Presentation Skills

10 Steps to an Effective Presentation

1. Take audience inventory
2. Assess the situation
3. Get organized
4. Get your thoughts on the table
5. Do the research
6. Enrich the research
7. Build the body
8. Build the presentation
9. Add visual aids
10. Prepare, practice & present
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 Purpose of the Presentation
• To inform
• To persuade
• To entertain

Presenter must assert influence, whatever be the purpose

Use humour only if you are comfortable with it.
Overcome nervousness….practice.

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 A Desired Outcome Statement
What am I trying to accomplish?
To educate, entertain, influence, effect change, build
enthusiasm, share news…..if the presentation succeeds.
At the end of the presentation, I would like the audience to:
• Do…… (act, change)
• Think…(agree, support)
• Know…(understand)

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 Dos of Content Design
Dos:
• Think ‘audience benefits’
• Be clear about the desired outcome, & build a desired
outcome statement
• Understand the influence of location, time, formality &
audience knowledge on content
• Decide early whether it is persuasive, informative or a review
presentation.
• State message or theme in a single sentence
• Use an outline to develop the content
• Build a lift speech. Concise & to the point.
• Enrich content with the right quotes, anecdotes, analogies &
citations.
• Make detail available but don’t present it all
• If the topic is familiar, stick to “what’s new”
• Keep it simple: 3 to 7 main points
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 Dont’s of content design
• Don’t start building content before the desired
outcome is understood
• Don’t overlook audience & situation clues about the
level of detail; you need to persuade, need to decide
• Don’t rely too much on either internal or external
sources
• Don’t use ‘over used’ analogies or cliches
• Don’t present problems without solutions
• Don’t omit alternatives, positives & negatives, or
benefits the audience may be looking for

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 Guide your Audience
• 10/80/10 : Opener, Body, Closer
• Don’t apologise or ramble
• ‘Tell them what you are going to tell then. Tell them. Tell
them what you told them.’
• Use the opener to build rapport, set expectations &
‘hook’ the audience, & to put them & yourself at ease
• Mix tactics & techniques in openers
• Keep them moving with you
• Review your message, connect with the big picture, &
provide a call to action in the closer

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 The Presentation
• State the topic
• Content & Flow, Pace, Voice, Volume.
• Emphasis & detail . Ensure there are, Road
signs/Transitions/ linkages & takeaways … to guide
from one point to the other.
• Use Summaries
• Pause to refresh
• Question & answer break

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 The Art of Presenting
Objective:

Make your message accessible to the audience

Make yourself accessible to the audience
Make the collective wisdom of the audience
accessible to you

Customize through delivery format (how much

interaction)& through conversational style(( your
words, para language )
Recognize their point of view. Share their
concerns.

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 Making a Presentation

• A clear structure
• Facts & figures,represented in graphs, tables, charts
• Use of colour
• Main Body : divide main points into not over 3 sub points
for each.
• Time your presentation
• Integrate sub sections into one holistic presentation.

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 Now …… Presenting……
• Do not read.
• Face the audience. Don’t block their view.
• Dress appropriately : A presentation is formal.
• Improve on your peculiarities & traits
• Maintain energy & enthusiasm
• Maintain eye contact, smile & be accessible
• Be simple & clear
• Watch your paralanguage

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 Engage the Audience
•Your non verbal communication: smile, eyes,
hands,posture, mannerisms
•Don’t talk non stop: ask questions; pause, allowing
them to absorb facts & figures; repeat new
terminology
•Enhance verbal skills with paralanguage, which is:
Tone
Pitch
Speed
Volume
Enunciation
Modulation 12
Pause
 Slides
•Do not overdo power point
•In most cases slides should be simple without
distractions
•Moderate use of colour
•High contrast between lettering & background
•Simple, readable font
•Have a meaningful title
•Slides must display focus & keep to a few points
only
•Highlight key points through physical, vocal, verbal
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& mental means
 Slides
•Use italics, different colours or fonts to add emphasis rather
than underlining.
• Bullets should be easy to see. Check their size, colour and
position relative to the text.
• Minimize punctuation in visuals - use size, type style or
colour to give your material structure instead.
• Don’t use complicated Flash technology or other ‘moving’
texts.
•A good rule of thumb for fonts is to keep sizes, colors and
placement consistent. Try to use no more than three
complementary fonts in a presentation, i.e. one for titles, one
for subtitles and one for text and graph labels.
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Read me

Read me

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CENTRE OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
On
Improving Efficiency & Effectiveness
through Attitude Building,
Transnational Values, Leadership and
Self Renewal

By ABC 16
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1. Reading the slides
2. Too long, too much information
3. Too much matter

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19
 Five Elements
1. Get their attention
2. Establish a theme
3. Present a structure
4. Create rapport: how do you wish to present
yourself? As a friend, an adviser, a judge…
5. Visual Aids

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 Summing Up
Effective Presentations & Presenters have:
•A clear objective
•Well structured approach
•Visual aids that enhance not detract
•A rapport with the audience
•Knowledge, enthusiasm, confidence
•Appropriate body language, eye contact
•Pleasing personality & mannerisms

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 “That which we persist in doing becomes easier. Not
that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability
to do so has increased.”

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