The art of making effective presentations

1 ©Copyright by AB. PRASAAD
A B PRASAD
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
THE ART OF MAKING EFFECTIVE
PRESENTATIONS

• THERE IS A MYTH THAT SPEAKERS ARE
BORN
• SPEAKING SKILLS CAN BE LEARNT
• IT IS A COMMUNICATION SKILL

“The biggest problem with
communication is the illusion that
it has been accomplished.”
-George Bernard Shaw

SPEAKERS:
a) Self centered
b) Message centered
c) Audience-centered
A good public speaker is
Audience-centered

Preparing content
• Analyze your AUDIENCE
• Define what ACTION you want them to
take
• Arrange your ARGUMENT to move them
3 A’s

Analyze Your Audience
• What are their names, titles, backgrounds, reasons
for attending, etc…?
• What are their big concerns?
• What are their objectives, fears, hot buttons, and
attitudes?

Analyze your Audience
-- General information
-- Heterogeneity
-- Age
-- Sex
-- Socio-economic background
-- Level of understanding
-- Attitudes
-- Interests
-- Needs

Analyze Your Audience
• What is their perception of you and your
institution?
• What are their questions likely to be?
• What is personally at stake for them?
• How much detail do they need?

Define What Action
• What action do you want the audience to
take?
• Define it in terms of the audience.
• What will they feel, believe, and do after
hearing your talk?

Adopt the speech
to the audience
and the occasion

SPEECH PREPARATION
• Decide on the purpose of your speech
- Is it supposed to inform?
or persuade?
• Select content that is compatible with your
purpose
• Gather information
- Personal experiences
- Interviews
- Newspapers
- Books
- Internet
• Make a creative analysis of topic
• Develop the objectives

ORGANISE YOUR SPEECH
• The body:
Main ideas and supporting ideas
• The introduction:
Drawing attention, establishing
credibility, usefulness
• The conclusion:
Summation, challenge and action

• The speech should be
unified, coherent, relevant,
concise and comprehensive
• Tell them what you are going to tell them,
tell them,
and tell them what you told them
• Prepare handouts and visual aids

DELIVERING THE SPEECH

TYPES OF DELIVERY
Extemporaneous mode:
(Without referring to notes)
- Speech prepared before delivery
• Plan for speaking
Outline
Content
Rehearsal
• Time to gather data
• Well-organized
(Disadvantage : Sticking to the structure &
ignoring audience response)

• Security of knowing what to say and how to say
it
• Each word is painstakingly selected
• Sometimes it is appropriate and desirable
• Mechanical, lacks spontaneity, stifles interaction
with participants
• Read with interest, enthusiasm and vitality
MANUSCRIPT MODE:

• Delivered with little or no preparation
• Ability to think on your feet
• Break your topic into parts past, present and future
• Give introductory remarks
• Order your thoughts
• Review main points
• End with a strong conclusion
IMPROMPTU MODE:

MEMORISED SPEECH
• Success depends on memory
• Present naturally
• Difficulty in responding to the audience
• Lacks spontaneity

Podium Panic
For some people, the thought
of giving a presentation is
more frightening than falling
off a cliff, financial difficulties,
snakes and even death.

DELIVERING SPEECH
• Understand speech anxiety:
- Self-conscious (how you
are being perceived)
- Fear of rejection
- Stage fright
• Extensive preparation builds confidence
• Anxiety is found out through non-verbal cues

DELIVERING SPEECH
• Every good speaker gets keyed up before
delivery
• We are all afraid of unknown
• Audience want you to be a good speaker
• Focus on the topic
• Have positive attitude about the self

• Rehearsing and thorough
preparation helps
• Prepare the audience
• Explain the session plan
• Talk about the benefits
• Maintain eye contact
DELIVERING SPEECH

• Never let them out of your sight.
• Looking them in the eye makes them feel that
they are influencing what you say.
• Eye contact allows the presentation to
approximate conversation—the audience feels
much more involved.
Eye Contact

Principles of Effective Delivery
• Avoid frequent repetition of words
• Avoid vocal disfluencies, or vocalised
pauses.
• Avoid distracting physical activities like
scratching head, rubbing nose etc.
• Delivery includes voice elements and body
movements
• Think the thought and feel the emotion

• Appear to be natural and spontaneous
• Avoid distracting verbal and nonverbal cues
• Adjust delivery to the audience, topic and
situation
• Reinforce meaning in message
• While using notes don’t pretend that you
are not using
• Develop the ability to see yourself as the
audience does.

Improve gestures and movement
- Dress and appearance
- Postures
- Facial expressions
- Gestures
- Voice

Use Humor
- Great way to Break ice
- It must be linked to the subject
speaker, audience or occasions
NOTHING IS MORE EMBRASSING THAN
A JOKE THAT FALLS FLAT

Body Language
NO-NO’s
• Lean on or grip the podium
• Rock or sway in place
• Stand immobile
• Use a single gesture repeatedly
• Examine or bite your fingernails

Body Language
NO-NO’s
• Cross your arms in front of your chest
• Use obviously practiced or stilted gestures
• Chew gum or eat candy
• Click or tap your pen, pencil or pointer

Body Language
NO-NO’s
• Lean into the microphone
• Shuffle your notes unnecessarily
• Tighten your tie or otherwise play with your
clothing
• Crack your knuckles
• Jangle change or key in your pocket

Voice
• Voice Intelligibility
–Articulation
–Pronunciation
–Vocalized pauses
–Overuse of stock
expressions
–Substandard
grammar
• Voice Variability
–Rate of speech
–Volume
–Pitch or tone
–Emphasis

Why use Visuals?
• Increase and reinforce learning
• Add Interest
• Facilitate listening & remembering
• Essential for understanding concepts
• Increase teaching effectiveness
• A picture is worth thousand words

Impact of Audio-Visual Aids
• People remember
– 20% of what is heard
– 30% of what is seen
– 50% of what is seen & heard

Planning and Preparation
• Requires time, thought & imagination in
– Selecting the points to be visualised
– Translating ideas into suitably visual forms
– Choosing the most appropriate medium
– Designing layout and choosing colour
– Manning the aid
– Evaluating its effectiveness
– Revising for future use

Deciding which Device to use
• Size of audience
• Where the talk to be held
• Once or many times
• Cost of Preparing
• Transport
• Availability of power
• Availability of equipment
• Familiarity of speaker with aids
• Subject

Devices Available• Chalk Board
• White Board
• Flip Chart
• Magnetic Board
• Smart Board
• Flannel Board
• Over head Projector
• Episcope or opaque projector
• Slides
• Films
• LCD Projector, Power point
• Video
• Video Conferencing
• Pana…

Chalk Board
• Advantages :
– Generally available
– Inexpensive
– No Preparation
• Disadvantages
– Speaker to turn away from audience
– Talking to the board
– Ignoring audience
– Limited distance
– Dusty and messy
– Dramatic effects not possible

Tips
• Write for audience
• Write legibly
• Use capitals
• Keep neat and tidy
• Cut down to essentials
• Don’t over crowd
• Clean the board
• Use colored chalk for emphasis

Flip Chart
• Advantages
– Can be used as blackboard or previously prepared charts
– Less time and money
– No need to erase
– Can be reused for Recapitulation and review
• Disadvantages
– Limited space
– Transportation Problems
– Dramatic effect limited
– Paper curling in storage
– ‘Strip-tease’ chart to reveal one at a time
– Drawings can be prepared ‘invisibly’

White Board
• Advantages
– Permits wide use of colour
– Less messy than chalk
– Writing smooth and silent
– Bright, Clean and Pleasant to look
– Can also be used for projections
• Disadvantages
– Expensive
– Wrong Pens create stains
– Some boards scratch easily

Magnetic Board
• Can be used as black board
• Very heavy for portability
• Expensive
• Dramatic effect by lightly throwing

• Good for displaying
– Photographs
– Posters
– Cutting from magazines
• Colourful
• Can be reused
• Cannot be used as chalk board

Overhead Projector
• Various Models
• Widely used
• Can be used in normal daylight
• Transparent acetate sheets
• Marker Pens
• Can also be photo copied
• Colour transparencies
• Type script is too small
• Card Board frames for mounting

Overhead Projector
• Advantages
– Speaker can face audience
– Can work on transparencies
– Roll of plastic as board
– Easier to write on horizontal surface
– Is clean and quick
– Complete darkening not needed
– Permits note-taking

Panaboard
• Advantages
– Now-with integral printer for plain paper printing
– Easy to write and wipe
– Can use color pens
– The Panasonic Interactive Panaboard can support your
needs by opening your meetings and presentations to
your business colleagues at locations around the
world, thereby offering a cost effective and real-time
global teleconference solution. You can project images
from computer onto the board and control your
applications for Windows . So whether your
requirements call for training, global teleconferencing,
or affordable brainstorming solution,

Visuals can be used
• To bring out a series of facts and the conclusions
• To bring out points to be emphasized
• To attract attentions through devices or colours
• To present a complex processes
• To introduce new concepts
• To show relationships among objects
• To show outline

Methodology
• Use pictures
• Use words as second choice
• Use graphs
• Use devices
• Use colour
• Use your imagination

Ranking of colors in getting
attention
• ORANGE
• RED
• BLUE
• BLACK
• GREEN
• YELLOW
• VIOLET
• GREY

Preference of Colors
• BLUE
• RED
• GREEN
• VIOLET
• ORANGE
• YELLOW
• RED AND BLUE ARE THE BEST COLOURS

Yellow on Dark Blue
Pink on Violet
Brown on White
Green on White
Dark Blue on White
Yellow on Black
Black on Yellow
White on Black
Black on White

Use of Symbols

Design Concepts
•Big
•Simple
•Clear

Simple
•Not many lines( 6 to 10)
•No more than 10 words per line

Clear
• Color of the background and text
•Arial or Helvetica
•Avoid overuse of red, shadows, animation
and transitions
•Beware of glaring backgrounds

Clear
•Clip art should add to the content
•Ditto on sound clips
•Use a different background only to
emphasize one slide

Visual Aids
(not the stars of the
show)

VISUAL AIDS
- Don’t talk to visual aids
- Place yourself at centre stage
- Use Pointer sparingly
- Learn Black Board Management

Questions & Answers
“Does anyone have any
questions for my answers?”
-Henry Kissinger

Questions & Answers
• Beginning of a whole new interactive
presentation
• Opportunity to make a point
• Most presentations are won or lost here

Question and Answers
- Encourage Questions
- Ask Questions with proper gestures
- Anticipate questions and prepare
- Watch the person asking questions and Listen
carefully
- Repeat the question
- Involve whole audience

Questions & Answers
• Anticipate lines of
questioning
• Rehearse
• Don’t rank questions
• Keep answers brief
• Be honest
• Don’t repeat negative
questions
• Clarify question
• Refer to experts
• Move your eyes off
questioner

NEVER argue with a member
of the audience.
THE RULE

• Look at the questioner.
• Remain neutral and attentive.
• Listen to the whole question.
• Pause before you respond.
• Address the questioner, then move your eyes to
others.
Instead…

Easy as A B C
“I can’t Answer that question
Because …,
but I Can tell you…”

“Better to keep your
mouth shut and appear
ignorant than open it and
remove all doubt.”
-Mark Twain

Speaking Environment
Control over speaking environment
- Checkup Equipments
- Proper seating arrangement
- Reach before time
- Acquaint yourself with environment
- Handouts
- Glass of water

• PPT is designed to ENHANCE your presentation, not BE
the presentation.
• Remember, only you can prevent
“Death by PowerPoint”
PowerPoint Presentation GuidelinesPowerPoint Presentation Guidelines

• Highlight key points or reinforce what the facilitator is
saying
• Should be short and to the point, include only key words
and phrases for visual, reinforcement
• In order for your presentation to fit on most screens, text
and images should be placed within 95% of the
PowerPoint slide. This “action safe” area is seen in the
next slide.
PowerPoint SlidePowerPoint Slide

• Layout continuity from frame to frame conveys a sense of
completeness
• Headings, subheadings, and logos should show up in the
same spot on each frame
• Margins, fonts, font size, and colors should be consistent
with graphics located in the same general position on
each frame
• Lines, boxes, borders, and open space also should be
consistent throughout
PowerPoint LayoutPowerPoint Layout

FontsFonts
• Font Style Should be Readable
– Recommended fonts: Arial, Tahoma,
Veranda
• Standardize the Font Throughout
Do !

• This is a good title size
Verdana 40 point
• A good subtitle or bullet point size
Verdana 32 point
• Content text should be no smaller than
Verdana 24 point
• This font size is not recommended for content. Verdana 12 point.
Font SizeFont Size
 The larger, the better. Remember, your slides must
be readable, even at the back of the room.

TIPS Presentation: 3/8/2004 Dawn Thomas, CRM
Don’t !
Font SizeFont Size
 What does this say? Garamond Font, Italic, Bold 12pt.
• This is very difficult to read. Times Font, Bold, 12pt.
• This point could be lost. Century Gothic Font, Bold, Italic, 14pt.
• No one will be able to read this. Gill Sans Font, Condensed Bold, 12pt
 Combining small font sizes with bold or italics is not
recommended:
Small fonts are okay for a footer, such as:

FontsFonts
• Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style
• Don’t Sacrifice reaDability
for Style
• Don’t Sacrifice Readability for
Style
• Don’t Sacrifice
Readability for
Style
Don’t !

Caps and ItalicsCaps and Italics
• DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
– Makes text hard to read
– Conceals acronyms
– Denies their use for EMPHASIS
• Italics
– Used for “quotes”
– Used to highlight thoughts or ideas
– Used for book, journal, or magazine titles

Use a TemplateUse a Template
• Use a set font and color scheme.
• Different styles are disconcerting to the
audience.
• You want the audience to focus on what
you present, not the way you present.

Use the Same BackgroundBackground
on Each Slide
Do !!

Don’t!
• Don’t use multiple backgrounds in your
presentation
• Changing the style is distracting

CCoolloorrss
• Reds and oranges are high-energy but
can be difficult to stay focused on.
• Greens, blues, and browns are
mellower, but not as attention
grabbing.
• Reds and Greens can be difficult to
see for those who are color blind.

CCoolloorrss
• White on dark background should not be used if
audience is more than 20 ft away.
– This set of slides is a good example.
– You can read the slides up close.
– The further away you get, the harder it is to read.
– This is a good color combination if viewed on a
computer.
– A dark background on a computer screen reduces
glare.

CCoolloorrss
• Large Hall Events
–Avoid WhiteWhite Backgrounds
–The white screen can be blinding in a
dark room
–Dark SlidesDark Slides with Light ColoredLight Colored
TextText Work Best
Don’t

TheThe CCoolloorr WheelWheel
• Colors separated by another
color are contrasting colors
(complementary)
• Adjacent colors harmonize
with one another (Green and
Yellow)
• Colors directly opposite one
another are said to CLASH
• Clashing colors provide
readability
– OrangeOrange on BlueBlue
Do !

Graphs and ChartsGraphs and Charts
Make sure the audience can
read them!

Avoid using graphics that are difficult to read. In this example, the bright colors
on a white background and the small font make the graph hard to read. It
would be very difficult to see, especially in the back of a room.
8
Don’t !
Graphics and ChartsGraphics and Charts

This graph contains too much information in an unreadable format.
10
Don’t !

These are examples of
good graphs, with nice
line widths and good
colors.
Good GraphGood Graph
Do !

Charts and GraphsCharts and Graphs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Nort h America Europe Aust railia
Mode A
Mode B
Mode C
Don’t

Charts and GraphsCharts and Graphs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
NorthNorth
AmericaAmerica
Europe Australia
Mode A
Mode B
Mode C
Do !

IllustrationsIllustrations
• Use only when needed, otherwise they become
distracters instead of communicators
• They should relate to the message and help make
a point
• Ask yourself if it makes the message clearer
• Simple diagrams are great communicators
Do !

Don’t !

Limit Each Slide to One IdeaLimit Each Slide to One Idea
• UseUse Bullet PointsBullet Points to Coverto Cover
Components of Each IdeaComponents of Each Idea

BulletsBullets
• Keep each bullet to 1 line, 2 at the most
• Limit the number of bullets in a screen to 6, 4 if
there is a large title, logo, picture, etc.
– This is known as “cueing”
– You want to “cue” the audience on what you’re
going to say
• Cues are a a brief “preview”
• Gives the audience a “framework” to build upon

BulletsBullets (con.)(con.)
• If you crowd too much text, the audience won’t
read it
– Too much text looks busy and is hard to read
– Why read it, when you’re going to tell them what it
says?
– Our reading speed does not match our listening
speed; hence, they confuse instead of reinforce

Points to RememberPoints to Remember
• Limit each slide to 1 idea
• Limit each bullet point to only a few words to
avoid long sentences that go on and on!

• Limit animation
• Too much animation can be distracting.
• Be consistent with animation and have all text
and photos appear on the screen the same way
each time.
• There are many animation modes to choose
from, but it is best to use just one throughout.

Limit AnimationLimit Animation
• Use the same animation throughout the entire
presentation
• Using more than one can be very distracting
– The audience will only see the animation and not
the message you’re trying to get across
!!
Bam!Don’t

• Keep bullet points brief
• Use the same background for each
slide
• Use dark slides with light colored text in
large hall events
Do !

Avoid the “All Word” SlideAvoid the “All Word” Slide
Another thing to avoid is the use of a large
block paragraph to introduce your information.
Attendees do not like to have what is on the
screen, read to them verbatim. So, please
use short, bulleted statements and avoid typing
out your whole presentation on to the slides.
Also, it is difficult for some to listen and read a
large amount of text at the same time.
Don’t

• To make a slide stand out,To make a slide stand out,
change the font, background,change the font, background,
or add animation.or add animation.

YOUYOU
• Do not use the media to hide you
• The audience came to SEE you
• The media should ENHANCE the presentation, not
BE the presentation
• If you’re only going to read from the slides, then just
send them the slides!
• Remember, only you can prevent
“Death by PowerPoint”

“Make sure you have finished
speaking before your audience
has finished listening.”
-Dorothy Sarnoff

The art of making effective presentations

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