Harvard Business Review Management Tip of the Day (@ManagementTip) offers helpful insight into the best practices of giving presentations:
Skilled speakers monitor the room. Look for audience cues such as interest or boredom. Note the questions people ask as they may point to areas that need clarification.... When possible, have a random spectator take notes on audience reaction. Once it's over, do a thorough post-mortem. Was your objective achieved? Did the audience seem engaged? Note what went well and what didn't. Ask for feedback from credible participants. If you're making the presentation again, how will you improve it next time? (Source: Harvard ManageMentor Online Module: Presentation Skills)
Heidi Grant Halvorson (@hghalvorson) identifies the presentation mistake you don't know you're making: "Presenter's Paradox."
We assume when we present someone with a list of our accomplishments (or with a bundle of services or products), that they will see what we're offering additively. If going to Harvard, a prestigious internship, and mad statistical skills are all a "10" on the scale of impressiveness, and two semesters of Spanish is a "2," then we reason that added together, this is a 10 + 10 + 10 + 2, or a "32" in impressiveness.... [But] people don't add up the impressiveness, they average it.
More is actually not better, if what you are adding is of lesser quality than the rest of your offerings. Highly favorable or positive things are diminished or diluted in the eye of the beholder when they are presented in the company of only moderately favorable or positive things.
Lecturer Nilofer Merchant (@nilofer) writes about the lessons she learned when she gave her TED Talk and it didn’t go as well she expected:
· The first step is to admit something is wrong.
· The second step is to ask what specifically went wrong — and get help if you need it.
· Then, listen.
· Begin the process of undoing.
HBR’s How to Practice for Your Presentation says, practicing your presentation is essential.
Make sure you build in extra time for it. Go through all your material each time you rehearse, including how you are going to stand and move, and how you will incorporate any visuals. To prevent technical gaffes, use the equipment you will have during the real presentation. Speak your lines out loud until they no longer sound memorized. While rehearsing, concentrate on your message and your desire to communicate it well, rather than on your notes. If you’re speaking to a large group or it’s a high-profile event, consider videotaping your practice session so you can evaluate and tweak it more closely.
Presentation expert Nancy Duarte (@nancyduarte & @Duarte) asks, “Presentation coming? Know these things about your audience”:
· What are they like? Think through a day in the lives of your audience. Reference something that they face every day so they’ll know you “get” them.
· Why are they here? What do they think they’re going to get out of your presentation? Are they willing participants or mandatory attendees? Highlight what’s in it for them.
· What keeps them up at night? Everyone has fears or pain points. Let your audience know that you empathize—and that you’re here to help.
· How can you solve their problems? How are you going to make their lives better? Point to benefits you know your audience cares about.
Duarte also says, “To persuade a listener, establish common ground.”
It's one thing to give a smooth presentation. It's another to move the people in your audience to do something. To accomplish the latter, figure out what you have in common with the people in the room, and speak to the audience at that level. Think about the values, interests, shared experiences, or challenges that you share so you can reference them in your dialogue.
And she asks, “Do your slides pass the glance test?”
People should be able to comprehend each slide in about 3 seconds.
Think of your slides as billboards. When people drive, they only briefly take their eyes off their main focus — the road — to process billboard information. Similarly, your audience should focus intently on what you're saying, looking only briefly at your slides when you display them.
She says slides should reflect attention to eye flow, contrast, white space, hierarchy, and unity.
See our previous blogposts on the topic of presentations.
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