Q Manual11 Oral Presentations11.1 Importance of presentation skillsHow effective you are at working with people depends heavily on your communication apabilities. Communication is the means by which people share words, ideas and feelings. The ability to present effectively is growing in importance in the workplace, schools, universities and in the community at large. Business professionals, politicians, sports coaches, sales people, people in service industries, lecturers and anyone, in fact, who deals with people, needs good speaking skills. Television, video and the internet have had an enormous impact on audience expectations. Long, colourless dissertations are simply unacceptable to today's sophisticated and discerning audiences. In order to be successful, it is imperative that the speaker is clear, informative, entertaining, convincing and brief. However, great presenters are not born with excellent skills. They have taken the time to learn how to plan and prepare a presentation. They are self-assured, self-disciplined and put their skills into practice as often as possible. Perhaps it is easier to explore what a presentation is not before trying to define what it is. A presentation is not a casual discussion between a few interested individuals or a flamboyant visual display designed to blow the audience out of the auditorium. Nor is it a matter of standing before an audience and making a speech. A presentation may be defined as a carefully planned and professional visual and aural event, designed for the purpose of gaining understanding and/or agreement and/or action. Basically a presentation illustrates, demonstrates and involves. For a presentation to reach its objective, several things must happen. The speaker must have a purpose; the material must be organised in such a way that the audience can follow it; and the event should be enjoyable for everyone. 11.3 Why do some presentations go wrong? Most two-way communication is affected by `noise' or interference. Noise is anything that interferes with the accurate transfer of the message and it can occur at any point in the communication process. Physical noise could be a phone line with static, constant interruptions or handwriting that is difficult to read. Psychological noise could include not liking the speaker, being preoccupied with other thoughts or already having one's mind made up on an issue. Semantic noise refers to misunderstandings caused by the choice of words, so it is important to avoid jargon and technical language unless your audience shares the same language. Perceptual noise relates to the values, attitudes and backgrounds of the sender and the receiver. This `noise' or `filter' causes us to see and hear only what we want to see and hear. As far as presentations are concerned, the interference which causes miscommunication can be summarised as follows:
"If you think you can or you think you can't, you are right." - Henry Ford Even though a good part of your time at work may be spent talking to people, once a suggestion that you present in front of an audience is made - what happens? All sorts of irrational fears take over. It is important to realise how unreasonable these fears are. You may possibly set your own limitations by telling yourself that you cannot achieve a particular goal. You often hear people say: `I've never been any good at this' or `I can't do that.' This type of attitude applies as much to presenting as to any other task. However, these self-imposed limitations are not real. You perceive them to be so and let them become your reality. The end result is that you convince yourself that you cannot present effectively. Some of you may be fearful of the audience. Don't be! The audience wants you to succeed. After all, they have come to hear WIIFT (What's in it for them). The individuals in the audience are on your side and want the information or knowledge they came to hear. They gain nothing if you perform poorly. Appreciate their support and relax and be confident of your ability to deliver the presentation and of the audience's desire to hear what you want to tell them. Being a confident and impressive presenter is entirely your choice and completely within your capabilities. We are all born with the same physical `equipment' - the difference is how you decide to use it. You program yourself to succeed or fail. You can be a great presenter and look forward to and enjoy the presentation experience through: positive affirmation and positive self-talk. Remember, you can be as confident, persuasive and eloquent as you want to be. As well as having the right mental attitude toward presenting, an important factor in successful presentations lies in the planning and preparation process. 11.5.1 Analysing your audience `I do not object to people looking at their watches when I am speaking, but I strongly object when they start shaking them to make sure they are still going.' - Lord Birkett Try to empathise with the people in the audience and consider the following:
You should bear in mind the different personalities and relationships which exist within a group when presenting your ideas. Maintain eye contact with everyone. It could be tempting to focus on those whom you want to impress and avoid looking at someone who may disagree with you. Try to treat everyone in the same way. Establishing rapport with an audience and focusing your attention on them is important. An audience will stop listening if it feels you are not interested in them. Watching members of the audience also enables you to gauge how well they are receiving your message. `Fail to prepare; prepare to fail.' - Anon. Setting the objective for your presentation, that is, deciding what outcomes you want from your presentation is the most important part of presentation design. Some common objectives are:
Sometimes you will need to combine several objectives. For instance, when an external consultant wishes to speak to an HRD Manager about training, the objective is to sell them training. The consultant also informs the manager of the content; inspires them with stories of previous successes; motivates them by showing how economical the training is in comparison with other companies; and persuades them with logical arguments. Stuart, C. (1988), How to be an Effective Speaker, NTC Publish Group, UK. The next step is to decide on the ideas which are most suitable for the presentation, bearing in mind the objective of the presentation and your audience analysis. Each idea should be assessed against your objective and the needs of the audience. If you have researched a topic and have used the ideas of others, make sure that appropriate citations are given either orally or on a slide or handout. Do not try to include too many points otherwise the presentation will suffer from information overload. Having decided on the content, the next step is to structure the presentation. No matter how interesting the material is, the effectiveness will be lost if it is carelessly put together. The structure provides the framework for your presentation and should therefore be simple, clear and logical. There are many ways to structure a presentation and some of the more common types of structures include:
Stuart, C. (1988), How to be an Effective Speaker, NTC Publishing Group, UK. Although you have not commenced your presentation, you have probably made some impressions on the audience already. As you speak for the first time, they will be deciding whether or not you are worth listening to, how interesting you are, are you energetic, enthusiastic and sincere? Your opening words must gain their attention. They should entice the audience so that they want to listen to you. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved:
You can conclude by:
11.6.5 Visual and verbal support
`I hear and I forget, By this time, you have the basic framework of your presentation and the ideas you wish to cover. The next step is to consider the visual and verbal support you need to add credibility to the presentation. Visual and verbal support helps the audience to grasp concepts and ideas. It also helps the speaker to clarify and amplify key points. Verbal support may take the form of facts, statistics, examples, quotations and comparisons, definitions, testimonials, case studies, personal experiences, participation, humour and analogies. Visual support could include a data show, demonstration or video. It might also include photographs, illustrations, maps, graphs and diagrams for projection on slides or overhead transparencies. It does not need to be very technical to be effective. Try to experiment! It is true that the use of visual aids can make the difference in a presentation in terms of presenting your content clearly, vividly and memorably. However, they are no guarantee for success. Remember, to make the most of your visual support, they should be:
Handouts are useful in terms of reinforcing the message by representing the main points in a simple fashion. They may also allow you, the presenter to provide background material before you talk and additional reading after the presentation. Like any form of visual support, they add interest to a presentation. Handouts should:
Effective presentations are as much to do with how you say it as what you say.
It is unnecessary to write a fully prepared script although some people prefer to do it this way. If you have to, use cue cards to jog the memory. These should only contain key words or phrases. Highlight key points in red and mark anecdotes/illustrations/examples or where you want to use overhead transparencies in another colour. Never tell yourself that it will be `OK on the day.' Try to give yourself adequate time to run through the material a number of times. Your first few practices will help you to add examples and anecdotes you had not thought about earlier. Later practices will help you to refine the length of sentences and the choice of words and develop appropriate body language. You will also become more comfortable with the visual support. If possible, use a tape-recorder or video camera to check the impact you are making via your voice/body language. Failing that, ask a fellow student to listen to your presentation and to provide constructive feedback. Always attempt to check the facilities at the site where you will be presenting, allowing sufficient time to rearrange the room, if necessary, and check the equipment. If time permits, try to have at least one last rehearsal in the venue itself. Everyone suffers from nerves and everyone is frightened of looking foolish. The important point to remember is that you must welcome and harness your anxiety because you need it to be an effective speaker. It energises you. Without it your performance will be dull and lifeless. You can control your nerves in several ways:
The main delivery instrument in your presentation is your voice, so it is important that you spend time listening to it and improving it where necessary.
11.7.5 Non-verbal communication An audience will interpret your body language. The way you use your body will either reinforce the message, weaken or even contradict it. Be aware of your personal appearance, your posture, facial expressions and gestures. Audiences are generally impressed with:
Whenever you give a presentation, people will want to ask questions; therefore, it is prudent to anticipate how you will handle them. It is a good idea to ask that questions be kept until the end so that they do not disrupt the flow of the presentation. The answers may arise later in the presentation, anyway. You should also schedule your questions before your final summation so that you can end on a positive note. Along with your prepared talk, the questions and answer sessions should also be rehearsed. Ask yourself whether the questions may arise because of lack of clarity, too much information, poor logic or simply because there is no room to include everything! The main points to remember about question time are:
11.9 Evaluating the presentation It is always worthwhile spending some time reviewing your presentation and learning how to make improvements for the future. Even when the presentation is successful, a review is still a good idea. Some questions which you could ask of yourself are:
Was the material relevant? Did anything unexpected happen? Was the presentation to time? Did all the visual support work? What did I learn from the presentation? What could I do differently next time?
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