A lot goes into an effective presentation. Most good presentation training programs focus a great deal of attention on effective presentation techniques like projection, body language, eye contact, gestures, etc. It is certainly important to look and sound professional, so this is all good. However, you can look professional and still end up giving a boring, lifeless, ineffective program. Even if your content is timely and important, you shouldn’t count on the facts just speaking for themselves. You must package your content for maximum effect. Here are a few simple ideas that will help your message to come alive for your audience so that they will remember it and apply it when the presentation is over.
Speak from their experiences – It is one thing to say that a certain process is frustrating, exhausting and time consuming. It is quite another – and more powerful – thing to say that the process was like shopping for all your children’s Christmas presents at the toy aisle in Wal-Mart at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Ouch! We have all been there and done that at least once in our lives. The feeling of frustration, exhaustion and panic is almost palpable. Don’t settle for simply stating a fact when you can make that fact come alive by comparing it to something that your audience knows and understands.
Stories stir the imagination – One of the best ways to communicate intangibles – perhaps a character quality like teamwork, commitment, loyalty, courage, etc. – is by inserting brief, powerful stories into your presentation. For instance, one of the most moving moments in the history of the Olympic movement took place during the running of a semi-final heat for the 400 meter race in Barcelona in 1992. Derek Redmond of Great Britain was leading going into the final 175 meters when his hamstring snapped and he fell to the track as if he had been shot. Rather than quitting the race, he got up and began to hop on one leg toward the finish line. Suddenly a figure vaulted from the stands and ran across the track to Derek. Supporting the young man’s weight on his own shoulders, Derek and his father, Jim, finished the race together, buoyed by the enthusiastic cheers of 65,000 fans who were amazed at this display of love and courage. If you want your audience to remember the message, illustrate it with a story and they will go home and teach the lesson to their families, too.
Pictures really are worth more than a thousand words – In these days of easily accessible digital media for photos, audio and video, there are boundless opportunities for enhancing the learning experience of your audience. For years, photographers for major news magazines brought home the drama of current events through the power of simple photographs. Remember the photo of the WWII soldiers raising the US flag on Iwo Jima? Of course you do. Anyone who has ever seen that shot will never forget it. You can do the same with your presentations. (Just fyi: the actual video footage of Derek Redmond’s heroic effort in the Barcelona Olympics is available.) As long as pictures and video are used in a proper context as a support for your presentation (instead of being used in place of your personal effort) they can drive home one or two of your most important points in a very memorable and powerful way.
Do the hokey pokey – Well, at least do something at certain key moments in your presentation that involves physical movement of some sort. Ask your audience to imitate your gestures, repeat certain phrases out loud, turn and discuss a topic with a neighbor or close their eyes and visualize a particular scene. Anything you can get your audience to do that involves a physical response will activate more synapses in the brain and drive the associated information more deeply into their memory. It also helps to keep them awake and paying attention!
The days when you could get away with a dry lecture during your presentation are long gone. Today, presentations are not simply about information, they are about experience. The X-Box generation will not sit still for columns of numbers and bullet points. They expect more, they know it is possible to do more, and they don’t have much patience for people who don’t try to offer more. So apply yourself; be creative, have fun, and let your imagination lead the way. Above all, ask yourself this question: If I were going to sit through this presentation, what would I like to see and hear that would make the experience mean something to me. Start off by at least doing that, and you will be heading in the right direction.
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January Presentation Quick Tip of the Month – Are You Grounded?
Even the most effective and professional presenters and public speakers struggle to some degree with presentation anxiety. Our bodies naturally adopt a defensive posture when we stand up in front of a group of people who all have their eyes trained on us. This “fight or flight” response creates sweaty palms, shallow breathing, increased heart rate, queasy stomach and muscle tension. It also makes it very hard to give a smooth relaxed program! One way to fight this is to do what psychologists call getting grounded. While you are sitting quietly waiting for your introduction, take an inventory of what you see and hear around you – the table cloth is white, the china has a silver rim, my shoes are shiny, the lady next to me is wearing a wig, etc. Breathe slowly and deeply as you do this. By focusing on the little details around you, even the sound of your breathing, you are no longer focusing on your nervous symptoms and they will gradually melt away. Now you are ready to get up and knock ‘em dead.
