Presentaton Skills Writing a paper and presenting a paper are two completely different things, though the information in both is the same. The way to think about presenting requires a different kind of approach. Presenting is in person visual and audio story telling. With this in mind, understanding how a presentation looks and sounds is key to the success of any presentation. There are six elements to keep in mind. (1) Design Design is not decoration or an augmentation; it is the basis of a presentation. At the same time, design should not be obvious. “Design starts at the beginning not at the end; it’s not an afterthought. If you use slideware in your presentation, the design of those visuals begins in the preparation stage before you have even turned on your computer.” You need to consider your topic and your objectives, your key messages, and your audience. From this you will create the design of your presentation. Too much "PowerPoint design," as you know very well, is nothing more than a collection of recycled bullets, corporate templates, clip art, and seemingly random charts and graphs which are often too detailed or cluttered to make effective on-screen visuals and too vague to stand alone as quality documentation. Do not fill slide with text or multiple charts and graphs. The simpler the slide, the more the audience is likely to listen to you. (2) Story Facts, information, data: most of it is available on-line or can be sent to people in an email, a PDF attachment, or a hard copy through snail mail. Data and "the facts" have never been more widely available. Cognitive scientist Mark Turner writes, “Most of our experiences, our knowledge and our thinking is organized as stories.” “Story” is not just about storytelling but about listening to stories and being a part of stories. We are all born storytellers (and “storylisteners”). As kids we looked forward to “show and tell,” and we gathered with our friends at recess and at lunchtime and told stories about real things and real events that mattered, at least they mattered to us. The best speakers do not just go through material or facts but put their own personality, character, and experience into the material in the form of a narrative which is illuminating, engaging, and memorable. © The Writing Centre, Saint Mary’s University, 2012 This handout is for personal use only. Reproduction prohibited without permission. Presentaton Skills (3) Symphony Focus, specialization, and analysis have been important in the “information age,” but in the “conceptual age” synthesis and the ability to take seemingly unrelated pieces and form and articulate the big picture before us is crucial, even a differentiator. This is called symphony. “Symphony...is the ability to put together the pieces. It is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair.” Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind The best presenters can illuminate the relationships that we may not have seen before. They can “see the relationships between relationships.” Symphony requires that we become better at seeing, truly seeing in a new way. “The most creative among us see relationships the rest of us never notice,” Pink says. Anyone can delivery chunks of information and repeat findings represented visually in bullet points on a screen, what is needed are those who can recognize the patterns, who are skilled at seeing nuance and the simplicity that may exist in a complex problem. Symphony in the world of presentation does not mean dumbing down information into sound bites and talking points so popular in the mass media, for example. Symphony is about utilizing our whole mind — logic, analysis, synthesis, intuition — to make sense of our world (i.e., our topic), finding the big picture and determining what is important and what is not before the day of your talk. It is also about deciding what matters and letting go of the rest. (4) Empathy Empathy is emotional; it is about putting yourself in the position of others. It involves an understanding of the importance of the nonverbal cues of others and being aware of your own. Good designers, for example, have the ability to put themselves in the position of the user, the customer, or the audience member. We can certainly see how empathy helps a presenter in the course of a live talk. Empathy allows a presenter, even without thinking about it, to notice when the audience is “getting it” and when they are not. The empathetic presenter can make adjustments based on his reading of this particular audience. You may have also suffered along with others in the audience when a presenter seemed not to empathize with his audience at all, even droning on past his allotted time, oblivious to the suffering he was causing. The presenter with empathy — who empathizes with his audience — will never go over time, and in fact may finish a bit before his time is up. © The Writing Centre, Saint Mary’s University, 2012 This handout is for personal use only. Reproduction prohibited without permission. Presentaton Skills (5) Play University of Pennsylvania professor, Brain Sutton-Smith, says, “The opposite of play isn't work. It's depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and committed as if one is assured of one's prospects.” Each presentation situation is different, but in many public speaking situations playfulness and humor can go along way. This does not mean “jokiness” or clown-like informality. But many of the best business presentations or seminars that I've attended over the years have had elements of humor. As Pink points out, “Laughter is a form of nonverbal communication that conveys empathy and that is even more contagious than the yawn...” (6) Meaning Without sounding cloying, a presentation is an opportunity to make a small difference in the world. While a presentation gone badly can have a devastating impact on your spirit, a presentation that goes well can be extremely fulfilling for both you and the audience. Audiences are so used to death-by-PowerPoint that they have seemingly learned to see it as “normal” even if not ideal. However, if you are different, if you exceed expectation and show your audience that you have thought about them, done your homework and know your material, and demonstrated through your actions how much you appreciate being there, chances are you will make an impact and a difference, even if it is just in the smallest of ways. There can be great meaning in even these small connections. Adapted and quoted: “From design to meaning: a whole new way of presenting?” Internet, August 30, 2006 http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2006/08/from_design_to_.html © The Writing Centre, Saint Mary’s University, 2012 This handout is for personal use only. Reproduction prohibited without permission. Presentaton Skills 17 Tips for Presentations 1. 10-20-30 Rule – Powerpoint presentation should have no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes and have no text less than 30-point font. Spell out the important information in a few minutes, a few slides and only several words a slide. 2. Be entertaining – Speeches should be entertaining and informative: the audience expects an appeal to their emotion. Simply reciting dry facts without any passion or humor will cause the audience to pay less attention. 3. Slow down – Nervous and inexperienced speakers tend to speak quickly. Consciously slow your speech down and add pauses for emphasis. 4. Eye contact – Match eye contact with everyone in the room. Do not focus on your instructor in your presentation. 5. Elevator speech – Can you summarize your idea in fifteen words? If not, rewrite it and try again. Speaking is an inefficient medium for communicating information, so know what the important fifteen words are so they can be repeated. 6. Do not Read –Powerpoint makes presenters think they can simply read the slides. If you don’t know your speech without cues, it doesn’t just make you more distracting, it shows you don’t really understand your message; a huge blow to any confidence the audience has in you. 7. Speeches are about stories – If your presentation is longer than twenty minutes, explain your points through short stories, quips and anecdotes. Great speakers know how to use a story to create an emotional connection between ideas for the audience. 8. Project your voice - Nothing is worse than a speaker you can’t hear. Even in the hightech world of microphones and amplifiers, you need to be heard. Projecting your voice doesn’t mean yelling, rather standing up straight and letting your voice resonate on the air in your lungs rather than in the throat to produce a clearer sound. 9. Do not plan gestures - Any gestures you use need to be an extension of your message and any emotions that message conveys. Planned gestures look false because they do not match your other involuntary body cues. You are better off keeping your hands to your side. © The Writing Centre, Saint Mary’s University, 2012 This handout is for personal use only. Reproduction prohibited without permission. Presentaton Skills 10. “That’s a Good Question” – You can use statements like, “that’s a really good question,” or “I’m glad you asked me that,” to buy yourself a few moments to organize your response. Will the other people in the audience know you are using these filler sentences to reorder your thoughts? Probably not. And even if they do, it still makes the presentation appear smoother than “ums” and “ahs” littering your answer. 11. Breathe in not out – Feeling the urge to use presentation killers like ‘um,’ ‘ah,’ or ‘you know’? Replace those with a pause taking a short breath in. The pause may seem a bit awkward, but the audience will barely notice it. 12. Come early, really early – To not fumble with Powerpoint or hooking up a projector when people are waiting for you to speak, come early, scope out the room, run through your slideshow and make sure there will not be any glitches. Preparation can do a lot to remove your speaking anxiety. 13. Get practice – Prepare your talk or presentation well in advance, and then practice it. Practice it with your friends, family, and to the mirror. Ask to feedback, and use the feedback to make your talk better. 14. Do not apologize – Apologies are only useful if you’ve done something wrong. Do not use them to excuse incompetence or humble yourself in front of an audience. Do not apologize for your nervousness or a lack of preparation time. Most audience members cannot detect your anxiety, so do not draw attention to it. 15. Do apologize if you are wrong – One caveat to the above rule is that you should apologize if you are late or shown to be incorrect. 16. Put yourself in the audience - When writing a speech, see it from the audiences perspective. What might they not understand? What might seem boring? Use WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) to guide you. 17. Have fun - Sounds impossible? With a little practice you can inject your passion for a subject into your presentations. Enthusiasm is contagious. http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/18-tips-for-killer-presentations.html © The Writing Centre, Saint Mary’s University, 2012 This handout is for personal use only. Reproduction prohibited without permission. Presentaton Skills Distracting Mannerisms Voice “um,” “uh,” “okay” everything sounding like a question (raising voice at the end of sentences) nervous laugh at the end of sentences clearing the throat a lot Body language flipping hair back playing with pen/pointer/chalk, etc. rolling and unrolling paper (notes) pushing sleeves up and down playing with keys or coins in pockets stepping back and forth/tapping foot rocking body touching face/adjusting glasses turning rings on hand waving hands around tugging at shirt Visual aids flipping overheads/slides too fast talking to the screen Ways to Reduce Anxiety Practice – this will give you confidence Just before going up, breathe deeply – it can reduce your heart rate Think about your nervousness – it may sound silly, but focusing on the fact you are nervous can help you forget about it and/or calm down Consider being the first person to present (if you have the option) – this can help you avoid the anxiety of thinking that everyone before you was better Put up an overhead or visual at the beginning – the audience will look at the visual instead of you, allowing you to start without everyone staring at you Even if you know what you’re going to say, have an outline in front of you in case you freeze up – this can reduce worry that you’ll forget what you have to say Eat bananas – the potassium helps to calm butterflies © The Writing Centre, Saint Mary’s University, 2012 This handout is for personal use only. Reproduction prohibited without permission.