The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Mastering the Delivery".

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
PRESENTATION
SKILLS
Mastering the Delivery

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020
onwards.
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Commons license.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
Things only go wrong in a presentation when we see our
role as performers and the audience as critical observers.
Then when something unexpected happens, such as a
lighting failure, a blown projector bulb or a difficult question
from the audience, we imagine we are being judged and
condemned. If we change this perception so that the
audience are "with" us in a joint exercise of mutual benefit,
then nothing can go wrong, only different from plan.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
There are six different types of problems that can affect
your presentation:
1. Nerves. You can solve the worst effects of nerves by a
range of techniques.
2. Lost Rapport. This is the feeling that somehow you and
the audience are no longer on the same wavelength.
3. Technical Problems. Technical problems range from those
within your control to those you can do nothing about.
4. Difficult Audiences. At some stage you will come across
difficult audiences. You need to recognise them and be
resourceful in dealing with them.
5. Questions From The Floor. Handling questions well can
tip the balance of an audience's opinion in your favour.
6. The Unexpected. You should aim to be able to deal with
anything unexpected.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
GET CLOSE TO THEM
The fear that is at the root of our nerves is often our
perception that the audience is hostile, full of important,
highly intelligent and critical people, gleefully waiting for us
to trip up.
Almost certainly such a perception is false. Indeed,
audiences are on our side, willing us to do well for their
benefit and ours.
We can dispel false perceptions if we get to know our
audience before we start. Mixing with them before the
presentation has the reassuring effect that we can find out
that they are in fact just like us.
"Don't worry about the traffic (audience): they don't want
to hit you any more than you want to hit them." (Driving
instructor's advice)

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
LOSING RAPPORT
Lost rapport is the feeling deep in the pit of your stomach
when you realize that you have lost your audience and are
no longer getting through to them.
It may be a feeling you pick up, or signs of boredom among
the row of faces. It may be when you dry up or start to feel
anxious about the impression you're making. It may be
panic and a wish that the floor would suddenly open up and
release you from the torment.
At times like these - and every seasoned speaker has
experienced them - your only course of action is to stay
calm and regain control of your thoughts, feelings and
actions. If you test your fears by re-connecting with the
audience, say by asking for questions, there is every
likelihood that you are mistaken; the audience isn’t lost,
they may be intensely interested.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
CARDINAL SINS
The following 7 habits might be tempting to adopt in your
presentations but they will almost certainly lose you
audience rapport.
1. focusing on your own self-importance.
2. apologising for your lack of experience or preparation.
3. over-doing the facts and figures; people will just tune out
through overload.
4. jargon and flowery words that your audience doesn't
understand.
5. inappropriate jokes.
6. giving offence, snide remarks, moaning.
7. being late without good reason.
Committing any of these cardinal sins of presentations will
make it difficult for you to re-connect with your audience.
You can eliminate any of these by doing dry-runs in front of
a test audience, selected for their readiness to be honest.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
FIND A WAY TO RE-CONNECT
Dealing with moments of lost rapport means staying calm
and realising you have choices.
1. Re-connect. You re-connect with your audience when you
stop seeing them as hostile and see them as partners. Then
you can eliminate "win-lose" self-talk from your thoughts
and get back on their wavelength.
2. Change The Pace. If things aren't going as planned,
change the pace and do something else.
3. Have A Break. A break allows you to gather your thoughts
and even speak to some of the audience. You might even
disclose how you feel and see if others feel the same. You
might be surprised to learn that your fears are totally
groundless.
4. Involve Them. Getting the audience involved, either by a
discussion or by doing something, switches attention from
you to them and gives you a chance to take stock.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Some technical problems have the potential to ruin a good
speech.
The story is told of a prestige gathering in a large hotel. The
conference room was perfect for the meeting and the
presentation proceeded well.
As the afternoon wore on, dusk fell outside and the room
was soon in complete darkness which only served to
enhance the sharpness of the screen presentations.
However, when the presentation ended and the projector
was turned off, the room was in total dark. None of the
organisers had any idea where the light switches were and
the audience sat in total darkness for 15 minutes until the
hotel staff arrived and located them in a boxed wall
cupboard.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
DIFFICULT AUDIENCES
If you allow interruptions, questions and audience
participation, you will sooner or later face difficult
audiences.
While difficult audiences may annoy you, you must treat
them all with tact, courtesy and deference.
If you're clever, you can even turn their tactics to your
advantage; a difficult audience is, after all, an interested
audience. On no account should you argue, lose control or
let others spoil your presentation for you.
One consolation is that no harm should come to you, even if
you fail to win over a difficult audience. In the days of
Demosthenes, (384 -324BC), the Athenians would put any
orators who displeased them to death.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
DIFFICULT TYPES
Here are seven of the most difficult audience types that you
might come across if you have audience participation:
1. Critics: those who like to pick holes in your speech. Defer
to them and ask for their views.
2. Interrupters: those who want to be heard; politely
suggest they make their points later.
3. Show-offs: those who want to impress. Determine that
you will have none of it.
4. Disagreers: whose who want an argument. With the
support of others, put them in their place.
5. Intellectualisers: those who want to take over. Suggest
that you discuss their ideas over coffee.
6. Aggressors: those who want to test you. Resolve not to
rise to the bait.
7. The Uncommitted: those who say nothing and look
bored. They may sabotage your presentation after you've
left. Invite them to take part.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
PRESENTATION PROSPECTS
If you are making a sales presentation, it is important to
understand the different prospect types in your audience.
Handling them correctly can help you make better closes.
1. Those Who Talk Too Much. Use summaries to slow
them down and shut them up. Focus your attention
elsewhere.
2. Those Who Know It All Already. Invite these people to
sum up for you. You can then correct them politely on
areas where they undersell you.
3. Those Who Want An Argument. Keep control, don't rise
to the bait. Turn their criticisms around. Focus on
anything they say at all in your favour.
4. Those Who Say Little. Ask them direct questions.
5. Those Who Are Wrong. Don't argue with them. Correct
what they say indirectly, for example, by mentioning
other cases that disprove them.

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
TAKING QUESTIONS
Taking questions from your audience should enhance rather
than destroy your expertise in the subject of your
presentation.
The first thing to do is to decide whether you want to take
questions in front of your audience or individually
afterwards. In tricky situations, or where you are not sure
about your subject, choose to take them in private.
If you do take public questions, follow these 2 rules:
1. ask if the audience heard the question. Even if they did,
repeat it. This clarifies your understanding and gives you
precious time to think.
2. if you don't know the answer, don't pretend you do.
Either promise to find out and get back to the questioner
(and others) or ask if anyone else in the audience has
experience in the matter and can add something.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
SIDESTEP THE TRAP QUESTIONS
Questions from the floor may or may not enhance your
presentation depending on the subject and your audience. If
you do decide to take questions, you may need to field four
different question types.
These are set to trap you:
1. The test question to find out how much you know.
"What evidence do you have for making these claims?"
2. The show-off question in which the questioner wants to
show how clever they are.
3. The defensive question which may reveal that someone
feels under threat, eg "How do you know this'll work?" (=
I'm scared if it does)
4. The concealed objection, which is a way of challenging
you, eg "Why is the price so high?"

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THINKING ON YOUR FEET
There are seven ways to answer difficult questions from an
audience:
1. answer the question simply and assertively
2. admit you don't know, make a note of who asked and
the gist of the question and promise to find out. At the
next possible opportunity, get the answer and get right
back to the questioner.
3. defer your answer to a private session (eg over coffee)
4. refer to a colleague who knows the answer
5. throw the question back onto the questioner
6. throw the question over to someone else in the
audience who you think could help
7. open the question to general discussion.
Aim to be honest. Answer as best you can. Admit when you
don't know and get back as soon as you can.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
WHAT'S YOUR BACKUP RESPONSE?
Since you can't predict all the things that can happen in your
presentation, it is wise to have a backup response even if it
is just to get you out of trouble.
The story is told of a salesman who was in a departmental
store demonstrating unbreakable plastic combs. He had
gathered a large audience around him and was putting the
comb through all sorts of tortures and stress. One or two of
the audience were sceptical about their unbreakability and
challenged him to prove it. So the salesman bent the comb
completely in half. To his and the audience's surprise, the
comb snapped in half with a loud crack.
Without missing a beat, the salesman bravely held up both
halves of the "unbreakable" comb for everyone to see and
said, "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what an
unbreakable comb looks like on the inside."

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
WHEN THE UNEXPECTED
HAPPENS
The best-laid plans can sometimes come unstuck as a result
of unexpected events: the blown bulb on the overhead, the
video that won't start, the lady who faints, the arrival of the
tea trolley, the start of next-door's aerobic class.
When something unexpected happens, the audience will
look to you to do something about it.
You may in fact be remembered more for your cool handling
of the things that went wrong than for the things that went
right.
Before your presentation,...
1. check all the equipment
2. put together a first aid kit
3. know where you can get emergency help.
In an emergency, you have these options: stay calm and
acknowledge what has happened; ignore it; make light of it;
have a filler up your sleeve.

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
QUICK-THINKING REPLIES
When things don’t go as planned, you need to have a few
quick-witted lines up your sleeve.
The following are examples of saver lines from speaker Tom
Antion.
1. When nobody laughs at your joke: “That was a Polaroid
joke. It takes a minute to get it.”
2. You drop something: “Is that a signal I’ve talked too
long?”
3. Something is broken: “Anyone got any superglue?”
4. The lights go out: “It appears I need to shed some more
light on this subject.”
5. Your slide is upside down: “You may want to stand on
your head for this one.”
6. You hear a loud crash: “I’m flattered. You ordered
fireworks for me?”

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THE PRESENTER’S FIRST AID KIT
Experienced presenters know from experience what items
to keep in their toolkit. They usually consist of essentials
needed for their talk and versatile equipment that might be
useful if things break down.
Here is a (not comprehensive) checklist for a presenter's
toolkit:
1. General items: pens, pencils, card, paper, highlighters,
felt-tip pens, pins, tape, penknife, screwdriver, string,
wire, razor blade, blu-tac, sellotape, masking tape,
screws, nails.
2. Visual aids: spare bulbs, butterfly clips, plugs, wire,
fuses.
3. Your appearance: toothbrush, deodorant, spare
buttons, sewing kit, shoe polish kit, wipes, pins, spare
tie (for men), spare tights (for ladies).

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
IS PRESENTING THE WORST
FEAR?
The ten worst human fears recorded by David Wallechinsky
in "The Book of Lists" are:
1. Making a speech before a group
2. Heights
3. Insects and bugs
4. Financial problems
5. Deep water
6. Sickness
7. Death
8. Flying
9. Loneliness
10. Dogs
Now, you no longer need to fear anything in making a
speech to any size of group!

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Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Mastering the Delivery
Presentation Skills
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn