When someone udders the word “presentation”, most people jump to thinking of a stage, a microphone, a few hundred people, and a visual aid like PowerPoint. The majority of professionals skip the preparation steps and jump straight into creating slides that are unhelpful instead of being a resource. Some of the common PowerPoint mistakes include: Unreadable Slides – Because the presenter skipped the development steps (setting the purpose, goals, and thesis), the entire presentation is now laid out in a bullet format on the slides. Too much content on the slides leads to the text being far too small to read. If your prospects can’t read your slides, it frustrates them, and the slides are worthless. Low contrast can also lead to headaches and a complete shutdown from the audience. What’s even worse, these slides make you look incompetent as you constantly have to look at them for the reminder of
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New research indicates that by 2019, the world will be consulting video more frequently than they are consulting written articles now. The advice to move marketing primarily to video is everywhere and thus the demand for presentations by video is steadily increasing. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video seems to capture a person’s attention. The trend is evident by the prevalence and continuous popularity of YouTube. You may have noticed that recently I have embarked on a new mission to help presenters by diving into the world of videos myself. As a person just like you, I’m not used to being on video camera and talking to an intimate object is difficult to say the least. Since I believe in the motto that you should learn from the mistakes of others, here are the lessons I have learned being on camera: You are overly critical of yourself. I
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In the olden’ days, presentations were generally created and used multiple times. Otherwise, it wasn’t worth the cost or time to spend so much effort in preparing a presentation for a single use. This reality is not the case anymore, quite the opposite. Even as technology erodes the time we spend speaking to other humans face-to-face, I say that presentations are sticking around. 6 trends and reasons why presentations are not going extinct: 1) Presentations are Going Casual – This shift to a casual setting is in sync with current trends for workplace atmosphere; presentations are also going casual making it a more comfortable experience for both presenter and audience. Like wearing jeans to a casual office meeting, presentations are taking on the same vibe. 2) Audiences are Demanding Participation – Today’s listeners [and buyers] do not want to listen solely, they wish to be a part of the presentation as well.
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The majority of Americans are more scared of presentations than they are of spiders, snakes, falling, or flying. Jerry Seinfeld made the comedic reference that the majority of Americans would rather be lying in a casket than giving the eulogy. In my experience, there are five major ways to overcome the fear of public speaking, known as glossophobia. 1) Proper Preparation – Going through all of the steps of preparation can cure more than 80% of stage fright. This presentation preparation includes the presenter setting goals and gearing the information to achieve them, carefully constructing the content, and practicing the presentation multiple times. One of the major reasons for stage fright is because the presenter skips one or more of the preparation steps. Skipping any of the steps allows the presenter’s nerves to build and overwhelm the person because the presenter does not know what to say. 2) Visualization – It is
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Setting goals for a presentation is not about the individual words you are going to say, but about the communication of your overall message. If you do not set clear presentation goals, your speech can easily go off topic. For example, I had a client that was pitching a bid to a large organization for a technology contract. When I asked what the goal of the presentation was, he promptly responded to win the contract. The answer was too broad and focused on him, so I questioned further. I found out that the competition was presenting after him, and the board would be making a decision at the end of the day based on the presentations (which followed a round of proposals). Just to win was not an appropriate goal; the true goal was to educate the board on the best criteria to look for when choosing a provider. If we
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Studies show that the majority of what an audience receives from a presentation comes from the nonverbal cues, otherwise known as body language. Improper body movements and posture can change the undertone of your presentation quickly. This miscommunication can give your audience a very different message than what you intended. Much like a car, presentations have lots of different pieces to master in order to make success achievable. 1) Eye Contact – When involved in a conversation with friends, a person can confidently obtain and hold eye contact. Everything changes when the conversation is coming from only one person in front of others watching. A presentation is another version of a conversation, and eye contact is equally important with a larger audience. The audience can tell when you are not looking at them, and you are looking at the back corners of the room or their foreheads. Eye contact compels others
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Making good eye contact with the entire audience is the essence of building rapport during your presentation. It takes a lot of practice to make it look natural, and requires you to know your presentation well. Looking at notes too much, or even gazing upwards for inspiration can be very destructive to your audience’s attention and engagement. I’ve discovered these three great tips for establishing and holding eye contact during a presentation. 3 great tips for establishing and holding excellent eye contact with your audience during a presentation. 1) Position – Place yourself in the best spot to address the whole audience. Usually, you want to stand near the center of the stage or as close as possible. Right-handed people have a tendency to veer left when walking, and they do the same when addressing an audience. So quite often, the “other half” of the audience gets almost completely ignored, sometimes
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Talking to friends and family is fun, it is often seen in their smiles or heard in their voices just how fun it is. Presentations are encountered daily, when updating a client, trying to convince a prospect to pick your company, or even educating the public. Although we enjoy some conversations and talk to people every day, the majority of Americans are terrified to give presentations. They fear the audience is rooting for the presenter’s demise, rather an audience wants the presenter to succeed. I’ve noticed three things all audiences want: 1) Audiences want to see you succeed – Many people assume when people gather in numbers, they are judgmental and critical of everything. Instead, audiences remain hopeful that you’ll come around and be successful. The audience wants to hear what you have to say, that is why they gave their time to be present. In the end, it doesn’t matter what
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Different types of presentations obviously have different requirements. The majority of presentations go better when they are delivered standing up, but there are presentations that require a presenter to sit or would be received better when the presenter sits, such as a webinar. Sitting presentations have their benefits and drawbacks, but if the need to sit for presentation arises, here are 8 great tips: 1) Know Your Situation – Choose your seat wisely because where you sit can subtly effect your effectiveness. A seated presenter is generally seen by the audience as an equal or part of the team, not the leader of the team or the expert. Different situations require different strategies when it comes to sitting presentations. For example, a client update would be weird if the client were sitting and you were towering above them. The head of the table is generally viewed as the figurehead while sitting in
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I’m sure that you’ve encountered those lectures that you just dreaded going to, but had no choice and went anyway. I had a client that was giving a thought leadership presentation to an audience forced to be present because continuing education credits were on the line. Naturally this captured audience found other things to do like read newspapers, fall asleep, and play on phones, making even the best presentation ineffective. How do you overcome an uninterested audience? 1) Hook ’em – Much like a good book, a thought leadership presentation needs a good hook to capture interest quickly. 2) Humor – Liven the mood and ease the dread by adding humor to a presentation, poke fun at a ridiculous phone call or a recently encountered experience. Make sure that the humor you add is relevant to the topic and not obscene. 3) Keep It Real – Most of the presentations you’ve likely visited follow
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