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Five Tips to Present Like a Pro
Five Tips to Present Like a Pro
Over the last five years, I've noticed a dramatic change in the
field of presentation skills. Increasingly, experts support the
idea that being a "good enough" speaker is no longer "good
enough." Mere competency as a speaker is no longer enough to
sell your ideas, bring communities together, or move clients to
action.
What are the reasons for this change? I believe it results from
a unique confluence between popular and business cultures. The
private sphere has become more public, reality shows rule,
PowerPoint is the norm, and the idea of individual "performance"
is key. Whatever the reasons, the expectations of ordinary
audiences have risen. It's no longer good enough to be good
enough.
How can presenters overcome these new challenges?
Here are five essential tips to ensure you are better than "just
good enough."
1. Ensure that you have a good design.
More presentations fail because of poor design than because of
poor delivery. In fact, high quality design actually improves
delivery.
Here are the three factors most likely to cause poor design:
-Composing your presentation without an "end in mind." -Using
PowerPoint to compose your presentation. -Overlooking your
audience's needs, wants, anxieties, biases, "personality..."
How to avoid these pitfalls:
Always ask yourself: "What do I want to this presentation to
achieve?" Many speakers who want to persuade their audiences
compose "information-only" speeches. Guess what? The audience,
in most cases, will NOT fill in the blanks. They will NOT be
moved to action. Learn how to construct the right speech for the
job. (I can help - drop me a line at guila@guilamuir.com.)
PowerPoint is meant to support your message, not to be used as a
composing tool. You must identify your desired outcome(s) and
design your presentation to achieve those. The best tools to do
this are a pen and paper, (or Word if you are so inclined.)
Composing on PowerPoint increases the chance that you will
deliver an unfocused, rambling "data-dump."
Know your audience. Design your presentation to answer the
question, "What's in it for THEM?"
2. Be fit.
The best presenters, even the "low-key" ones, use a lot of
personal energy. If you feel out of shape, find an activity that
strengthens you, speeds up your metabolism, and gives you
stamina. It doesn't matter what "size" you are. It does matter
how
fit you are.
3. Remember that presenting is a relationship event, not a
performance event.
Above all, effective presenters connect with their audiences.
The presentation becomes a large conversation. Everyone feels
more comfortable, even when the topic is thorny.
How to connect? Greet people individually as they come in the
door. Hob-nob at the refreshment table. Learn people's names.
Make eye contact. Ask questions. Show empathy.
4. Breathe. Be yourself. Have fun!
This tip is integrally attached to point #3. When we are
authentic, we connect authentically with people. They are more
apt to listen to us and receive our message. When we have enough
oxygen to fuel our brains, we don't forget our material. We are
energized. When we're having fun, the audience is more receptive.
5. Remember that your internal voice never tells the whole truth.
You're done with the presentation. You're privately debriefing
the experience inside your brain. Some presenters will hear
mean-spirited comments--crueler by far than any comment they
might dream of giving someone else. Other presenters hear overly
grandiose feedback, telling them that they did much better than
they actually did.
Many presenters don't hear much self-feedback at all, since they
became oblivious of their actions and words once they began
their presentations (not a good thing.)
How do we discover how effective we actually were?
Elicit feedback from people you trust will tell you the truth.
Take their comments seriously, and then decide what, if any,
changes you want to make. Don't depend totally on your internal
voice.
Approximately 50 million presentations are given every day
across the United States. Since you sometimes give one of those
presentations, why not rise beyond being "just good enough?"
Integrate these tips and you'll present like a pro!
For information on any of these tips, and for further speaking
strategies, I invite you to write to Guila Muir at
guila@guilamuir.com.
Article Copyright 2005 Guila Muir and Associates
About the author:
Guila Muir and Associates is the premiere Train-the-Trainer firm
on the West Coast. Using participatory adult education since
1981, Guila Muir & Associates has developed the skills of
hundreds of trainers, facilitators, and presenters in business
and government. Get our newsletter, full of tips and techniqus,
by going to
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Oral Presentation Advice |
Your presentation should not replace your paper, but rather whet the ... Below I consider goals for academic interview talks and class presentations. ... |
www.cs.wisc.edu |
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Presentation Skills |
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lorien.ncl.ac.uk |
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Presentation Helper - Free PowerPoint templates, help, advice and ... |
Resources on how to make effective presentations. Includes tips on PowerPoint and topic ideas. |
www.presentationhelper.co.uk |
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Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc. |
Neuroscience stimulus delivery software can be used for cognitive psychology, fMRI, erp and single unit research (Windows). |
nbs.neuro-bs.com |
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Why tables for layout is stupid: problems defined, solutions offered |
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www.hotdesign.com |
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The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation |
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norvig.com |
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Presentation Zen |
I love the clear presentation of the ideas in the book and the fact that the ... In the context of presentations, moving info away can help you and the ... |
www.presentationzen.com |
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www.aresearchguide.com |
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en.wikipedia.org |
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OSCON 2005 Keynote - Identity 2.0 |
“A barn-burner of a presentation. I loved this.” - Cory Doctorow. “I watched it twice, and greatly enjoyed it both times.” - Jon Udell ... |
www.identity20.com |
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Presentations - Effective Communication - Public Speaking |
Tips and tools for creating and delivering presentations: text, techniques and technology. |
www.presentations.com |
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Presentation Information Resources - Presentation Technology News ... |
Presentation Information Resources - Comprehensive presenter's resource providing instant access to up-to-date information on technology and techniques for ... |
199.249.170.231 |
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Effective Presentations homepage |
In addition, the skills needed to prepare an oral presentation can be used ... A spiffy presentation discussing Effective Teaching with Powerpoint from the ... |
www.kumc.edu |
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Impress |
Your presentations will stand out with 2D and 3D clip art, special effects, animation, ... Slide show Animation and Effects bring your presentation to life. ... |
www.openoffice.org |
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PRESENTATIONPRO - experts for Microsoft PowerPoint |
A series of products and services to help enhance PowerPoint presentations with templates and backgrounds. |
www.presentationpro.com |
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Leadership - Presentation Skills |
Presentation, PowerPoint, and Leadership. ... Presentations and reports are ways of communicating ideas and information to a group. But unlike a report, ... |
www.skagit.com |
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Presentation: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with presentation on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
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Secretary of State Addresses the U.N. Security Council |
My friends, this has been a long and a detailed presentation. And I thank you for your patience. But there is one more subject that I would like to touch on ... |
www.whitehouse.gov |
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Rubric |
Organization, Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information. Audience has difficulty following presentation because ... |
www.ncsu.edu |
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Presentation Skills |
Presentations are one of the first managerial skills which a junior engineer ... This article looks at the basics of Presentation Skills as they might apply ... |
www.see.ed.ac.uk |
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