Presentation Skills Be As Good as Obama

www.practicalbusinessskills.com
Presentation Skills - How to be as good as Obama

……Or As Good as This
…. ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you
can do for your country….see over
https://youtu.be/PzRg--jhO8g

Presentation Skills – Overcoming the Fear
It’s been said that the majority of people would rather die than give a presentation, this
may be over stating it somewhat but it is a fact of life that giving presentations is a huge
fear for most of us.
This Presentation will improve your ability to deliver polished, professional and powerful
presentations.
The Fear of Public Speaking.

Presentations are usually either informational or persuasive and when
looked atin the broadest terms there are four basic purposes when giving
them:
 To inform
 To persuade
 To build good will
 To elicit a call to action
Presentations – What They Are For

Presentation Skills – Three Phases
 Planning and Preparation
 Structuring the Content
 Delivery and Close

 Structuring the Content and Delivery

Preparation is Key
Preparation is Key
Abraham Lincoln stated that if he had eight hours
to cut down a tree he’d spend six hours
sharpening the axe

Planning & Preparation
 Goals and Objectives
 Context of your Presentation
 Audience Strategy
 Creating Messages that Motivate

Goals & Objectives
You must have a clear understanding of why you are giving the
presentation and what you want to achieve, you need to
understand clearly the Outcomes you want.
Prepare by documenting your Goals and Objectives
beforehand, The advantages are twofold, one it will help you to
plan properly and during the delivery you can refer back.

For example a CFO of a company may wish to give a
presentation that provides confidence (goal) to the analyst
community with the objectives of consolidating or improving
share value and persuading personal investors and financial
institutions to further invest in his company.
Goals & Objectives
We are doing great - profits increasing on year !

Understand the Context of the Presentation
Ask yourself the following questions:
 What is the broader concern underlying the need for the presentation?
 What primary issues underlie the presentation?
 How does your presentation relate to these issues?
 What will be happening in the organization when you make your presentation?
We are doing great - profits increasing on year !

When preparing the presentation try to understand the DNA of the
audience.
 Demographic, including age, occupation, responsibilities, personal
background
 Needs and Interests including their current knowledge of the subject
 Attitudes regarding you, your organisation, your subject and your point
of view
Try to understand why they are there in the first place, are they committed
and present of their own free will, sent by their employer or some other
reason.
Audience Strategy

 Are your supporting arguments understandable to the
audience
 Will the content enlist the audience concurrence
 Are logical connections explicit
 What other arguments need to be developed
 What contrary arguments do you need to neutralise
 When is it important to get audience participation, reaction or
buy-in
Messages that Motivate – “…I have a Dream…
Is the key message(s) selected actually the most critical,
does it support the objectives of you’ve set
https://youtu.be/3vDWWy4CMhE

Messages that Motivate
Ask yourself what else you can do or say that may help
persuade the audience.
 You need a combination of logic and emotion to convince
them.
 Your persuasiveness is largely down to your enthusiasm,
credibility and personal belief being put across.
 If you aren’t sure about the impact of a point leave it out.
 You also need to keep it simple and concise.

Structuring the Content

Structuring the Content
 The Opening
 The Body – Stated Points of View and Key Supporting Points
 The Close – Creating a Powerful Conclusion
 The Power of Visuals
As a framework you need an opening, body and a close - beginning, middle and
end………15%, 70%, 15% is a decent timeline rule of thumb.

The Opening
You will use the opening to
 Establish your own credibility,
 Define the purpose of the presentation
 Describe for the audience WIIFT – What is in it for them
 Preview briefly the main points to be covered
You need to open with a ‘hook’ to gain the audience’s interest and attention.

The Opening
You need to open with a ‘hook’ to gain the audience’s interest
and attention. Consider some of the following:
 A quotation
 A reference
 An analogy
 A statement – controversial perhaps
 A relevant, maybe personal story
 A question………can I ask you to consider…… call to action

The Body - Stated Points of view
 Phrase the situation, problem, opportunity or call to action in relation to
the audience
 Help the audience visualise the situation, need, opportunity or call to
action
 Involve the audience in the development of a path forward
 Ensure the urgency of proposals matches the needs of the situation
 Remember - no more than 3 key points to underpin and support.
Here you want to:

…. ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for
your country.
After announcing that you are closing out the presentation
 Relate the conclusion back to your introduction,
 Restate the main points you want your audience to remember,
 Repeat calls to action where required.
The Close - Creating a Powerful Conclusion
The closing statement is a very important part of your presentation as people are most
likely to remember what they heard not only first but last.

Here you want to:
 Reiterate the presentation’s key message(s)
 Integrate opening points into closing comments
 Suggest agreement
 Recommend actions
 Obtain commitment and buy-in
 Provide Closure
 Try to leave the audience with the feeling that they got what they came for.
The Close - Creating a Powerful Conclusion
Note: leave 10-15% of speaking time to be the conclusion of your presentation.

The Power of Visuals
Research has shown that:-
 People gain 75% of what they know visually
 Words and pictures together are 6 times more effective in conveying
information than words alone
 Presentations using visuals can be 43% more persuasive than
presentations without them
“a picture is worth a thousand words “.

Keep visuals big, bold and brilliant.
Big. The content of a visual should be large enough to be seen
by the entire audience.
Bold. Visual content should be prominent and clear
.
Brilliant. Use more than one colour per visual. Colours trigger
emotions and help emphasize key points.

Keep visuals big, bold and brilliant.
 Maintain a consistent format, for example using same text
styles instead of mix and match.
 Colour. Colour attracts attention, adds vitality and increases
people’s willingness to read.
 Colour can make your visuals more attractive, vivid and
memorable, can highlight important points and helps to
organise

There is the presentation you prepared for, the
presentation you gave, and the one you wish you
gave………….”
Delivery & Close

The key point is to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
Always write out your full presentation to begin with and use
this as the initial draft for rehearsal. On rehearsal, practicing
out loud, record the spoken presentation.
Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse

Gain Control of the Group
In any group of people in a presenting context the group will
unconsciously seek for someone to be in control. If it isn’t you it will be
someone else.
It is therefore essential to take control right at the beginning of your
presentation.
One way of doing this is to get your audience to do something you want,
even something very simple - e.g. ladies and gentlemen we are going to
start now, can you all please take your seat ?

You can build rapport with someone by matching their ways of
communicating:-
 Use their jargon, their terminology
 Use their same tonality, say the words the way they do
 Adopt the same physiology – use the same posture and gestures
Creating Rapport
Building rapport - to be a great presenter you need to establish rapport.
People create rapport or a bond with others by finding shared
experiences…something in common

Eliciting Positive States in the Audience
As the presenter you want your audience to be in the ideal state for receiving and
processing the information you are offering you and it is your responsibility to know
how to do this.
 Remember - most of what and how you are communicating is non-verbal.
 If you want your audience to be motivated be motivated yourself, people will follow you.
 Ask the audience to remember a time in the past when they were in the desired state e.g. excited
 Ask them to imagine a time in the future when they will be in the desired state.
 Tell them a story or metaphor

Managing the Delivery
You will achieve your best performance speaking effectively, projecting a positive image
and keeping your audience engaged.
most of what and how you are communicating is non-verbal.
Studies have shown that in human communication only
 7% of the meaning is carried in the actual words used.
 38% is in the way you say the words (tonality) and
 55% in the physiology – the way you posture, stand, hold
our body, breath, gesture, facial expressions you have.

Using Your Voice
 Keep the tone of your voice natural and
conversational
 Speak loudly enough for everyone to hear
 Use a microphone if needed
 Be expressive, do not speak in a monotone.

Using Your Voice
 Raise and lower your voice to make a point
 Enunciate and pronounce words clearly
 Breathe avoiding ums, ers and aahs
 Do not talk from script (ok to check notes)
 Make presentation conversational

Project a Positive Image
 Project confidence through your dress and presence
 Make sure your facial expressions convey interest in
your audience
 Make and maintain eye contact with audience members
 Gesture in a natural way
 Dovetail outcomes to their outcomes

Keep the Audience Engaged
 Change what you are doing or how you are speaking……a pause or vocal tone
 Ask questions (being you’ll prepared with the answer)
 Ask for a show of hands
 Provide analogies and vivid examples
 Introduce personal stories

Keep the Audience Engaged
 Employ compelling statistics, expert testimony
 Use visuals to good effect
 Use movement when you want control
 Watch audience for Non Verbal Communication about responses

Duration
 Make the presentation as long as it needs to be to convey your key
message clearly and completely
 Make it only long enough to be clear and complete within the
allocated time
 It is better to make fewer points and make them well
 If you do not have enough time to make a point clear or acceptable to
your audience save it for another day

Duration
 Ending early is better than not completing the talk or having to rush
through at the end
 Plan and prioritise beforehand on what to delete if your time is cut
short
 Ensure time at the end for questions as a matter of courtesy.
 Allow 75% of your allocated time to the presentation, this provides
some inherent slack

Times
It is worth giving consideration to the timing of the presentation.
Certain days of the week and selected times of day are better than others for
to allow your participants to be present, on time and ready to engage
productively.
 It is usually prudent to avoid late afternoons before an upcoming holiday
or week- end.
 The same goes for an early morning meeting first thing on the return
back.
 Give due consideration also to the preparation time you need prior to the
presentation.

Location & Venue
Venue rooms and their furnishings will contribute significantly
to an effective presentation. When facilities are right they go
unnoticed. When they are inadequate or too elaborate they
can detract from a meeting.
On-site presentations are usually convenient and low cost,
however this can sometimes mean being convenient for
interruptions as people are easily accessible or can
‘disappear’ Be willing to look elsewhere as is necessary.

Location & Venue
The need for people to be physically comfortable should not be
overlooked and heating, lighting and ventilation should be
adequate for the size of the group and activities planned.
Information presentations should have participants facing the
front of the room and be sure to complete an equipment
checklist prior to the presentation to ensure all of the
electronic equipment in particular is working.

Presentation Checklist - Do’s
Do’s
 Do prepare properly
 Do understand the purpose of your presentation and the outcomes you want
 Do understand the Context of the presentation
 Do understand your Audience as much as possible – their DNA
 Do understand the importance of the Opening and grabbing the audience’s attention
 Do understand the importance of creating a Powerful Conclusion (Close)
 Do tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them
 Do Select Messages that Motivate
 Do Review your Key Messages of support

Presentation Checklist - Do’s
Do’s
 Do understand the type of Arguments you might face
 Do understand the importance of strong visuals - people gain 75% of what they know visually
 Do keep visuals simple and concise
 Do keep visuals big, bold, brilliant and colourful
 Do Rehearse, Rehearse and Rehearse
 Do Be Yourself
 Do build Rapport with the audience
 Do gain control of your audience or group
 Do use your Voice to its best advantage

Don’ts List
Presentation Checklist - Dont’s
 Don’t let fear overcome you – rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
 Don’t forget to let the audience know who you are
 Don’t let detail and complexity get in the way of the message
 Don’t talk from a script
 Don’t um and aaah
 Don’t be one-toned, one paced vocally
 Don’t hide behind the lectern
 Don’t present too long
 Don’t forget to BE YOURSELF !

Being yourself
Being you is all you will ever need. It is ok to be yourself, the
more of you that is available to the audience the more You will
be able to connect, bond and feel more comfortable with
you.
Conclusion & Final Thought
Good Luck !

About the Author
Introduction
Hi, I’m Billy Hughes MSc MCIPS. I’ve been operating in the global business world for over twenty-five years, fifteen of those in
senior Purchasing and Procurement Management positions in both the Public and Private sectors, and a further ten in
leadership roles in Sales & Marketing working with and for a number of world class companies.

Presentation Skills Be As Good as Obama

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