Give Great Presentations

How to Speak Confidently and Make Your Point

Bloomsbury Publishing

• Publisher: A&C Black Business Information and Development
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780713682571
• eBook ISBN: 9781408128039
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

Speaking in front of other people can be a real worry if you've not had a lot of practice. Even if you know your stuff, it can be hard to get everything together in time, look confident, speak clearly, and get your message across well.

This practical book contains a self-assessment quiz, step-by-step guidance, top tips, common mistakes and advice on how to avoid them, summaries of key points, and lists of the best sources of further help. Fully revised and updated, with strategies to help you cope if things don't go to plan, and special sections on how to manage nerves and boost your message with your body language, Give great presentations is full of advice on how to prepare and deliver a knock-out speech.

1
Preparing great presentations

Giving a presentation can strike fear into the heart of even the most experienced business people. It takes some courage to stand up in front of an audience and deliver a well-structured and interesting talk, and most of us at one time or another have experienced the panic, sweaty palms, blank minds, and wobbling voices that sometimes accompany this.

Being able to cope with presentations is a very valuable skill, though, whatever your job. Presentations are useful in many situations, such as pitching for business, putting a case for funding, addressing staff meetings, or even as part of the application procedure for a new job. Few people like speaking formally to an audience, but there are many real benefits and as you gain experience in giving presentations, you’ll probably find that it becomes less of a worry, and even enjoyable.

This chapter offers you help on the first step of your journey towards a great presentation: preparation. It will give you some suggestions for preparing the content of what you’re going to say, looking at your objectives, gearing it to your audience, and getting your points across well.

Step one: Work out your objectives

Clear objectives are the starting point for all great presentations. Start by working out your objectives—ask yourself why you’re giving the talk and what you want your audience to get out of it. Think about whether using speech alone is the best way of communicating your message, or if your message might benefit from using visual aids and slides to further illustrate its main points.

When you’re planning and giving the presentation, keep these objectives in mind at all times—they’ll focus your thoughts. Having an objective for giving the presentation will ensure that you’re not wasting anyone’s time, either your audience’s or your own.

For example, let’s say that you’re presenting a new product to your company’s sales reps at your annual sales conference. Your objectives in this case may be to:

introduce your product to them positively and enthusiastically

talk them through the benefits of your product

point out the many advantages it has over any competition

explain why the target audience would want to buy it

TOP TIP

It’s very important that you believe in what
you’re going to be talking about. This is
particularly the case if you have to deliver a
difficult message, such as one related to
change or what others are likely to perceive
as bad news. These situations are bound
to be uncomfortable, and if you don’t
wholeheartedly believe in your message,
others will be able to pick this up. It won’t
necessarily be as a result of anything you say,
though; your body language may give it away
without you even noticing. See the next
chapter for more information on this.

Step two: Find out what you need to know about your audience

Before you plan your presentation, try as best you can to find out who is going to be in your audience, and their expectations. For example, the tone and content of a presentation to the managing director of another firm will be very different to one addressed to potential users of a product, or to one directed at people you know well. It’s important that you know the extent of the audience’s knowledge about the topic you’ll be discussing, as their familiarity with the subject will determine the level at which you pitch the talk and the language you use (see below).

Whatever the interests of your audience, try to appeal to what will motivate and interest these people. For example, if you’re talking to senior people in your company about a new product, you might want to include information about how it can be produced cost-effectively; if you...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• How good are your presentation skills?
• 1 Preparing great presentations
• 2 Delivering great presentations
• 3 Fighting back against nerves
• 4 Boosting your message with your body language
• 5 Creating virtual or online presentations
• 6 Using slides and visuals in your presentation
• 7 Surviving worst-case scenarios
• Where to find more help