Presentation Gurus Enter

[35th-ANV-SS]

As the title states, I want some opinions from people on this board who are professionals and have to prepare/give presentations to your customers and clients.

I need to prepare a presentation on "how to effectively give a presentation". I have some basic concepts already, but I'd like to hear some outside influences as well.

The presentation will need to be between 30-45 minutes. Time management is key to presenting. I am thinking I will have around 15 slides and will be spending between 2-3 minutes on each.

I would like to incorporate the Do's and Don'ts of presenting as well as power point format and presentation.

My preliminary topics include:
- Staying calm, cool and collected
- Being prepared and organized
- Keep your presentation within the time permitted
- Power Point usage
- Engaging your audience and keeping them interested
- Eye contact
- Effective use of body language

[SMWS6TA]

You pretty much hit all the major key items, in addition I would add:

Presentation out line & notes for briefer
Q&A session at end of presentation or subject if going over multiple subjects.
Spell check, spell check, spell check!!
Bullet comments - no longer then one to two lines, anymore and you are overwhelming the subject.
Detail comments - try to limit them to one or two slides. Font size is key here, not too small or to large.
Practice the brief - go over it like you plan to brief it, sometimes something will come up that needs more clarification or even removal. Saying it out loud might not make sense.
Slide format - black & white font/slide back ground gets tiring to look at for long periods of time. If you do change them up use colors that contrast each other. I like using blue background with yellow font. Made things easy to read from a distance.

Power Point Usage - new users may not know you can incorporate video, pics, sound, etc. to the slide. Excel & Access can be use to develop pie a graph charts.




In case you're wondering I've ha to conduct many, many briefings as an NCO in the Army. We use the same principles that you have mention.

[1MileCrash]

i haven't given a lot of presentations recently, but i have sat through a lot of presentations. a few things that i notice.

1. quality of material vs quantity of material. yes, you know a lot about a subject which is why you are telling me about it...but don't get bogged down in the minutia. make sure to hit the high points and keep a set a good pace. too much detail drawn out too long bores the audience whereas too little detail too quickly makes you look unprepared. if you hit the high points you can always come back and ask if there are questions or if anyone would like more details on something in particular.

2. avoid buzz words and buzz phrases. too often people like to use phrases like "dynamic and focused goal oriented out of the box..." blah blah blah...you know what i'm talking about. don't do it. it insults your listener and makes you look like a buzz word whore; or worse...it makes it look like you don't know what you are talking about. plain...simple...english.

3. know what your slides say. use your slides as a template to the conversation that you are having with your audience. don't simply read your slides to the audience...they can do that for themselves. rather...incorporate your slides text into your material. "so how do we achieve the results that we are looking for? *click to next slide* we begin by asking ourselves if this a change is necessary *this is one of your bullets* and if we decide that it is necessary then we develop a plan of action *this is your second bullet*." this keeps the presentation feeling more like a natural extension a fluid conversation rather than a pointed lecture.

i had more...but i'm sure that others will chime in with other good info as well. you will have a lot to choose from.

[35th-ANV-SS]

All good points and noted. I had to give a lot of presentations in graduate school, but this is in front of colleagues and it's important to me I nail it. The president of the company will be in the room.

There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.

I want to deliver the one I wanted

[1MileCrash]

hahaha...ain't that the truth! i always found the key for a presentation for me was making sure that i knew my notes word for word and knew my slides word for word. notes were opened up in front of me and the slideshow going behind me and i just naturally talked in front of the classroom. very rarely did i need to glance down at my notes...the more you look at your notes the weaker you appear.

[allbaugh_04]

I've sat through more presentations than I ever care to count, rarely do I give one. We called it death by power point.

A few pointers from an audience standpoint since you nailed the key ones:

-if possible, incorporate a little humor to keep your audience alive, my favorite presenters did this flawlessly
-avoid ah, uh, um and other phrases that give you time to think about the next subject or point
-don't hang on one point for too long and ramble on, my least favorite presenters go off on a subject and lose me, then i don't regain focus until the next point or slide.

[35th-ANV-SS]

Our president is probably one of the best speakers I've ever come across. He can easily control a room. I find it fascinating. Not too many people can do that. He has a loud, pronounced voice and exudes confidence in his presence. He always, I mean always, is making eye contact. He doesn't ever lose control. He always seems to be focused and has a direct delivery approach.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone catch him off-guard. It's like he has an immediate answer for every situation and can rattle it off without hesitation.

Tried taking some notes from his style, but becoming that person isn't something you do overnight. He's been in sales for a long time. Even others who have been cannot deliver like he does. I think that's why he's so respected in the industry.

[SouthernBornThriller]

I'll admit, I don't have the years of experience of giving presentations that a lot of people on here do, but I've always been kind of a natural at it, have been through a few courses including some formal sales training, and being that military is full of high school dropouts and the illiterate "enlist for a green card" types that eventually get promoted and forced into instructor jobs with little to no experience/training...I've sat through some hour long public powerpoint abortions that would even give Helen Keller a headache.

Biggest thing is, don't throw everything you know about public speaking out the window just because your audience is looking at a screen instead of you. Powerpoint is just a visual aide to your speech. You are not just narrating a slideshow.

Also, most helpful advice I ever got when I interned with a sales company, was to speak slower than you normally would. It should almost feel weird to you, but remember. Your audience is trying to listen to what you're saying, read what the screen says, and process both feeds of information at the same time. They may be taking notes as well. Obviously, don't talk like a first grade grammar teacher on vowel day, but if you speak at even a normal conversation pace, you risk losing some of your audience to trying to focus on one or the other.

If the purpose of the presentation is to sell something, spend a LOT of time brainstorming possible questions and objections and answer them before they are asked. You want to hear nothing but crickets when you open up your Q&A sessions. Less chance of you being caught off guard, it builds rapport the listener when issues that pop into their head during the presentation are answered before they get the opportunity to raise their hand, and it lowers the chance of you going way over your time limit (or worse, not being able to finish) because your presentation degraded into a debate or a courthouse press conference.

[pajeff02]

Speak slow enough to make sense, but fast enough to keep things moving. Act interested and enthusiastic about what you are presenting. Involve the presentees (if you can) to some extent to keep their interest. You can ask questions about their business or how they do things, if that applies. And, if all else fails, do what I do and just baffle them with bullshit.

[Spaz]

I've sat through more presentations than I ever care to count, rarely do I give one. We called it death by power point.

A few pointers from an audience standpoint since you nailed the key ones:

-if possible, incorporate a little humor to keep your audience alive, my favorite presenters did this flawlessly
-avoid ah, uh, um and other phrases that give you time to think about the next subject or point
-don't hang on one point for too long and ramble on, my least favorite presenters go off on a subject and lose me, then i don't regain focus until the next point or slide.

this... if i hear someone doing this i get so damned annoyed that i will start to mimic them every time they do it... i can't stand it... that and the word "like" used improperly...

[SiggyZ]

Just to make sure you noticed, I like your post.

this... if i hear someone doing this i get so damned annoyed that i will start to mimic them every time they do it... i can't stand it... that and the word "like" used improperly...