It’s natural to be a little anxious or nervous before your big presentation and certainly preparation, planning and practice beforehand will help.
(Prior preparation and planning prevents p!ss poor performance). However if you still beel nevous before the presentation, here are some tips. Continue reading
Here are a a couple of tips on presenting from a radio announcer’s point-of-view.
Who does a radio announcer speak to? This is a trick question. The answer is a singular “YOU” – good radio announcers don’t say
“Hello to all you listeners out there” , they say something like;
“Hello, how are you today?”
Their audience is someone like
• the person in the car wanting traffic information and news,
• someone at home listening to the radio for companionship, or
• someone filling a silence while working
But each is an individual who needs to be treated as the only person listening out there. We’re lucky with our language in that “YOU” is both singular and plural, so when you use it in a presentation, individuals feel as though you are addressing them directly. Use this to your advantage to create inclusion.
The rule is very little “I’
Not much more “we” (because “We” can mean “you and me” or “me and someone else”)
Lots of “YOU”
There is a school of thought the we use um, ahh and err as verbal placeholders so that we don’t lose our turn in the conversation. Irrespective, if you use it too much in a presentation it becomes very distracting to the audience. I remember a lecturer from my Army days who had this bad habit. Most of the class spent the period counting the verbal pauses and didn’t really take anything in.
One technique is to focus on what you are saying and when the temptation comes to use the placeholder, breathe in, rather than out. You are not then able to vocalise the words.
Another technique is to actively listen to what you are saying. Most people don’t, but it tends to make your speech slower and more deliberate. Not a bad thing for the audience.
The maxim, “a picture is worth a thousand words” is not a Chinese proverb, nor is it attributable to Confucius – he never said it either. From Wikipedia
It is believed that the modern use of the phrase stems from an article by Fred R. Barnard in the advertising trade journal Printers’ Ink, promoting the use of images in advertisements that appeared on the sides of streetcars.[1] The December 8, 1921 issue carries an ad entitled, “One Look is Worth A Thousand Words.” Continue reading
Advertisers use their words, images and stories to influence you to purchase a product service or solution or to support a cause or person. They often communicate messages to make you believe that some brands are superior, not because they are intrinsically better, but because the brand will make you cool. This branding is reinforced through logos, product placement, and all sorts of messages to convince you that the product is unique. Think of the times you have responded to advertising:
• you’ve applied for a job
• you’ve bought a cool pair of sneakers
• you’ve voted for a particular political candidate.
What effect did the advertisement have on this? Continue reading
This guy is so underwhelmed, he's reading his emails!
PowerPoint, Keynote, Impress and other programs are just presentation tools – methods of producing slides for projection, nothing more, and you need to keep that in perspective. Just as the carpenter’s tools are not the house, PowerPoint is not the presentation. Too many presenters overuse the gimcrackery that comes with powerpoint to the detriment of their message. It’s like wanting to use every feature of your mobile telephone to make a call. It’s just not appropriate.
How many slides should be in your deck? Only enough to get the message across.
Overuse of powerpoint, especially to display text, suggests a lack of preparation by the presenter and insults the audience. You’ll know you’re well prepared if you wouldn’t panic over a power failure. If you’re reliant on the powerpoint, you haven’t done enough preparation. The unofficial mantra of the US Marine Corps is
improvise, overcome, adapt
and as a presenter your preparation should be rigorous enough to do this. Be prepared to draw your slides on a whiteboard if necessary. The powerpoint slide should only enhance the presentation, not be the presentation.
You are the presentation.
General Principles of Using Powerpoint
This is only a start!
