In your personal life and in the
world of business you orally communication with your customers, employees,
employers, colleagues associates and other But this communication does not need
any special presentation as this simply
a face to face conversation in which you
can convey your message very easily and without any hesitation. A presentation
is the process of presenting a topic to an audience. It is typically a
demonstration, introduction, lecture or speech meant to inform, persuade, or
build good will. The term can also be used for a formal or ritualized
introduction or offering, as with the presentation of a debutante.
Your
presentation is for the benefit of the audience. But boring an audience with
bullet point after bullet point is of little benefit to them. Which brings us
to the issue of text? The best slides may have no text at all. This may sound
insane given the dependency of text slides today, but the best PowerPoint
slides will be virtually meaningless with out the narration that is you.
Remember, the slides are meant to support the narration of the speaker, not
make the speaker superfluous. Many people often say something like this: “Sorry
I missed your presentation. I hear it was great. Can you just send me your
PowerPoint slides but if they are good slides, they will be of little use
without you. Instead of a copy of your PowerPoint slides, it is far better to
prepare a written document which highlights your content from the presentation
and expands on that content. Audiences are much better served receiving a
detailed, written handout as a takeaway from the presentation, rather than a
mere copy of your PowerPoint slides. If you have a detailed handout or
publication for the audience to be passed out after your
talk, you need not feel compelled to fill your PowerPoint slides with a great
deal of text.
A presentation program is often
used to generate the presentation content, some of which also allow
presentations to be developed collaboratively, e.g. using the Internet by
geographically disparate collaborators. Presentation viewers can be used to
combine content from different sources into one presentation. For professionals
today, presentation and public-speaking skills are more important than ever.
Management guru, Tom Peters, for example, says that presentation skills are worthy
of extreme obsessive study. Strong presentation skills and the ability to
engage and connect can truly set you apart from the crowd. Here are some free
tips and resources to help you begin your journey.
No matter how great your
delivery, or how professional and beautiful your supporting visuals, if your
presentation is not based on solid content, you can not succeed. Don’t get me
wrong, I am not saying that great content alone will carry the day. It almost
never does. Great content is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one.
But your presentation preparation starts with solid content appropriate for
your audience which you then build into a winning story that you’ll use to
connect with your audience. Though
I am emphasizing how important content is, I also am begging you to spare your
audience a data dump. A data dump all too common unfortunately is when a
presenter crams too much information into the talk without making the effort to
make the information or data applicable to the members of the audience. A data
dump also occurs when data and information do not seem to build on the
information that came earlier in the presentation. Sometimes it almost seems
that the presenter is either showing off, or more likely, is simply afraid that
if he does not tell the whole story by giving reams of data, the audience will
not understand his message. Simple
does not mean stupid. Frankly,
thinking that the notion of simplifying is stupid is just plain, well, and
stupid. Simple can be hard for the presenter, but it will be appreciated by the
audience. Simplicity takes more forethought and planning on your part because
you have to think very hard about what to include and what can be left out.
What is the essence of your message? This is the ultimate question you need to
ask yourself during the preparation of your presentation. Here’s a simple
exercise:
I suggest you start your planning
in “analog mode.” That is, rather than diving right into PowerPoint or Keynote
the best presenters often scratch out their ideas and objectives with a pen and
paper. Personally, I use a large whiteboard in my office to sketch out my ideas
when I was at Apple; I had one entire wall turned into a whiteboard. The
whiteboard works for me as I feel uninhibited and freer to be creative. I can
also step back literally from what I have sketched out and imagine how it might
flow logically when PowerPoint is added later. Also, as I write down key points
and assemble an outline and structure, I can draw quick ideas for visuals such
as charts or photos that will later appear in the PowerPoint. Though you may be
using digital technology when you deliver your presentation, the act of speaking
and connecting to an audience to persuade, sell, or inform is very much analog.
Beyond Bullet Points smartly
states that starting to create your presentation in PowerPoint before you have
your key points and logical flow first worked out on paper or a white board in
my case is like a movie director hiring actors and starting to film before
there is a script in hand. I usually use a legal pad and pen or a whiteboard if
there is enough space to create a rough kind of storyboard. I find the analog
approach stimulates my creativity a bit more as I said. No software to get in
my way and I can easily see how the flow will go. I draw sample images that I
can use to support a particular point, say, a pie chart here, a photo there,
perhaps a line graph in this section and so on. You may be thinking that this
is a waste of time: why not just go into PowerPoint and create your images
there so you do not have to do it twice? Well, the fact is, if I tried to
create a storyboard in PowerPoint, it would actually take longer as I would
constantly have to go from normal view to slide sorter view to see the whole
picture. The analog approach paper or whiteboard to sketch out my ideas and
create a rough storyboard really helps solidify and simplify my message in my
own head. I then have a far easier time laying out those ideas in PowerPoint. I
usually do not even have to look at the whiteboard or legal pad when I am in
PowerPoint, because the analog process alone gave a clear visual image of how I
want the content to flow.
Your wonderful style, delivery
and great supporting visuals will fall flat. If you took the time in the first
step to outline your ideas and set them up in a logical fashion, then your
thinking should be very clear. You can visualize the logic of your content and
the flow of the presentation. If your ideas are not clear first, it will be
impossible to design the proper structure later when you create visuals and
supporting documents. Your audience needs to see where you are going. And it is
not enough to simply have an “agenda” or “road map” slide in the beginning that
illustrates the organization of your talk. If you do not actually have a solid
road of logic and structure, then an outline slide will be of no use. In fact,
the audience may become even more irritated since you made the promise of
organization in the beginning, but then failed to deliver the promise with a
presentation which is good presentations include stories. The best presenters
illustrate their points with the use of stories, most often personal ones. The
easiest way to explain complicated ideas is through examples or by sharing a
story that underscores the point. Stories are easy to remember for your
audience. If you want your audience to remember your content, then find a way
to make it relevant and memorable to them. You should try to come up with good,
short, interesting stories or examples to support your major points. In
addition, it is useful to think of your entire 30 minute presentation as an
opportunity to “tell a story.” Good stories have interesting, clear beginnings,
provocative, engaging content in the middle, and a clear, logical conclusion. I
have seen pretty good though not great presentations that had very average
delivery and average graphics, but were relatively effective because the
speaker told relevant stories in a clear, concise manner to support his points.
Rambling streams of consciousness will not get it done; audiences need to hear and
see your points illustrated.
When the presentation has technical or complex topic. For reading some is speaking
use a page style similar. Stage fright can be minimized by showing confidence
in voice quality word rate pronunciation, nonverbal delivery, body language,
movement, gestures, facial expressions etc. you must be clearly audible at all
times. Don’t let your voice drop at the end of the sentence.
No comments:
Post a Comment