Preparing a Presentation

When you are under pressure at work it can be difficult to allocate the appropriate amount of time to preparing a presentation that you have been asked to give. But as we all know “failing to plan is planning to fail” and this has never be more true when it comes to giving a presentation.

There are three main parts to preparing a presentation:

• Deciding what to say.
• Deciding how to say it.
• Preparing yourself to say it.

What to say

Let’s start with “Deciding what to say”, this is really all about your audience and what you would like them to do. What do you want your presentation to achieve? What is your objective? How will you know if you have achieved your objective? You need to be really clear on what your aim is, so take some time at the start to work out why you are giving the presentation and what you want it to achieve. If you can write this down in one or two sentences you will have a good foundation for your presentation.

Having decided your objective, then start thinking about your audience. Who are they? Why are they coming to listen to you? What do they know about the topic already? What is it that they want or need to hear? The more you can find out about your audience the more accurately you can pitch your presentation to meet their needs and desires. When addressing a mixed audience try to define two or three different segments of your audience and create two or three alternative scenarios.

Having established why and who, it is then time to start thinking and researching what it is your going to say. Having a structure to fit the points you want to make in to is very helpful. One structure I have used successfully many times is to start by outlining the problems with the current way of doing something and the describing a vision of success, a picture of how it could be if things were different. Then go one to describe how this vision could be attained, summarizing all the benefits of the approach, inviting the audience to join you in achieving this vision which you can then restate at the end of the presentation. Don’t be tempted to add in everything that you can think of, maintain a structure. Three key points backed up by evidence or anecdotes is usually sufficient for most presentations.

It is at this point that many people make the mistake of opening PowerPoint and creating lists of slides titles and bullet points. While bullet points may be a useful way to document the points you wish to make in a speech, they do not make good visual aids.

How to Say it

Having pulled all you material together and being familiar with the main point you wish to get across, you can now turn to planning how you are going to convey this information. Are you going to stand and talk? Will you have any props to help get the message across? Will you use visual aids and if so what will they be? Are you going to tell a story? How will you involve your audience? Will you ask them questions?

Rehearse your presentation by saying it out loud. Sitting at your desk clicking though a set of slides is no way to rehearse a presentation. You need to say it out loud to become familiar with your material and to become accustomed to saying the words. By rehearsing a presentation out loud you can develop the phraseology which will work best in the spoken form, rather than the more formal style of language we use when we are writing. A single rehearsal will improve your speech by up to 80%.

You don’t need to have anyone listening to you especially the first time through, although it can help to tape record or video record your presentation rehearsal so that you get a clear view of what you actually sound and look like. I often turn off the radio and rehearse a presentation in the car on the way to the location. It is a great way to rehearse and the presentation and make sure you know what you are going to say, plus it is fresh in your mind when you arrive.

Preparing to say it

Finally, you need to put yourself in the right frame of mind for giving a presentation. If you do not feel confident you need to address it. Tell yourself that being nervous is OK, in fact, if it is an important presentation it is perfectly normal to feel nervous, you just want to recognise that you are nervous and put it to one side, while you get on with the job in hand.

Use confident boosting techniques like telling your self that you are “Poised, prepared, persuasive, positive and powerful “ and that you feel, “composed, confident, convincing, commanding and compelling”.

To counteract a dry mouth, suck a mint beforehand. Use breathing techniques to ensure there is sufficient oxygen in your bloodstream or take some gentle exercise beforehand. Wear clothes that make you feel good. Remember, the facts will only take your audience so far, it is your passion for the subject and your emotion that will lift your presentation to new heights.

Make sure you arrive at the venue, nice and early, so that you have time to get set up and familiarise your self with the surroundings, before your audience arrive. Work out where you are going to put any notes, or props you intend using and think through how any equipment you are going to use will work. Check any pens have ink in them, check your laptop to ensure the screen save, or instant messaging won’t pop up in the middle of your presentation and make sure your mobile is on silent.

Don’t rely on an off the cuff presentation, just because you know about the topic doesn’t mean you can effortlessly give a quality presentation, it takes time, it takes thought and it takes practise.

Be Yourself, Be Nervous, Be Passionate

Many articles about giving a presentation start off saying how people are nervous or even frightened of speaking in public. Then they go on to provide guidance on how to get over the nerves and give a good presentation. All the good advice of preparation and practise, taking deep breaths, sucking a mint, not drinking the water, remember the audience are just people, that they are on your side,  that nothing nasty will happen etc., is all very well intentioned but it doesn’t always help.

The fact is that for many people, controlling their nerves puts them into to “I’m a serious business person” mode or “I can stand in front of the audience and not look nervous” mode.  With one of these hats on, they feel they are able to give a good presentation, speak clearly and get all the facts across.

The problem is that in removing their nerves, they also remove all the passion and emotion from their voice. They become slightly robotic and dull in their delivery. Even people for whom presenting is part of their daily job, and who you might expect to be good presenters because they are doing it all the time (e.g.  lecturers, trainers and salespeople) can fall foul of this. I’m sure you all remember a teacher or lecturer, who droned on and on.

What is the point in giving a presentation when you could just type it out and let people read your script?  After all, your audience can read it far quicker than you can say it, and then you could all go home and get on with your lives.

For a presentation to be effective there needs to be something else, other than a well written script, there needs to be some emotion. The speaker needs to communicate their feelings and their passion to their audience.

Think of all the really good presenters that you have listened to. I would suggest that what made them good speakers was that they caught and held your interest; they believed in what they were talking about; their passion and enthusiasm came through.

So the next time you stand up to speak, don’t worry about being nervous. Let your emotions show.  Your audience will love you all the more for it and they may even keep listening to the end of your presentation.

To learn more about presenting visit my presentation training site or come on a course.

Don’t drink the water

On my web site I have a quiz on “how good a presenter are you?” One of the statements that the majority of people answer wrongly is:

If my throat is dry, I will drink some of the water provided.

Why shouldn’t you drink the water?

First of all it has nothing to do with swine flu, nor is it anything to do with how long the water may have been standing there, although sometimes you have to wonder quite how fresh it is.

A dry throat is a natural bi-product of being nervous; however drinking water is unlikely to help. The more water you drink the more water you will need. This is because by drinking the water you are washing away the saliva in your mouth and saliva is nature’s way of lubricating your mouth. Saliva is far better at it than water. If your mouth is dry try thinking about eating something. This will generate saliva.

More importantly, stop worrying about being nervous,  just start talking.