Speak First Newsletter - September 2006

This month's newsletter is packed full of hints and tips to help you take your presentation skills to the next level. Whatever your starting point, you will find something useful to add to your tool-kit.

Warm wishes

Amanda and Jackie 

In this month's issue...

• Imagine having to make a presentation to 22 individuals from 22 different countries...
• Answers to Four Common Questions we get asked about Presenting, and send us your questions

Imagine having to make a presentation to 22 individuals from 22 different countries...
 

That's what two of our senior consultants did recently for the National Audit Office. The countries were as diverse as Brazil, Lesotho, Vietnam, China, Iraq and Nigeria. This is something that we are increasingly called upon to do as more companies than ever before operate in the global marketplace.

In this month’s issue we’ve turned the spotlight on the thorny issue of presenting your ideas to multi-cultural audiences which can be a minefield for the inexperienced or unprepared presenter. Read on to pick up tips on how to increase your chances of achieving successful results. Click here to find out more.

Answers to Four Common Questions we get asked about Presenting 
 

1.   I hate the thought of standing up in front of a group, with all eyes on me. I break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

There are a number of things you can do to stop nerves from taking over entirely. Prepare thoroughly and rehearse your presentation. Next, do what sports people do before a competition – think positive and visualise success. Imagine yourself in front of your audience looking and sounding confident and enthusiastic. Finally, remember that the purpose of a presentation is to communicate with the audience, not to give a performance. Your listeners aren’t analysing your every word; success for them depends on being able to take away a few helpful messages.

2.   I’ve only got ten minutes, and an awful lot of material. How do I fit it all into the time – does it matter if I overrun?

Yes!  You hardly ever hear someone complain that a presentation was too short. If you overrun, you risk alienating your listeners and they will switch off. Nobody remembers a lot of detail, and the more you try and tell people, the less they absorb. You have to be ruthless when you prepare and eliminate anything that isn’t essential. If need be, put it in a handout. Focus on not more than three essential key messages which your audience must take away if you are to achieve your objective. If you find it hard to identify your key messages, imagine that you have to summarise your entire presentation to your CEO in 30 seconds.

3.   I have to give a presentation on a really boring topic – how on earth do I make it interesting or funny?

Don’t worry about being funny; focus on making it interesting for your audience. The first question to ask is ‘How is it relevant to my listeners?’ If something is relevant, it will be interesting. You may need to spell out the relevance or the audience benefits to get people listening. Abstract facts don’t stick in people’s minds; you need to bring the material to life with examples and personal experience, and engage their minds by phrases like ‘Picture this’, ‘Remember what happened when …’, ‘Let me tell you what happened to me the other day…’  Imagine you’re holding a conversation with one person and talk to your audience in the same way.

4   I’ve been told that I shouldn’t put too much on the slides, but if I don’t, how will I remember what I’m supposed to say?

The slides aren’t there to remind you of what you want to say, but to make it easier for your listeners to take your points on board.  If they’re reading slides, they’re not listening to you.  Simple text slides, a few bullet points only, can be helpful, but in any presentation the focus of attention should be on the presenter.  That doesn’t mean you have to learn your entire presentation off by heart – by all means have separate notes. A lot of people use either the notes page in PowerPoint or a hard copy of the slides with additional notes written on. It sounds obvious, but make sure your notes are easy to navigate round and easy to read.  Less is more when it comes to notes. Make sure you don’t rely on them too much because your aim is to connect with your audience and you can’t do that when you’re looking down at what to say next. Instead trust you know your subject, you’ve prepared well and will get your key messages across.

More answers to the questions our readers most want answered next month! If you have a question you want answered contact us. A star question will be selected - the newsletter editor's decision is final - and awarded a bottle of champagne!