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CHAPTER 7

Presentations

You will likely be called upon to deliver presentations throughout your career. Presentations are considered a high stakes communication tool that influence an organization’s constituencies and consequently play an important role in the workplace. Presentations may be given to an internal audience of employees, partners, boards, investors, or vendors, or to an external audience of customers, the media, analysts, or the community.1 A presentation can be used for marketing, sales, training, or events and may be seen by one to thousands of people. Similarly, there are various types of presentations—informal or formal briefings, oral renditions of a written report, or even virtual presentations.

Master presenter Jean-luc Doumont breaks the creation of presenta- tions into five steps:

1. Planning the presentation 2. Designing the presentation and defining its structure 3. Creating visuals that convey messages 4. Delivering the presentation 5. Answering questions and driving your point home2

We will discuss each of the five steps and how you can maximize the positive influence of your presentations.

Planning the Presentation

Begin planning your presentation by analyzing the audience. When your goal is to encourage people to listen to you and act upon what you say, you must connect with them and therefore understand them. Think

Mizrahi, Janet. Writing for the Workplace : Business Communication for Professionals, Business Expert Press, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=2050916. Created from apus on 2021-08-10 22:53:54.

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about who will be hearing the presentation and answer these types of questions about your audience:

• What is important to the audience? • What knowledge do they already have about the topic? • What will motivate them to act? • Who influences the audience? • What are the audience’s expectations of the presentation? • What does the audience want? • Why are they in attendance? • What questions will they have? • How do they feel about the presentation? (i.e., are they inter-

ested, uninterested, or even hostile?)

Next, define your presentation’s purpose. Do you want employees to understand a new health plan? Are you presenting to land a sale or to deliver a proposal to a potential client? Are you speaking to inspire a group? When creating presentations, you must know what you want to achieve as a result of the presentation and focus your content on that goal.

Finally, you will want to assess the presenting situation. Where will it take place? Preparing a talk for a few people in a small conference room is quite different from speaking before an audience of 50 or more. Also consider the length of your presentation. How long will you be expected to speak? Awareness of your time limit will help you tailor your presentation.

Designing the Presentation and Defining Its Structure

Once you have examined your audience and purpose, it’s time to think about defining the structure of your talk. Look at a presentation as having three elements: an introduction, body, and conclusion.

All presenting experts agree that you must begin your presentation by immediately engaging your audience. Advice about how to do so, however, varies. Some experts urge presenters to incorporate elements of storytelling into their talks. For example, if you were addressing a group of farmers, you might want to begin with a story of how one

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individual turned around his business by adopting a new type of crop rotation. The story you tell should resonate with your audience and grab its attention.

Another way to garner audience attention is to offer a promise. By hooking the audience with the idea that “By the end of this session, you’ll know ten ways to improve your employees’ productivity,” you give listen- ers a reason to tune in. Likewise, you might start with a startling statistic, ask a provocative question, or relate a relevant news item. Keep in mind that whichever attention-grabbing device you use, your audience will always want to know what’s in it for them. The following are examples of some attention-grabbing hooks:

This year, pet owners will spend an expected $60 billion on their animals� Today I’m going to show how you can grab a piece of that pie�

When was the last time you woke up and felt excited about going to work? I believe everyone should feel that every day, and that’s what I’m here to talk to you about today�

The recent tragic news about social media bullying has every parent in America on alert� We’re here today to make sure that doesn’t happen in our town�

The meat or body of your presentation contains the information you want your audience to take away. Here expert opinions vary, as well. Some say audiences are only capable of taking away one main message, and there may be some truth in that assertion. Think of the last time you attended a lecture or a talk—how much do you actually remember about it? Others claim that the audience will recall up to three points.3 In either case, you can see that bombarding an audience with fact after fact is not the way to create a successful presentation.

Once you have determined the primary takeaway(s) for your presenta- tion, build the body of your talk and integrate smooth transitions to link ideas. You may want to develop a theme you can return to. For example, you could weave your introductory story throughout the presentation. In the case of the presentation to farmers we discussed earlier, you’d talk again about the farmer you described in your opening.

Remember that oral delivery of information differs from written delivery of information; written reports can be exhaustive, brimming

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with data and information. However, presenting requires persuasion and motivation to listen and recall, and the best way to attain these goals is to alternate between facts and stories that illustrate those facts. Never use a talk as a “data dump.”4

Conclude your presentation by returning to your original message and recapping for your audience. Leave them with something to think about. If appropriate, open up the talk to questions, an excellent oppor- tunity for you to drive home your point.

Create an outline of your talk and then write a script. Of course you will not read the script, but writing one will allow you to rehearse and time yourself.

Creating Visuals that Convey Messages

Today, the use of visuals (usually slides) to accompany a presentation is practically mandatory. Designing your presentation with images that will enhance rather than confuse or bore your audience is as important as what you say.

The use of presentation software such as PowerPoint, Prezi, or Key- note can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, these products are designed to be easy to use—that’s good for the unartistic presenter. However, because most of us are not designers and do not have training in visual design, we tend to create presentations that do not take into account audience needs and expectations. That’s bad for your audience.

Think of the visuals you create as back-up support, not as an outline for you to follow. Words on slides should be kept to a minimum; the audience is coming to hear you, not read. Use images that convey meaning and that are adapted to the size of the room. Avoid the common pitfalls of poor design for presentation slides: cluttering slides with words or data, using a small font, including images of poor quality, using color unwisely, and incorporating annoying sound effects.

Follow these steps when designing your presentation:

1. Keep slides simple. Avoid clutter and don’t be afraid of white space. 2. Limit bulleted points and text. The best slides may have no text at

all; instead, they contain images that illustrate a point the speaker is

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making. Stick to the 10-20-30 rule of PowerPoint developed by Guy Kawasaki: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font.5

3. Limit animation and transitions. Listeners will grow antsy with too much visual noise.

4. Use meaningful graphics. Photographs and charts must be of high resolution. Don’t plan to use the same graphics you’ve used in a report; most charts and graphs that have a lot of detail do not work in presentations. Choose powerful images with high impact. If you make a point with your words, illustrate the point with a slide.

5. Incorporate a visual theme. Devise a consistent theme, but do not use commonly available templates. Audiences have seen them.

6. Design your slides. Use color well; create an appropriate, visually pleasing color theme and stick to it. Use a font that will be visible to all seeing the presentation.

7. Incorporate video or audio. The use of video and audio is a great way to change the pace of a presentation. However, if used, they should add value.6

Suggested Presentation Resources

The following is a short list of additional resources to assist you in presentation design.

Resonate by Nancy Duarte7

Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte8

“Really Bad PowerPoint” by Seth Godin9

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds10

The Naked Presenter by Garr Reynolds11

Delivering the Presentation

It’s normal to be anxious when giving a presentation, and the single best way to avoid nervousness is to prepare. Practice, but do not memorize your talk. (You may want to memorize your outline, however.) Record yourself and rehearse with your visuals. If you can video yourself, better yet. Obtain feedback so you can make changes before you speak.

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Follow these pointers when delivering a presentation:

1. Maintain eye contact with your audience. If you don’t, you’ll appear shifty. Look at different individuals as you speak, not just one person.

2. Vary your tone. No one will stay engaged with monotonous droning. 3. Avoid “upspeak�” Inflecting your voice up at the end of a sentence

that isn’t a question will make audiences take you less seriously. 4. Stand up straight. Avoid shifting your weight from leg to leg. 5. Find the right pace. Not too fast; not too slow. It’s easy to speed up

when you’re nervous, so consciously pace yourself. 6. Remove all verbal static. Audiences will tune out if your presenta-

tion contains ums, ahs, or other repetitive space-filling sounds. 7. Look pleasant. Watch yourself as you rehearse. Are you grimacing?

Do you look petrified? The old saying, “Fake it until you make it” applies here. Just because you are nervous, doesn’t mean you should look nervous!

8. Dress the part. Know what level of attire will be best received. 9. Use movement strategically. Only Chris Rock can get away with

pacing across the stage. Stillness (that is not statuelike) connotes confidence. If you want to make a gesture, make it large and deliberate. And never turn your back on your audience!

Answering Questions and Driving Your Point Home

Many people who present dread opening up the conversation to ques- tions, but that stance is counterproductive. The audience is not your enemy, and you have everything to gain by engaging with its members. Say you have given a sales presentation, and potential customers have a question after the presentation. Those people are interested enough in your product to learn more; but without answers to their questions, they will certainly not want to make the purchase. Look at the question period as the second half of your presentation and as an opportunity to drive home your message.

The best way to not fear a question and answer portion of a presen- tation is to anticipate questions in advance and prepare responses. This is

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especially true if you are delivering information that may be controversial. If an audience member asks a question about a thorny point or a perceived shortcoming, answer honestly.

To deal with questions effectively, follow these guidelines:

1. Listen to the question carefully. 2. Ask for clarification if necessary. 3. Repeat the question in your own words. 4. Answer the question concisely. If it’s a straightforward answer, present

it clearly. For more difficult questions, use a phrase such as “That is a difficult question to answer in a few words,” or “I understand your frustration.”

5. Check to see if the question has been fully answered. 6. Don’t answer questions to which you do not know the answers or

that need more time than you can give at that moment. 7. Limit the time frame for taking questions. 8. Invite further questions via e-mail, if appropriate. 9. Remain polite and in control.

10. End by thanking the audience.

Conclusion

Presentations are an important part of communicating in the workplace. Planning is the key to giving effective presentations. As you plan, analyze your audience and be clear about your own purpose and goal in giving the presentation. When preparing the content, remember that delivering information orally differs greatly from delivering it in text. Structure your talk by integrating stories to help make your point and to engage your audience. Design visuals to support you, the speaker. Finally, rehearse to minimize fear of presenting. After your presentation, consider a question period as an opportunity to reinforce your message and offer honest answers.

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