12 TIPS TO SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATIONS

by Jane Sanders

Would you like to improve your confidence and reduce anxiety during presentations? Do a better job of maintaining your audience’s attention? More effectively influence them to respond as you desire?

Everyone in business benefits from strong presentation skills, whether for one-on-one situations or for staff meetings, sales pitches, community events, project updates, board meetings, or church events.

Following are some tips to help you improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your presentations.

I.    Analyze the requirements.  Do some homework in advance. This will help you focus on the task at hand and pull your attention away from your piled-high in-box. Write the answer to these questions: Who or what group requested the presentation? Why was it requested?

Who is the audience? How many people? What are their positions, duties? What is important to them? What are their needs? What might keep them from responding as you wish? What is their knowledge of your topic? You will need to do a little research to get this information, and don’t worry if you can’t get it all, just learn as much as you can. The answers will help you prepare more thoroughly and effectively.

For example, wouldn’t you like to know if your audience just experienced pay cuts or layoffs? This would tell you where to step lightly, perhaps not to ask for donations that day, and express empathy.

What is the date? What else is going on then? How long is your presentation? Will others be presenting too? Where in the agenda does your presentation fall? What resources are available to help you prepare – the Internet, an assistant, the library, company files? Where will your presentation be, and what resources will be needed in terms of equipment, refreshments, and room set-up?

II. Determine your objectives.  What is the end result you want to achieve? The more specific you can be with this objective, the better. Complete this sentence: Because of my presentation, my audience will….

Some examples include: sell (or buy) more product, buy my service, approve my budget request, join the local industry association, communicate more effectively with the opposite sex, understand our company finances, etc. Remember, with any presentation, you are ALWAYS selling and performing!

III.  Prepare your introduction.  GRAB ATTENTION!! Hit them fast and hard. This is your chance to pull the audience into the program and persuade them to listen to you. Do something a little out of the ordinary. They are expecting you to say, “Good morning, thank you for being here.” Don’t, it’s boring! Several opening ideas come to mind. Find a quote that relates to your topic. Open with a startling statement, some shocking information. For example, a teacher presenting to students about driving safety could start with a statistic, of course using accurate numbers, “620,000 lives were lost last year, unnecessarily, because of unfastened seat belts.” Wham!

An eye-opening demonstration is very effective also. A sheriff’s deputy once walked to the front of the room, plopped a cardboard box on a table, and without saying a word, started pulling weapons out and dropping them on the table with a heavy clunk. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. His objective? To persuade the audience to become active in the neighborhood watch program.

Another way to open is to ask the audience three questions. Notice the way I started this article. Tell a short story that communicates one of the messages you want to convey. Use humor, just be careful. Feel free to use a joke, just make sure it’s funny, non-offensive, politically correct (or at least not blatantly incorrect), and relative to the content of your presentation. Alternatively, your stories, quotes, and questions can be funny too.

Create rapport during your introduction by smiling and looking people in the eye. Maybe start with a short story about an experience with their organization or the occasion. Communicate to them why they should listen. Outline the content and tell them what you are going to tell them. Explain your purpose for being there.

By the way, I always prepare my opening last, after I have finished the rest of my presentation. By then I have a solid and cellular grasp of my material and the initial effect and impact I want to have on my audience.

IV.  Identify and order key points.  What are the key messages you want to communicate? Every presentation has main points, or modules. The key points in this article, which is a form of presentation, are the statements in bold type. Notice how they are written in the same format or verb tense.

Identify your key points and their sub-points. Things to consider when determining the order of your messages include logic and commonality, clarity and simplicity, and priority. For example, you may want to put the more complex messages toward the end, after simpler ones have been covered. Or, in case your allotted time is cut, consider ordering your points by priority.

 V.   Select and organize supports.  Supports are the life of your presentation. They add color, texture, and persuasion to facts and figures. Supports can include, but are not limited to, stories, statistics, definitions, poems, testimonials, quotes, cartoons, and unlimited visual props.

Any time you run across a story, cartoon, quote, quip, or statistic that catches your attention, hang on to it! Start a “Keepers” file. Just because these keepers don’t perfectly relate to your content doesn’t mean you can’t use them effectively to make a point, or to support your facts or opinions. Your verbal transition or how you introduce the support can easily tie it to your material.

You’ve probably heard a favorite quote by Wayne Gretsky, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” Do I make presentations about hockey? No, but I often need to make a point about taking risks and just going for it. In my GenderSmart program, I use several cartoons that effectively reinforce the points I want to make. However, very few of them are specifically about gender communication in the workplace. Their content can be tied to my material though, with a one-sentence verbal transition.

Testimonials can be strong supports during sales presentations. Show a letter from a satisfied client, with the key parts highlighted. Better yet, bring a videotape of the client to your meeting for a live testimonial! Parents learn something every day from their kids. Write down those innocent yet wise observations, and you will have some good material. Just make sure these supports truly are unique and powerful, don’t let your understandable lack of objectivity get in the way. Gift books filled with everyday wisdoms or lessons or children’s comments can be very effective. During my programs on Presentation Skills, I ask for volunteers and quickly coach them to demonstrate ineffective body language techniques on the stage. It’s fun and engaging, and they don’t have to speak! (then, anyway)

 VI.   Provide direction signals.  Audience members space out during presentations, our brains simply need a break. When that participant comes back to life, he or she needs to quickly find where you are in your presentation. Help them accomplish this by using transitions and signals throughout your presentation. Direction signals include verbal transitions and building agendas such as I, II, III or A, B, C. Mini-summaries are effective, and involve a one-sentence summary of the point just covered as lead-in to the next point. “So after you select and prepare the supports for your key points, make sure you have clear direction signals that make it easy for audience members to follow along.”

VII. Prepare the summary and conclusion.  Succinctly and quickly tell your audience what you told them, a verbal outline of sorts. Then with your conclusion, ask clearly for what you want. That may be a project, a raise, an order, a behavior change, a vote, or any number of end results. Finally, close with impact. Leave them wanting more and thinking about your presentation after you are gone. Don’t be afraid to be dramatic! Use one of the supports we discussed earlier…a quote, story, poem, or a profound or pithy question.

Strong supports can make the difference between a boring or mediocre presentation and a powerful, effective one. And they make preparation and delivery more fun for you too, which means you will do a better job.

Of equal importance to preparation (and some would argue of greater importance) are your delivery skills, or how you actually present your speech, pitch, report, or update. Following are some meaningful tips to help you reduce anxiety and deliver a succinct, powerful, effective presentation

VIII.  Control anxiety.  Organize your material and prepare the entire presentation, especially your opening. If you can get through the first minute successfully, you will have a better chance of continuing with that success for the remainder of your time on stage. Practice, and practice out loud! The difference in improving accuracy and reducing anxiety is night and day when you practice out loud rather than silently in your mind. Rehearsing out loud also gives you a much more accurate reading of the time involved for each section or module of your presentation. Visualize yourself up on stage or in front of your audience, delivering a dynamite program to a very attentive audience.

A few minutes before you start, use deep breathing exercises to help calm the butterflies in your stomach and slow your heart rate. Don’t underestimate how powerful this technique can be. Breathe slowly in through your nose, hold your breath with your diaphragm expanded for about three seconds, then release your breath out slowly and quietly through your mouth. Do this three times in a row, then repeat a couple minutes later. You can do this incognito sitting at a table with other people, and they’ll never know what you’re up to.

Release tension in your tight muscles by shaking your arms and legs vigorously. This exercise, however, is best done in private to avoid frightened stares. Interact with your audience before your presentation so you have established a rapport with familiar faces to look at. Arrive early, check that the room set-up meets your expectations, and stand in the place where you will be presenting so it’s familiar. Move naturally, just talk to them like you would at dinner. Maintain eye contact and focus on your message. Forget any advice you may have heard to stare at a spot on the wall just above and behind the audience. They will sense your disconnection and you will not feel grounded and steady.

 IX. Master verbal elements.  Vary the rate, pitch and volume of your talk to maintain interest and variety. At the same time, use a conversational style and tone, and be animated and enthusiastic. If you are not excited about your presentation, why should they be? Pause every once in a while after a profound statement, or repeat a comment, to hook attention and communicate the importance of what you just said.

Be sure to use correct grammar and be clear with not only your choice of words but also your enunciation. Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the little girl saying her goodnight prayers, “Our Father, who parks in Heaven, how did you know my name?” She obviously misunderstood someone not enunciating very clearly!

  X. Use non-verbals well.  Dress appropriately for your audience and the organization you are representing. Stand straight but comfortably and avoid the five “wooden” positions: lectern leech – gripping the lectern with white knuckles; gorilla – arms constantly dangling down by your sides; too casual – leaning on lectern, hands in pockets; fig leaf – hands folded in front; reverse fig leaf – hands folded behind back.

Use natural gestures with big movements…the bigger the audience, the bigger the gesture. Smile and communicate with facial expressions. Don’t be afraid to be dramatic!

XI.  Interact with the audience.  Face people directly and maintain eye contact for 2-3 seconds; any longer will make them uncomfortable. Be sure to look at all sections of the audience, as people subconsciously feel ignored if speakers don’t make eye contact with them and subsequently have trouble paying attention.

During Q&A, watch and listen to the person asking each question, repeat it to clarify and to give yourself a moment to think (yes, we can talk and think at the same time!), then give about 25% of your attention to the questioner and 75% to the rest of the audience as you answer. And, think before responding! A moment or two of silence while you think is perfectly acceptable. If you don’t know the answer, ask who in the audience might have some input. Your audience knows more than you or they realize!

 XII.  Practice!  I cannot stress this enough! Rehearsing will uncover holes and mistakes, check your timing and structure, increase your confidence, reduce anxiety, and help prevent embarrassment.

Using the twelve tips here will make a significant positive difference in your comfort with and the results of your presentations. Good luck!

Jane Sanders, president of GenderSmart® Solutions, is a consultant, speaker, trainer, and facilitator. Her areas of expertise include leadership confidence for women, gender communication at work, strategic life planning, presentation skills, and facilitation. Reach Jane toll-free at 877-343-2150; jane@janesanders.com; http://www.janesanders.com.

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