LESSON: PRESENTATION BASICS

Secret to Presentation Success

To deliver a good presentation, remember that you are the most important part. Even if you put a lot of effort into your written or visual aids, they can't replace you. You are the main focus. Your success or failure depends on how effective you are at presenting. How can you be a better presenter? But what is the secret to being a more effective ''you''? 

The research shows that people are more affected by what they see than what they hear. This means your body language like how you stand, move, make eye contact, and show emotions is as important, if not more, than what you say.

Non-verbal skills are more significant than the message's content. Before you speak, your audience forms an impression of who you are based on how you present yourself. The way you stand, move, look, and use your hands conveys a message about your credibility and effectiveness as a presenter.

Switch roles for a moment and reconsider your past experiences attending lectures, meetings, or presentations. Before hearing any words, you likely formed initial impressions about the speaker's credibility and interest level. These impressions were confirmed or dispelled as the presentation continued. How did you make these judgments? By paying attention to the speaker's body language.

People send silent messages while presenting, starting from before they reach the podium. These messages can create trust, interest, or connections. They can also cause negative responses, like mistrust, disinterest, or confusion. Nonverbal communication can enhance or weaken your message, so start by controlling and commanding your body language. Transform it into something powerful, positive, and energizing. This can help your audience, whether it's a group of neighbors or a global conference, to expect the best from you.

How to Organize Your Presentation

Your spoken message is the heart ❤️of your presentation. 

Whether it's short or lengthy, it should follow three basic rules passed down through the ages: Firstly, inform your audience what you'll be discussing. Secondly, explain your topic. Lastly, summarize what you've presented.

Therefore, all presentations consist of an Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Utilizing transition statements and words will help keep it all flowing.

Introduction

Starting strong is key🗝️in keeping your audience engaged through your presentation. To do this, your introduction should have three parts: the grabber, the thesis, and the overview.

1️⃣ The grabber is the start of your talk, which sets the tone and grabs the audience's attention. It also helps build a connection with the audience and wake up anyone who may be feeling drowsy, especially after lunch.

2️⃣ The thesis is the purpose of your presentation. It shares your position and explains how the audience will benefit from the information. This gives the audience a reason to listen.

3️⃣ The overview highlights the key topics of your thesis. It helps the audience anticipate the discussion and is crucial for those who prefer a broader perspective before the specifics.  

Body

The body of your presentation is where you develop your thesis and cover most of the information. Limit your main points based on presentation length to avoid overwhelming your audience. Offer sufficient information to support your thesis without repeating yourself or going into too much detail. Use stories, case studies, and examples when possible to make abstract concepts easier to understand. Use short, simple phrases rather than complex sentences, and try to incorporate personal examples to sound authentic. Speak at the level of your audience in terms of subject knowledge and language fluency, and engage them by asking for a show of hands when appropriate.

Conclusion

1️⃣ The review restates and sums up the message. This is your chance to select the key points and what you want the audience to recall. Pick a maximum of three main concepts, ideas, or principles.

2️⃣ The call to action is what motivates action. It tells your audience what to do after your presentation and sums up the overall point of it.

3️⃣ The concluding grabber marks the end of your talk and is intended to leave a lasting impact on your listeners as they leave. This concise message may be the one thing that attendees share with others right after your presentation. It's your ultimate opportunity to make a strong impression. By tying your final statement back to your original one, you can provide a clear structure for your entire talk.

Overcoming fear of Presentations

Overcoming Fear of Presentations

Lots of people are scared 😨 of public speaking, even more than dying! It can make you very nervous and your body might react with a racing heart, sweaty hands, shaky knees, and a dry mouth. You might even forget what you want to say or talk too quickly. But you can deal with these physical reactions by figuring out what's causing your fear and finding ways to overcome it.

Calming your inner critic

Often, we can be too hard on ourselves in our pursuit of success. We tend to focus on our mistakes, blowing them out of proportion, rather than recognizing the positive moments in our lives. This negative self-talk can damage our confidence, performance, and even limit our opportunities for growth. It's important to shift our mindset and avoid letting our inner critic hold us back from reaching our true potential.

Making realistic improvements

Our fears can challenge or immobilize us, especially those with a fear of public speaking. Take small steps and set realistic expectations. You may still feel nervous, but becoming visibly calm and confident will follow. As you prepare, you'll feel more in control and gain confidence through successful experiences. You won't start out feeling confident or enjoying public speaking, but each positive experience will boost your self-esteem and motivation to improve. Don't aim for perfection, aim for improvement to grow and expand.

Changing your focus

As you advance in your career and give more presentations, you'll notice that you shift your focus from yourself to your audience. This shift shows you're no longer held back by fear. There are several ways to help you relax and get to this point.

Conquering nervousness

Many feel nervous when giving presentations. The trick is to manage the negative effects and redirect the extra energy. It's important to know that not everyone displays their nervousness, so focus on controlling your own.

Implementing useful strategies

Identify how you get nervous, and use these methods to steady yourself:

• Mental Strategies
• Psychological Controls
• Physical Techniques

Try different methods to see what works best for you. Don't worry about what worked for others, since we all need different methods to feel calm, cool, and in control. Don't give up, though. Remember that everyone has experienced fear and can overcome it. If the fear continues, it could be helpful to give it one or two more tries to conquer it for good.

MENTAL STRATEGIES

1️⃣ Prepare Properly

To beat fear, prepare well. Fear often comes from not knowing. If you know your presentation, you'll be less nervous. If you've given the same presentation before, you know this already.

Plan your presentation carefully using an organization template for logical flow. Highlight and restate key points for easy recall. Avoid overloading with information, as the audience can only retain limited knowledge in one sitting.

Learn how to create good visuals. People often overload their slides with information. To avoid this, include only essential info on the slide. This gives you the opportunity to add more detail and support during your presentation. If necessary, provide additional information on a separate handout.

Once you have selected your information and created your visuals, practice your presentation until you feel comfortable with the sequence of events. Plan how to transition smoothly from one point to the next and rehearse until you are confident enough to deliver it effortlessly. This will also help you catch any errors in advance. If you struggle with a certain word, use a different word that feels easier for you.

In essence, the harder you work on your presentation ahead of time, the easier it will be for you to deliver it without stress.

2️⃣ Conduct a Dialogue

Giving a presentation may feel like talking to yourself, but it's actually a conversation. Even a formal presentation involves getting feedback from the audience through their reactions. To help make this more conversational, try these techniques:

Before your presentation, meet and greet the audience. Introduce yourself and interact. This will help make them feel more familiar with you. 

During the presentation, maintain eye contact. First, find a friendly face to start with. 

Then, gradually focus on smaller groups. Whenever possible, involve the audience by asking them questions.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTROLS

1️⃣ Identify your fears

First, to overcome fear, identify what it is you're afraid of. Common fears include:

• I might make a fool of myself.
• I might forget what I am going to say.
• I might begin to stutter or say the wrong thing.
• People may laugh at me.

Once you know what you're scared of, you can figure out if it's a real concern. To examine your fears, simply ask yourself these questions:

• Is this a rational fear?
• If this is a rational fear, what is the worst that could happen?
• So what?

2️⃣ Send positive messages

To get what you want in life, expect it. Quieten down your inner critic and tell them you're capable of change. Look at yourself in the mirror and say positive things to counteract negative thoughts. Instead of "I'm bad at presentations", say "I have what it takes to do a great job". Instead of "I might forget what to say", say "I've practiced so much that I could do this in my sleep!''

3️⃣ Use visualization techniques

Visualization is like mental practice. You imagine a future event in your mind to prepare for a positive outcome. This helps you rehearse for your presentation without taking too much time. If you visualize yourself giving a successful and confident presentation, you are more likely to do well. Avoid visualizing mistakes, or you may subconsciously make them. Be positive and expect the best outcome, as successful people do. Believe in your abilities and be optimistic for a better future.

4️⃣ Meet your audience

Before starting your presentation, try to walk around and introduce yourself to members of the audience. This way, you'll be speaking to fewer strangers and you'll have a better chance of getting a positive response from those you've already met.

5️⃣ Do your best

To reduce your fear, remember that you don't need to make everyone happy in the room. Concentrate on conveying your message effectively, keep note of the positive feedback, and ignore any negative reactions.

PHYSICAL METHODS

Feeling nervous stems from insecurity in the mind, but the body reacts as if under physical threat. This happens because both situations amount to stress. To calm down, you can learn to control your body's physical response. Here are some ways to help you relax.

Progressive relaxation is when you tense and relax different muscles in your body one by one, until your whole body is relaxed. This helps you feel the contrast between tension and relaxation more clearly.

Guided imagery is a technique for relaxation. It involves picturing a peaceful and calming place in your mind, which helps you to feel more relaxed before giving a presentation.

Stand up and stretch before and during your presentation to relax your muscles and reduce excess adrenaline. Take a short, relaxed walk away from the audience.

Breathe calmly before speaking or being introduced. Then walk confidently to the podium and begin speaking energetically.

10 Most Common Presentation Mistakes

1. Lack of Preparation

Many times, a presentation is not good because the speaker did not prepare enough. Preparation includes taking care of your body language, voice, and appearance, as well as researching the topic, organizing the content, and preparing the visuals. No matter how long the presentation is, it's important to prepare well for your sake and your audience's.

2. Poor Use of Visuals

Good visuals add to a presentation. However, many professionals don't use PowerPoint effectively. Their slides are too crowded and unappealing, with too many words. Rather than bullet points, they write out long sentences and include too much detail. This information would be better as handouts. Images are often not used enough. By learning to create impactful visuals, you can stand out from your competitors.

3. Inappropriate Humor

Avoid off-color jokes in presentations to prevent the risk of offending someone in the audience. Different cultures find different things amusing, so what may be funny in one location can be considered private or taboo in another. To establish rapport with your audience, seek alternative methods for introducing yourself and lightening the mood during professional presentations.

4. Inappropriate Dress

Dress conservatively when speaking publicly so people focus on your message, not your outfit. It's okay to express your individuality in private. Showing your true colors professionally can have bad consequences, as professionals expect a certain look. Don't surprise them or they'll be too focused on your appearance. Women should especially be mindful of a professional look, avoiding low necklines, short skirts, jangly jewelry, wacky hairstyles, and flashy colors.

5. Not Knowing the Audience

Tailor your presentation to match your audience. Gather information on the size and makeup of your audience beforehand, including their positions and levels of familiarity with your topic. Also, consider their primary language and any cultural norms you should be aware of. These details can greatly enhance the impact of your presentation.

6. Non-Functioning Equipment

As technology is crucial for business, check equipment beforehand to avoid frustrating delays. To prepare for equipment malfunction, print out your visuals. This way, you can still deliver despite lacking equipment. This gains audience empathy, as they may have experienced the same in their career.

7. Starting or Ending a Presentation Late

Your audience is busy, so be mindful of their time. In the US and Canada, it's professional to start and end your presentation on schedule. However, time is interpreted differently in different cultures. If you're presenting internationally, check with a local partner to find out what's customary, even if it seems unfamiliar.

8. Using a Monotone Voice

To connect with your audience, your voice should be lively, loud, and easy to understand. Even if your topic is fascinating, a flat tone can turn people off. Factors like age, gender, health, and past experiences can impact your voice, but anyone can improve through techniques like breathing exercises and vocal warm-ups. Consider working with a voice coach for more help.

9. Too Much Material in Too Short a Time

Cut back or eliminate any excess material to prevent rushing through presentations. Be selective about the content to include when working with tight time constraints. Share additional information in handouts. Limit slides to only the most important details. Plan for potential interruptions or delays which may cut into presentation time. Restricting the information presented can have a more significant impact on the audience. This approach can improve their understanding and ability to act on your recommendations.

10. Not Clarifying the Topic

Ensure you understand what you'll speak about. Also, don't assume your audience knows. To avoid confusion, introduce your presentation's topic. Get in the habit of saying, "Today, I'll explain..." or "My presentation today will show..." Always do this. Some audience members may be global learners and need to know the destination before following along your presentation's details.