COMMUNICATION SPECIAL..... How to make a presentation

 How to make a presentation 

Do you get clammy hands and cold feet at the thought of making a presentation? During such times, remember that you are a confident speaker and presenter since you are doing this every moment of your life—while speaking to your colleagues, negotiating with a client, convincing your boss, or getting your child to study. Here are the other things you can focus on to make a flawless presentation

Give what audience wants
Why is the audience listening to you? What does it need to learn from or hear in your presentation? What is in it for them? Make this the focus of your entire presentation. Understand your audience, their needs, interests and aspirations, and figure out what will make them listen to you intently. Deliver only this and delete all else. Next, attack the time limit. Prepare a presentation that is only 75% of the total time allotted. Even if you exceed it slightly, you will avoid boring your audience and leave them with a desire to know more.
Kill the bullet points
PowerPoint has greatly influenced the communication style of corporate presenters, but not everything about it is good. To start with, you need to get rid of the bullet points. Slide after slide of mindless data and points presented in bullet form kills the interest of the most enthusiastic audience. Let your PowerPoint speak with relevant visuals and a maximum of six words per slide. Make sure your diagrams are uncluttered. Each slide should account for 2-3 minutes of presentation time and should be pointless without your presence. This will keep the audience curious, and hang on to your words and actions.
Stick to paper, pencil & pictures
Start your preparation with a piece of paper, not your computer. Use a pencil to write down your theme and main points, and draw the map of what you want to share. Rub out, replace and rearrange the components until you can see the big picture. Can you create strong visuals to replace some words or points? The listener’s mind registers an image far better than words. Pencil in the pictures on your paper map. Only when you are satisfied with the overall impact, should you move on to prepare a slide deck and your speech.
Headlines and visuals
Make Twitter, not WhatsApp, your coach while making presentations. WhatsApp is used for sending across long jokes or messages, whereas Twitter or Facebook updates are short and crisp; they are headlines rather than messages. Work on creating a single headline for your entire presentation. Thereafter, each slide should contain text in the form of, at the most, one headline. The headline is founded on logic and works on the mind of your listener. The images and visuals tell a complete story in one glance and appeal to a specific emotion in your audience’s heart.
Use a mirror to rehearse
Stand in front of a full-length mirror. Now, speak as if you are facing your audience. If possible, set up your cell phone or digital camera to record your entire presentation. Look into the eyes of your reflection to practice looking at your audience’s eyes. Notice your body language, confidence, pauses, stutters, etc, on video. Does the flow sound smooth in the audio recording or to your ears? Repeat and rehearse till you are near perfect. The output will be worth the effort.
Simple words, single theme
Drop those bombastic words, even the industry jargon. The audience gets distracted by difficult words and quickly loses interest. Speak in simple English that a schoolkid would follow. Feel free to communicate in the audience’s native tongue if English is a challenge for them. Let your presentation revolve around a single theme that you want your audience to carry. The headline is a reflection of the theme. Tell the audience about the theme three times—at the beginning, during and the conclusion of the presentation. The message will get through.
Pepper it with enthusiasm
Seth Godin says, “Communication is the transfer of emotion.” The audience needs to see the emotion before they can experience it. Be passionate about your subject. If enthusiasm is difficult to muster, generate content. Have enough material to cover 10 times the allotted time. As you master your subject, you will find your interest levels rise. Let your enthusiasm flow through in rehearsals and on the final day. The audience will love it and absorb your message completely.  

 

Presentations, Steve Jobs style

• Prepare like a billion dollars

 Each Apple product was designed to bring in billions in revenue. Steve Jobs knew that his keynote presentations were a vital part of the marketing plan to bring in sales. He planned and practised to make the presentation worth a billion dollars. It showed. 

 • Be a storyteller...
...not a presenter. Jobs was a master story teller during his presentations. He would create a problem, obstacles, hero and, finally, a grand solution. The show would become a Hollywood style entertainer and the audience would walk away enthralled.
• Capture the individual...
... and hold his attention completely. Jobs’ keynote presentations would be short, each segment not lasting more than 10 minutes. A single message would hold it together. The editing would be sharp, not permitting the individual to lose focus for a moment. 

 • Stitch it up
Do not rely on the audience to follow the thread of the story. Jobs would break his presentation into two or three major points. At each stage, he would pause, remind the audience of the story structure and ‘connect the dots’ to make it easy for them. 

 • Get them high
Jobs would conclude his presentation with ‘one more thing’, and introduce a new product, software or feature, which would amaze the audience and make them exit on a high. A person rarely remembers the speaker’s words, but always the final emotion.

Devashish Chakravarty. ET10729