Public speaking is an important part of my work, and something that I get great joy and satisfaction from. I’m not a natural public speaker though, in-fact I still get little nervous almost every time I get up to give a talk or presentation, but I’ve learned certain tricks and methods that help me “get those butterflies to fly in formation”. So, at the prompting of the guys at Missing Link, I’m going to be sharing some of what I’ve learned about presenting in a series of blog posts on the topic.
In this post I’m going to share what I consider five fundamentally important tips for presenting more effectively. They’re all simple, not necessarily easy, but can vastly improve the quality and impact of a presentation if they’re applied.
1. Know why you’re presenting
Before you give any presentation, it’s useful to get clear on the top reason you’re presenting, and what you need to achieve from your presentation. The reason you do this is because it’s difficult to achieve more than one high-level objective per talk. An example is: “To help people feel more confident about public speaking”.
2. Structure your talk
Audiences pay more attention when they have a sense that you’re in control of your topic, and are taking them to a meaningful conclusion. You’ll succeed to the extent that you make THEM feel smart, rather than by impressing them by how smart you are. Here’s a really useful outline that can be applied to improve the structure of almost any talk:
- Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
- Tell them.
- Tell them what you told them.
3. Be Entertaining
If you bore your audience you’ll lose them and your presentation will have been a waste of everybody’s time. Whether your presentation is drama, documentary, comedy or horror, don’t forget that people often feel before they think – there is an emotional component to any powerful message. Some technical ways you can be more entertaining are:
- Don’t simply read your slides (you shouldn’t have so much content on your slides in the first place, otherwise you might as well just give a printed handout)
- Tell stories to make your point. These can be case-studies if you wish. Or analogies.
- Varying your tone of voice to emphasise different points
- Varying your pace to emphasise different points. Don’t underestimate the power of a pause.
4. Be Honest, Be Yourself
The pressure to give a technically perfect presentation is what often leads to stiff, boring presentations where the audience can often actually see how nervous you are. If you’re able to speak naturally in conversation with a friend or a business colleague about your topic, then you should be able to present to a group… just turn the volume up. The key here is to present on stuff that you’re comfortable speaking about, so that you can speak naturally about it. Sincerity wins over flashiness.
5. Use Pictures
If you’re presenting with Powerpoint or Keynote, then try keep it to a maximum of one sentence per slide. This is important for a number of reasons: People can read faster than you can talk – so reading off your slides starts to seem like a hinderance to progress if that’s all you’re doing. Pictures add an entertaining element to your presentation, and often help people envisage what you’re saying.
If you’re not using presentation software, then this principle still applies. There’s a journalistic principle that says: “Show them don’t tell them” – use examples, stories and analogies to make your point, rather than simply stating it bluntly. So, for example, instead of stating that you’re a rockstar geek, rather describe how your last software demo culminated in a mosh-pit.
There are some technical aspects to presenting that I look forward to sharing in subsequent blog posts, but I think these are fundamentals. Anything else you’d suggest? Have you been to one of my talks before? If so, do you have any feedback on how I’ve applied these principles? Please share.
Thanks for sharing some really practical and meaningful tips on presenting. One is so often confronted by people who blog on this, allude to what they know and then ask you to subscribe and pay for thier insights. Appreciate the generosity, Dave.
My pleasure, really. I spend a lot of time in conferences, as do you, and if there’s one thing I can do to make my world a better place, it is to improve the quality of presentations… this is not altruism, it’s self-preservation:-p
Hi Dave,
I found your blog thanks to guy Kawasaki and i think it’s great!. good content and great writing style. I already retweeted it to my list of followers and i am also following you already.
I don’t know if you speak spanish, but i still want to share with you an article I wrote about public speaking. This is from my spanish written blog:
http://aurelianogarcia.blogspot.com/2009/10/para-morirse-las-delicias-de-hablar-en.html
I also write in english, i leave my other blog for you to check:
http://rant-a-touille.blogspot.com
Thanks for sharing such great articles!
best regards
Aureliano
Hi Aureliano. Thanks, I saw your tweet:) Rant-a-Touille is such a cool name for a blog! The articles are inspiring and also enjoyable to read… Rock on!!
Unfortunately I don’t speak Spanish – only a little Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhoza and Portuguese (besides English)… Based in South Africa:)
Hi, Dave
Thanks for such a beautifully addressed article. Really
informative. Hope to get more knowledge from you.
Thanks once again
Tx for 5 great tips. I would like to add another which can be very valuable (but which depends on the nature of the presentation)
Know your audience:
If you are able to, you should get insight into your audience is and build the presentation to speak their specific requirements. People have biases, positions, agendas etc. Address the concerns of the key influencers and you are well on your way.
@dre Great point. Thanks for the contribution.
i remember when i was still in high school, i always fear public speaking engagments.’*”
Thanks lot for sharing such a great key to represent urself in the conference. Everytime i could have fear about the audience and their questions but m sure after following these gr8 tips will surely entertain them.
Don’t forget to credit your Toastmasters buddies who honed you into the great speaker you are today! Keep up the good work and come visit some time! http://www.toastmasters.co.za
Hey Dave,
I see my wife got here first (not unusual). Nice article, well written.
One more point I would add to your 5 well laid out points, is Practice gains confidence.
The more confidence you gain the more receptive the audience will be to your message. Confidence is gained and lost through doing. Do it well and you gain confidence, do it poorly and you loose it.
The problem comes in finding a place to practice your presentation skills (and hereby gain confidence in this skill) without destroying your career. To give a lousy presentation to clients or your board of directors is a CLM (Career Limiting Move). As Sandra mentioned, Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.co.za) is a good place to practice your presentation skills in a safe, friendly environment.
Thanks again for a very interesting blog. I look forward to hearing you put all this into practice when you present to us at the APSO Conference in September.
Hi Lloyd and Sandra. Thanks so much for popping in with your comments.
Indeed, Toastmasters is the best way that I know of for anyone to improve their public speaking ability.
Of course, I also think the best club in South Africa is the Ernst & Young Toastmasters http://www.toastmasters.co.za
One more suggestion –> Involve the audience by asking questions and listening to their comments or observations. This makes them feel a part of the presentation and more attentive.
Hi Dave,
Well put! Being a faculty for communications, this is what exactly I keep telling my students. The fun is none of this is available in literature to read and learn from. One can understand the following only by experience,so thank you so much for sharing it on a wide platform!
May be you can also do a write up on ideal ppts. People usually put too much text or use colors which are not legible,etc. Here, am not saying about just beginners, even some very experienced people end up doing this! So may be something on this front will be helpful.
Just another point I would like to add to your above article. Ultimately the audience is there to listen to the presenter and not see the slides or the videos. So fancy slide show dosent really count unless you can speak well along. After all the slides are just a visual AID. Just a tool to facilitate understanding and not the presentation itself!! I sometimes joke in my class that “The presenter should the ultimate hero and the slide just supporting cast,not the vice-versa!”
Thanks for your input, Swapna.
I agree with you 100% about Powerpoints not being the reason people are attending. I sometimes fall into this trap and spend more time prepping my slides than thinking about my structure and content.