Presentation Skills

This discussion involves how to get a presentation in front of an audience.

This is important because we often need to make presentations.  Some people need to make a presentation for a class.  Other people do it in government or business jobs.  

Put simply, it is something that you can't avoid.

(no title: Oh No!!)

This is how most people feel when they find out that they need to make a presentation.

Presenting information before an audience is one of the most feared things.  Most people would rather do almost anything else.  This is a real fear.  People get nervous.  Their stomach gets upset.  And much more.

The goal here is to look at the things that you can do to not only minimize your fear, but to actually give an effective presentation.

Ready?

Get Started

The first thing that you need to know is that you must get started with the substance of your presentation pretty quickly.

The first thing that you need to do at the beginning of your presentation is to establish rapport with your audience.  This means that you've opened the lines of communication and the audience is willing to listen to you.

How quickly do you need to do this?

(click)

You have 7 seconds.  If you don't establish rapport with the audience by then, you may have lost them.

(click) 

Then you must create a bond between yourself and the audience.  This is a bigger task since it involves the audience accepting that what you'll be presenting is important to them.

How much time do you have to build this bond?

(click)

It must be done within a total of 30 seconds.

This means that you probably don't want to do things like tell a joke, or make an off-hand comment, at the start of your presentation.  I'll get back to the topic of content in a second.

How?

First, I need to give you some hints at ways you can started with your audience.

There are three ways that you are communicating with your audience.

There are the words you are saying.  These are important, of course, but at the start of your talk they are not the key component that is being evaluated by the audience.

The second means of communication is called "voice."  How are you saying things?  Are you being aggressive.  Are you hesitant?  Are you being passive?  Are you stumbling over your words?  Are you rambling?

These are all important cues to your audience.  They are the largest component of this early communication process.

Finally, there is your body language.  How do you appear?  What are you doing physically?  Where are you standing?  How are you moving?

In preparing for a talk, most people focus on the words.  You can see that at least at the start of your presentation, you should be giving much more attention to the delivery process.  We have a common sense saying for this, "It's not what you say but how you say it."

How you say things is critical

How you say things is critical.

That is the important "take home" message.  In fact, let me tell you very explicitly that this is the most important point of this presentation.

If it is so important, you need to know more about how you can be successful.

(no title: man at lectern)

I think that here is one key thing.  I really learned this from other people who have studied the art of giving presentations.  I've adopted this myself and convinced may other people to do it, too.

You have got to get out from behind a lectern.

Why?

The lectern hides you from your audience.  That's not good.  Your audience wonders what you're keeping from them.

It provides you with something to hold on to.  That's not good either, since you want to appear confident.  Holding on for support sends the opposite message ("I'm so scared I need this support!").

Finally, the lectern is a place to put your notes.  This is the worst thing.  If you have notes, you're going to be tempted to use them.  That's going to be a disaster.

(no title: notes on floor)

"Wait!," you say.  "How can I give a talk without notes?"

You won't be without note.  I'll give you a way to have your notes right in front of you.  They'll be big and bold and you can read them even if the lights are out in the room.

But first, let me emphasize again.  You've got to get out from behind the lectern.