Chapter 2

Gathering Information and Materials

The most difficult and also the most important part of making a presentation is determining how to actually start. Many presenters worry themselves sick trying to figure out how to get started and what exactly they want to say. My advice is to not worry about how you are going to start. Your first step in preparing your presentation is to collect and read as much information as possible about your subject. Learn as much about your topic as you can. Prepare detailed notes on some of the ideas you may want to use during your presentation. Ask yourself what information you plan on discussing during your presentation, what message you want to deliver to your audience, and where you can find additional information.

You should first select a topic that interests you and one you have some knowledge about or have an interest in becoming knowledgeable about. You should also pick a topic that will interest your audience. The first place I always like to draw from is my own personal experience. Most people have more expertise and experiences than they realize. I recommend that you sit down and brainstorm or mind map out what you already know.

One great source, which is grossly underused, is your local library. The use of the Internet (which I will talk about later) has made it easy for people to avoid going to their local library. If you do not have a library card or you have not been to your local library for some time, I suggest you get back into a routine of visiting your local library. If it has been awhile since you last used your local library, you may need someone to show you the modern tools you now have available for doing your research and gathering information.

Some of the best resources available at your local library are:

• Librarians
• Catalogs
• Periodicals
• Newspapers
• Reference works

Let’s take a brief look at each one of these.

LIBRARIANS

Your local librarian is a wonderful source to start with. They have an enormous amount of experience, can identify the resources available to you, and can point you in the right direction to start your research. Some resources can be checked out and taken home for a short period of time; other resources can only be viewed and used at the library. Bring a pad and pen with you to take notes. Most libraries have copy machines and allow you to make some copies of certain types of documents. This can save you a lot of writing time.

CATALOGS

A key tool you need to familiarize yourself with is the library catalog. The old days, when I was many years younger than I am today, we had what was called the card catalog. This was literally a filing cabinet with small card catalog drawers that were arranged in alphabetical order. You would search for your topic using the cards. On each printed card would be a resource (a book, magazine, periodical) and the location of this resource within the library. You would write down as many of the resources along with their location within the library. Today’s modern library has replaced this card system with a computer that can search several databases for the information you are looking for. It will also usually tell you if this resource is available or already signed out by someone. This computerized system is very similar to those used in your large bookstores today. The process is the same.

The library electronic catalog will also allow you to search other libraries if your local library does not have the information you are looking for.

PERIODICALS

Another wonderful resource available to you is the periodical database. This database contains hundreds of thousands of articles and publications from a large variety of journals, magazines, and publications. Much of the recent and past research done within universities is published in a number of journals, each specific to a particular type of industry. When you are looking to find some good published material to reference for your presentation, this is great place to look.

NEWSPAPERS

Your local library will also have a section with several of the various local and national newspapers. They usually have the current paper along with some of the recent and past newspaper publications. On the morning of all my presentations, I look at some of the local newspapers in my area (or the area I may be speaking at). You will be amazed how many times you will find a timely article related to your presentation. When I find such an article, I will bring that publication with me to my presentation (if I can) and I will read from it. This not only serves as a good visual aid and prop, it also visually adds credibility to the information you read from the publication. When your audience sees you read from a source, they more readily accept that information. If that newspaper happens to be that morning’s newspaper, then you automatically have shown you have used the most current data.

REFERENCE WORKS

Several types of reference works are available. All of these sources have information collected and organized in an easy-to-use and easy-access format. Two of the most popular types of reference work are:

• Encyclopedias: I was ever so fortunate to have these at home. (I remember when I was a kid, my parents spent a ton of money on encyclopedias, including the annual updated volume.) It was like having my own private library. A man would go door-to-door selling encyclopedias. He loved our house because my parents seem to buy all of them. Lucky for me.
• Books of quotations: A number of books devoted just to quotations are available. Some even contain nothing but humorous quotations. Finding just the right quotation for your presentation can add that special flare you are looking for.

THE INTERNET

The amount of information available to you today on the Internet is staggering. You can find the exact information you are looking for with a few clicks of your mouse. The Internet has changed how people do research and has had a big impact on your local library. You are actually able to search your local library’s database online without leaving your house. In fact, you can search libraries from all over the world and then request to have the book or resource sent to your local library, where you can pick it up. There are many Internet tools you can use, such as search engines, online databases, virtual libraries, and even private publications. Like any other resource, you need to verify and validate the information you find; there is a lot of incorrect information online as well.

Regardless of which resources you use, the process from here remains the same. You have to select the information to use and then decide how much of it you will include in your presentation. To accomplish this, you need to know how long your presentation will be. The amount you will be able to discuss in a one-hour presentation differs from the amount you will talk about in a full-day workshop or even a 15-minute overview presentation. The level of the detail may be different in each case; however, the format or structure of your presentation should be the same in all cases.

Deciding on the format is your next challenge. It is at this point that you need to decide how much material you will use and in what sequence you will present the material you have chosen. How much material you comfortably present will depend on the length of your presentation. At this point, I am talking only about the main content of your presentation, not the entire presentation. We have not talked about introductions or closings. For now, I am talking only about the body of your presentation.

How much time you actually need to present your information will depend on the allotted time limit for your presentation. I will discuss allotted times in Chapter 3, but for the purpose of this discussion, let’s assume the body of our presentation (your main points) will use 50 percent of the total allotted time. Following are suggested time limits, based on how much time you are limited to. I have provided these suggestions only as a general guidance for your presentation.

Remember, the times provided here are for the body of your presentation. If you then take the time allocated for the body (e.g., 15 minutes) and double it, this would give you a total presentation time of 30 minutes. A presentation that will cover seven to eight points would require a total time of 60 minutes, 30 minutes of which would be to cover those seven to eight points. This will allow sufficient time for you to develop a proper introduction and allow for questions at the end as part of your conclusion. Chapter 3 will discuss time limits and how they fit into the complete structure of the presentation in more detail.

When you are gathering information for your presentation, you need to gather more information than you need to cover during your allotted time limit. That’s okay. The additional information you gather may come in handy during the presentation or during the question-and-answer period.

There are several other considerations you need to take into account as you gather your materials and do your research for your presentation. Some of these considerations are not even addressed by many presenters during their presentation preparation phase. Let’s look at some of these.

WHAT VISUAL AIDS WILL YOU USE DURING YOUR PRESENTATION? WILL YOU USE ANY VISUAL AIDS?

The visual aids you decide to make and use during your presentation will either support your verbal message or not. I will discuss the use of visual aids in more detail in Chapter 4.

WHERE WILL YOU STAND DURING YOUR PRESENTATION?

You need to decide where you will actually stand when you deliver your presentation. Will you be standing on a stage, talking from behind a lectern, or seated around the long table in a large executive boardroom? As the presenter, you decide where you want to stand. Just because someone has set up a lectern in the room does not mean that you have to speak from this lectern; however, this may be the only location where they have a microphone.

If you need a microphone but do not want to stand behind the lectern, it is your responsibility to find this out ahead of time and let the meeting planner or organizer know you need a wireless or handheld microphone. These are details you need to determine before your presentation. Many presenters don’t even inquire about these details.

When asked to give a presentation, the first thing some people think about is, “What am I going to wear?” “Will there be a lot of people there?” “What if I mess up?” Although these are important questions, they represent only one small part of your presentation. Several components need to be taken into consideration when preparing a presentation. Some may ask themselves, “What if my presentation is not good enough?” If we construct our presentations with care and properly prepare and practice, our presentations will always be good. Do not be afraid to take risks and present new material. Remember, practice makes perfect.

PRESENTATION PREPARATION AS A PROCESS

Genuine presentation preparation means you need to dig something out of yourself. You need to gather all the facts and arrange your thoughts. It is not enough to simply collect ideas. You must also nurture these ideas and reflect on how to present them in a unique, organized manner.

Your presentation needs time to develop and grow. You should prepare for weeks, sleep on your topic, and let the ideas mull around in your mind. Dream about your ideas and let your ideas sink into your subconscious. Ask yourself questions. Write down your thoughts. Keep a pad and paper near your nightstand so that you can write your brilliant ideas when you think about them in the middle of the night. If you do not write them down, there is no guarantee you will remember them in the morning when you wake up. Take a pad of paper and a pen with you when you are out walking the dog, going for a walk, and going out to dinner. These are the times when those ideas seem to pop into my head.

Once you have determined the purpose for your presentation and the main message, state that purpose and message in a sentence and begin building your presentation around that message. Ask yourself, “How does this purpose relate to my audience?” Let your purpose drive your presentation.

Some other questions you may want to consider asking yourself are:

INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Frequently, a presenter will attempt to provide too much information during a presentation. Avoid using too many facts, figures, and lists. Most technical presentations are flawed in this manner. They are usually too complex and packed with data.

The presenter who is delivering the presentation is so enthusiastic about their topic he or she feels the need to share everything he or she knows in this one presentation. Having been an engineer for more than 25 years, I can testify firsthand that this was the case in many engineering conferences. Many presenters would try to present 60 minutes’ worth of material in a 30-minute window. One of the biggest challenges with preparing any presentation is to determine how much material you are able to use. This becomes easier with experience, and when we discuss structure of a presentation in Chapter 3, this will become clearer to you.

When I am preparing for a new presentation, workshop, or keynote, I use folders to collect my ideas and thoughts as I do my research. I also find it helpful to write down where I got my material so I am able to go back to the source if needed. If you find an article, written by someone else, that you find helpful and would like to use some of that material, you need to make certain you obtain permission from the author. I receive requests all the time to use my published articles and some of their content. A simple e-mail or phone call will usually suffice, but I recommend you have the person sign a permission or release form for your records. This protects you and the other party.

One area you also need to be very careful with is using graphics or cartoons you find on the Internet. I see many presenters include a favorite cartoon within their presentation. Presenters often do not realize that they need written permission to do so. In some cases, you may be required to pay a small licensing fee to use that cartoon or photograph. Using other people’s material without permission is a copyright infringement and can get you into serious trouble. The Internet has made it very easy for people to steal and plagiarize articles.

I was speaking as the closing keynote speaker for a conference a few years ago and had the opportunity to listen to a speaker earlier in the morning. He was using statistics and information from many sources and trying to pass on this information off as his own. I had the chance to speak with him after his presentation and asked him where he got his information and data. I also told him that some of the information he used was information published by someone else and asked him if he had permission to use the data. He said to me that his theory was, if he used one person’s information, that was plagiarism, and if he used everyone’s information, that was research. I could not believe what I just heard.

Should you decide to use information and work developed by other people, get their permission and give them proper credit for that information. A simple mention of the person’s name by way of a footnote would suffice. A better way is to get written permission, which will allow you to say, “Used by permission,” but still also state the source of the information.

USING VIDEOS AND MUSIC DURING YOUR PRESENTATION

Many presentations today also include the use of videos within their presentations. This is becoming increasingly common. A presenter finds a video that has a scene that perfectly illustrates a point he or she is trying to make and adds it to the presentation. You see the use of videos a lot during training sessions and workshops. I am sure you have all experienced this. A presenter shows a short clip from a video they purchased for home use. They think they can bring this video in and use it during their presentation. This is actually a performance copyright violation. The video was purchased for “home use.” It was not purchased for public viewing. A presenter needs to get permission to use this video in a public forum. The presenter thinks that because he or she purchased the video and now owns it that he or she has permission to use this video during a presentation. Take a look at the personal videos at home, and you will notice that it states on the packaging and the video itself for “Personal use only.” You need to get permission from the author of this video if you want to use it in your presentation.

The same problem occurs when presenters decide to use music during their workshops or presentations. You also need to get permission to use this copyrighted music. Some speakers who have violated both these copyright infringements have found themselves on the wrong end of the law and were heavily fined or even arrested. You must obtain permission.