Presentation Effectiveness

We are such a judgmental lot aren’t we! We form opinions about people within seconds of seeing them, often even before we hear them speak.  We judge their dress, their body language, their style, without knowing anything about them as a person.  We are slow to unwind our first impression as well, so those first seconds of any interaction are vital.  How is that going for you?

We are all critics too, when it comes to presentations. We want the best, we want to be educated, entertained, wowed in our seats and we are usually disappointed.  We carry that history of disappointment around with us like heavy baggage, to the next presentation and the next and the next.  We shamelessly hold others to a level of accountability, we never wish to have imposed upon us!

The cold, hard reality is that Presentation Effectiveness can be a make or break skill in the workplace. At some point in your career you will be asked to present information to a group. It doesn't have to be a formal occasion.  It might just mean answering a question or being invited to express a view or opinion. It is your job to ensure that you are ready to step up to the call.

An individual who can present confidently and effectively immediately differentiates themselves from the rest of the group. This is how to stand out in a positive way, a way that gets noticed when bosses are looking around for high potentials and they are always looking round for high potentials.  Whether you are a pro or a beginner with presenting or public speaking, here are some considerations for improving your presentation and communications skills.

Fear  Many people are terrified of speaking in front of a group. Everyone is staring at you, your palms are sweating, your pulse is racing, strangely your throat feels suddenly dry and parched, your energy levels have mysteriously dropped to precipitously low level.  Your knees might even be knocking as the fight or flight adrenalin chemical kicks in when leased by your brain.

Many of us can accomplish pulling off a presentation, but feel a certain amount of fear and stress. Speaking in front of groups does not have to be stressful or nerve racking; instead, make the experience positive so that it can help you stand out and get noticed.

Here are some tips that will help you fight through your anxiety and deliver an effective presentation:

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare  If you have a complete understanding of your material, it will definitely give you an advantage during your presentation. It will help to reduce the fear element because you will be in control. However, do not feel you have to memorize your material; you just need to be familiar with it. 

You can read key points as mental prompts to help you keep the flow going in the best order, but don’t read it in detail, if you can avoid it.  Many people are wedded to their text. They spend the entire time making eye contact with their own words on the page in front of them, rather than looking at their audience.  They then wonder why nobody was impressed with their presentation.  Look at your audience – talk to them as if it was fireside chat, be relaxed and engage with everyone. 

I attended the Harvard Business School, as part of an Executive Education Programme.  I found this technique fascinating in its simplicity.  One of the Professors had written down a list of 10 words on the back wall behind the audience.  This was his 3 hour lecture presented entirely without any visible notes.  This list was his navigation for the talk.  We can do the same.  A list of key words you talk to can be your presentation or you might use the slide deck as the navigation tool to move your talk along.

Open with Confidence.   Here is a big secret - only you know you are terrified. Unless you tell us, we will imagine you are competent, after all that is what we are expecting.  I saw a disaster unfold when the speaker told us she was nervous.  She had an impressive resume, was tall, well groomed, a confident looking business professional.  Or so we thought. 

A few minutes into the presentation she suddenly stopped, told us she was nervous and that she had to take a deep breath. And she repeated this sequence two more times. 

Her credibility just rocketed out right the window at that point and nobody took anything she had to say with any credence. She destroyed her message, her reputation and her personal brand in the space of 30 seconds.

She could have paused, taken a breath, regrouped and carried on.  We would have thought it was a natural break in her flow and thought nothing about it. She chose to tell us publically – big error right there. 

Keep it to yourself no matter how badly you feel inside.  We don’t need to know and we don’t want to know.

Japan of course, being a very humble society, loves to start a presentation with an apology, often mentioning what a hopeless speaker the individual is.  The President of a huge retail corporation here in Japan recently began his talk with an explanation that his English wasn’t any good and that he had never given a talk like this in English before.  He was piling on the excuses.  He then delivered a sparkling talk in near perfect English!  Did the excuses add any value to his presentation? Of course not.

No excuses.  No, no, no!  This is a presentation – it is not chit chat with your friends.  This is your personal brand we are talking about here.  If you are sick don’t tell us.  If you are nervous don’t tell us.  If you are sad because your cat died, don’t tell us. Don’t say anything about how you feel, because then the focus is on you and not where it should be - on your audience.  Work the room instead – focus outward not inward.  Look at the audience the entire time you are speaking – never break off eye contact.

Your opening gives your audience a first impression of your presentation. Make sure not to leave anything to chance. Your opening sets the tone for your entire presentation.  No ums and ahs please!  If we recorded you would we hear a succession of ums ahs?  Are you even aware you are doing this?  Trust me it doesn’t add any value. In fact it detracts from your message, because you don’t sound convinced yourself.  If you don’t seem sure of what you are saying why should I by into your message?

Want to know how to completely cure yourself of ums and ahs forever when speaking?Here is how to avoid the usual speaker opening kicking off with hesitation in the form of Ums and Ahs. 

 Select the first word of each sentence and hit it hard.  Say your sentence.  Now purse your lips once that sentence is completed and then hit the next sentence’s first word.  Once you finish that sentence purse your lips again.  Keep doing this over and over and hesitancy and timidity will disappear from your image as a speaker.  Those ums and ahs will be gone.  I know it works because I was a shocker too.  I used this method and it cured me, so it can cure you too.

Also lift your speaking volume up to about 30%-50% higher than in normal conversation.  This is not a normal conversation, so it needs a different approach. Stronger volume communicates greater confidence even if you don’t have any!.  You usually have microphones, so you don’t have to shout, but lift your energy. You will find that extra energy will help you relate your message more easily to the audience. 

We buy enthusiasm and a big part of enthusiasm is energy transfer from the speaker to the audience.  You will notice that speaker with a little mousy voice gets switched off pretty quickly by the audience.  You don’t have to have a DJ style bass voice.  You just need to project your voice at higher levels that you are used to.

If you have a reasonably strong voice and it is a small gathering, dispense with the microphone altogether, so that both your hands are free for using hand gestures.

Focus on a Few Key Points.   Know the major points you want to make. This will help ease your worry and increase your confidence. You should also use electronic visuals, note cards, or memory techniques to outline your key concepts. If you need some prompts then prepare them.  If you are using a teleprompter make sure you can carry on without it.  Why do I say that?

This incident has to be one of the biggest recorded meltdowns of all time.  Famous Hollywood Director Michael Bay just got started on his Samsung sponsored public presentationin Las Vegas.  When the teleprompter failed, in short order so did he.  You can see the disaster unfold on YouTube – it is seriously sad to watch.

Remember, the slides, the flip chart, the teleprompter are all secondary to you – you are the message.  Importantly, only Michael Bay and the host on stage at that time knew what he was going to say that day. He was there to support Samsung’s new curved TV screen, so everything had been scripted in advance by the marketing people.  He couldn’t continue because the teleprompter had all the information he needed and he hadn’t prepared a back up plan, if the tech failed.  Rather ironic for a film director who uses so much tech in his Transformer movies isn’t it.  Always have a plan B is the lesson here.

By abruptly walking off stage in shamed, burning silence he broadcast to the audience in the room and thanks to social media, the entire world, that he had forgotten his message, that he had 100% unceremoniously and completely failed. Now, by contrast, he could have carried on with his thoughts and we would never have known it wasn’t the intended content.  Only he and the host on stage knew what was in the talk.  Carry on regardless, never let us know you have forgotten what you are supposed to say – we will never know. 

Support Ideas with Evidence.   It is always important to provide evidence to support your main points. Supporting evidence will help your audience understand your points and will give you a chance to explain your points more fully.  Point-evidence; point-evidence; point-evidence is the way to go.  Just because you say it doesn't mean we believe it is true.  Prove it!  Making claims and statement is not enough.  Bring us proof, evidence, data, testimonials, corroborating expert opinion, statistics, etc.

Close with a Call to Action.   This will be the last impression your audience has of you and your presentation. It is important to ensure the closing reflects the purpose of the presentation. Your closing should summarize your content and give your audience a clear direction.  Ask them to do something after this talk, so that you can get them personally connected with your message.

Don’t forget that you must repeat your close again, after the end of Q&A.  Most people lose control of the proceedings when they get to Q&A and many a meltdown has been witnessed at this vital last impression juncture.  Don’t allow someone’s random question content define your final impression or final message for the audience. 

I remember I was giving a presentation in Japanese, to an audience of HR professionals about how great Dale Carnegie training was and teaching them how to use some of the key human relations principles.

It was going gangbusters, until we got to the Q&A.  This very charming, well dressed Japanese lady in her early 70s put her hand up to ask a question and then highjacked the proceedings.  For the next 10 minutes she launched into her own speech!  My message had been forgotten completely by the end of that speech she gave.  I need to get it back on track.  That is why you need two closes.

You must stay in command of the messaging and so the show ain’t over until you sing the last line of the wrap up after Q&A.  Repeat your close so the last message they get is the one you want them to get.  This is the mark of the pro!  When you see a speaker wrap it up, call for Q&A and then just let things complete because time is up, they are still not there in their professional development.  Keep an eye out for this when you hear people speak – see who is a real pro and who is still an amateur.

Here are some Action Points to remember

1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
2. Open with Confidence
3. Focus on a Few Key Points
4. Support Ideas with Evidence
5. Close with a Call to Action