This document provides tips for giving effective presentations. It discusses five key steps: 1) building a relationship with the audience, 2) establishing your credibility and expertise on the topic, 3) thorough preparation and practice, 4) using body language and visual aids, and 5) dressing appropriately. The document emphasizes the importance of understanding your audience, conveying clear key messages, rehearsing your presentation, maintaining eye contact and a confident posture, and leaving the audience with a strong final impression.

1. Putting Your Best Foot
Forward with a Presentation
That Rocks
Presented by
Sally Ramsay
Sr. Vice President
Pierpont Communications, Inc.

2. Why Are We Here?
“A presentation is
no more than a
thoughtfully
prepared
conversation.”

3. Objectives of Presentation Training
This workshop will help you, as a spokesperson, to
• Protect your company’s brand
• Convey key messages
• Effectively communicate with your audience
• Better understand your audience’s expectations
• Be perceived as an expert

4. Keys to Public Speaking
You have what they want: Information
Remember: You’re talking to the public, not just
your audience
• Stakeholders
• Regulators
• Employees
• Customers
• Competitors
Three Principles
of Success
1. Comfort
2. Plan
3. Credibility

5. Five Steps to
Presentation Success

6. Step 1: Building a Relationship
• Make a good impression
• Assume you’ll see each
other again
• Give them something
they can use
• State your intentions

7. Step 2: Speaker Essentials
• Credentials
• Credibility
• Content
• Examples
• Stories
• Anecdotes
• Analogies
Be The Expert!

8. Step 3: Preparation
Think…
• Who are you talking to?
• What is your objective?
• What do you want the audience to know, think, feel or remember?
• What does the audience want to know? (Why are you there?)
Rehearse…
• Create your presentation
• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Turn it into bullet points
• Practice with your visuals
• Practice, Practice, Practice!

9. Step 4: Talking Without Words
38%
7%
55%
Visual Presence 55%
Voice Quality 38%
Content 7%
When an audience
senses inconsistency
in a speaker’s
message, what do they
rely on for the truth?

10. Step 5: Dress For Success
• What you wear is pure nonverbal
communication
• Complement your audiences’ manner of dress
• Use color psychology to create the desired
impression
• Don’t try to project a personality that isn’t you
— be comfortable

11. Body Language
• Eye Contact
• Facial Expression
• Posture
• Movement
• Gestures
• Appearance
• Fidgeting

12. Body Language: Stage Fright
• Sweating Palms
• Dry Mouth
• Wavering Voice
• Fidgeting
• Playing with Hair
• Feeling Faint
• Upset Stomach
What are your symptoms?

13. Q&A Best Practices
Use bridging to turn a negative into a positive
• Bridging is a three-step process:
1. Acknowledge the topic raised
2. Use phrases to bridge from the question to your key messages
3. Provide critical supporting data points or stories
• Bridging phrases that help:
• The most important thing is…
• Before we change topics…
• Let me add…
• What that means is…
• That’s a good point, but...
• What concerns me even more is…

14. Message Delivery Tips
Tried-and-true Triad
1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them (intro)
2. Tell them (body)
3. Tell them what you told them (conclusion)
Flagging
• Emphasize an important point with tone of voice, hand
gestures or facial expression
• Examples:
• There are three new programs we’ve started this
year (holding up three fingers)
• Did you know…(leaning forward)

15. Message Delivery Tips, Cont.
• Self-deprecation doesn’t work
• Avoid touchy subjects: Politics, religion,
off-color jokes
• Test your humor on colleagues to be
sure it comes across correctly

16. Sample Presentation Outline
• Open (2–3 minutes)
• Transition
• Body (15–20 minutes)
• Point 1 (include stories/examples)
• Point 2 (include stories/examples)
• Point 3 (include stories/examples)
• Transition
• Close (1–2 minutes)

17. You Know What they Say About
First Impressions…
• Share a personal experience or story
• Ask a question
• Mention something in the headlines
• Describe something
new or dramatic
• Make a controversial
or counter-intuitive
statement

18. But Last Impressions Count Too!
• Call to Action
• Predict the Future
• Challenge the Audience
• Use a Powerful Quote