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Newsletter | Summer 2011 • Volume 19 • Issue 2

This issue: Making Presentations

Dear Readers:

Making a speech or other presentation can be a daunting assignment, especially if you do not do it very often. Stage fright is a very real thing. It is frequently said that people fear public speaking more than death. That isn’t logical but it is often true.

Some fear or anxiety can actually be a good thing, and if handled properly, can be channeled into enthusiasm and energy.

This issue of our newsletter gives you three things you can do to minimize your fear of making a presentation: 1) Researching your topic, 2) Organizing your presentation and 3) Practicing your presentation.

John Muchmore, one of our consultants, gives us tips on organizing a presentation, and Pat Smith-Pierce tells us how to practice.

These are simple concepts and pretty easy to do, but often the simple concepts are the best ones.

Sincerely,

Dennis Hamilton
Editor

Past Issues

Spring 2011 Newsletter

Holiday 2010 Newsletter

Fall 2010 Newsletter

Summer 2010 Newsletter

Spring 2010 Newsletter

Holiday 2009 Newsletter

Fall 2009 Newsletter

Summer 2009 Newsletter

Spring 2009 Newsletter

December 2008 Announcement

If you'd like to request a previous newsletter, please contact us.

RESEARCHING YOUR SPEECH – FIRST STEPS

Dennis Hamilton
Consultant
The Insight Communication Group

Congratulations! You’ve just been asked to prepare a speech for a group who may know more about the topic than you do. Now what?

You decide to do some research. Before you begin the research, you must consider how long you have for the speech, the audience makeup and size, when it is scheduled, and any other constraints you may face.

Narrow the Focus

If your topic is pretty general, and especially if the speech time is short, you absolutely must narrow the focus. For example, the topic of Teambuilding is rather vague and extensive. The military spends months building effective teams. It’s unrealistic to expect to teach anyone how to do teambuilding in a 30-minute speech or with a short teambuilding exercise.

Establish objective(s)

Write down one or two clear cut objectives for your presentation. For a short speech, perhaps your only realistic strategy will be to motivate the audience to do further research on their own afterwards.

If you are having trouble deciding what to talk about, take the opposite approach and write down what you DON’T want to talk about. Sometimes that helps narrow the focus.

In our Teambuilding example, you could use a brief case history of an example of poor teambuilding practices. Sometimes seeing what NOT to do provides a clear example of what TO do.

Resources

Common resources include the Internet and library. Just be somewhat careful on the credibility of Internet material. There is a lot of good information out there, but there is a lot of rubbish, too. Also, be careful about potential copyright violations. Copyright laws are confusing, so err on the side of caution. When in doubt, check with your legal department.

Another good source, time permitting, is interviewing others. Quoting a couple of legitimate experts adds credibility to your talk.

Other Considerations

As you get into your research, you want to consider visual aids – and their proper use! Power Point is one of the most abused visual aids, in that it is used as a crutch for poorly prepared speakers. Invariably, there is too much information included and the fonts are too small. If no one can read it, no one cares. Use Power Point as an aid, not a crutch!

Depending on the venue, you can use flipcharts, whiteboards, or bring in appropriate props. One colleague of mine was asked to make a presentation on the oceans to a sixth grade science class. In addition to video clips from scuba trips, he brought in his scuba gear and assembled it for the kids. They loved it!

Again, depending on the situation, maybe you can use an activity to involve the audience. Getting an audience involved is rarely a bad thing, even if it’s a large audience. Good speakers can do that.

Next Step

Once you have all your material and a good idea of where you want to go, you can move onto the next step of organizing the presentation.

ORGANIZING THE SPEECH

John Muchmore
Consultant
The Insight Communication Group

“How do I organize a presentation?” This is often the first question that enters a person’s mind when called upon to make one. There is no shortage of answers to the question.

I’m going to offer a few suggestions that should help you get started. These are based on two assumptions.

Assumption #1 - You want your audience to make a change in its behavior. The change you are seeking may be a big change or a small change, but you want to generate a change.

Assumption #2 - The presentation you will be giving will be to a unique audience in a particular environment and in a limited period of time.

Suppose that you will make a presentation to a group of your co-workers about a charity walk that you are going to join. You need to find donor-sponsors, so you create a purpose sentence that will guide you as you develop your presentation.

“I want each of my co-workers to commit $20 to sponsor my participation in the coming three day walk to help defeat breast cancer.”

Now you have determined exactly what you want your audience to do as a direct result of your presentation.

At this point, it’s time to shift your point of view. If you were a member of the audience, what questions would you insist the speaker answer before you would do what the speaker wants?

You probably have five questions for the speaker:

• What are you talking about?
• Why should I care?
• Why should I listen to you?
• What do I need to know?
• What would you have me do?

“What are you talking about?”
Most people know that breast cancer remains a very real problem, and they will know what you are talking about so you won’t need to spend a lot of time defining and explaining.

However, this isn’t always the case. You may discover that the audience knows so little about the matter that you will need to define and explain the issue. When this happens, the purpose statement may need to be revised.

“Why should I care?”
Audiences respond to speakers who give a reason to care. They listen to people who are addressing things that affect them. In our example, you will need to show the audience that supporting research efforts will have a personal impact. It is far more difficult to appeal to those who have never seen the consequences of cancer than it is to appeal to those who have.

“Why should I listen to you?”
Your credibility is critical, and the more you are asking of the audience, the more the audience will want an answer. In this case, you are asking the audience for money. They will want to know that they can trust your information and that the money will be put to its intended use.

“What do I need to know?”
If the audience understands what you are talking about, has a sense of personal investment in the matter, and sees you as a credible source, it is ready for information. “What kind of research are you talking about?” “How will the money be used?” “When is the walk, and what sort of involvement will you have?”

“What can we do?”
At this point, the audience wants to know how to go about pledging the $20. Every $20 pledge you receive is an indication of your success.

To summarize:

1. Decide exactly what you want the audience to do.
2. Determine what questions you would ask if you were in the audience, and
3. Provide an answer for each of those questions,

Organizing a speech is seldom a simple task, but if you do those three things, you are well on your way to building a successful presentation.

PRACTICE MAKES A GREAT PRESENTATION

Dr. Pat Smith-Pierce
CEO and Founder
The Insight Communication Group

No matter what the subject of your presentation, you need to be able to deliver it so you sound comfortable with it and sound like you mean it. Even if you think it is the dullest topic you’ve ever had to present, if you sound like you think it is interesting and important, those who hear you will also think it is interesting and important.

By the same token, no matter how wonderful you think your ideas are, if you sound bored, your listeners will be bored. You will have wasted an excellent opportunity to let others know how good your ideas really are. Remember, the audience will mirror the presenter.

The best way to make a topic sound interesting and vital is to practice. Practice means saying it out loud. We can all mentally say something but when faced with looking at someone else in the eyes, it can be more difficult. Practice by looking at yourself in the eyes so you get comfortable with a response. After all, we are often our own worst critic, so if you can talk to yourself, you can talk to anyone.

When I was in graduate school, I decided to practice a presentation for my persuasive speaking class in the bathroom of my apartment. It was 2:00AM but I didn’t think anything about it as I assumed no one would hear me. After all, I was alone in my apartment and besides, who else would be up at 2:00AM?!?

Imagine my surprise when at the end of the second practice go-round, I heard applause coming up through the air vent! It turned out that all three of the apartments on that side of the building were attached to the same air vent and the people on the first floor were listening as I practiced!

Speaking is a skill, and like all skills, it must be practiced. Whether it’s to one person, a few people or a large group, the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

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