Presentation Skills
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Presentation
Skills
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Introduction
(Part 1)
The
Situation
(Part 2)
The
Audience
(Part 3)
The
Speaker
(Part 4)
The
Presentation
(Part 5)
Conclusion
(Part 6)
Tips & Techniques |
The
Planning Phase. After assessing the
situation and audience, you’re ready to plan your presentation. First, you’ll
want to research and develop the main points of your program. Then, using this raw
material, you will identify your central theme, develop each point to support that
premise, organize the content around these main points, and prepare an outline.
The
Preparation Phase. In this phase,
you’ll take the substance of your presentation and bring it to life by structuring it
in accordance with several fundamental public speaking principles such as "The
Universal Speaker’s Law" and the "Magical Rule of 3."
Then, you’ll further enliven it by illustrating your points with humor, quotations,
analogies, anecdotes, and other tools.
The
Delivery Phase. This phase involves
issues such as personal style, use of audio/visuals (if any), incorporation of "games
and gimmicks," use of participative exercises, and many other techniques beyond the
scope and space constraints of this course.
 In my (hopefully) forthcoming book, "Presentation Skills for the
'Unprofessional' Speaker," we use an analogy to demonstrate the three phases of a
presentation: Creating Frankenstein's Monster. The Planning Phase is
presented as Scene One: The Graveyard...digging up the body parts. The
Preparation Phase is presented as Scene Two: The Laboratory...stitching all those
parts together. The Delivery Phase is presented as Scene Three: The Public Square...where
Frankenstein's monster is brought to life and must confront the public. Here we'll stick
to the essentials...
This phase involves an extensive amount of research using authoritative
reference materials and, increasingly, the internet. You want to amass as much information
on your topic as you can reasonably find in the time available for research. For the most
part, you can’t find too much information...you can always pare it down later to fit
your time frame. After establishing your central theme, you can organize the content using
several techniques such as mind mapping, storyboarding, affinity diagrams, wheel charts,
and, my personal favorite, manila folders! I’ve found that, for ethos-type
educational programs that are linear in structure, a simple system such as manila file
folders works quite nicely. However, I've often had to resort to the "stacks of paper
on the ping pong table in the garage" technique, though that one is much too complex
to present in an introductory course such as this. : - )
The next step is to restructure your outline into a
"presentable" format. Two techniques known to all professional speakers can be
used in this step. The first is "The Universal Speaker’s Law"
which says: (1) Tell them what you’re going to tell them, (2) tell them, and (3) tell
them what you told them. In other words, every presentation should have: (1) an
introduction, (2) a body, and (3) a conclusion. The introduction should include a
dynamite, attention-getting opener and a brief summary of what you’re going to tell
them. The conclusion should include a dynamite, thought-provoking closer following a brief
summary of what you told them.
 That leaves the body itself and another speaker’s
"law" to consider here is what is known as the "Magical Rule of
3." Simply stated, if you limit your presentation to three main points,
you’ll never go wrong. This is not an absolute maxim—THIS presentation
"breaks" the rule—but it is one that always works for a very simple
reason...most people can’t remember more than three things you tell them. If you want
your presentation to be memorable, then limit your "message" to three points.
These concepts are discussed at length in the (hopefully) forthcoming
book. Finally, although the substance and form is now there, to make your points clear,
understandable and memorable, you have to provide illustrations. If you observe most
professional speakers, they make their points real and memorable using anecdotes, humor,
quotations, and so forth. Numerous examples and resources are cited in the (hopefully)
forthcoming book (do you sense a message here?).
The Delivery Phase involves concepts such as personal style, enunciation,
use of repetition, body language, and use of audio-visuals. Each of these is discussed in
the seminar and companion manual. In this section of the abridged, online version,
we'll focus on two areas...things you should NOT do, and techniques you can use to bring
Frankenstein's monster to life. First, here are three "DON'Ts":
Don't recite. For most of the public speaking that
you're likely to be doing, don't try to memorize a speech. One of the most boring
presentations I ever saw was a guy who had memorized a 20-minute speech. Similarly, I
used to attend a church where the pastor was noted for his ability to cite lengthy
Biblical verses from memory...at least that's what I was told by the three people who
remained awake. A presentation that comes across as "canned" is perceived
to be insincere and trite.
 Don't read.
Think for a minute...when was the last time somebody read to you? If you're like me,
it was probably your mother who read to you at bedtime. And, what was the purpose of
her reading to you? I rest my case.
Don't start with a joke. The true mark of a real
'unprofessional' speaker is a person who feels compelled to start their
presentation with a joke. Nine times out of ten, that joke is either not funny or, if
it is, you've heard it a dozen times during the past month...if a popular joke is going
around, most of your audience will have heard it. Also, ninety nine times out of a
hundred, the joke has nothing to do with the presentation, such as, "Before I get
started, I heard a funny joke the other day..." Humor is a principal tool of my
speaking style, but it has to be used properly and in the right context to be effective.
Finally, here are a number of techniques that can be used to liven up and
illustrate the points of your presentation:
 Quotations. Quotations can be a great tool for
not only supporting a premise or point, but also as a brainstorming tool to develop
presentations. For more information on this, take a look at my article in
Presentations Magazine: Smart quotes
can inspire the creative genius within. (Note: This article was originally titled
"Quotations: They're Not Just for Drunks Anymore." Read the article and
you'll see why I still prefer this title to that used by the editor.)
Analogies. I do a seminar called "The Five Habits
of Highly Effective Leaders." In distinguishing between management and leadership, I
use a quotation as an analogy: "Efficient management without effective leadership
is like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic." An analogy makes a point
more memorable.
Definitions. If you're making a presentation on
politics, you'll want to define a politician: someone who will borrow $20, repay you $10,
then say you're even because you both lost 10 bucks. Or, how about an auditor: someone who
goes in after the war is lost and bayonets the wounded. Or, an attorney: someone who goes
in after the auditors are through and picks the pockets of the dead. Caution: be wary of
how you use these definitions...believe me, if you're speaking to attorneys, they won't
appreciate attorney jokes...besides, they've heard them all before.
Anecdotes. If you listen to the well-known
professional speakers, most of them build their presentations around humorous or inspiring
anecdotal stories. In the unabridged (hopefully) forthcoming book version of this program,
we give you a number of anecdotes you can use and show how you can use your own
experiences in your presentations.
Rhetorical Questions. One caveat: if you use a
rhetorical questions, be prepared for someone to actually respond. I once sat on the front
row to hear an absolutely gorgeous speaker start her presentation with the question,
"Did you ever have a sexual fantasy?" Without missing a beat, I responded,
"Does right now count?"
Direct Statements. These are usually statements you
make about yourself or an action you took. They work best when you poke fun at yourself,
although Don Rickles has made a career of insulting his audience. Just be careful how
you do it.
Startling Statistics. Statistics are too often used
improperly in a presentation but, if used effectively, they can make the subject matter
more interesting, understandable, and memorable. For example, I've often cited a
university study that alleges that, at any given time, 20% of the audience listening to a
speaker is thinking about sex. You can have fun with that statistic! A point to keep
in mind is that the audience doesn't care about "data"...just what the data
means, why it's important to them, and what they should do about it. In other words,
present statistics as information, not facts.
Historical Events. There are a number of books and
internet sites along the lines of "On this day..." (here's a great one: Daily Almanacs). I once did a
September 28 presentation on quality management and mentioned that on that date in 1930,
Lou Gehrig committed his first error in 885 games...almost six years without an
error. On the date you are to make a presentation, check on of these references and
see if there were any historical events on that date that you could tie into your
material.
Personal Secrets. Remember the "coming out"
episode of the TV sitcom "Ellen"?
Cartoons. I have a large file of cartoons for all
occasions. In one presentation I do, an element of the program involves interpersonal
effectiveness. I use an overhead with a cartoon of a man on a couch with his
psychiatrist. The caption has the man saying, "If you weren't so stupid, you
could tell me why people automatically dislike me." An important caveat with cartoons
is that, if they are copyrighted (and they almost always are), you must get permission to
use them. In many cases, you will have to pay a fee ranging from $15 to $150.
Games & Gimmicks. I have several
"tricks" that I've used for years. For example, when I do this presentation, to
illustrate the "Magical Rule of 3," I put up an overhead with six playing cards
and ask the audience to think of any one of the cards. Then I replace the overhead with
another one that has five cards and I ask them if their card is missing. No matter which
card they chose, it is always missing! How does this work and how does it tie into the
"Magical Rule of 3"? The (hopefully) forthcoming book will explain (rats!). If
you'd like to see an illustration of this trick, just click here: Trendy Magic
Participative Exercises. You have to do something
about every six minutes during your presentation that require some sort of audience
participation or response. There are lots of exercises you can do and plenty of sources of
information on this subject. A good one is Games Presenters Play by Lilly Walters
& Jeff Dewar.
Props. I'm not Gallagher or CarrotTop, but I have a
few props I use in my seminars and presentations. A great one is used by Stephen
Covery in his "7 Habits" workshop and involves a jar, sand, gravel, and
rocks. Dealing with priorities and "putting first things first," by filling the
jar with sand and then gravel, you'll find that there's not enough room left for all of
the big things in life (in this case, the rocks). However, if you put the rocks in first,
then pour the gravel, then the sand into the cracks, you'll find that everything will fit
if you "put first things first."
By following these simple tools of the trade, you can indeed dramatically
improve your public speaking.
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