News

PowerPoint: Two common mistakes

Here are two common mistakes I have seen when people are using slides.

Mistake #1: You show your slide featuring graphs, bulletin points or a pie chart, and then you start talking…immediately. Now you have confused your audience: do you want them to process the information on the slide….. or listen to you? People can better focus when asked to do one thing at a time.

So, to enhance your clarity, reveal a slide. Stop talking. Since your body language can direct people as to how to behave, you may turn your head towards the slide, indicating that you would like them to look at the visual, or you can angle your body (just slightly) towards the slide.

Once you feel they have processed the information, you can then face your audience and begin the explanation.

Mistake #2: You spend more time looking at your slide than the audience. I can only think of a couple of instances when you would talk to the slide. Otherwise, resist the urge to keep looking back at the screen and concentrate on building a rapport with your audience by giving them eye contact.

THE ICEBREAKER: How to grab your audience’s attention

What is an Icebreaker?

It is way to begin a presentation with a bang.

Any Caveats?

Yes! There are two.

  1. Your opening remarks should be directly related to your theme, subject or point of view.
  1. Stay away from jokes. I have seen more jokes fall flat. Think of how you will feel when you deliver the punch line and no one laughs. You will be struggling to regain your confidence the rest of the speech.

No Jokes??  What if you are an Emcee or hosting a fun evening?

 If you want to begin with something witty, then please consider a light-hearted story or an anecdote instead of a joke.

If it is business presentation, what are your options?

  • State something that provokes your audience
  • What little known fact (about yourself) can you share
  • Pose a rhetorical question
  • Ask a real question in order to elicit responses
  • Grab something from the headlines as a way of transitioning to your theme
  • Tell a short story that will lead you to your subject
  • Use a dramatic visual.

What about a self-introduction?

Is there someone else who can introduce you and state your credentials? If not, you can still begin with one of the above choices, and then segue to a brief introduction.

 

HAVE YOU HEARD OF W-I-I-F-M?

WIFFM –WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

That is what your audience is asking as you begin your presentation. If you don’t address that, they will most likely tune out.

So, how can you connect to your audience with your content?

Include three elements: credentials, facts and emotions.

Credentials: What is your/your organization’s experience? What are other organizations doing? What are the thought leaders or experts saying about your topic?

Facts: This speaks for itself. Include relevant and meaningful data and statistics.

Emotions: In so many business presentations, we forget to build in an emotional connection to the topic.

How will this affect their work? What’s the payoff for the organization? How will this improve their lives? How will this enhance the customer’s experience?   How will the community respond? How will this improve the image of your organization?

Please let me know your experiences and what has worked for you when speaking to an audience.

A tip to mask the fear

Most people find public speaking scary and uncomfortable.

Separation anxiety occurs…..you are no longer a part of the group.  What can you do?

Focus on using hand gestures.

Hand gestures mask the fear more effectively than any of the other body language skills.  They get you engaged with your talk and help you look more confident.  If you plan out a few illustrative hand gestures before you speak, and then be disciplined to execute them, your audience won’t realize you are frightened.  Consequently, many experience a reduction in fear.

Persuasive Presentations

Here are some tips to making a persuasive presentation.

Step one – Analyze your audience

Step two – Perspective.  What is your real purpose in this communication?  What results do you want by the end of the speech or meeting? What is the action step?  Is it attainable?

Step Three – Appeals.  What will work best for this audience:  your education/credentials (or that of like minded experts), logic (statistics) or emotions.

Step Four – A clear, organized, BRIEF presentation.  The retention curve of an audience spirals downward the longer you speak.

Step Five – A practiced – yet not memorized – speech.

Step Six – Great delivery skills.  Do you look comfortable and sound natural. In order to achieve this, see Step Five.

Step Six – Get audience feedback.  What motivated them or what didn’t.

Preparing a Speech…Step One: WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE

Finding out as much about your audience as you can should be your first step when preparing a speech.  Questions to ask yourself include:

Is it an internal audience or external?

If it is external, what do they know about you, your company or your story?

Are they people within the United States or from around the world?

Are you there to merely inform, or are you there to persuade them to side with you, buy your widget or change their way of doing business?

If you are there to persuade, what will move them to action?  Your credentials, deep expertise, clients?  Statistics and data?  Or, perhaps, you want to touch people on an emotional level with a story or picture.

What time of day is the speech? (This is important because your 15 minute prepared talk may need to be cut back to 3 minutes if it is10:30 at night.  Or, if you are kicking off an event at 8:00 am, you may need to be more entertaining.)

Finally, what mood are they in?  Is the client mad at you?  Is a boss worried about the bottom line?  Or is a member of your staff leery about the changes you want to make.

Knowing as much as you can about your listeners will be helpful to putting together a presentation, expressly tailored to your audience and their needs.