Do you get shortness of breath, wet hands or a knot in your stomach just thinking about the coming presentation?
Mark Twain once said, “there are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars”.
A solid preparation, practice and the following tips will help you present like a TED Talker.
Basics
The first rule to remember is that it’s not about you, it’s all about the audience. Consider your presentation as a gift to your audience, this is the mindset required to make a successful presentation. Make sure you answer their key question: Why should I care about this?
If you use slides, remember that they are there only for support: YOU are the presenter, not your slides.
Make sure that you know your subject. This doesn’t mean that you need to memorize the whole speech, but you must know the key points.
The beginning is the hardest part and this is where you’ll be most nervous. Make sure that you’ve got the start locked in your memory.
Practice makes perfect! Did you know that Steve Jobs practised his presentations for days to make them look effortless and smooth? It’s very easy to record yourself on video and you’ll be surprised how some minor tweaks can make all the difference.
Remember KISS: Keep It Short and Simple. Plain and simple language and a limited amount of data will make it easy for the audience to understand. Another basic rule is: less is more. Fewer arguments, fewer words and data will create more understanding with your audience.
Audience
Who is your audience? What matters to them? What is their cultural background?
During your audience audit, consider the following categories:
Homogeneity. Do they all work for the same company? Are they all men? If you have a mixed audience, you may need to segment them and choose a group to focus on.
Size. For a larger audience, you may choose to spice up your presentation.
Environment. Which equipment will you use? Are you on stage?
Expertise. How well do they know your subject? Make your presentation too simple and they’ll feel insulted, too complex and they’ll be lost. In a mixed situation, use the parenthesis tactic: explaining a technical detail or abbreviation like an afterthought.
Friendly. How happy are they to see you? If they're happy, be open and vulnerable. If not, use more facts and data.
Your audience audit will define how to apply the art of rhetoric: ethos, pathos and logos. Aristotle defined the 3 elements of persuasive speech as follows:
Ethos. How credible is the speaker? Do I trust him? If he comes with a strong track record or an established reputation, it will be easier to believe what you say. If not, you’ll need more “logos” to convince the audience.
Pathos or emotion. When you feel something during the presentation (fear, sadness, joy, … ) you will remember it.
Logos or reason, logic, data and numbers.
Applying the right mix of these 3 elements will help to persuade your audience. If their resistance is high, you’ll need to apply more logos and demonstrate that you’ve done your homework. If they are happy to see you, more emotion and personal elements can be used.
Presentation Plan
Your presentation plan should consist of the following elements:
- The audience audit: see above.
- The goal: A clear write up of the goal of your presentation. A good presentation should be limited to 5 key points.
- The content wish list: this is a complete brain dump of all ideas and elements matching the goal of your presentation.
- The tweet: Your main message in the form of a one-liner: this is a summary of your presentation. Your tweet will help you to select the ideas from the brain dump. The purpose is to delete everything that doesn’t support your tweet!
Structure
Based on a detailed analysis of thousands of presentations, Nancy Duarte found that the following pattern is used by almost all great speakers:
Start with a hook! A hook is a statement, an image or an action that will spark the audience’s attention.
Longer presentations will need a roadmap, showing the audience where you are in the presentation and how much is left.
The sparkline will start with an outline of the audience’s current reality and switch to the first element of your presentation, jumping back and forth until all elements have been presented. Each spark can be used to repeat the “refrain”, the slogan of your presentation that you wish the audience would take home.
The conclusion will summarize your presentation’s key points. If applicable, the conclusion will be followed by a call for action from the audience.
Body Language
In his famous TED Talk, The Importance of Being Inauthentic, Marc Bowden explains that, based on millions of years of evolution, your primal brain will make a snap judgement about everyone around you. It will decide in seconds if your contact belongs in one of 4 categories: friend, enemy, potential sexual partner or indifferent. The last is the default category, considering you can’t have a connection with 7 billion people.
There are a number of signals you can use to move from “indifferent “ to the “friend” category:
1. Smile, symbol for friendship and confidence.
2. Eyebrow flash, the universal symbol for “I recognize you”.
3. Open hands, not hiding any weapons or bad surprises.
4. Display the belly area, meaning you’re open, vulnerable and trustworthy.
Using these signals will make you look like a “friend”, allowing your audience to pay attention.
The acronym ON STAGE, summarizes the essentials of good body language:
O: open hands (like your opening a magic coconut).
N: nothing, using meaningful pause and silence will inspire confidence.
S: smile
T: take a breath, a couple of deep breaths before starting your presentation can lower your heartbeat and stress level.
A: advance, don’t stay motionless on the same spot.
G: good posture, back straight, hands open, chin up (no vulture neck)
E: eye contact (look in the camera for video presentations!)
Effective slides
The purpose of your slides is not to carry your presentation but to make it clearer, more efficient and more enjoyable.
A golden rule is to use 1 idea per slide!
If you design your slides, think of them as a poster, not a text page.
Use a centred layout (the audience will always look at the centre of your slide first so make it easy on them and centre your layout).
Take large and simple font (think Helvetica, Arial or Calibri).
Be careful with data: tables, detailed graphs will lose your audience’s attention and cannot be remembered. Instead, pasting a single number centre page or using a simple comparison will be more effective:
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Using high quality pictures, relevant to the subject and good looking will support a pleasant presentation.
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There are 5 types of slides, depending on their purpose:
Guidance, like the cover, title or summary slides;
Explanation, illustrating an argument that is hard to explain in words like a diagram, data, drawing or a graph. Making these explanation slides as light as possible should be your main point of attention.
Highlighting slides make a simple, powerful argument by using a single word, number, sign or statement.
Storytelling slides are designed to bring out emotions so the audience can connect the message to a feeling. Typically, photography is used to support your story.
Background slides are only sporadically used, only when no slide is needed and you don’t want to project a blanc screen. A background slide can show only your logo or a simplified title slide.
Conclusion
A speech is like a love affair: any fool can start it, but to end it requires considerable skill.” – Lord Mancroft.
The ability to communicate persuasively is the single greatest skill that will help you to accomplish your dreams.
Consider your speech or presentation as a present. Like any other gift, you start by thinking of the receiver, your audience. Once you know as much as possible about your audience, a presentation plan will help to select your ideas and structure your message around its core: the tweet.
Deliver your message like an actor, ON STAGE. A couple of minor tweaks on your body language can make the difference between coming over as an enemy or a friend but most of all, avoid the feeling of indifference from your audience.
Slides are useful to make your presentation clearer, more efficient and enjoyable but if you want to submerge your audience with text and numbers, send them a detailed report for review ahead of your speech and focus on the key points you wish to transfer to the audience.
Finally, don’t forget … practice makes perfect!
Take care,
Jürgen
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