When presenting to an audience of any size, you have seconds to make an impression. A favourable impression means that they will classify your information as relevant and valuable. They will make impression very quickly. You may have not even started on the content. An unfavourable impression means that they will classify your information as useless even if it isn’t. This is an emotional judgement. It is lightning quick.
So, look your best, be well prepared, pause before starting to make sure you are composed. Look at the audience and start emotionally.
Ask them a question about themselves. Who has enough money in their superannuation? Who remembers the last time they were really happy? You will get an emotional response. Even better, start with a story. Instead of saying my name is…. and I work for…. etc. Start with….. ‘It was a really warm day as I recall. The north wind was blowing very hot. I could smell smoke…..’ You will have them in your hand instead of in your head.
Think of an unusual way to start your next presentation. Wait until you and they are ready and then wait another ten seconds. Every time you present to an audience you build on your presentation skills…. and your reputation.
Presentation skills
The Power of Emotion
Recent neuroscience has confirmed that we humans process emotional information first before exploring fact or rational information. We make first impressions in seconds. We make up our minds after several words. This would have made sense when everything outside your cave was dangerous. We needed to make quick decisions to stay alive. The world is a safer place not but our brain has not changed.
So….when you are presenting to a group of any size, it is critical to get them onside quickly. If their first impression is negative, they will continue to classify what you say negatively. They will seek information to confirm their first impression. If their first impression is positive, the reverse happens.
Here are some simple ways of starting off on the right foot:
- Use ‘you’ as the pronoun in the beginning. ‘What you will take away from my brief presentation today is….’ Avoid ‘I’ . ‘What I am going to speak about today is….’
- Relax yourself before you start. Get in a good mood. Soften your face. Be friendly.
- Greet people before you start. Be the reception committee.
- Encourage them to say ‘yes’ in the first few minutes. I am sure we would all like to be better at public speaking wouldn’t we?
- Make sure you are open to enjoying the experience. Look forward to the presentation.
- If you have negative thoughts that cause you to become anxious, let them drift away. They will go back to where they came from as long as you don’t encourage them.
- Dress up a little for the occasion.
- Get there early and survey your surroundings. Stand at the front and practise your opening.
- Make sure you equipment works. Be ready for plan B when it doesn’t work.
- Say to yourself ‘ I deserve to do well today. I have done the work’.
- Just be you.
I recently worked at an organisation and was warned about the person at reception. Strange that they felt they needed to warn me. The person was rude and impatient. This is the person in charge of first impressions for the entire organisation. You are in charge of first impressions when you to speak to a group or audience. Make sure your first impression is so good that you could make mistakes later and they don’t care.
The Power of Persuasive Presentations
I recently met someone who was asked to do a second presentation to conclude a multi million dollar deal. The client had got down to the last two providers and wanted a further presentation to make the final decision.
An opportunity or a very stressful situation?
We are all called on to presesent ourselves and our information regularly. It is hard to improve without feedback and external help. A good place to start is to see yourself in action. The next step is to get expert feedback. Final step is practice, practice, practice.
An exciting opportunity to record yourself and get expert feedback is available through an organisation called Presentationgym. See for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW2FfRDKFqg
A Challenge
Yesterday I saw a presentation with no words. The presenter showed photos which changed every twenty seconds, automatically.
She explained what we were looking at and the audience moved from the picture to her to understand what we were looking at. It was so smooth to hear from her and then hear her comments. The flipping was seamless.
This style is the way to avoid ‘Death by Powerpoint’ and is called Pecha Cucha. In its pure form, it is twenty photos without words which change every twenty seconds. The presenter follows the pictures and provides the words. It can be used for almost any style of presentation from highly informative to motivational. You need to make sure there are no words on the picture.
It also works better if the presenter is not closely scripted. ‘In this picture, you can clearly see….’. It will work best if you use photos that you took yourself as you can personalise the spoken message.‘You can see me in this photo…’.
Try it and move away from ‘Death by Powerpoint’. If the pictures change every twenty seconds, the pace of the presentation will be constant instead of getting stuck with questions along the way. If you need a Q & A segment, make it at the end and ask people to hold the questions for six minutes and forty seconds. Not long to wait. It works beautifully. Try it. There is no magic to the twenty / twenty format. Invent your own.
Regards
Paddy
Are You Silly Enough?
The original meaning for ‘silly’ was more about enjoyment than looking foolish. You can imagine someone looking at a person having a wonderful time and judging that this person looked foolish or ‘silly’. Silly walks, silly hats, silly answers.
If you are having fun you will look silly to someone. Better to be having fun than being a judgmental voyeur.
Are you having enough fun in your life? What gives you enjoyment? Do you look forward to anything the way you did as a child or has life become serious and mundane?
Here are some activities that I have tried to increase my FQ (Fun quotient).
Visit a magic shop
I visited two magic shops yesterday and bought some hats, a whistle that sounds like a siren, a brick that is really a sponge and a gun that fires soap bubbles. They are all for a conference in Brisbane where I have an audience of over two hundred to educate and entertain.
Take up dancing
My wife and I are attending a dance class for Swing Dancing. It is great fun but we do increase the average age. We are attending with another couple who are close friends and it is a highlight of the week. Something to look forward to.
Develop your sense of humour
I cut out and keep unusual headlines like ‘Iraqi head seeks arms’ or ‘Prostitutes appeal to Pope’. There is enough humour in everyday life if you look closely. Just watching barristers dash around the city in their wigs is comedy enough. I also read humour books often to get new ideas for stories or humour activities. Put up a humour notice board at work and seek contributions.
Your sense of humour and fun is very much a part of who you are. Your sense of humour is your shock absorber and needs to be kept flexible with plenty of play. Watch children if you want to see a natural sense of humour and fun in action. Children laugh around three hundred times a day. Adults around thirty times.
So…find a way to let your sense of fun loose at least once a day and don’t worry about looking silly. Silly is good!
Paddy
Laughter is Contagious!
A 1999 study conducted by Sigal Barsade at the Yale School of Management show that cheerfulness and warmth spread easily among working groups whilst irritability caught on less so. It will not surprise you to know that laughter is very contagious. When we hear laughter we find it difficult not to laugh or smile ourselves. Do you recall getting caught up in a spiral of giggles in a group? One starts and others follow. We get caught up because the brain has an open loop circuit that is designed to detect smiles and laughter and respond in kind. Scientists theorise that this dynamic was hardwired long ago because smiles and laughter had a way of cementing alliances and keeping our species alive.
I have read of many experiments to change attitudes to groups of people by forcing contact. If there is no enjoyment in the contact the attitude doesn’t change. It hardens.
The main implication here for us is that we can change the moods of others. The loop is open to outside influence. Be they customers, team members, peers, managers or family members, we can be a major influence in helping others to feel happy.
Some simple ways of doing this are:
- Greet enthusiastically. Don’t tell people how you are. Tell them how you’d like to be. Try some colourful words like: sensational, never been better, enjoying my life!
- Smile. Even if you don’t feel like smiling, others will react to your smile and smile back. You will see their returned genuine smile and react automatically with a genuine smile. Fake can become genuine.
- Shake hands warmly. Physical contact will help people feel better about themselves and about you. Match the strength of their grip and look them in the eye. Soft for soft. Hard for hard.
- Farewell warmly. People will remember the last words you say so make them memorable. ‘Hope to see you again’, ‘Great to see you’, ‘ I have enjoyed speaking to you’.
Humour and laughter spreads quickly to create an upbeat climate. Lose you sense of humour and the world becomes grey. Spread humour and colour returns. Look around you for humour and reasons to be happy. If you woke up this morning you are way ahead of those that didn’t! year.
Paddy
