I recently watched a Ted Talk titled How Language Shapes the Way We Think,
by Lera Boroditsky. During the presentation, Laura highlighted languages across
various countries that were spoken differently in those same situations. From the
way that we say “hello” to the way that we count penguins, language has a
different standard that is determined by where it is spoken. The presentation was
effective because it accomplished the mission of explaining how language shapes
our thinking. The presenter was successful at connecting with her audience. In the
beginning, she displayed an opening stance. Throughout the presentation, she made
eye contact, used visual aids, and engaged the audience. I enjoyed the way she
allowed the audience to participate in proving her point. For a moment she asked
everyone to close their eyes and gave them a task. The was a creative way to
reengage the audience and get their input. Laura used humor and pauses
throughout her speech that effectively focused the audience and kept their attention.
I noticed that she used the techniques that were mentioned in the textbook. My
work has me loaned out to a location in Northeast Nevada that is known to have
a hard time keeping employees due to other work in the area that pays better
with the same qualifications. Those that live and work there started to form a
union, and now everyone is sitting through at least one anti-union presentation a
week. While I have no say in what happens, they still have us sit through and
listen, hoping that we will not form one at our home base. The presenters have
all been extremely charismatic. Most of the information they present is extremely
cherry picked exactly for the cause they are trying to get across, without
presenting the other side. Unless you are looking for the other side of the
argument it sounds extremely appealing, about what the company will do, and
what they will offer, but there is no way to make sure that the company follows
through with what they are offering. They tend to connect with the audience by
giving general scenarios in how the company helps them, and asking people what
their problems are, and showing them what they can do to attempt to alleviate
them. Another presentation I watched recently was on “How to motivate yourself
to change your behavior” by Tali Sharot from a TEDX Cambridge video (Sharot,
n.d.). The presenter opened with a warm welcoming to the presentation. She told
stories on issues she encountered. In the presentation Tali talks about how to
motivate yourself to change your behavior. She talks about positive and negative
issues that affect our behavior. She shared a scenario on what changes behavior,
that included awareness of the negative side effects of a product on our health.
When we are given positive information, it makes you feel good and initiates
beneficial changes. Negative factors often push us back to the wrong behaviors.
The more a person is given positive information, it helps them sustain their
positive behavior. Tali discussed how social incentives change behavior. Immediate
rewards give smiles and foster progress that allows you to control your behavior.
During the presentation Tail stayed connected with the audience by showing slides
of pictures that were funny and illustrated her message. There was laughter when
she presented a personal behavior change she worked on to lower her utility bill.
She engaged her audience with suggestions and ideas to help them focus on self-
motivation.
I have actually just listened to a business presentation at my job. It was about
the new computer systems that we are to start using as soon as possible. I work
in inside sales, and my job is to take customer's orders and input them into the
system. The new system is confusing and will take time to understand. However,
the presentation that was presented to us was very nice. The IT team and our
boss took their time to create this presentation so that everyone was able to
understand. We were able to ask as many questions as we wanted. They made
sure to be thorough about everything. It was exciting to learn how this will cut
our time in half and make things easier to input. The presenter was very clear
with his words. He knew exactly what he was talking about. He was always very
kind to everyone and would try to make us chuckle. It was a really great
experience. I would say this was a good presentation, and the presenter could
connect with everyone in the audience. I recently watched a Ted Talk presentation
by Amane Dannouni titled, “How Online Marketplaces Can Help Local Economies,
Not Hurt Them.” The presentation was effective. The presenter, Amane Dannouni,
was closely following what we learned in chapters 14 and 15 of our reading
assignments this week. He had a good visual-aid-to-text ratio on the big screen;
however, the main focal point was on him. He had a spotlight following him
around on stage during his presentation. He maintained a positive and upbeat
energy and close eye contact with the audience. He also told success stories of
people and how they went from rags to riches. Amane talked about how
companies like Amazon, Airbnb and Uber sometimes pose a threat to local
businesses such as hotels, retail shops and taxis by reducing the income to the
community or taking away jobs. He also pointed out how other countries have
made a collaborative effort to help the local communities. Companies like Gojek,
Jumia, and Grab have made an effort to work within the existing members in
their local economies, instead of replacing them all together. According to him, ,
that benefits everyone overall .Amane did everything according to the guidelines of
the book, but I did not see him interacting with the audience by asking any
questions, other than a rhetorical one. He engaged the audience more by answering
questions or concerns, he would be able to connect with the audience better.
Overall, he did a great job presenting his topics, but his ending was a bit strange,
without much of a call-to-action or conclusion. A presentation should provide
information and insight to those it is intended for. Presentations should catch and
keep the audience’s attention however when using visuals during your presentation
you should use keep topics and graphics for your presentation and the speaker
should elaborate on those topics, not just “read from the presentation”. The
presentation that I watched was neither thoughtfully prepared nor engaging. The
presenter should also be knowledgeable about not only the information the
presentation is on but how to utilize the software that is being used for the
presentation. The presenter should engage the audience, make eye contact, and be
confident in their knowledge of the material they are presenting.
I have given many presentations in my career and I will be the first to tell you
that it is difficult, at least for me. Although I have been told that I am a good
presenter, I still extensively prepare my material and rehearse my presentation
multiple times prior to my actual presentation in front of my audience. I try to
prepare for any questions I assume may result from my presentation and either be
prepared to answer those questions or if I feel they are extremely likely to be
asked then I will try to make sure my material covers them in advance. xx
A presentation can be a way of giving information about certain subjects to the
audience, in this presentation I have seen that this presentation was not engaging
the audience in the beginning of the presentation and also the presentation Did not
know how to use delivery technologies or not being prepared for the technology
available. Some way a speaker must connect with the audience during a
presentation is by, looking in the eye of the audience and moving and speaking
confidently, another way that this can happen is by owning the stage to connect
and interact with the audience without forgetting the manuscript. The speak can
also have facial expressions and pauses to have time rethinking the next script.
Lastly they should Refer to what they already know to help catch the audience’s
attention. A business presentation I recently watched was over a platform that is
attempting to replace email. The app is actually called Monday Board and is
something the place I work at has been attempting to integrate into our system. I
believe this presentation is effective because they bring up a lot of valid points
regarding email. For instance, an email typically is a one-on-one back and forth
exchange. This can be extremely tedious when involving multiple people. Even in
the case of a group email the messages can become overwhelming. Monday Board
on the other hand feels a lot more professional and organized. They have multiple
different categories for the workers. Such as a manager category or really any
category the particular user wants to add. They can have a category for each
specific part of the business. This allows for that entire group of individuals to
easily access and send messages. Ultimately it seemed to be a lot more neat and
accessible than a typical email. The way this presentation stood out to me was
the creator’s idea of connecting people more efficiently. His main goal was to
make business or really any kind of setting feel more responsive. A business
presentation that caught my interest was a video I recently watched on YouTube
called, "The top eight business presentation skills." I believe it was a very
effective presentation although it was only six minutes long there was a few great
key skills that I know I could apply in the future when it comes to putting
together a successful business presentation.A few skills I picked up from the video
that would make it a lot easier for a presenter to connect with his/her audience.
One of the skills was to try and make boring topics interesting, the point of this
skill is to not make it long where you'll lose your audience attention and to also
make things relatable so that people can understand the point you are trying to
make. Another skill is, make sure to be comfortable with your audience you want
to connect to your audience, not stiff, or shy. The more comfortable you are with
your audience the more they feel like they came to the right place. My industry
is construction, and I am a project manager for a general a contractor. The
construction industry is changing every day. One of the newest technologies in
construction is the virtual reality world. That is the reason I watched a business
presentation on what s called BIM or Building Information Modeling. BIM
modeling can be used to construct the entire project and be able to look for
possible issues, waste, or hazards that are going to be present during the
construction process. This modeling is ensuring all areas of the project are
properly planned out to eliminate future changes.The presentation was very
effective. The presenter was very engaging and had the target audience answering
questions, some answers were only answered to themselves. None the less it was
very engaging and interesting. The presenter covered all of the hot topic ticket
items and then went back to break everything down into further detail with a nice
recap at the end. He did do his best to interject some humor into his presentation
that usually missed the mark with me at least. I believe it is important to
summarize the key points of your presentation. The true purpose and benefit of
summarizing the key points is to reinforce all the points you have made. This
will help emphasize your points and gives the audience an opportunity to ask any
questions they may have intended to ask earlier. This will also make the
presentation appear more professional. However, it is important to keep the “recap”
short since the audience may feel as though you are repeating yourself. You
should also try to stay in your comfort zone (the style of speaking you feel most
natural in) so you that you have a better flow throughout your presentation. I
watched a business presentation on a business called Bumble. The company sells
products with honey. They focus on ensuring the bees are taken care of that way
they can ensure they are selling quality products. The presentation was effective
because there were multiple presenters. Everyone spoke with knowledge and a
voice that didn't put people to sleep. The presenters had screens where they were
able to have the audience view their points. They also involved the audience in
with their presentation. I think the presentation was good and if I were there I
would probably purchase their products. I just watched a business presentation via
zoom about starting a business, registering your business with the IRS, tax
documents dealing with your business and a few more details about beginning
your own business and becoming self-employed. I believe that the presents is
definitely effective for people who don’t know how to get their EIN, manage their
business banking, and keep money flowing through their business banking account.
A lot of people become confused when dealing with paperwork and things of that
nature when started a business and they become overwhelmed on really knowing
where to start with it.Connecting with an audience by answering brief questions
but for limited amounts of time is helpful. Sending emails with valued information
as well as links for the audience to be able to access these pages where they
would need to apply for EIN and certain information. I also feel that having
multiple people to help people in the audience is beneficial as well so people
aren’t waiting days for information. I actually just had to watch a business
presentation for work last week due to us not only switching buildings but our
programs are become completely different for our clients because they wanna go
away with sheltered workshops. As our manager was giving the presentation it was
very easy to understand the new changes and our manager was confident in what
she was saying and was not stumbling on her words. Her presentation was simple
with little detail so it made it easier to understand.I think some ways a presenter
can connect with the audience during a presentation can be eye contact and also
including the guest of your presentation in the conversation by asking them to
answer. Practicing your speech over and over so you know exactly what you are
going to say and how you are going to say it. Practicing your speech over and
over can also help you find mistakes with how you may have written your speech
and or presentation so your guest can fully understand and connect with your
presentation you are going to give. I am currently an Affiliate Owner with
CrossFit and prior to making this decision I had talked to other affiliate owners
but also watch a presentation on what all CrossFit had to offer and what benefits
could come with it if I did affiliate with them. prior to watching this the first
thing that came up was the cost it is pretty expensive to affiliate with them so I
wanted to make sure I am getting my money's worth. In my opinion it was a
very effective presentation and it helped me make the decision to Affiliate with
them. They gave a lot of information in what to expect and what would happen
if I did affiliate they offer a lot of courses to help you become a better coach (
some people might say they aren't good but in my opinion they are) It also
helped with marketing since I can just say the name " CrossFit" now people
already have a basic understanding of what to expect if they come into my box.
Everything that they had mentioned to me that was going to happen in the first
2-3 months of becoming an affiliate owner has happened so I am definitely happy
with the decision I made. I watched The four-letter code to selling anything by
Derek Thompson (Ted Talk) via YouTube. The presentation was okay. He
personalized it by telling a story and using names that were familiar. He wore
relaxing, inviting clothing as if you were sitting down talking to a friend. The
message was somewhat interesting, simple but also boring at times. He allowed
one person from the audience to ask a question. I think if the stage presentation
was more inviting and his tone had a bit more excitement in it then it would
have retained my attention more.The presenter can connect with the audience more
by incorporating them to participate in activities. Ask the audience questions that
will get there mind stimulated about the agenda that will be discussed.
Organization and rehearsal will help presenters deliver a good presentation. Learn
about the audience that you will be presenting the message to also helps with
presentations. I have witnessed many monthly meetings at work that are not
planned and unorganized. We are handed the agenda and immediately everyone is
focused on what will be discussed and only pay attention to what pertains to their
group. The speakers are not prepared and no one properly introduces the next one.
It's frustrating to watch leaders be unorganized and give new information without
properly researching the facts. A big presentation that interests me and my co-
workers is about stock and cryptocurrencies. A lot of my co-workers are huge on
it because of the opportunity to make money on it, but it of course has a lot of
negative outcomes to it. There are a lot of different videos you can watch on site
like YouTube that help you figure out which cryptos or stocks to buy into to
maximize your output, and lately stocks and cryptos have skyrocketed in popularity
with things like Doge coin coming out and sky rocketing in popularity. The
people that make these videos really engage the audience and make everyone have
the idea that they are going to make thousands by investing in these stocks. They
do not really explain a lot of the different things that go on with these stocks so
some people end up buying in a losing money by not doing enough research
before doing it. I think the best way a presenter can connect with the audience
would be saying words like "you" and asking questions that engage the audience
to keep them interested. In discussing business presentations, I believe it is
important to find some common ground with other business communications.
Analyzing the situation and gathering information functions very much the same
for a business presentation as it does with other forms of business communication.
Let's consider analyzing the situation as our first step. In analyzing the situation
for a business presentation, it is important to understand your audience' expertise
and their potential state of mind before preparing your message. If it is likely that
your audience will be hostile or combative you would need to utilize a different
approach than if your audience is willing to except the information that you will
be sharing. While watching my morning dose of heavy economics and stock
market changes on CNBC. A CEO was being interviewed about the new changes
in the companies approach to fitness. Peloton a well known home fitness was on
talking about how their company is exploring new plans for business professionals
returning back to work. The presentation was so intriguing that I completely tuned
out everything else going on at the time I was intrigued by the way he started
the message to consumers stating that we believe health and fitness should have
no barriers. That spoke to me and grabbed my attention, while listening to him
talk I thought to myself what barriers do I face as a fitness professional and what
are some things that people state as a reason they can't find time to workout
either work or home life is too stressful. The presenter talked briefly about their
plans to provide memberships and equipment at subsidized rates for companies
with large numbers of employees returning to work in the coming months. I
thought to myself simple and brilliant the presenter didn't get into numbers or
statistics he just appealed to the need of the consumer to welcome the idea of
returning to work with more incentives. the way the presenter appealed to me was
his call to the audience giving hope and inspiring ideas in the world ahead. I
love when a presenter makes me ask myself a question that question usually
determines how much research and what I hope to retain from the message of the
presenter. An effective presentation gives you insight to the idea and also provides
you with information needed make a clear decision on the value and credibility of
the information given. Last Wednesday I saw a business presentation on crypto
currency. The speaker presented everything in a clear understandable voice while
still making the information on screen easy to see. Its obvious that the speaker
was very knowledgeable on the subject but his dull tone made him sound bored
which made it easy to get distracted and lose interest. crypto currency is a topic
that a lot of younger people are trying to get into so when the speaker did a
fantastic job of using his failures where he lost money i was inspired to try
again. crypto currency is the new wave of things and it interesting to me because
you can make a lot of money over time. some people even get lucky and become
millionaires just by investing into crypto currency. I've even seen on the news that
some places will let you buy things with your crypto currency , some people
even said it will be the new currency in the future. some ways the presenter can
connect with the audience during a presentation is by asking them questions to
check their understandings, and joking with them to keep the mood light. I chose
to watch "The greatest TED Talk ever sold" by an independent film producer
Morgan Spurlock. If you don't know who Morgan Spurlock is, he was the main
caricature in the documentary "Super Size Me" where he ate only McDonalds for
30 days.Spurlock started his presentation building credibility by going over his past
documentary's and describing some of the health and physical risks that he
encountered along the way. Spurlock was upbeat, funny, but also direct with his
message. He carefully planed out his presentation and built his message using the
building block message. He would start with a small fact and then build what he
wanted to convey off of that fact.
Spurlock effectively showed his failures in the process showing the audience that
he could overcome an objective. Overall the presentation was a success, Spurlock
used comedy to connect to his audience as well as real life fears. The structure
of his presentation was what kept my attention and how he showed his audience
that he was a person just like the rest of us, and did not use his fame to
advance in his accomplishments. The most effective presentations usually take the
form of a conversation with the audience. Even if the audience is not actively
participating in a vocal manner, as they listen to the speaker, they find themselves
commenting and answering mentally. When the speaker develops this “give and
take” with the audience and establishes an effective rapport, the audience is
attentive and ready to absorb the information given in a critical manner which
increases the likelihood of retention. The importance of having the audience feel
like an active participant cannot be overstated. I actually watch business
presentations every month at my job. Every month they host a business
presentation presenting the new loan rates, flyers, and etc. for the month. It
definitely is more effective because it keeps us up to date and help us inform
members when calling in about loans. It helps the company gain more members
and keeps us informed on what the board discuss. Ways that a presenter can
connect with the audience during a presentation by sharing personal experiences
and also engaging the audience. I believe that doing a quick Q & A keeps the
audience engaged but I believe you shouldn't spend more than 1-2 minutes
answering each question and make sure you focus specifically on what the
question is. I also believe a business presentation shouldn't have too many words
on a slide because you don't want it to look cluttered and you don't want to
distract the message of the slide. Maintaining the audience attention is very
important when presenting. I can say my job does a great job at business
presentations. One Tuesday of every month the bank I work for has a business
presentation/meeting. Today was actually our day for this monthly presentation.
During the presentation, our senior vise president of the bank walks us through
the changes that are coming, what we need to work on as a company, and the
things we have accomplished for the previous month. I think our senior vise
president does an amazing job at staying on topic, keeping eye contact, and
getting his point across overall. I believe these business presentations are very
effective for the growth of our bank and company. I have noticed that our senior
vise president likes to include other bank officers that are not prepared for the
spotlight. When this happens, most officers either act like they have nothing to
contribute to the meeting and other officers like to crack jokes in the middle of
the meeting. I don't think the jokes affect the meetings in a negative way. I
actually think they give the meetings some light-heartedness or humor which can
bring more people to pay attention. I believe by adding more Q & A sessions
with the employees instead of just banking officers they could achieve more
employee interest in the business presentations. I actually just had to watch a
business presentation with work yesterday, while watching it I noticed a few
things. One of the things I noticed was while our manager was making a speech
about an upcoming change within our company she was very fidgety, she fumbled
her words a lot and repeated the information a lot. I found myself getting lost
and not really receiving the message. I had to go back and review the recording
and slides to obtain information needed to do my job. She was very
compassionate in her words however I feel if she would have outlined a bit better
and made the information more to the point then making it an ongoing
presentation the viewers would have stayed more in tuned. After the third time of
hearing the same thing my mind went into a complete different direction. With
that being said she did do well on putting the slides together and having them
designed to grab the attention of the audience, the intro was warm and welcoming
she gave appreciation for the job we are doing and the direction the company is
going. From my perspective, these are some of the common problems I see
Error #1: The presenter does not do a good job presenting the information.
Perhaps they did not rehearse? But when the presenter fumbles his or her part, it
distracts from the content of the presentation, no matter how good the slides are.
Error #2: The presenter did not review the presentation slides to ensure the
audience would be able to see all the words and figures on the charts. For
example, some of them might be so small that the audience literally cannot read
them.When these types of errors occur, it is almost impossible for the presenter to
get his or her main points across to the audience.
