1.1

Preparation

1. Some early preparation issues are:
   1. How long do you have to make your presentation? Does this include any discussion time?
   2. What is the room like, and what are the seating arrangements? Are you familiar with it? See subsection 8 below.
   3. What are the projection facilities, and what other visual aids can be used? Is the equipment likely to be reliable? Also see subsection 8 below.
   4. Prepare a set of notes on filing cards.
2. Remember to tell people the location and title of the talk when you invite them to attend.
3. Do not start while latecomers are still coming in. Wait for the audience to settle down.

1.2 Delivery

1. In your introduction you should explain what your objective is, what you are going to cover, how the presentation will be structured, and how long it will last.
2. It is important to capture your audience's attention with your first few words. Wow them! Memorise your opening statements.
3. Make sure that you can be heard. Project your voice to the back of the room, but don't shout. Vary the pitch, tone, and speed of delivery.
4. Speak with conviction and be enthusiastic about your subject. Train yourself not to use ‘er’, 'um' or ‘you know’.
5. Look smart and professional – polish your shoes. Stand upright, shoulders back and feet slightly apart. Avoid distracting mannerisms, particularly jingling coins in your pocket. Remove them.
6. Avoid putting your hands in your pockets!
7. Be still, do not rock back and forward, or shuffle. Nevertheless, you can walk about.
8. Look at individuals in the audience. Vary your pattern of eye contact. Do not do it in sequence. Don't forget eye contact with the wing people on your extreme left and right who are just in/out of your peripheral vision.
9. Do not block the audience's view of the projection screen. Do not admire your visuals by looking at the projection screen with your back to the audience.
10. Be very careful with pointers. A pointer can wave around like a conductor's baton. Rest the pointer against the word or image you want to emphasize on the screen. Avoid laser pointers; they magnify every nervous shake of the hand.
11. Avoid the use of technical terms, jargon, and abbreviations; use layman's language. Words can be misinterpreted. People interpret words within their own business context – it may not be the same as yours.
12. When reading, you can go back and read something again. The audience cannot do this. Consequently, you will need to repeat important points. However, repeat these key issues in a different manner.
13. One of the most powerful techniques in presenting is to pause – particularly after important points.
14. Be yourself and smile. If you can, use humour occasionally.
15. Never apologise for your material. Apologies lead the audience to expect the worst. A no‐no, as an example, is: ‘I know you can’t see this but …'
16. Use the rule of three: “Friends, Romans, Countrymen;” “Blood, sweat, and tears;” “The right materials, in the right quantities, at the right price.”
17. Tell a story. People like stories and, most importantly, people remember stories and the point being made with them. Paint a picture with words. Use examples.
18. Relegate detail to supporting documentation as hand‐outs.
19. Use rhetorical questions. It makes people sit up and listen if they think they may have to answer a question.
20. If you ad lib or digress, it will cost you time that you are unlikely to make up, unless you leave something out. As a colleague once said to me: “All my ad libs are very carefully scripted.”
21. Consider how you will deal with audience participation. Would exercises or case studies be appropriate? See subsection 10 below.
22. It is essential to be properly rehearsed. Rehearsal will enable you to judge how long the presentation will take. This is likely to be an underestimate. Remember the 5 P's: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
23. If you use a script for a speech/presentation, underline a couple of words where you will be looking at your audience. This will help you find your place when you look down at your notes again.
24. Remember that presentations are most hazardous when starting or finishing. Memorise your closing sentences and finish on a positive note.
25. Keep to your declared or allocated time. It is better to finish slightly early rather than late.
26. Finally, it is self‐evident that you must know your material; otherwise, you will not be able to deal with something that goes wrong.

2.1 Introduction

1. Establish a rapport, a common bond, or an agreement with the audience. Try one of the following:
   1. If you are to be introduced, talk to the person doing the introduction and indicate what you would like them to say and what to leave out that you will be covering. Get an idea of what else they will say and use some material in the transition to your presentation.
   2. Use a humorous incident that relates to the audience, the occasion, or theme of your presentation.
   3. Refer to the importance of the occasion.
   4. Give your audience recognition for some specific achievement.
2. Briefly describe the subject you will be covering, supported by a visual aid.
3. Explain why they need to listen. Tell the audience in one or two sentences (support with a visual aid) why the information you will be revealing is important, interesting, and will be useful to them.
4. Provide an outline framework (support with a visual aid) explaining the what and how.

2.2 Body of the Talk

1. Use one of the basic approaches:
   1. Order of importance
   2. Form of logic
   3. Deductive: general to specific; or inductive: specific to general
   4. Cause to effect or effect to cause
   5. Time or sequence
   6. Question format
2. Simplify the task of following the development of your subject.
   1. Number the points so that the audience can see progress.
   2. Use examples, facts, and statistics supported with visuals to show trends and relationships and highlight facts.
   3. Use forms of evidence, such as, personal experience, judgement of experts, or analogies.

2.3 Conclusion

1. Summarize in reverse order of importance.
2. Emphasize where the information will be useful and helpful to the audience.

3.1 Introduction

1. Establish a rapport or a common bond with the audience:
   1. Refer to how you were introduced.
   2. Relieve tension.
   3. Acknowledge that it is a privilege to be there.
   4. Refer to the importance of the occasion.
   5. Give your audience recognition for some specific achievement.
2. Define the purpose of the presentation with a visual aid:
   1. Provide a statement of the subject, premise, theme, or point of view.
   2. Define the scope of the talk.
   3. Explain the style of your presentation.
3. Establish the importance, timeliness, or impact of the subject (support with a visual aid).
   1. Explain the benefits to be had by adopting, agreeing to, or acting upon the recommendations.
   2. Emphasize the advantages for the individuals present.
   3. Quote a startling or arresting fact.

3.2 Body of the Talk

1. State the findings and conclusions using, where possible, each of the following, and support each one with a visual aid:
   1. State the statistics and/or facts in support of findings.
   2. Use a personal experience.
   3. Use an analogy to explain the conclusions.
   4. Use examples to illustrate the findings.
   5. Explain where experts have come to similar conclusions.
2. State the recommendations.

3.3 Conclusions

1. Summarize the evidence and conclusions.
2. Summarize the recommendations and the major benefits that will be helpful to the audience (support with a visual aid).
3. Request action to be taken (support with a visual aid).

4.1 Introduction

1. State what the subject is and why you are going to talk about it.
2. Express your point of view and where you stand on the subject.

4.2 Body of the Talk

1. Support your point of view with a personal experience.
   1. What event happened?
   2. When did it occur?
   3. Who was involved?
   4. Why did it happen, and what was the cause or effect?
2. Provide an analogy.
3. What the judgement of the experts is.
   1. Who the experts are
   2. What credentials they have
   3. What the experts said
4. Use examples from research and experience.
5. Provide statistics and facts supported by research.

4.3 Conclusions

1. Restate your point of view.
2. Recommend what action should be taken.

5.1

The team leader has two roles: to manage the agenda for the whole group, allocating roles and responsibilities for the tasks that have to be done and, in addition, they have to prepare and deliver their own presentation.

5.2

In a presentation of this nature, it will be helpful to have name place cards.

5.3

Use a team logo and ensure there is consistency in the design of the visual aids.

5.4

Identify a theme for the presentation that links every individual presentation.

5.5

An issue to be addressed is how to hand over from one speaker to the next. Also, it may sound obvious, but make sure you know each other's names!

5.6

With a number of individual presentations, there are bound to be interruptions or questions; consequently, you will have timing problems. It is, therefore, essential to have identified one or two portions that can be omitted.

5.7

Eliminate areas of overlapping content.

5.8

Look interested in other speakers.

5.9

The team leader should take the responsibility of accepting all questions and then allocating them to a particular member of the team.

5.10

This type of presentation needs additional team rehearsals in addition to the individual preparation. Use a red team review process. See Part III, Section E, paragraph 9.19.

6.1

Everything should be presented in terms of the audience's interests or point of view. Consequently, find out how many people will be in the audience, what experience they have, why they are interested, and what companies they work for.

6.2

When preparing your material you need to consider how much your audience knows about the subject matter. With a large group, you should assume that some people will know as much as you about certain aspects of your subject. This will help you decide on how much detail you need to go into and what you can leave out.

6.3

As part of your preparation, you should also consider the composition of your audience. What type of people are they? What ‘switches them on’, and what appeals to them? As indicated in Section E, Personal Skills, subsection 4, are they people who are fascinated by ideas, by the processes, or by action or are they concerned for people issues? They will be a mixture, but which is their stronger or dominant interest? Consequently, your presentation needs to use phrases that catch their attention, and change your style accordingly.

6.4

You will also need to consider your audience's attitude. This may depend on how many are in the audience – find out. How might they react to what you propose to say? Are you planning to say anything startling or include anything unexpected? How has the audience been briefed?

6.5

Before the formalities begin, make contact with people and mingle with the audience. Try to develop a relationship with some of them, particularly those who might be hostile to you.

7.1 The Introduction

1. Was the subject introduced in an interesting way?
2. Was it clear when the introduction had ended?

7.2 Voice

1. Was there sufficient variation of speed?
2. Was there sufficient variation of volume?
3. Was the voice projected effectively?
4. Were there adequate pauses?
5. Were the words articulated and enunciated clearly?

7.3 Audience Contact

1. Was there sufficient eye contact with the audience?
2. Would every member of the audience have understood every word? (For example, eliminate jargon.)
3. Were there any irritating mannerisms?
4. Was there sufficient enthusiasm for the subject?

7.4 Speech Content

1. Was there the right amount of information for the time allowed?
2. Did the speech contain things that need not have been included?
3. Were the various facts well balanced?
4. Would more ‘word pictures’ or analogies have helped?
5. Was the message convincing?

7.5 Visual Aids

1. Were there adequate visual aids, and were they appropriate?
2. Could the composition of the visual aids have been improved?
3. Was contact with the audience maintained during the visual aids?
4. Was there a good balance between the spoken word and the visuals?

7.6 The Conclusion

1. Was it clear when the conclusion had arrived?
2. Was a summary or recap required? If so, was it adequate?
3. Did the conclusion follow logically from what was said?
4. Did the conclusion leave the audience with a message and support the stated objective?

7.7 Overall

1. Did the presenter give the impression of knowing their subject thoroughly?
2. Was the presentation well organized, and did it have a logical structure?
3. Did the presentation grab your attention, and was it interesting?
4. Was the presenter enthusiastic about the subject?
5. Did the presentation finish on time?

8.1

Make your audience comfortable in the proposed room/location. Select a room with plenty of space and some soft furnishings to improve acoustics and prevent echoes. Extra space will allow you to move around. You may also need extra space for group break‐out work. If you are running a training programme, you will need to arrange separate break‐out rooms.

Ideally you want a dimmer switch for the main room with a separate light switch for the presentation/screen area – alternatively, remove bulbs directly above or behind the screen.

8.2

If you can, select comfortable chairs. Arrange them so that they are not too cramped. Allow space so that people can move or shift position in their chairs. Check the seating layout for a clear view of the screen and flip charts.

8.3

Check that all equipment is working and make sure that lenses are clean. If you are operating the equipment yourself, get a professional to demonstrate how it all works. Ask what can go wrong and arrange a contact number for emergencies or if spares are needed.

8.4

Have as large a projection screen as possible. Arrange for flip charts (two preferably, one each side of the presentation screen) and whiteboards with associated felt‐tipped pens (minimum three colours). Have spare charts available if it is a long session.

8.5

Make sure you know how to operate the heating and/or ventilating equipment. Again, get the professional to run through how to adjust it. You will probably have to change it as the room warms up from body heat.

8.6

Get the power cable taped to the floor. If you disturb it, you might dislodge the power plug without pulling it out of the socket. Your presentation will then continue on the laptop battery, and sometime later your presentation will come to a halt without it being obvious what is wrong!

8.7

Provide name badges and place cards. You will find this particularly helpful t in the early stages of a project when you are trying to remember everyone's names.

8.8

Allow some time for breaks for informal discussions and for toilet visits.

8.9

Make sure that there will be the minimum of interruptions. Insist that mobile telephones are switched off. If you are presenting in an office area, make arrangements to stop the telephones. Arrange for messages to be pinned on a board outside the room and accessed during breaks.

8.10

Minimise distractions; arrange for a clock at the back of the room – to help with your time management. Remove any clock in front of the audience to stop ‘clock watching’.

9.1

Visual aids are necessary because people's attention span is about 7.5 minutes. As stated, they should be aids to communication. Keep them simple, bold, and relevant. Have a consistent theme or style to your slides. Numbering slides can sometimes be helpful.

1. Make the content large, simple and bold. Avoid being over artistic with today's software.
2. Convert statistics into charts or graphs.
3. Keep organization charts uncomplicated. Complex ones invariably get misinterpreted. If you cannot avoid a complex situation, build it up in stages.
4. Relegate detail to supporting documentation as hand‐outs.
5. Use photographs.

9.2

Talk through the contents of your slide and explain the point you are trying to make. Highlight or enlarge each line in turn so as to focus people's attention.

9.3

Use a blank slide or the ‘B’ key on your laptop to blank out a slide and prevent people looking at a slide you have finished with.

9.4

Use visuals other than just the projected images. Use a flip chart or whiteboard. Also consider using a book or other document to hold in your hand as the authority you are quoting.

9.5

Use the flip chart from the back to the front. This enables you to turn the pages without having to worry about pushing the paper over the top of the stand. Pull the paper over the top, turn to the audience to explain what you are going to do, and gravity will let the paper fall.

9.6

Write clearly. If you can't write, print.

9.7

Prepare your flip chart beforehand by writing on it in pencil. Your audience will then be impressed with how well you remembered the numbers and with your mental arithmetic.

9.8

To stop a page being a distraction, turn over to a new blank page when you have finished with a particular sheet. You do not want people to continue reading what is on the old chart when you have moved on to another subject.

9.9

Use sticky notes or turn over the corners to help find a particular sheet.

9.10

It can be debatable as to whether you should provide a copy of your presentation for the audience to make notes on as you present. Alternately, should you tell the audience that you will provide a copy at the end? If you are dealing with a responsible audience, you should take the risk that they will not read ahead.

If you use a slide with a question, arrange the handout with a blank so that the answer appears on the next page.

Distribute handouts for detailed material at the end.

10.1

Your introduction should tell the audience how questions will be handled. With a small group, it will be easier to manage questions as you progress (but watch that you do not compromise the overall timing). With a very large group, you may need a chairman to manage the grouping of questions.

10.2

You can tell people to ask questions at the end, but you may not be able to prevent them. However, if you take questions as you progress, you will demonstrate command of your subject and confidence as a presenter.

10.3

In a seminar format, you can suggest breaking out into discussion groups at the end of your formal presentation.

10.4

Make sure everyone has heard the question by repeating it. Alternatively, ask the questioner to repeat it, thus giving yourself thinking time.

10.5

Write the question on a flip chart/whiteboard if you need additional thinking time.

10.6

Make sure that you have understood the question by paraphrasing it into your own words and check with the questioner: “Is that what you meant?”

10.7

Refer the question to an expert colleague or to a specific member of the audience. Alternatively, throw the question open for general discussion, and ask the audience what they think.

10.8

If you don't know the answer, say so. This can give you credibility. Say you will find out and let them know. Make sure you do.

10.9

If you have allowed for questions at the end and there are none, ask the audience a question. This might help to stimulate the group.