Professional Documents
Culture Documents
C Kellogg - Presentation Skills
C Kellogg - Presentation Skills
Why Am I Here?
Why am I here?
Few people are asked to give a presentation because their audience likes the sound of their voice:
the majority of presentations are for a purpose. The key is to make the purpose of the presentation
that of the individual members of the audience, not the purpose of the presenter.
Why am I here?
What will I get out of listening to this talk?
Will what the presenter is saying help me?
The secret of a good presenter is to hook into what the audience wants from the talk and give it to
them. You must answer the WIIFM: WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?
WIIFM Statement
For instance, if I can get Presentation Techniques for Impact course participants to agree that this
training will help them in their jobs, then they will agree to take part in the activities of the next
two days.
Before undertaking any presentation - or for that matter going into any meeting - ask the WIIFM
question. This way you can get into the minds of the audience and thus turn your knowledge and
thoughts into the items that they need to help them with their jobs.
B COZ Statements
As well as the WIIFM statement you must also answer the B COZ questions:-
This way you will be allowed to say your piece and the audience will listen to you as opposed to
just hearing you. For instance,
I am standing up here because whoever books your training heard what a great course this
was and how good I was as its presenter and then contracted me to provide this course for
your company to answer your requests for help with presentations.
They are listening to me because they applied to come on this course having already
identified their own needs for help in giving more effective presentations.
I am standing up here because I was told to and you are listening to me because your
manager sent you ..
Presentation
A Presentation is an occasion when the speaker talks through an idea or proposal with an
audience (normally more than two) who, after hearing them, react to the talk.
Training
Training is where the audience are actively involved in acquiring skills or knowledge from the
trainer.
Meeting
A Meeting is an occasion when two or more people discuss and agree actions.
Essentially the audience is "passive" during a presentation. The secret of a good presentation is to
involve the audience, but not be driven by it.
Sometimes a presentation is not the answer: individual meetings may be the better choice for
delicate subjects.
A presentation is always intended to get results. This means that the presenter must be aware of
their end goal. If you are unclear of the purpose of the presentation, so too will be your audience.
Exercise One
WIIFM
TIME: 30 minutes
Your WIIFM
Your BCOZ
Your name
Your WIIFM
Your BCOZ
Use who/ where/ why/ what/ how/when questions to find out the answers you need to know.
Your Contact
The most influential individual is the person that invited you to give the presentation. Consider
them and ask yourself:
Arrange to talk with them about the presentation - their purpose for inviting you
Ask them to lobby for you amongst the rest of the group
Ask them about the composition of the rest of the group and their "views" on your topic
Ask them if it could be possible for you to talk with some others - get them to arrange and/or
smooth the meeting path
Actions
Action
Attitude
If you sense in your discussions beforehand that everyone is against your proposal then cancel
the presentation (unless you like being a martyr). You need to find some friends in court to get
through the blockages in the rest of the audience so ensure you deal well with these people -
acknowledging their contributions as you go along. They should be on your side, so keep them
sweet and they will step in to help you when the discussion goes to the audience.
Prior Knowledge
Use talks with the audience beforehand to establish the extent of prior knowledge in your
audience. Where you have a mixture of knowledgeable and unknowledgeable in the same
audience then you have the responsibility of getting them up to the same starting point. You can
do this by
Sending out some pre-reading (but be aware they may not have done it or never received it)
Preparing a brief summary of the key points in a short sharp slide and form to distribute at
the time of the presentation
Friendships/Fears
If you know the dynamics of the group then you can predict how they are likely to react and then
you will be able to judge your words accordingly. Group pressure can be quite dramatic when
used and often group pressure can alter the most fixed views. Try not to get yourself into a
position of being the catalyst in a witch hunt.
Others may fear to agree with you if that seems to be against current policies so watch for those
who were strong in one-to-ones but now seem to be backing off. If you sense that the discussion
is going this way then propose a realistic solution which may not lead to direct confrontation at
that moment.
Influence with the Decision Makers
When you look at the composition of the audience, ask yourself:
There is nothing so self-important than a committee that has no power - and nothing so time-
wasting .
Try to test out the culture of the organisation before presenting to it - if it is your own then you
have an advantage if you step aside and observe the organisation to see who are the decision
makers and how they make decisions.
Power
Power and decision making authority should be linked but may not be. Some of the powerful are
the "gateholders" - holders of information or resources that they control although they cannot
make decisions but can make or break them. Examples here are the finance bodies who control
expenditure but do not decide how the monies are to be spent - the relationship between
Treasury and other Government Departments is a classic case of this in action.
Other powerful people are those who form natural leaders and whose actions get mirrored by the
rest.
Exercise Two
The Audience
Pair up with another participant and discuss your audience work with them.
As the listener your role will be to help your partner refine precisely the audience's
characteristics and see how they can be influenced in advance.
You - The Presenter
Introductions
Your Introduction is where you hook your audience, where you present them with a key message
that makes them sit up and decide to stay awake, where you establish your credibility.
Initially you will need to break the ice with the audience - to get them on your side. This can be
done with a funny remark; some comment upon the weather or such like; saying how nice it is to
see so many familiar faces; - some way of establishing rapport before going into the meat of your
presentation. We will look specifically at establishing rapport later.
Pertinent
Promotional
Punchy
...and include the action that you want the audience to take as a result of listening to your
presentation.
Pertinent
Your opening statement needs to get to the root of the matter. A presentation is not a strip tease -
there is no magic in not revealing all until the last moment - that moment may never come.
"My name is Pat Yokes and I'm here to show you how to save 20% from your next telephone
bill and the next one and the next one..."
"Hi. I'm Jan Smith and I'm here to discuss passion with you."
"I'm Syd Wright from XYZ Company and my job is to give away money."
Promotional
You need to sell yourself; your credentials for being in front of everyone and your purpose.
This is where your B COZ statements come in - why are you there ?
It is not the time for a lengthy life story taking you from the age of 2 to your present age - just a
brief statement that justifies your right to be in front of the audience and taking up their valuable
time.
"I'm District Sales Manager for ABC telephone company and we sell the most modern
telephone exchange systems on the market."
"I'm a quality consultant for PQR consultancy and believe that quality is too important to be
left to IS9000."
"I'm Dealer Marketing Manager and created the dealers award scheme that I want to
introduce to you."
You may also include here a brief summary of your capability to talk to the subject in question.
Your title may suffice but you may like to add some time dimension - or research dimension - to
your work.
"I've been with ABC for 5 years having started with B.T. and have never seen such advanced
switching technology as in the new range of exchange systems that have been designed for us
by Lexiter University's Research department."
"Prior to joining PQR in June I spent 10 years with M&S firstly as a buyer then in designing
and running their quality programme which as you know has been awarded their ISO
certificate."
"I used to work for the Superspecial dealership and know how frustrating some of the
complex dealer incentive schemes can be, that's why I was attracted to my present company
and the idea of working on their dealership schemes."
Punchy
This has to be in short sharp sentences, not lengthy prose. It is enough to give the audience a
taster for what is to come "I'm here and I mean business."
Your Introduction is the advertisement for your product - your presentation - think of a favourite
magazine advertisement and base your introduction on that.
Call for Action
The action that you want from the audience as a result of the presentation needs to be made clear
up front so that they can weigh your words against this request - if you just talk then at the end
ask for x thousand or to spend another 3 days with them then this can come as a shock. Warn the
audience beforehand what you want from them - tell them your WIIFM.
"At the end of this presentation I will be asking you to approve a 3 months feasibility study
into our telephone system."
"What I will be asking you is to agree to introduce a quality improvement programme in the
Northwitch factory as a trial for the rest of the group."
"Finally I will be showing you how to sign up to become one of our approved resellers and
benefit from our generous marketing pay back scheme."
Exercise Three
Introductions
Pertinent
Promotional
Punchy
Introduction
Tell Them It
You will have many points you want to make to state your case. Select those that are
Then rank the points into order and always put your most important point first. If your
presentation is cut short you must ensure you have said the most important item.
Body of Presentation
We have already dealt with your introduction in the previous session; where you have an
opportunity to make an impact on the audience. Now we come to the presentation proper.
Each of the major points that you are making in your presentation needs to follow a pattern -
reflecting the above "Tell them" statement. Each theme needs to flow as follows:
to proofs...
to invitation to comment...
to problem...
to restatement of theme
Theme statement
This is the hook for each section of your presentation - the main point of this section. What is the
key point you wish to get across to your audience?
"With an annual turnover of 7.2m a switchboard like your current one is probably losing you
30,000 worth of business every month."
Having caught the audience's imagination with your theme statement, you must prove what you
have just said - using facts, figures, graphs, charts - anything factual to show you have done your
homework. This is the evidence for your comment, the reason why you have made such a bold
statement.
85% of telephone callers who are not answered after 4 rings hang up
"Your switchboard is the FGH version that can only cope with a volume of 30 calls at a time.
Monitoring it for 2 weeks we found that it operated at 99% capacity for 6 hours a day -
therefore you will be losing callers every working hour of every day."
Invite reactions
Ask if this accords with the audience's own experiences. At this point you are inviting the
audience to comment but ensure you are in control of the question. You are asking here for
confirmation or negation about the problem as you see it; not opening up the presentation to as
full discussion. In some instances you may feel that a show of hands could prove the point.
Remember, if you can get your audience to argue your case for you and accept that there is a
problem then you have almost won.
"Yes... Every time I try to phone in from a customer site its really embarrassing. I can never
get through..."
"So from this you can see that without any extra selling effort you could add up to 5% to your
bottom line with a more efficient telephone system."
Note To you it may seem very repetitious and tedious to keep on going over
the same information; however, this will be the first time your audience
have heard your arguments and therefore this gentle repetition will not
be upsetting to them.
Now you are ready to move onto the next theme - but remember to bridge between one statement
and the next.
Bridging statements
These make the link between one proof and the other. They make the presentation flow rather
than being a series of disjointed phrases and show the overall picture of the presentation.
"1 in 3 of your sales team cannot make their first outgoing phone call to a customer because
they cannot get an outside line."
"In two week tests each salesperson was asked to record the number of times they got 'not
available' when dialling for an outside line. In ten working days the figure was two hundred
approximating to roughly one in three salespeople."
"So you have the problem of customers not being able to phone in and sales teams having
difficulty phoning out."
Invite comments
"I was asked to ring an important customer at 3.15 exactly as they had only 10 minutes before
going into a meeting to get the latest details from me and I couldn't get an outside line. In the
end I went to the call box on the corner to ensure I got through..."
"200 wasted attempts to phone out in 10 days leading to frustrated sales teams."
Bridge
By the time you have told of the turnover in telephonists, number of repair calls for the existing
switchboard when you come to the call for action your audience will be anxious to agree to it.
Call for Action
This is where you ask the audience to take some specific action - the result of their listening to
your presentation is that they will do something. So ask them for that Action:
"Finally ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to agree to my company, ABC Phones, setting up a
detailed feasibility study of your system with your Facilities Manager with a report back in
three month's time complete with cost figures."
Argument Flow
Each theme should run through
intro...
theme statement...
proofs...
invitation to comment...
problem...
theme restatement
then bridge into the next theme.
Introduction...
theme statement...
proofs...
invitation to comment...
problem...
theme restatement
...then bridge into the next theme
Note During and at the end of your presentation there should be discussion
from, with and between the audience, but remember it is your
presentation. Ensure that you always have the last word - and this is the
call to action.
Exercise Four
Structure of Presentation
Theme statement
Proofs
Problem
Invite discussion
Restate theme
Bridging phrase
If time allows, start working on the other theme statements in declining rank order
Organising Supporting Materials
Try to get your support materials to work as far as possible towards the "Do" and "Know" end of
the spectrum.
The reason for wanting to introduce appropriate support material is to help those members of
your audience that relate to pictures and real objects as opposed to listening to information. There
is a surprisingly high percentage of individuals who need to either see or touch something for it
to have an impact, therefore all good presenters try to work with visual and real materials as well
as relying on their spoken word.
Real things
Would real objects help? Bringing in the product to let the audience see/feel/test it? Is your
product attractive compared with the opposition?
Pictures
How complex is your proposal? Would it be aided by an illustration? What about posters?
35mm slides? Photographs?
Overhead transparencies
Can you use the overlay facility to build up your argument? What about the use of colour?
An overhead can magnify considerably when projected onto a screen and this will make
complex detail clearer than could perhaps be seen in a photograph.
Flip chart
Here you can list up specific words or concepts that can stay as a permanent reminder during
your presentation. You can bring along pre-prepared flipcharts or you can make them up as
you go along. Do ensure that they are visible to all.
Graphs
These are very dramatic but remember to note factors such as scale. Take care with the
number of lines and ensure that they are easy to understand. Also be sure to put dates on the
graph.
Pie charts
The requirements here are similar to graphs. Pie charts can be easy to understand, but do
make sure that the segments are labelled appropriately and clearly.
Formulae
You need to ensure a high degree of audience sophistication before employing too many
formulae or you will be in danger of confusing them at best and at worst, be appearing to use
formulae to prove your point rather than to illustrate it.
Video
How does this add to your presentation? What of the length and cost of preparation. Would
your presentation suffer if you could not play the video? Is it compatible with most forms for
video-playback machines? Can you ensure you have the attention of the audience when you
show a video?
Computer graphics
These are very effective and relatively cheap to produce these days but again make sure that
they add value to your presentation and do not take over from your message. Ensure you are
familiar with the technology and that the connections at the presentation site are working.
You should always have a paper copy of your presentation available in case of machine
failure.
Comparing Different Forms of Support
Materials
These hints are related to three support materials, but will apply to any materials - the key is to
know your materials; know how the technology works; practise writing, talking and reading from
the materials whilst still maintaining eye contact with your audience.
Flip Chart
KISS
Use bullet points
Use colour: variety, clear, restrict to primary colours
Indicate items with pointer (hand, stick)
Print or write clearly
Practice
Tip Try the following: rip a corner gently then pull or score with a penknife
or sharp item then pull.
Spelling
Overheads
KISS
Use bullet points
Use colour: variety, clear, take care with non-primary colours
Indicate items with pointer (hand, stick)
Print or write clearly
Stand away from the light source thus avoiding a shadow on the screen
Practice
Practice
TIME: 30 minutes
What support materials will you need? Justify each item of support material in terms of
what it will add to your presentation.
'Set' Appearance
This is how the area in which the presentation takes place is laid out - the stage set for your
presentation. You may not have many alternatives but you can and should adjust things if you
want your presentation to succeed.
Are the OHP, Flip, slide, set exactly where you want them ?
Can you be seen clearly by everyone?
Have you room to move?
Are your papers and materials arranged near to hand and professionally ?
What about the seating - do you want to re-arrange the audience?
Tip Good presenters always check their equipment before starting their
presentation.
Research by Mehrabian in 1969 showed that we take in information in the following percentages:-
Body language
Stance
Avoid hiding yourself or hiding the OHP screen. Stand in the audience and come into the
body of the room when you are talking. If nothing else, moving around means that you keep
the audience's heads exercised by looking at you.
Avoid slouching, or standing so erect that you look like a soldier on guard outside
Buckingham Palace. Try to be natural.
Clothes
Look the part:
Look professional
This includes such simple things as ironed clothes, polished shoes, no hems in need of
mending or slips showing, clean and ironed ties...
Hands
It is very difficult to decide what to do with your hands in front of a group of strangers but at all
costs avoid:
If you usually talk and use your hands then do this too - gestures help convey meaning.
Feet
Try to avoid dancing around the room - or even do little shuffles on the spot. If your feet are
anchored firmly to the ground and your head high you will present an air of calmness - even
if you do not feel that way at all inside.
Eyes
Your eyes reflect your emotions in a way that you cannot control easily. What is important
therefore is that you maintain eye contact with the audience and do this equally with all
members of the audience so that no-one feels left out. If someone appears not to be listening
then staring at them for just slightly longer than "usual" will make them feel uncomfortable
and turn their attention back to you. Looking at people makes them feel recognised as human
beings and also enables you to judge the effect your presentation is having on your audience
so you can fine tune it if necessary.
Posture
If you are calm, reassured and confident in the way you look then the audience will believe in
you and what you are going to say. A slouching back and nervous hand movements will not
help your presentation - neither will arms folded like a fishwife and a thrusting chin and
frown.
Paraverbal language
This is the sound of your voice. It is difficult to alter your voice but try the following tips:
Try to talk deeper than your own voice (especially for women)
Talk more slowly than usual - what you are saying is new to the audience so they need to
take it in slowly and understand it so - go slow
Avoid sarcasm - unless amongst people you know very well - it often backfires
Be enthusiastic about what you are going to say - it comes across in the voice
Remember that what you hear is one stage less aggressive than what your audience hears
when you speak
Mannerisms
Try to avoid specific mannerisms:
UMMMMM........UMMMMMM....ER.....ER.......ER......
These annoying mannerisms get to the state where an audience will count the number of times
you say "you know" rather than listening to what you are saying .
Words
We will be looking and listening for the words you are going to say during the course but take
care with:
Too many conditionals (should this not happen then unless the sun shines we will...)
Tip The best advice for presentations is to KISS: Keep It Short And Simple.
Stories
If you can bring some stories and anecdotes into your presentation then you will enable the
audience to relate to you. Facts and figures are important as back up material, but a story or
anecdote give a succinct picture and generally is retained longer in the audience members'
memories.
Metaphors
As with stories, a metaphor is a very powerful tool to get your message across to the
audience. A metaphor is a symbol that represents reality. For instance, you can talk about a
budget as "The map that guides your financial way into the future." Think of a simple way of
explaining your point and try to find a metaphor.
Silence
Use silence occasionally for impact. Let the importance of your words sink in. Remember you
have heard the words several times - this is your audience's first time so take it slowly and
allow silence for people to think and assimilate the information.
Positive
Have actions clearly indicated
Present facts clearly
Be simple
Be easy for your audience to understand
Use stories and metaphors where appropriate
Rapport
You need to develop and maintain rapport with your audience throughout the presentation. Do
this by regarding each member of the audience as a friend and therefore smile at them, establish
eye contact with them and move towards them as you speak.
Eye contact
Eye contact is essential since it is through the eyes that we communicate the most. You must
ensure that you have established eye contact with every member of the group.
In a very large auditorium with large numbers in the audience you achieve this by letting your
eyes describe a 'M' and 'W' around the room. Take care to do this slowly otherwise you may go
dizzy.
Go to the audience
Go into the body of the audience. Try to get close to them as you would with a group of friends.
Physical space can impact acceptability. Coming into the 'U' of a board room layout is very
effective. You will know what is an acceptable space but the greater the distance between you
and the audience, the harder you will have to work to overcome the coolness that the distance
creates.
If you know people's names, use them. For instance 'James told me that' In a large auditorium
when taking questions you can ask that the questioner identifies themselves before asking the
question. This can help to personalise an answer despite the numbers of people involved.
Visual
Auditory
Kinaesthetic
Auditory digital (factual)
When you are giving a presentation you need to ensure that you use all these types of descriptors
so that you can appeal to every member of the audience at some time or another. When replying
to a question, listen out for any words that may identify the questioner's sense type as this will
establish quick rapport between you.
Tip: Relax with the audience - they can be just as nervous at a presentation as
you are giving it ..
Exercise Six
Communication Questionnaire
TIME: 20 minutes
Questionnaire - 10 minutes
Practice - 10 minutes
For each of the following statements, please place a number next to every phrase
4 = nearest description of me
3 = next best
2 = not so familiar
1 = least familiar
a) gut feel A
b) expressing my feelings B
5.
For each question, copy the scores for A, B, C and D to the relevant box in the table below
Comparison of the total scores give the relative preference for each of the four representation
systems.
V K A D
1 C A B D
2 B D A C
3 A B D C
4 C D B A
5 D C A B
TOTAL
Talk for five minutes to a colleague on this course about your home using words that you
scored lowest in terms of preference. Reverse the process.
NLP Communication Indicators
I see what you mean on the same wavelength get a grip on the idea what are the facts?
looking forward to.. speak your mind hold on a moment lets get down to basics
A dark cloud on the word for word a cool customer the bottom line is...
horizon loud and clear put my finger on it what precisely does this
Taking a dim view what do you say? heated argument mean?
lighten up a bit a smooth operator
Handling Audiences
The secret with handling any audience is to treat them professionally in terms of:
Timing
Language
Rapport
Respect
Special techniques
Timing
You will have an agreed time allocation for a formal presentation. Check if that time is still
appropriate and be prepared to shorten your presentation if necessary. You should be able to get
the key message over in five minutes.
For less formal presentations set your own time limit of, say, 15 - 20 minutes presentation and 10
minutes discussion.
Note If you waste your own time for 30 minutes ...you suffer.
Language
Speak loud enough to be heard; slowly enough to be followed and clearly enough to be
understood. Speak to the level of the audience - not above or below it and illustrate your talk
with examples, facts, figures. Use personal examples from real life.
Ensure your body language reflects your words - try to calm your nervousness.
Use pictures, graphs, images - the eyes take in information five times as fast as the ears. Use
this fast information flow to the brain.
Rapport
Establish and maintain rapport by talking with the audience members, looking at them and
smiling. Your enthusiasm in your topic will encourage theirs.
Respect
Respect your audience's right to be there, to ask questions and to want to hear what you have
to say. Avoid talking down to them, and work on an adult to adult communication basis.
Special techniques
If one member of the audience is going to prove difficult then see if you can arrange
beforehand for a supporter ( or two) in the audience to sit beside them.
If one member of the audience keeps interrupting or asking trap questions then walk round
to stand near them. This 'blinds' them from your vision and also your physical presence close
by can be threatening and will quieten them down.
Use any expert in the audience that you know to back up your statements by asking them
direct questions such as, 'how does that fits in with your analysis, Jack?'
Look for signs of commitment and interest - move in close, arms in steeple position and smile
at these people to encourage them.
Look for signs of boredom and disinterest - shuffling, arms folded, and stare hard at these
people - it can disconcert them and get them to try to pay attention.
Questions
You need to both ask and answer questions as your presentation proceeds but must be careful not
to fall into a dialogue with one or two individuals nor to go so far down rat holes with questions
that you are detracted from your main purpose. At the same time some members of the audience
may be out to trap you with certain questions for their own purposes.
To try to avoid these happening here are some question types to consider:
Open questions
Whilst these are excellent for interviewing techniques, they are not so good for use in
presentations as you do not want to get the audience talking at great length.
Closed questions
These are very useful in getting and maintaining audience involvement without letting them
get too much of your "airtime".
Rhetorical questions
...isn't it? Don't you agree? Correct? ...right? You must be thinking, "Is this really the case?"
A good ploy is to ask the questions your audience may be silently thinking, then answer them
in your own words to add to your proofs.
For example,
Information seeking questions are asked either because something you have said needs
clarifying, or because more details is required.
Answer both with a quick example - if the person wants more detail then commit to deal
with their points 'off-line' and remember to do so.
Any questions of this type from the audience indicate they are interested in what you are
saying - they are listening to you .
Anticipatory questions
These pre-empt something you are due to deal with later on in your presentation.
Acknowledge the question and state that you will be looking at it later in your
presentation. Once you have covered the topic, check that it covers the point that the
questioner wanted to know. If not, then deal with their question immediately.
Trap questions
Impossible choice
This is when you are asked to choose between two impossible alternatives. For example,
"So we either have to give up half our profits for training or increase our wage bill by 50% to
get trained staff?"
Set up
False premise
This question expects you to take the blame or answer for the actions of the whole of your
industry
"All banks are charging exorbitant rates to small businesses. Why should we borrow from
yours?"
Loaded
This starts with "Given the fact that..." which may well not be a fact and often is not a
question.
Handling trap questions
Often by paraphrasing the question back to the person you can see the trap in it and then be
in a position to calm it down.
Impossible choice
"I'm not asking you to make such a difficult choice. I am asking you to think longer term
about the implications behind cutting training budgets in the short term."
Set up
"My satisfaction is not really important here but the success of your company is and one way
to make it more successful is to install an XYZ system as has been proved by..."
False premise
"I cannot answer for the whole of the banking industry but my bank found out that only 2% of
our 5,000 small businesses nation-wide were dissatisfied with their charges."
Loaded
"I cannot comment on those facts without seeing some proof but I know that our company has
only had two cases brought against it for unfairness at Industrial tribunal."
It can be hard not to snap back or make a reply that makes the questioner look stupid. Try
to avoid this at all costs. If you diffuse the question and give a reasonable reply then you
will earn the respect of the rest of the audience - if you make the questioner look silly then
the group will react against you and defend their own.
On Day Two you will present to your fellow participants the presentation that you will
give to your final audience and which will be videoed
Your presentation should be built upon all the stages of the course and will be critiqued
by the other participants both as possible audiences and on presentation style.
You should therefore have some of the support materials with you that you may need to
use in your actual presentation.
It will also be recorded on video and played back for general comment. You will be able
to keep the copy of your video.