Effective Presentation Skills

CHAPTER 2: Delivering the Presentation

Facilitator: Rafiullah SherzadLecturer, Kardan Institute of Higher Education

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The Big Rule:

1. Tell them what you're going to tell them!

2. Tell them!

3. Tell them what you told them!

Try to have a good time - presenting can be hell or heaven, it's all up to you.

Less is more. Keep it simple.

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Steps Of Presentation

The Introduction• First Impressions• Credibility• Develop Image in an Interesting

Manner–Do or Say Something In Accordance with The Occasion–Call For Attention

– Invite Direct Involvement From The Audience

– Surprise & Challenge The Audience & It’s Assumptions

–Create Positive Impact By Exhibiting Proper Personal Basic

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Steps Of Presentation

The Main Body• Structuring Your Speech

–Break up the topic.–Have chronological order.–Go thro’ a problem & solution oriented approach.

• Maintain The attention Of Your Audience.

–Humor–Surprise element through questions.–Eliciting opinions from the audience.–Visual aids.–Short sentences & simple language.

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Steps Of Presentation

• Review the benefits of each theme/topic.

• Reiterate in strong, memorable words and phrases the crux of the presentation.

• End with something the audience will remember.

– Recommend– Conclude– Summerize

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Presenting your presentation

• Introduce yourself • always introduce yourself and your topic• briefly explain the process that you are going to follow with your

presentation. • Be professional

• your appearance (dress and grooming), the quality of your handouts and your visual presentation, etc., are very important.

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Seven Tips To Open A Presentation

1. Something newsworthy

2. Startling fact or statistic

3. Compliment the audience

4. Share human interest/personal experience

5. Tell a joke – be very careful what sort of joke you tell

6. Cite a quote

- If you can’t make it simple, you don’t understand it

7. Refer to location

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Signposting

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Signposting

• When you drive on the roads, you know where you are on those roads. Each road has a name or number. Each town has a name. And each house has a number. If you are at house № 100, you can go back to № 50 or forward to № 150. You can look at the signposts for directions. And you can look at your atlas for the structure of the roads in detail. In other words, it is easy to navigate the roads. You cannot get lost.

• But when you give a presentation, how can your audience know where they are? How can they know the structure of your presentation? How can they know what is coming next? They know because you tell them. Because you put up signposts for them, at the beginning and all along the route. This technique is called 'signposting' (or 'signalling').

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• During your introduction, you should tell your audience what the structure of your presentation will be. You might say something like this:

• “I‘ll start by describing the current position in Europe. Then I’ll move on to some of the achievements we‘ve made in Asia. After that I’ll consider the opportunities we see for further expansion in Africa. Lastly, I‘ll quickly recap before concluding with some recommendations."

Introduction •Welcome •Explanation of structure (now)

Body •Europe •Asia •Africa

Conclusion •Summing up •Recommendations

A member of the audience can now visualize your presentation like this:

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• He will keep this image in his head during the presentation. He may even write it down. And throughout your presentation, you will put up signposts telling him which point you have reached and where you are going now. When you finish Europe and want to start Asia, you might say:

"That's all I have to say about Europe. Let's turn now to Asia.“

• When you have finished Africa and want to sum up, you might say:

"Well, we've looked at the three continents Europe, Asia and Africa. I'd like to sum up now."

• And when you finish summing up and want to give your recommendations, you might say:

"What does all this mean for us? Well, firstly I recommend..."

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The table below lists useful expressions that you can use to signpost the various parts of your presentation.

Function Language

Introducing the subject

•I'd like to start by... •Let's begin by... •First of all, I'll... •Starting with... •I'll begin by...

Function Language

Finishing one subject...

•Well, I've told you about... •That's all I have to say about... •We've looked at... •So much for...

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Function Language

...and starting another

•Now we'll move on to... •Let me turn now to... •Next... •Turning to... •I'd like now to discuss... •Let's look now at...

Function Language

Analyzing a point and giving recommendations

•Where does that lead us? •Let's consider this in more detail... •What does this mean for ABC? •Translated into real terms...

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Function Language

Giving an example •For example,... •A good example of this is... •As an illustration,... •To give you an example,... •To illustrate this point...

Function Language

Ordering •Firstly...secondly…thirdly ...lastly... •First of all...then...next...after that...finally... •To start with...later...to finish up...

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Function Language

Dealing with questions

•We'll be examining this point in more detail later on... •I'd like to deal with this question later, if I may... •I'll come back to this question later in my talk... •Perhaps you'd like to raise this point at the end... •I won't comment on this now...

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Function Language

Summarizing and concluding

•In conclusion,... •Right, let's sum up, shall we? •I'd like now to recap... •Let's summarize briefly what we've looked at... •Finally, let me remind you of some of the issues we've covered... •If I can just sum up the main points...

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Signposting-Key Phrases

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Key phrases

• Introducing• Good morning/good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my name is… • The subject/topic of my presentation is…• In my presentation today I shall be dealing with…• What I'm going to talk about today is…• I'd like to give you a brief overview of…• The reason why I'm here today is to talk about…

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Key phrases

Why you are giving this presentation • The purpose of this presentation is ..• This is important because ...• My objective is to ...

Structuring

• I've divided my talk into (four) main sections…• My presentation will be in (three) parts…• Let's start/begin with ... • First of all/Firstly, secondly, thirdly, then, after that, lastly/finally

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Key phrases

• Referring to visuals

• As you can see from the table (pie chart, graph, diagram, flow chart, pictogram…)

• If you take a look at the graph here…

• I'd like to illustrate this by showing you...

• Moving on to a new point

• Turning now to…• What I'd like to talk about now/next is…• Now I would like to describe…• Now let's move on to the next point which is…

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Key phrases

• Giving more details 

• I'd like to expand on this aspect/problem/point

• Let me elaborate on that

• Would you like me to expand on/elaborate on that?

• Changing to a different topic or referring to something which is off the topic

• I'd like to turn to something completely different   • I'd like to digress here for a moment and just mention that ...

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Key phrases

• Summarising and concluding

• I'd like to recap the main points of my presentation     - first I covered…      - then we talked about…     - finally we looked at…

• I'd  now like to sum up the main points which were:• To recapitulate what I've been saying…• So, to go over the main points again…

• Conclusion

• I'm going to conclude by... saying that/inviting you to/ quoting ... 

• In conclusion, let me... leave you with this thought/invite you to

• I'd like to conclude by saying….

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Key phrases

• Thanking the audience and questions

• Thank you for listening to me.• Thank you for your attention• I hope you have found my presentation useful• Finally, I'll be happy to answer your questions.   • Now I'd like to invite any questions you may have.• Do you have any questions?

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Visual Aids

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Effective Use Of Visual Aids – “Do”s

• Limit The Number Of Aids You Use

• Use It As An Aid Only• Be Comfortable In Using The Aid• Keep Your Visual Aids In A

Position Of Maximum Visibility• Use The Pointer To Point, Not

Accuse• If Using An OHP Or Slide

Projector, Put It “ON” Only For The Duration For Which It Is Required

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Effective Use Of Visual Aids – “Don’t”s

• Do not put Excessive Information

• Do not face the Visual Aid while using it

• Do not try to talk and write at the same time

• Do not stand in front of the Visual Aid

• Do not leave blank illuminated screens, they Cause Distractions

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Avoiding Boring Presentation

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How to avoid a boring presentation?

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How to avoid a boring presentation?

• Work on vocal variety! Speak to the audience as if in a one-to-one conversation so as to sound more natural.

• Lighten up! Add a bit of humor. There are lots of true and humorous anecdotes that would elicit laughter and get audience members on your side. Laughter will also ease a presenter’s tension.

• Don’t tell us everything you know! We must not feel that we have to pack everything we know into one presentation. Usually covering three main points/topics is sufficient for a dynamic presentation.

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How to avoid a boring presentation?

• Use visual aid with care! Don’t read what audience members can see already - you lose their attention quickly. Also, boring visuals with lots of words and no graphics are a complete turnoff.

• Involve the audience! Ask the audience questions and encourage them to ask us questions or make comments on your statements.

• Prepare, prepare, prepare and practice, practice, practice! The more prepared you are, the more comfortable and enthusiastic you will be when presenting.

• Work on all of these you’ll never, never, never be boring!

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Dealing with Questions

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Handling Objections / questions

• Ask "friendly" questions - don't use questions to embarrass or harass others

• Avoid asking risky questions - that is, questions that may indicate that other person lacks knowledge or intelligence

• Don't let respondents wander or attempt to take control of the presentation; a polite "thank you, that's what I was looking for" can get you back on track

• Avoid isolated one-on-one dialogues with specific individuals • When challenged, be candid and firm but avoid over responding • Maintain control of the session • Be firm and assertive without being aggressive or defensive • Don't let interruptions disrupt your composure

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Handling questions and challenges

• Anticipate questions and prepare responses • Rehearse answers to difficult questions • If necessary, offer to obtain additional information• Avoid rhetorical questions - ask interesting questions that are

thought provoking but not too difficult to answer • Ask some open ended question with no right or wrong answers -

encourage sharing experiences, feelings, opinions • Prepare key questions prior to the presentation; it is difficult to think

of good questions on your feet

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Handling questions and challenges (Contd…)

Guidelines for answering questions:• Anticipate Questions: think of the ten most likely questions and plan

out your answer. • Understand the Question: paraphrase it if necessary; repeat it if

needed.• Plan the Answer: particularly if you anticipated the question.• Do Not Digress.• Be Honest: if you can't answer the question, say so.• Reinterpret Loaded Questions: if attacked try to show the similarity to

other situations.• Control Interchanges: if a member of the audience becomes a

heckler try to enlist the audience; if a questioner digresses, try to remind the audience of the goal of the presentation

• Use the Last Question to Summarize.

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Dealing with questions

• Some phrases which can be useful when you want to avoid questions:

• That’s not really my field, but I can put you in touch with someone who is an expert in the field.

• Well, I think that goes beyong the scope of today’s presentation.

• I’m afraid we’ve run out of time.• I haven't got the precise information with me today.• That's not really for me to say.• This is not really the place to discuss that matter.• Perhaps that's a question for another meeting.