|
3 Presentation Tips That Will Get You Noticed (In A Positive Way)!
"
"There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave."
Dale Carnegie
I remember my first formal presentation at work. I was a sales manager for Pepsi-Cola and I had to present to the owners of the bottling operation where I worked why I felt we needed to head into the bottled water market. I prepared for weeks by gathering data from the marketplace that showed consumers were moving away from sweetened drinks to bottled water. I was nervous and had no idea how to put a persuasive presentation together. Luckily my boss was helpful and kind, but I know one thing, I did not WOW anyone that day. At best I kept them awake.... barely.... with all of my numbers and charts, but I never really reached into their minds and hearts about why we needed to make the change.
That was many years ago and I have since become a professional speaker. Many people wonder why anyone would choose to go into speaking in front of large groups of people. If you look at any phobia list, public speaking is often listed at the top, often ahead of death!
I know for a fact, that if you can increase your skill level of speaking in front of others, great things will happen for you. If you are in sales, you will see increased clients and orders. If you are working a production line, serving food or managing a team, you will advance in your field. People will notice and you will be promoted.
So, how do you make presentations that are impactful and get you noticed? Read below for my three strategies learned the hard way:
1) Know thy audience- this is nothing new. Every presentation book will list this as the place to start. What you may not know is what to know before you speak. Before any presentation I want you to envision your audience and write down who they will be and what their greatest challenges are related to what you will speak about. What do they want to know? What are their fears about your topic? I will often send an email out to my audience ahead of time with these two questions or I will call a few key people who will be at my presentation to gather their insights.
2) Start with the big picture- I like author Stephen Covey's habit of starting with the end in mind. What do you want them to think, feel or do as a result of what you will say? Start by giving the big picture, i.e., how will your idea, concept or strategy improve your department, organization or possibly world? Excite their senses by painting a picture of what could be if they move in the direction you want them to move. From the big picture move to the facts, numbers and data that support the big picture. If you start with the numbers you will lose your audience and their eyes will glaze over. Once you have provided the facts ma'am and just the facts, move to the feelings portion of your presentation that will address how your idea will impact others. This is where you address their fear of your idea that you got from interviewing your audience. Finally, list the top three things that need to happen to implement your idea. This will help calm the "doers" in your audience who only care about the implementation portion of your presentation.
3) Engage your audience. This is where room dynamics are critical. If your audience is fewer than 20 people, lay out the tables in a U shape with you speaking at the top of the U shape. If more than 20 people, use round tables that seat six to eight people. If this is not possible, place classroom style in a chevron stripe so the audience can see other members easily.
- Use visuals when possible. Do not write all your thoughts on PowerPoint and read them. Instead use PowerPoint for pictures to create emotion with only 5-7 words per slide or no words at all. Have a handout with your key thoughts so they have a take away of your great ideas.
- Ask for questions from the audience and really listen to their feedback. If a flipchart is available write their concerns down for everyone to see so they know you are serious about addressing their concerns.
- Make certain you have a call to action. What happens next?
Question for You:
Are you nervous about your next work presentation? Do you find yourself procrastinating because you don't know where to start? Are you frozen from the fear of possible failure?
Action for You:
Start with these three steps. Spending a little time upfront knowing your audience, structuring your talk and engaging your audience will put you leaps and bounds ahead of others' ability to speak and you will definitely get noticed (in a positive way)!
"It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."
Mark Twain
| 
