which will capture attention.

At this stage you are not looking for an outline into which your presentation will fit. You are allowing your imagination to work on your material.

Once you have given your creative ideas full rein, you may wish to re-write some of the original script. While you are doing so, look closely at the language and the style.

Have you used technical expressions without explaining them?

Are there long words in your talk which can be replaced by shorter

ones.

Can you spot those sections where you are simply “thinking on paper”?

Have you allowed your thoughts to ramble?

Editing – Keep it Simple

Successful editing is a question of clarity. All you need to be concerned about is “making it plain”. Try making sure that your words are understandable to the beginner and acceptable to the expert.

This creative process is enjoyable. There is usually too little time in a busy working life for us to use a combination of logic and imagination. Do not be in too much of a rush. You are preparing your mind to make clear your ideas.

By now, you have sorted the jumble of ideas into something clearer and simpler. The structure still needs work and you are now ready to build it.

There are three main stages to the event.

· The Introduction

Who you are, what you intend to cover and when you wish to deal with questions. Make a note of the length of your talk. Use the introductory period to tell the audience how long they will be attending. The introduction may represent 10% of your total presentation time.

· The Main Body

This is made up of the exposition and development of your message. You may wish to illustrate what you have to say with diagrams, drawings, acetates, slides or videotape, but the important part is the message which you wish to communicate. This will take 60% of the allotted time.

· The Conclusion

Having told the audience what you wanted to say you must now summarise it. Leave the audience in no doubt about the main points you have already covered. The final 30% is your way of helping the audience to review your talk.

Once you decide on the running order you will see the presentation taking shape.

Example:

Good morning. My name is ........ and I shall be talking to you for the next ....... minutes. I hope to be able to describe........, explain....... and to show you some illustrations. There will be time for questions at the end of the talk, so please make a note of them as we go along.

Fine, but what are you going to put in those gaps? The chances are that you think that you want to cover certain questions, definite areas of interest, but you could find yourself changing them radically unless you take one small simple step.

PLAN YOUR CONCLUSION FIRST!

Work out where your talk is leading to. You will rid your mind of problems if you know what your summary looks like. The finished product may still require some “fine-tuning” but there will be fewer adjustments to make if you know where it’s all leading.

Example:

“To summarise.... We’ve seen how things were in the past. We understand how present conditions affect us. We’ve looked at the influences which determined our present circumstances. You have seen the figures, heard the analysis of current trends and you have had time to examine the forecasts.

We have looked at the problem areas, assessed the cost of the whole operation and we have a good idea of how the future looks. You will recall the prevailing influences. I am sure that you have some thoughts of your own, so please let me know what you think.”

The summary may come out in quite a different way but be sure to end with an invitation to ask questions and to offer opinions.

Now that you know your destination you can work more easily on your route plan. It will still be a script at this stage but we will suggest how you may bring it to life.

Please view part 2 of Presentation Skills free material. You can also view the details of our open course by clicking on the link presentation skills training. 

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