"Ah, it hurts me to the depths of my soul when I listen to a stout young man wearing a haircut who reduces a love speech to passages …"
William Shakespeare: Hamlet - Act 3, Scene 2
Having a presentation in front of an audience, large or small, can lead to very high levels of anxiety and stress. You will give a speech like this in front of a group of people, some known, some not. You will find yourself on a stage with your eyes on you and the audience will have high expectations otherwise they would not be present. Every word, every nuance, your appearance, your tone of voice not to mention the content of the presentation - everything will be sifted through. You know what you mean, you know the material but you will always have that annoying impression of saying something wrong or that you have stained your jacket.
Business presentations come in various forms. Some are extremely formal with a lot of detailed information… how do you make sure the audience doesn't get lost in the details and lose focus? Some people aren't that formal and the hard part is not talking to each other. And what about the technical aspects? What will you do that the slide projector doesn't work, you have a contingency plan. The result you want to achieve is that once you go out, the audience remembers the information you communicated and that they have a good impression of your presentation. These steps offer guidelines on how to handle everything.
Steps
Step 1. Know your audience and find out their expectations
Whether you want to persuade them or simply inform them, you will need to understand their level of knowledge and how they will perceive the message. Making a presentation for a group of high school professors is quite different than giving a board or hostile audience.
Step 2. Do some thorough research
You absolutely have to be master of the subject. Okay, not the greatest expert on the subject, but you need to know the essential information and the less vital ones as well. Talking about things people already know is the recipe for boredom. It is not entirely unusual to spend weeks or months collecting materials, skimming opinions and comments from authoritative sources and the community at large.
Step 3. Document your sources
Where you get the information from is as important as the information itself. Without reliable and revised data you are just a person with opinions. The public in this case will expect facts and projections. Your personal opinion may be important, but it doesn't have to be the only thing presented. You won't have to list sources ad nauseum (it would be boring and silly) but you will need to be able to cite leads if asked.
Step 4. Write your speech
The arm ones are fine if you are standing on a box in the middle of a park. In a room with hundreds of people, you can't afford it. You will not have to "read" your speech even if it is certainly not rare, especially if you will use electronic hunchback. Print your speech in large print so you can see us without giving the appearance of who is reading. You will have to look like someone who speaks to the public instead of one who reads but this will help you to be precise and predetermined.
Step 5. Prepare the slides
If you are going to show something visual, it will need to be structured to support what you say. Avoid showing slides that have a messy number of details because visual aids usually have a big impact. A worksheet with dozens of rows and columns won't make sense. Headings should reflect the content and recall what you say. Never read the slides! People can read for themselves. The media must support your words, not copy them. There are few things you can do that will negatively impact reading what people can read for themselves. If all you can do is start the slides and parrot what is written on them, then the audience doesn't need you.
- PowerPoint presentations, overhead projectors, classic ones and billboards are all aids and should be treated as such. First they should be visual, then rely on graphics, illustrations and diagrams rather than text. If your slides have a lot of text - or even a few punchy short sentences - your audience will spend their time reading and focusing on that instead of you. Also, remember that they are "helpers": they will not be able to do the presentation for you. Your speech should have more content than the slides.
- Don't make them too full. If you put too much information all together, the audience will have trouble concentrating. Get to the point in ten words or less.
- Don't use too much flash graphics or animations. It distracts attention from the informational content and will obviously divert attention away from you, the speaker, and what you have to tell.
- Think about the time. If there is a limit, be sure to enter a space for questions if applicable. Better to reduce the material than not to run it too fast. coordinates graphics with speech. Avoid unnecessary or redundant slides such as introductory slides that describe your presentation.
- If you have a lot of material to include in the time frame allotted to you, put it on extra slides that you will propose at the end of the presentation. Those slides will come in handy if during question time, someone asks for details. And so you will look super prepared!
- Make sure the slide color schemes are appropriate for the type of presentation. In some situations, dark text on a light background is best while light text on a dark background is easier to read. You should also prepare a version of the presentation in both templates, just because you never know….
Step 6. Try it yourself
Do it separately. Read the speech and watch your visual presentation a dozen times. It must be so familiar to you that you know which slide will come next, what you will say for each, the sequence itself… it has to be automatic. When you start to get bored because you know it by heart, then you are ready for the next step.
Step 7. Do a dress rehearsal
Ask someone you trust for an honest opinion. They need to be representative of the audience you will be facing. Repeat the whole speech to them too. Have him take notes: What were you confused about and what was perfect? Make them focus on you: Are you going too fast, too slow? You don't have to be "hyper" but not monotonous either.
Step 8. Make small changes
Take everything you learned from the dress rehearsal and make some changes. Try to put yourself in the audience's shoes when you do. What will they hear when the slides appear on the screen?
Step 9. Get ready
Up to now the steps have been about preparing the presentation. Now it's time to think about you. Unless you do it for a living, you will be nervous. Visualize yourself in front of people: a perfect job, cheers, the oohs and aahs. Find a quiet spot, close your eyes and review the presentation, imagine yourself in full control without a hitch. It's a very, very important step. Athletes do it every time before a race. It is an established technique. Use it. You should implement it right before going on stage.
Step 10. Introduce the presentation
You've done a great job of preparation, you know the material, you have tried, you have perfected the visualization - in short, you are ready. One of the most important things to pay attention to is how you position yourself physically. You don't have to look stiff or too casual. You should already have the right behavior and fluency of movements when doing dress rehearsals.
Step 11. Present the material
Obviously, this is the gist of the subject. Remember that you are the expert. How to avoid "stage fright" varies from person to person (you may have heard that advice to "imagine the audience in their underwear") but the only serious thing to do is to use eye contact. One person, then another, then another etc. Don't think of them as a mass of people… you are talking to one at a time. Remember that the presentation is YOU.
Step 12. Questions and Answers
It's optional, but it can be an important way to clarify some key points and make sure your audience gets the message. How to do the Q&A part deserves a separate article but here are some things to consider.
- You have to be in control. Some questions will be unfriendly. When they happen to you, respond with facts and move on. Don't give that person the floor again.
- They may also ask you "soft" questions that don't really ask for anything, so be careful. They are easy and don't take a lot of time. Don't avoid them or overlook them, but don't embroider them, wasting time repeating what you have already said. Respond with facts, give some information and move on.
- Open the Questions and Answers section with "before I finish, there are questions". This way you will have a strong closure and not a presentation that leaves the audience inactive.
- When they ask you a question, repeat the question to the audience for everyone to hear, then give the answer.
- Take a few seconds to formulate a clear answer. Making a mistake can lead to vague or imaginative answers that do not reflect well what you have expressed during the prayer.
Step 13. Leave the stage
Thanks for your attention, inform the public of the presence of a paper support. If you provide personal consultations mention it now. Don't take too long to do this, you're done so go.
Method 1 of 1: Small Group Events
The previous steps involved a more formal presentation. In the less demanding ones, consider the following suggestions:
- Remember that adults know how to orient themselves. You are a facilitator and not a middle school teacher.
- Ask the audience to share experiences with the group: adults must learn to connect what they know with basic knowledge.
- Help your audience understand the importance of the topic to their work. Usually an adult is goal-oriented and will appreciate an organized educational program with well-defined elements.
- Remember to show respect. People bring empirical knowledge to your presentation and, if allowed, will enrich it.
- Control the urge to stop. In these environments, you can lose control of your presentation if you don't stay focused. This does not mean adopting draconian dictatorial methods, but make sure everyone understands that you are the one presenting and maintain control of the room.
Advice
- Safety! It is that magical charm that makes others want to listen. If you have followed all the steps up to this point, everything will be fine and there will be nothing to worry about. Look straight at the audience, speak clearly, and keep up with your presentation.
- You can start with a humorous anecdote. If you do, be sure to try it out in front of others first and record their reactions. It often works with the audience and relaxes you. But if you throw the joke there with no confidence that it works, it will take you some time to recover.
- If your audience sees multiple presentations because it's a multiple session, focus on what you want them to remember about yours.
- If you are wrong, recover and move on. Don't dwell on what happened. It's perfectly okay to correct yourself, just carry on. Don't try to laugh it off, take the mistake into account and proceed as if it didn't happen. Focus on the present and the future, not the past.
- Move while you speak. Walk but not too much in a way that is distracting. Movement and body language can appeal to interest, reinforce the emotions of your stories, and emphasize the change of subject or pace.
- When using the slides, start from the blank and go through them one at a time, with a click of the mouse. Make sure that the previous one is no longer visible before the next one appears. A set of slides at the same time distracts the audience by causing them to continue reading or come back instead of listening to you. By obscuring the previous ones, they are still readable if someone (or you!) Needs to make a reference, but they will be in the background and therefore the audience will not focus on them.
- Dress appropriately. Think about what you will put on and prepare it the day before. Is it a formal thing? Business? Jeans and T-shirt? What you wear depends in part on the audience and the material. What you put in will make them like you or not. Clothes that are too tight or loose will distract the audience from the presentation. You want them to focus on the material, not the look. Avoid suits with flashy designs that would send your listener on "mentally vacation" by losing important parts of the speech.
- If appropriate, thank specific people who are participating. Cite members individually by name as a positive example of what you want to illustrate. Interview who organized it, share your ideas and ask the audience for examples. And if you do, pronounce the names correctly.
- Prepare the folders. You will need to make printed copies of the screenings as well as notes to give to the public once you are done. You can also do this as a precaution in case the technology doesn't cooperate.
Warnings
- Don't deliver your presentation early. This is a very common mistake. If you commit it, whoever listens to you will read and not look at you. You will lose attention and impact.
- Strictly avoid the words of "pause". "Um" or "then" are the worst. A real pause is to be preferred rather than a wrong conjunction or a guttural sound. When used correctly, the pause can be of great effect. Winston Churchill was famous for the dramatic pauses he put into every speech, after which he threw out everything he needed to say giving the audience the idea that the phrase had just occurred to him.
