you have ever been or are a bit nervous about giving
presentations in public, realize you are not alone. Most people
have the same problem. Continued below is our Top 10 tips to
making presenting easy and comfortable for both you and the
audience.
Tip No. 6: Delivering visuals
So now you have a nice, clearly designed visual. How do you
mechanically deal with that visual? What do you do physically to
present it to the audience? Should you look at the visual?
Should you talk to the screen? Should you not talk to the
screen?
We suggest that you keep the following things in mind when it
comes to delivery with visuals: As soon as your visual is
presented on the screen, whether it be from a laptop, or from a
slide projector, or even from an overhead projector, your
audience will immediately focus one hundred per cent of their
attention on the screen.
So you effectively disappear from the room. You vaporize. You
could drop your pants, you can blow your nose – it doesn't
matter, because until everyone in the audience has figured out
for themselves exactly what all that information means, you're
effectively not there.
Tip No. 7: Effects
Keep in mind: if there are too many bells and whistles, if
there is too much movement, if there are too many sounds, if
there are too many things going on, people will be more
interested in figuring out how to do that with their own
presentations then they will be in the actual knowledge you are
presenting.
And that's if your dramatic appliqués are good. Most of the
time, effects just add confusion, or worse yet, disconnection.
Make sure that your message is more important and of value to
the audience than the design features of your presentation.
Tip No. 8: Pointers
We still see some people using the old wooden pointer. We have
seen people actually snap that wooden pointer in half. We have
also seen people play collapsible pointers like an accordion.
The point is, you don't need a pointer.
An effectively designed and delivered presentation eliminates
the need for pointers of any kind. Your data should call
attention to themselves. Laser pointers seem to be very popular
these days, but very rarely does anybody in the audience like
them. In fact, they are pretty annoying to most people and even
a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon can't hold those things still.
Tip No. 9: Hardware
One of the things that you definitely want to make sure is that
you show up early to your presentation. Make sure all of the
equipment is in working order, the overhead projector, the
laptop whatever it is you are using. Check everything out
yourself. Just because the banquet manager came in ten minutes
ago and told you everything was working last night doesn't mean
it is actually going to work.
We can't tell you how many times, and we've traveled everywhere
from India to Indiana teaching seminars, somebody told us
something was working, and it did not.
So for that reason you have to show up early and make sure
everything is working. Make sure that you can actually work it.
Make sure that you actually see it working. It is up to you and
it is your responsibility because when you start your
presentation you can't say say, "Well you know, somebody in the
banquet department told me just a few minutes ago that this was
working." Don't be embarrassed. Don't be caught off guard.
Tip No. 10: The Q&A process
This process can be very, very difficult because when you are
making a presentation, you are in essence in control. You have
designed that presentation. You have created some excellent
visuals. You know your presentation well enough to know what's
coming next.
The problem with Q&A is that it is the unknown. You don't know
what is going to happen. Somebody can throw you a question out
of left field. Perhaps someone can make you look bad. There is
so many unknowns that we need a system to be able to deal with
that unknown, and be sure that you look good in the process.
One of the first things you need to know is what to do when
somebody asks you a negative question. Many of us were taught to
repeat the question back to the questioner. Do you suppose there
might be something else we could do other then repeat a negative
question? If you repeat that negative question, what are you
doing? You are in essence confirming that it might be true.
Now actually repeating a question is not always a bad idea. It
gives you time to think. It gives the rest of the audience a
chance to hear what the question is. But if the question imparts
a negative, there is another way.
Instead of repeating the question verbatim, try this: Listen
closely to the question so that you are hearing not just the
words, but the essence of the question. Ask yourself what is at
the kernel of the question when all the negative, inaccurate,
untrue or personal agenda items are stripped away. Then rephrase
the question around that kernel, signaling to the audience that
you are actually searching deeper into the topic that the
questioner did!
Because Q&A typically is the last thing that happens in a
presentation, it is so important and vital you end on a positive
note. We can't tell you how many times a presentation which
started off well didn't end that way, because it all fell apart
in Q&A.
About The Author: J. Douglas Jefferys is a principal at
http://PublicSpeakingSkills.com, an int'l consulting firm
specializing in training businesses of all sizes to communicate
for maximum efficiency. The firm spreads its unique knowledge
through on-site classes, public seminars, & high-impact videos.
Web or 888-663-7711
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