How to give presentations that get results
How to give presentations that get results
Have to give a presentation, run a meeting or lead a conference call? Here's how to make the room your domain, hold your audience's attention -- and get results.
1. Greet attendees as they arrive
Your presentation actually begins before you utter your first word. It starts when the first attendee enters the room. Get there early and meet people as they arrive. You'll feel much more relaxed during your presentation if you've had a nice exchange with each attendee-and they'll want to see you do well.
For conference calls, this means both greeting people entering the room where you're holding the call, and greeting new attendees as they dial in.
2. Make your statistics pop
Need to discuss stats, revenues or other numbers in your presentation? Running through a list of figures can be a bore. So spice them up.
Don't say: "Current projections for the upcoming year have us running a budget deficit of $50 million."
Make it interesting: "We need to tighten the belt! Our deficit will likely swell next year by $140,000 a day."
3. Tell stories
To be an effective presenter, you need to engage your audience intellectually, but also emotionally. Telling stories helps you connect with their emotions.
Don't say: "Increasing communication across departments will save the company substantially."
Make it memorable: "Want to know why it's critical that we all know what's going on in other departments? In the 1990s, Volvo had an excess of green cars. People just didn't want them. So Sales and Marketing offered special deals-and the cars started selling. But no one explained this to Manufacturing, who thought this meant that customers liked green cars again-so they started making more of them!"
4. Use concrete language
Your goal whenever you speak is for your audience to hear what you're saying, remember it and take whatever action you want them to take. So don't speak in abstractions-use clear, concrete language.
Don't say: "Our goal is to position ourselves as the industry leader and differentiate our offerings in the marketplace."
Make it concrete: "Why are we better than our competition? We need to answer that question for ourselves. Then we need to get out there and tell the world."
5. Paint images with your words
This is a live presentation, not a written memo your audience will be able to review at their own pace. They're only going to hear your words once. The more important your message, the more important it is for you to provide them with images they can hear, visualize and remember.
Don't say: "We should coordinate our efforts interdepartmentally to obtain visibility in the media outlets that cover our agency."
Make it colorful: "We want our constituents opening up the New York Times and reading about how much good we're doing. So let's give our public relations team whatever help we can to make that happen."
Plant an image in their minds. Let them see what you want-a prospect literally opening up a magazine that features your products. Your audience is more likely to connect with you, remember your idea, and start thinking creatively about how to get it done.'
6. Make eye contact as often and with as many people as possible
One of the worst myths about public speaking is that it's a good idea to look past the audience, to find someplace in the back of the room and stare at it.
Instead, make direct eye contact with each member of your audience for three to five seconds, and then move on to the next person. This makes your audience feel like you're talking directly to them, and it'll help you feel less like you're presenting to an entire room and more like you're having a series of one-on-one conversations.
7. Pause
Many speakers are in such a hurry to get through their presentation, they hardly stop to breathe. Don't do this. A well-placed pause can be highly effective because:
* It can help you make a point more dramatically, by giving your audience an extra second to let it sink in.
* It alerts your audience that you've concluded one point and are going to move on to something new.
* It can give you a chance to breathe, relax and prepare your transition into your next subject.
8. Don't apologize
If something goes wrong during your presentation, just move on. No need to apologize and call more attention to it.
9. Make your audience members part owners of the presentation
There's a great saying that "nobody has ever given birth to an ugly baby."
If your audience is involved in your presentation, if you can include them and really make them feel a part of it, they're much more likely to be your ally and want you to succeed. By contrast, if you just stand up there and talk, never engaging or involving the room, your audience will feel much less invested in helping you deliver a great presentation.
10. Use visual aids, handouts and interaction
According to studies, people tend to remember:
* 10% of what they read
* 20% of what they hear
* 30% of what they see
* 50% of what they hear and see
* 70% of what they say and write
* 90% of what they say and do
To deliver an effective and memorable presentation, you'll want to engage your audience on several levels. If people remember only 20% of what they hear, your chances of creating a great presentation aren't very high if the gathering consists solely of you talking and the audience listening.
Add some visual aids-interesting graphs or a physical prototype of a new product-and now your audience is both hearing and seeing. That increases the amount of what your audience will remember from 20% to 50%.
If you also get them brainstorming about new ideas, working in groups, making their own suggestions-now they're hearing, seeing, saying and doing. Your chances are up to 90% they'll retain your message.
11. Don't leave the Q&A session for the end
This sounds counterintuitive; we're used to having a speaker tell us to hold our questions until the end. The danger here is that, as the presenter, you give up control of the room at the end of your presentation-just as your audience is about to leave and record their final memories of your talk.
So schedule a Q&A session for a brief period just before the last section of your presentation. This gives you the chance to deliver the dramatic or inspirational closing you want.
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