Frances McKay - Smart Skills: Presentations

Smart Skills: Presentations

Legend Business, 2 London Wall Buildings,

London EC2M 5UU

info@legend-paperbooks.co.uk

www.legendpress.co.uk

Contents Frances Kay 2011

The right of Frances Kay to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-9082480-8-4

eISBN 978-1-9082483-6-7

Set in Times

Printed by Lightning Source, Milton Keynes, UK

Cover designed by:

EA Digitial, Leicester

www.eadigital.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Foreword

Myriads of management handbooks in print purport to provide guidance on the key skills to success and business training manuals also abound. Generally, they suffer from one or both of two defects.

Sometimes, the scope of the book is too broad. Attempting to provide comprehensive advice on all the basic business activities, there is no clear message. Nobody can gain proficiency in every field of marketing and sales, administration, purchasing, bookkeeping and financial management in a short period of time, although those who start their own businesses do need to acquire a working knowledge of most. Other titles fail to distinguish between technical capability and personal skills.

However, there are a handful of personal and interpersonal skills that are essential ingredients for success in any business: the private or public sectors and the professions; large or small organisations; employees, business owners or management consultants. These are the subject matter of the Smart Skills series on which all readers can focus to advantage because mastery of them will surely enhance both job satisfaction and their careers.

Frances Kay, herself a skilled presenter through her own work experience in workshops and talks, focuses on the essential presentation skills which are necessary in all walks of life ranging from day-to-day situations to formal occasions addressing sophisticated audiences. For want of good presentation, many a sound business concept has failed to attract funding support or in its marketing to key clients in face-to-face situations and many a promising career foundered through inability to convince colleagues and superiors. This book is both succinct and easy to follow, providing all the building bricks that you need to hone and develop your presentation skills.

In the Smart Skills Series Frances and her fellow authors bring together their know-how of core skills into a single compact series. Whatever your level of experience and the rung of your career ladder that you have reached, this book will help you to audit your personal effectiveness and raise your game when interacting with others.

Jonathan Reuvid

Note from Author

Public speaking and making presentations can reduce normally confident and fluent individuals to quivering jelly. And its not easy to rise to your feet and stand on a platform in front of strangers, co-workers or superiors if you feel that your legs are unlikely to support you and your mouth wont work.

This book is designed for anyone who has to present to an audience, whether on a public speaking platform or for a specific business purpose. The principal issues for those less accustomed to speaking in public are confidence, self-belief and the ability to put across a message or idea succinctly and convincingly. Overcoming fear of failure is the major hurdle, and it can be done with effective training and practice. Whether speaking and presenting in front of large public audiences, colleagues, teams, managers, sales prospects or social groups, similar principles apply. It is a question of tailoring your content and style to achieve the most favourable outcome.

The most important issues of presenting successfully are covered in this book, and among others include:

• aims for the speech or presentation;

• different audience types, sizes and disposition and how to address them;

• time available and how best to use it in getting the message across;

• content key points and how to deliver them;

• tips on preparation including self-confidence, knowledge and well-being;

• speaking with or without notes, card or other prompters;

• effective use of visual aids;

• how to detox your Powerpoint;

• structure, logical progression and completeness;

• managing the beginning, middle and end of your speech;

• techniques for clear, articulate delivery;

• use of words, sentences and phrases for maximum effect;

• rhetorical devices to enhance effect metaphor, alliteration, triads;

• using your body stance, presence, attitude, appearance, eyes, gestures, movement;

• vocal variety pace, volume, projection, breathing;

• simple language, repetition, anecdotes, analogies.

Being able to speak effectively to an audience is something everyone should be able to do. The skills required however are rarely achieved overnight. It requires practice and regular feedback. A recommendation (by experienced presenters) is to regard the process as having three stages: before the presentation, during the event and afterwards. For the purposes of clarity that is how this book is set out.

Introduction

The opportunities and difficulties of getting to your feet

The human brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.

Sir George Jessel

Imagine the scenario: you have been asked to give a presentation. Most of us find it difficult to resist a bit of flattery, and you feel honoured to have been singled out among your peers, so you have eagerly accepted the invitation. Then reality strikes youll have to stand in front of a group of people, hold their attention and address them fluently on a subject about which (someone believes) you have specialist knowledge or expertise. Lets hope you are now thinking, Thats fine. I can do it. Nothing to worry about. But what if you are having less positive thoughts?

No doubt about it, presentations matter. There can be a great deal hanging on them and rarely, if one fails to work, do you get a second chance. A poor presentation can blight a plan, a proposal, a reputation even a career. But making a good one is not easy, as the quotation above illustrates. If you identify with this all too readily, your fears and experience will worsen if you make a presentation without understanding whats required to make it work. You will not succeed without adequate preparation and could come seriously unstuck if you believe that you can just wing it.

Many thousands of people find the idea of speaking in public utterly daunting. Some take great steps to avoid doing it, which could slow down their career progression. If you are nervous at the idea of making presentations, help is at hand. Making a good one can be done, though few people are born natural public speakers. Those that make it look easy tend to do so because they know the secret they work at it.