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Speaking and Presentations

1. Why Become a Good Public Speaker?
2. Your Position on Stage Sends a Message
3. 10 Tips to Improve Your Next Business Presentation

 The fact is, people spend years in school and in training, learning

and fine-tuning the skills of their professions. Yet they spend

almost no time learning the skills to communicate. That’s because

they don’t realize that it doesn’t matter how brilliant you are if you

can’t communicate your ideas to others.

Proof of this comes from a survey conducted by one of the top ten

executive search firms in the country.  It was a survey of

executives making over $250,000 a year.  The survey asked those

executives to rank the factors to which they attributed their

success. The number one factor in their opinion – more important

than formal education, experience or intelligence – was

communication skills.

A survey in USA Today on women in management ranked and

rated the critical success factors for women who have made it to

the ranks of management.  To the surprise of many, the last item

on the list of top 12 factors was the availability of “support

network.”  The women who have made it to the ranks of

management say the “networking” factor is important but, in their

experience, not as much as at least 11 other factors.  In second

place was “problem solving and decision making.”  But the

number one critical success factor ranked by the women who have

made it big is communication skills.

You may have heard about the survey of faculty members of

engineering schools.  The results were startling.  The opinion of

the faculty members was that 15% of an engineer’s future success

is dependent upon his or her engineering skills, while 85% depends

upon their communication skills.  Why?  In the past, it was not

uncommon for engineers to enjoy a successful and rewarding

career “communicating” only with computers, drawing boards, or

test tubes.  But today, especially with so many changes in

corporate structures, downsizing, etc., more and more people in the

technical fields are being called on to come out from behind their

desks and drawing boards and communicate with others either as

presenters or trainers.  And the overwhelming majority of these

individuals are not prepared and fail miserably.

So, to summarize what countless surveys are now telling us:

1.  The ability to communicate well is ranked the #1 key to

     success in most business professions.

2.  Times have change. Yesterday the most qualified (i.e.,

     educated, experienced, ambitious) person got the job.

     But today among comparable applicants, the best

     communicator gets the job.

3.  As executives reach middle management and above, the

     primary qualification for advancement is communication

     and motivation skills rather than basic job performance.

So if you’re looking for a good ticket to take you to the top, just

become a good presenter.  Notice I didn’t say “excellent” or

“outstanding”.  Just become good. Why?  Because the rest of the

world is so terrible! If you do “good” what most people do poorly,

you’ll do well.  And you’ll become too valuable to keep in your

present job at your present pay.

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Your Position on Stage Sends a Message

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10 Tips to Improve Your Next Business Presentation

As a trainer of public speaking skills, I’m often asked for my

best tip or “trick” to improve a presentation. With so many years

of study and hands-on experience, it’s virtually impossible for

me to come up with just one or two ‘best’ ideas.  So today I’m

going to share with you 10 tips that, if applied, will immeasur-

ably enhance your reputation as an effective presenter.  Just

remember:  You don’t have to be a great speaker; just become

a good speaker and you’ll stand out in most organizations

because most people don’t know or practice the tips and

techniques I’m going to share with you right now!  So here we

go – 10 tips for improving your next business presentation.

Tip # 1:  Visualize your success.

As a part of your preparation, mentally walk through your talk.

As graphically as possible, visualize the audience and see

yourself standing before them with confidence and poise.  Hear

yourself speaking with power and eloquence, and imagine an

enthusiastic response from your audience.  Your body will begin

to respond to the picture you hold in your mind.  Then, when

it’s time to give the real presentation, your thoughts and

emotions will be in control –  because mentally you’ve been

there before.

Tip # 2:  Learn about your audience in advance.

Find out as much as possible about your anticipated audience

and prepare your presentation so it is of interest and benefit

to them.  People resent having to listen to a business

presentation that they perceive as a waste of their valuable

time because it didn’t tell them anything they didn’t already

know or wanted/needed to know.  At a minimum, your research

should reveal who they are, what they already know, why they

are in attendance, and the best way to approach them.  Then use

this information to craft your presentation so your subject or

point of view relates to them and clearly presents the benefit

or advantage they can derive from it.  Remember:  Your audience

doesn’t care about you… they care about themselves!  Always

develop and present your material with this thought in mind.

Tip # 3:  Begin with an attention-grabbing opening.

The introduction to your speech is where you capture the

attention of your audience and establish a relationship with

them.  You have to plan an opening that will break their

preoccupation with other work matters and persuade them to give

you their undivided attention.  Your first few minutes also

need to be precise to assure them that you won’t speak in a

random or off the cuff manner.  Quotes, dramatic or humorous

(but relevant) anecdotes, and startling facts all work well as

attention-grabbing openers.  The length of your introduction

depends on how good and how long your attention-grabbing opener

is.  As a rough rule of thumb, your introduction should take no

more than 15 percent of your speaking time – that’s three

minutes in a twenty-minute speech.

Tip # 4:  Stand up and use visual aids.

Research done on the most effective influencing and persuasion

techniques demonstrates that the impact on any audience is

substantially increased when the speaker stands and uses visual

aids.  In fact, in sales research they found that when the

presenter stands and uses AV aids, prospects are 43 percent

more likely to be persuaded to buy and will pay 26 percent more

money for the same product or service.  Researchers have also

discovered that “average” presenters who follow this practice

are perceived as being as good as or better than more polished

presenters who don’t.  You can always find an excuse to stand

up.  You might stand to write on a white board or flip chart. 

Or you can say, “I’ll stand to be sure everyone can hear me,”

or  “…so you can all see this chart.”  Whatever excuse you use,

do it!

Tip # 5:  Use good eye contact.

Maintaining good eye contact with your audience is essential to

establishing rapport.  It conveys sincerity and personalizes

your presentation by giving each member of your audience the

distinct impression that you were talking to them.  Your eyes

should neither stay in one spot nor should they move about

restlessly.  As you’re speaking, pick out several friendly or

receptive faces in the audience and vary your eye contact among

them, holding for 3 – 5 seconds at each one.

Tip # 6:  Use bullet points for your speaking notes; don’t

write out the whole talk.

If you write out your entire talk, word for word, you will have

a tendency to read from your notes, and this is very difficult

to do in a natural manner.  Instead, prepare your notes using a

single word, a short phrase, or even a design or symbol for

 each segment of your talk, then use your natural memory to

flesh out the desired points.  If you know your subject and have

practiced your presentation at least 2-3 times, this will be

easy.  When you speak primarily from memory using a brief

outline of bullet points as a subtle reminder, your credibility

increases because you’re able to hold eye contact with your

audience and speak in a more conversational tone, thus creating

a stronger rapport with your audience.  Most people never

discover that they’re able to speak without detailed written

notes simply because they never try it.

Tip # 7:  Practice, practice, practice.

As the 19^th-century essayist William Hazlitt wrote, “We never do

anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing

it.”  Rehearsal familiarizes your mind and body with the

mechanics of your presentation. The more you practice, the more

comfortable you will become with the material and the more

natural and persuasive you will come across to your audience.

Rehearse your presentation out loud, from start to finish.  If

possible, record it on an audio recorder or, even better, in

front of a video camera.  That way, you can actually hear (and,

in the case of a video camera, see) what works and what doesn’t.

When you practice, simulate everything about your presentation

that you possibly can, and imagine those conditions you can’t

simulate.  Stand before a lectern or table like the one you’ll

actually use and imagine the members of your audience, as they

will be seated in front of you.  Use appropriate gestures,

act out turning the pages of your flipchart, and pantomime

switching the transparencies on your overhead projector.  Walk

around and directly engage your imagined audience members’

attention, just as you intend to do so during the actual

presentation.  Rehearsing in this manner will dramatically

increase your confidence when you actually deliver your

presentation.

Tip # 8:  Scout out your speaking room in advance.

Visit the room where you’ll be speaking and get a feel for the

environment and where you will be standing in relation to the

audience.  Familiarizing yourself with the environment in

advance will increase your comfort level when the time comes

to present.

Tip # 9:  Project your voice.

Even in a small business meeting, it’s important that you

project so your voice comes across as strong and authoritative.

Visualize a person in the back of the room straining to hear

you, and speak to that person in an effort to better project.

And, whenever possible, stand up to maximize the richness of

your voice.  Also, if feasible, encourage the meeting organizers

to limit the number of chairs and to place them near the front.

An audience that is seated close together and near to you is

usually more attentive than one that is spaced out and far away.

If the audience is spread out, speak louder, gesture more

boldly, and use your eyes to draw in those listeners seated

far away.

Tip # 10:  Don’t just fade out at the end at the end of your

talk; finish with a powerful closing.

Conclude with a dramatic closing.  You’ve just created an idea

or vision in your listeners’ minds; now permanently fix that

idea in their memories.  Many of the same techniques used to

create a powerful opening (quotes, statistics, anecdotes, etc.)

can be used to craft an effective closing.  You may also want

to consider recalling a story you told earlier in your

presentation, but now add a twist to it, a new detail or a

fresh perspective.  Use vivid language and precise detail.

Build an image that will endure in your listener’s memories.

Your conclusion should be short, roughly 10 percent of your

speaking time, which is about two minutes in a 20-minute speech.

And to be sure your audience doesn’t miss your great conclusion,

you can guarantee that they’re listening intently by cueing them

when you’re about to end.  Pausing and referring back to your

introduction works, and the phrases “in conclusion” or “to

summarize” always makes people perk up and pay extra close

attention.

Finally, remember to relax and have fun.  Smile and deliver

your presentation with energy and enthusiasm. If you convey that

you’re having a great time  and that you enjoy sharing your

ideas with your audience, they’ll respond positively and

enthusiastically.  And when you think about it, what more could

a presenter want?

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Copyright © 2005  Morris Taylor. All rights reserved.
 

Reprint permission is granted when the following credit appears:

© 2005 Morris Taylor.  Reprinted with permission from Mr. Taylor’s

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