Chapter 11:Presentations

PRESENTATIONS: A REFRESHER

On the final day of the programme you will be involved in planning and making a
team presentation to senior management. Your previous training will probably have
included attention to presentation skills. Here we just provide a refresher on the key
points.

Think about a presentation you attended recently. How many of these shortcomings
do you recall?

• Started late • Poor conclusion

• Poor introduction • Too many overhead
• Focussed on speaker’s needs, not transparencies
yours • Structure unclear
• Monotonous delivery • No handout material
• Poor visual aids • Insufficient time for discussion
• Questions not handled well • Overran time allowed
• No adjustment to needs of group • Some equipment not working
properly

Well, you would not commit any of these errors, would you? Just to make sure you
don’t, we cover in this module:

• Planning the presentation

• Preparing your materials, visual aids and yourself
• Delivering the presentation
• Answering questions

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1. PLANNING
The most important part and mostly done badly! Clarify in your mind the answers to
this question: “what are you wanting to achieve?”.

For example:
“to enable the participants to make effective presentations”

This is almost like your mission statement, keep this in mind at all stages in order to
focus your attention on what you want to achieve.

To generate ideas and record them, consider using:

Brainstorming/mind map
Get your brain into gear and get creative
Write down your aim and as many ideas as you can. Don’t edit or exclude anything.
An example of a Mind Map can be found on page 3

Identify main points

From your brainstorming map, identify the main points you need to cover, you will
probably have far too much material at this stage.

It can be helpful to ask questions:

Why • Am I giving this presentation?

• Is it being delivered?
Who • Am I giving this presentation to?
• Has asked me to give this presentation
How • Many will be present?
• Long have I been given?
• Long have I got to prepare?
What • Is the purpose of the presentation?
• Message am I trying to deliver?
• Action, commitment am I seeking from the audience?
• Prior knowledge or skills have the audience got?
• Are their attitudes, perceptions, misgivings, hopes?
• Equipment is available?
When • Am I giving the presentation?
• Will I have time for presentation,
• Can my materials be reproduced?
Where • Am I giving the presentation,
• Are the power points?
• Can I get resources?

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The next step is to prepare a sequential outline – here is an example:

Title: Presentations

Aim: To enable participants to make effective presentations

Beginning Middle End

• Setting the scene Keypoint 1

• Introductions Keypoint 2 Re-cap keypoints

• Presentation outline Keypoint 3 Re-visit objectives

• Presentation objectives Keypoint 4 Evaluation

• Personal objectives

“Tell them what you are “Tell them” “Tell them what you’ve

going to tell them” told them”

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2. PREPARATION
Prepare your materials

“Presentations are like aircraft, they are at their most dangerous when taking
off or landing”.

Work hard on the opening – this is where you make the greatest impact. Key points to
cover can be recalled using ‘INTRO’:

‘INTRO’
Interest Capture immediately
Need What’s in it for me? (the W.I.I.F.M. Factor)
Timing How long?
Response What about questions?
Objective What is the aim of the presentation?

Tell your audience what you are going to tell them, how long it will take, and how they
can participate.

There is a school of thought regarding starting off with a joke or gimmick – don’t!
You cannot guarantee who you might alienate or offended.

The middle

The planning stages will have developed the content of your presentation, you will
now have to fine-tune your material.

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Ask those questions again:

Why • am I giving this presentation?

(include material that supports and develops your key points)
Who • are you giving the presentation to?
(include material that is appropriate to the audience, consider
prior knowledge, skills, attitudes, hopes and fears)
How • long have I got?
(plan out time slots - Intro: 5 mins
- Keypoint 1: 5 mins
- Keypoint 2: 5 mins
- Keypoint 3: 5 mins
- Conclusion: 5 mins

Total: 25 mins

What • equipment is available?

(what visual aids are you going to use? Which are most
appropriate to support your material and your audience)
When • am I giving it?
(what time of day are you delivering your presentation? A video
following lunch will probably promote sleep rather than
stimulation. Consider optimum time for your participants
bearing in mind their normal work patterns).
Where • shall I start?
(consider prior knowledge and skills, has there been any other
presentation on the subject? What do the audience need to
know, how much and at what level)

The end

• Don’t leave your presentation in mid-air, work on a definitive conclusion.

• Revisit your aim. Have you achieved this? How did you do it? Your conclusion
should re-emphasise your key points, but not bring in any new information.
• Your audience should know what the next step is. What do they have to do next?
This can cover action planning and who to contact for further information;
• Finally, thank the audience for their time and attention.

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Prepare your visual aids

“One picture is worth a thousand words”

Visual aids add impact and facilitate recall. They must be relevant to your aims.
Resist the temptation to use too many overhead transparencies simply because they
look impressive. This may result in confusing your audience and give them
information overload.

Keep your visual aids simple, use plenty of white space and make sure they can be
read with ease.

Tips for transparencies

• Maximum 6 words per line
• Maximum 8 lines per transparency
• Mask transparency to reveal points. Use card rather than paper
• Protect transparencies – use cover or frame
• Use a computer to produce your transparencies
• Use consistent format and layout

Tips for using the overhead projector

• Clean the projector lens and base
• Check how to switch on and how to focus
• Tilt the top of your projector screen to square the projected image
• Check vision, sit in the audience seats – can you read the transparencies
comfortably?
• Check that you have a spare bulb

Flipcharts

• maximum 8 words per line x 8 lines per flip

• Use colour – maximum 3
• Use diagrams and drawings
• Use bullet points
• Use tabs or paper clips to find a flip quickly
• Use a blank flip to cover pre-written flips
• Write up the name of the presentation and your name. Have this on display prior
to the presentation
• Make sure the audience can read your flips
• Check spelling

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Prepare yourself

A rehearsal is necessary, however well you have prepared your text and visual aids.
Key reasons are:

• To become acquainted with the venue and to arrange all the equipment so that
everyone can see what needs to be seen as well as hear you
• To check your timings. Try to be a little under time at rehearsal, as the presence of
an audience will slow you down “on the day”
• To check your voice; pitch, power, modulation. Remember to speak up. Use a
louder voice that you normally do. Make certain that you can speak the words
easily.

Getting everything ready

You will need a full “check list” at the rehearsal which will obviously depend on the
occasion, but make sure you have one. Always try to rehearse in the actual venue. If
this is not possible, then a room of similar size. Some of the things you should
rehearse are:

• Practice speaking from your notes. Look down to refer to them. Look up to
speak. Look at your audience (or where your audience will be seated on the day)
and practice trying to “see” them as individuals. However, on the day don’t worry
if those listening don’t appear to be very attentive. A listener’s face can often
appear negative, because in fact the listener is actually concentrating.
• Try to memorise the sequence of your presentation, e.g. main points, headings,
points where you will use your visual aids, the parts of the presentation that
require audience participation. This will leave you free to depart from your notes
or script if necessary on the day, and still pick up the threads again without
difficulty.
• If you are using 35mm slides, obtain a lighting balance that allows the audience to
see the screen, whilst you can still see your audience and your notes.

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3. DELIVERING THE PRESENTATION

Nerves

Expect to be nervous at first. Remember the audience is on your side and will not
notice small slips. Enough preparation and rehearsal should enable you to complete
your delivery with no major mishaps. Remember, the nerves give vitality and vivacity
to your presentation if managed positively.

Never apologise for:

• Inexperience
• Lack of ability
• Losing your place
• Anything

Posture

Stand if talking to more than four or five people. Keep the centre of gravity and body
language open. An open positive stance will facilitate voice projection, tone and
pitch.

Eye contact

Do look at your audience, as many times as possible. It may be hard, but it does help.

Gestures and mannerisms

Feedback should determine if you have any distracting gestures and mannerisms.
Positive, purposeful gestures can add interest and emphasis to your presentation.
Avoid “windmill” impressions. Being enthusiastic can add vitality and interest to your
presentation, as long as it’s not too overwhelming.

Ending

It is worth planning the ending carefully. Perhaps write it out. Summarise your main
points and aim to end on a high note.

Avoid such phrases as:

• In conclusion…
• To sum up…

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Questions

Allow time for questions and spend more time anticipating awkward questions.

Handouts

People like to have papers to take away, particularly if they are well produced. Do not
give them out before the talk, as the audience will then spend their time reading the
handout and not listening to you.

Feedback/evaluation

Try to elicit reactions from the audience that will help you to determine how successful
your personal presentation was, the value of the content, and the method of presenting
your information.

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4. DO’S AND DON’T’S OF ANSWERING QUESTIONS

DO

• Develop a positive attitude towards questioners and their questions

• Welcome questions as a compliment and an opportunity
• Signal receptiveness
• Make sure the questioner speaks up
• Listen to the whole question
• Paraphrase the question
• Go back to the appropriate visual aid if it helps
• Be courteous, polite and objective
• Keep control
• Manage your time

Don’t

• React to their provocation

• Play expert
• Bluff
• Answer the question with another question
• Refer the question to someone else in the audience
• Take questions from only one part of the audience
• Address the response exclusively to the questioner
• Humiliate someone who asks a weak question

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RECOMMENDED READING LIST

• Michael Shea, Personal Impact; The Art of Good Communication, Sinclair-

Stevenson, 1993

• Anthony Jay, Effective Presentation, Pitman Publishing, 1993

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