A successful presentation starts with the presenter owning the room. When you know and own the room, you will be a more powerful and confident presenter. That leads to more successful presentations for you. What can you do to own the room?
By George Torok
Consider this
While strolling in your neighborhood you will feel more comfortable and confident than in a strange town. A sports team usually feels stronger when playing at home. Delivering a presentation is certainly a competitive sport. Why not do it on your home turf?
As a presenter, how do you own the room? “Owning the room” is a feeling that you can generate within yourself by knowing the room. How do you know the room?
Know the room
Knowing the room for your presentation might mean arriving the day before your presentation. At the very least, arrive one hour before your presentation. Don’t breeze in 10 minutes before you speak and expect to “own the room”.
Get into the room before your presentation - preferably when no one else is there. This will allow you to make the following preparations.
You can see the room and start visualizing how you will present and how your audience will look. Visualizing yourself presenting in the room is an effective way to prepare for your presentation. You will feel more comfortable and more powerful if you’ve been in the room before your presentation.
If the room is not the right size for the audience expected you can plan what to do to alter the room to make it appear to be smaller or arrange for another room.
You can check the setup of the room. Become familiar with the layout of the seating, tables, doors, curtains and other characteristics of the room. Walk around the room and sit in different seats so you understand better how the audience might or might not see you and your visuals during your presentation. Look for blind spots.
Arrange for the seating to be changed to your preferred arrangement. Sometimes this might mean making those changes yourself. (I’ve done this the night before an important presentation.)
Play with the switches. Test all the lights, AV and climate control switches. Tape the ones that should not be changed. Discover the ones that give you the settings you want so you can set it quickly or explain to an assistant how to do it.
Check all the doors to learn which ones are noisy - so you can tape the latches with duct tape. Which are the outer halls that need a “Do Not Enter” sign taped on the outside? Where are the washrooms so you can direct people? hich are the emergency exits in case they are needed?
Rehearse walking on and off the stage so you don’t trip. I’ve done it and seen it happen. It’s surprising how simple things like walking on stage can be nerve wracking when you are giving a presentation.
Stand on the stage and deliver parts of your presentation. Move about the stage to feel comfortable and find the cracks or creaky boards that you will need to avoid. Check the position of the speakers while speaking on the microphone to avoid feedback. Test the microphone when the AV people are there. Often they test the microphone with one of their staff then they disappear.
One More Presentation Tip
Change or move something to make the room yours. Close the curtains, move some chairs, put a small table on stage… It might not be much but any small change that you make can help you feel better when you take the stage.
I’ve delivered over 1,000 presentations and I’ve noticed that a good room setup can influence the energy of the audience and success of your presentation.
Know the room and you will own the room. Your audience will marvel at your confidence and presentation power.
© George Torok helps business leaders, managers & sales professionals deliver million-dollar presentations. He offers presentation skills coaching and presentation skills training. For more free presentation tips visithttp://www.Presentation-Skills-Success.com To arrange a media interviews call 905-335-1997
Showing posts with label public speaking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public speaking. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Public Speaking - Which Is Most Important, Delivery or Content?
When making a presentation, is it the content of your talk, or your delivery of it that will contribute the most to the success of your talk? In short, the answer is both.
By Bob Malloney
Many presenters have been misled by presentation skills trainers into thinking that delivery is all-important. This is based on a misunderstanding of research carried out by Albert Merhabian into face-to-face communication. Merhabian concluded that the impact of your message is delivered by:
Words 7% - Tone of voice 38% - Body language 55%
Taking this research at face value, many presentation skills trainers therefore argue that what you say is relatively unimportant compared to how you sound and how you look. Undoubtedly it is true that if you look very nervous and mumble in a monotone voice, the audience will probably not listen to what you are saying. However, if you want to give a presentation that achieves something and is valued by the audience, this is a dangerous conclusion. The research really applies to the emotional nature of communication. For example, if I told you I was happy, but I looked and sounded sad, you would not believe my words (7%), but would instead believe my tone of voice and body language (93%).
To be successful, your presentation has to provide value to your audience. If you audience does nothing differently as a result of listening to your talk, my argument is, what was the point of you giving the talk? If the world is the same at the end of your talk as it was before your talk, what was the point in giving it?
To provide value then, your talk has got to achieve something and to do that it must have the right content. It is no use just having a ‘subject’ to talk about, you need to have a mission! For example, don’t give talks just to provide information. So many presenters just tell their audience about what they do. No audience will be interested in this and consequently will do nothing as a result of listening to it. All the audience are interested in is ‘What’s in it for me’. So don’t just tell them what you do, tell them what you can do for them.
Once you have sorted out your content, you can then concentrate on the delivery. To keep people’s interest you need to vary your tone of voice, just as you do in normal conversation. If you feel strongly about something we need to ‘hear’ that it’s important to you, as well as take onboard the words. The answer to presenting with emotional variety is to keep your language very simple. If you use complex or formal language, you will become so concerned with getting your words out fluently that you will sound serious and lacking in emotional variety.
You also need to look and sound confident. Have a strong ‘mission’ for your talk and keeping the language simple will make it far more likely that you will be more confident in your delivery. To make it even easier to deliver your messages, try to wrap as many of your messages as possible into stories or examples. Don’t give abstract examples; make them real, add some human interest and if you can, some humour as well.
So, by keeping to a few simple messages that provide value to your audience, you give yourself a chance to deliver them with confidence and emotional variety and achieve something by getting the audience to do something as a result of listening to you.
Bob Malloney, a personal and business skills trainer for over 20 years, can help you to make a real difference to your working life, all from the comfort and convenience of your PC. Streaming video courses that replicate instructor-led training in Personal Organisation, Presentation Skills, Relationship Selling and Negotiating Skills. Register now for a free, no obligation 7-day trial at > http://www.videocoaching.tv
By Bob Malloney
Many presenters have been misled by presentation skills trainers into thinking that delivery is all-important. This is based on a misunderstanding of research carried out by Albert Merhabian into face-to-face communication. Merhabian concluded that the impact of your message is delivered by:
Words 7% - Tone of voice 38% - Body language 55%
Taking this research at face value, many presentation skills trainers therefore argue that what you say is relatively unimportant compared to how you sound and how you look. Undoubtedly it is true that if you look very nervous and mumble in a monotone voice, the audience will probably not listen to what you are saying. However, if you want to give a presentation that achieves something and is valued by the audience, this is a dangerous conclusion. The research really applies to the emotional nature of communication. For example, if I told you I was happy, but I looked and sounded sad, you would not believe my words (7%), but would instead believe my tone of voice and body language (93%).
To be successful, your presentation has to provide value to your audience. If you audience does nothing differently as a result of listening to your talk, my argument is, what was the point of you giving the talk? If the world is the same at the end of your talk as it was before your talk, what was the point in giving it?
To provide value then, your talk has got to achieve something and to do that it must have the right content. It is no use just having a ‘subject’ to talk about, you need to have a mission! For example, don’t give talks just to provide information. So many presenters just tell their audience about what they do. No audience will be interested in this and consequently will do nothing as a result of listening to it. All the audience are interested in is ‘What’s in it for me’. So don’t just tell them what you do, tell them what you can do for them.
Once you have sorted out your content, you can then concentrate on the delivery. To keep people’s interest you need to vary your tone of voice, just as you do in normal conversation. If you feel strongly about something we need to ‘hear’ that it’s important to you, as well as take onboard the words. The answer to presenting with emotional variety is to keep your language very simple. If you use complex or formal language, you will become so concerned with getting your words out fluently that you will sound serious and lacking in emotional variety.
You also need to look and sound confident. Have a strong ‘mission’ for your talk and keeping the language simple will make it far more likely that you will be more confident in your delivery. To make it even easier to deliver your messages, try to wrap as many of your messages as possible into stories or examples. Don’t give abstract examples; make them real, add some human interest and if you can, some humour as well.
So, by keeping to a few simple messages that provide value to your audience, you give yourself a chance to deliver them with confidence and emotional variety and achieve something by getting the audience to do something as a result of listening to you.
Bob Malloney, a personal and business skills trainer for over 20 years, can help you to make a real difference to your working life, all from the comfort and convenience of your PC. Streaming video courses that replicate instructor-led training in Personal Organisation, Presentation Skills, Relationship Selling and Negotiating Skills. Register now for a free, no obligation 7-day trial at > http://www.videocoaching.tv
Monday, March 8, 2010
How to Have People Interested in What You Are Saying For Once
A beginners-guide to using story to become more compelling when you speak. Whether you are trying to persuade your daughter to do her homework, or a customer to buy your product.
By Daniel Batten
By using the 3 tips below, you will pick up - a formula to tell people information about your product so they remember it and buy it. - a simple structure to give people facts in a presentation so they stay alert and interested. - a 3-part method you can use to sell ideas without people feeling like you are selling. For example, you can even sell to your teenager the facts about why s/he should do their homework. When applied, these tips will make what you say memorable, even if people currently don’t listen to what you say at all.
We humans have evolved to store information in our heads when its told in a story. Think of story like the supermarket shelf, and the information being the food. Imagine shopping in a supermarket with no shelves. That’s the way people feel listening to you when you give information without a story. No-one can resist a good story well told, The three tools below will show you how to make your stories interesting, so nobody gets bored and thinks they’d rather get shot in the face than listen to you. The first three rules below will get you started!
Tip 1: The “What’s the Point” Phrase.
Have you ever heard a story that went all over the place? - no beginning, middle or end? Perhaps it was you who was giving it? By using this next tool, you can stop this from happening ever again.
The secret is to use a “What’s the point” phrase. This phrase sums up the point in 10 words. If you don’t have a “What’s the point” phrase, you don’t have a story.
For example, if you are telling a story about how you locked yourself out of your apartment half-dressed’ ask yourself “What’s the point?” Is it - “Thinking ahead saves time” or - “We find creative solutions when we have no other choice” or - “Every problem has a solution?” or - “You can trust me. I’m prepared to tell a story that paints me in a less-than-glowing light!
Whatever you choose as your phrase, you then need to cut out anything (no matter how good) that doesn’t relate to that phrase.
Tip 2: Edit yourself.
You don’t have to have a pen and paper to edit. You can practice editing in your own head by asking yourself a couple of simple questions. See, most humans over-explain things. That’s because we care about what we are talking about. But they don’t… yet. Here’s how you make them care.
Every word should be treated as though it has a cost: don’t get charged “extra baggage” for every unnecessary word.
When it comes to people being interested in what you say: Remember: less is more. So rather than thinking “does this add more info” ask yourself “does this improve the power-to-weight ratio of my story”.
Stop worrying “how much information can I say” and start asking yourself “how much information will they remember?” By asking yourself these editing questions, you will start to speak in a way that others can remember, because you removed what wasn’t memorable before you opened your mouth.
Tip 3: Add spice.
What gives a story spice? Cool characters and delicious dialog right? Its very easy to create this yourself. Rather than say “I went to see my My General Manager and asked him to change some things about how he ran the company” say
That Thursday I saw my General Manager Graham Orphin - think Art Garfunkel with a moustache and English Accent. I said “Ummm, I have some ideas on what this company can do better” and then I listed them.“number one ...”.
Why is this so much more effective? Because it lets the person listening to you form a mental picture of the person, and the dialog allows them to relive your moment with you.
Doing this enhances their connection with you because they can connect to your story, and connection is the key for people being interested in what you say.
Everyone loves a good story-teller. Story profoundly improves business-results and definitely increases your market worth, making life more fun for you and those around you. There is more to it - but this is plenty for now: better to pinpoint the “low hanging fruit” than get overwhelmed and end up getting no fruit at all.
Daniel Batten makes products to help you succeed in your business/career by becoming a persuasive speaker, a compelling GenX leader, or an indispensible employee. Find out more about how to increase your market worth today by subscribing to his free newsletter, available at: => http://beyondtheceiling.com/newsletter.html
By Daniel Batten
By using the 3 tips below, you will pick up - a formula to tell people information about your product so they remember it and buy it. - a simple structure to give people facts in a presentation so they stay alert and interested. - a 3-part method you can use to sell ideas without people feeling like you are selling. For example, you can even sell to your teenager the facts about why s/he should do their homework. When applied, these tips will make what you say memorable, even if people currently don’t listen to what you say at all.
We humans have evolved to store information in our heads when its told in a story. Think of story like the supermarket shelf, and the information being the food. Imagine shopping in a supermarket with no shelves. That’s the way people feel listening to you when you give information without a story. No-one can resist a good story well told, The three tools below will show you how to make your stories interesting, so nobody gets bored and thinks they’d rather get shot in the face than listen to you. The first three rules below will get you started!
Tip 1: The “What’s the Point” Phrase.
Have you ever heard a story that went all over the place? - no beginning, middle or end? Perhaps it was you who was giving it? By using this next tool, you can stop this from happening ever again.
The secret is to use a “What’s the point” phrase. This phrase sums up the point in 10 words. If you don’t have a “What’s the point” phrase, you don’t have a story.
For example, if you are telling a story about how you locked yourself out of your apartment half-dressed’ ask yourself “What’s the point?” Is it - “Thinking ahead saves time” or - “We find creative solutions when we have no other choice” or - “Every problem has a solution?” or - “You can trust me. I’m prepared to tell a story that paints me in a less-than-glowing light!
Whatever you choose as your phrase, you then need to cut out anything (no matter how good) that doesn’t relate to that phrase.
Tip 2: Edit yourself.
You don’t have to have a pen and paper to edit. You can practice editing in your own head by asking yourself a couple of simple questions. See, most humans over-explain things. That’s because we care about what we are talking about. But they don’t… yet. Here’s how you make them care.
Every word should be treated as though it has a cost: don’t get charged “extra baggage” for every unnecessary word.
When it comes to people being interested in what you say: Remember: less is more. So rather than thinking “does this add more info” ask yourself “does this improve the power-to-weight ratio of my story”.
Stop worrying “how much information can I say” and start asking yourself “how much information will they remember?” By asking yourself these editing questions, you will start to speak in a way that others can remember, because you removed what wasn’t memorable before you opened your mouth.
Tip 3: Add spice.
What gives a story spice? Cool characters and delicious dialog right? Its very easy to create this yourself. Rather than say “I went to see my My General Manager and asked him to change some things about how he ran the company” say
That Thursday I saw my General Manager Graham Orphin - think Art Garfunkel with a moustache and English Accent. I said “Ummm, I have some ideas on what this company can do better” and then I listed them.“number one ...”.
Why is this so much more effective? Because it lets the person listening to you form a mental picture of the person, and the dialog allows them to relive your moment with you.
Doing this enhances their connection with you because they can connect to your story, and connection is the key for people being interested in what you say.
Everyone loves a good story-teller. Story profoundly improves business-results and definitely increases your market worth, making life more fun for you and those around you. There is more to it - but this is plenty for now: better to pinpoint the “low hanging fruit” than get overwhelmed and end up getting no fruit at all.
Daniel Batten makes products to help you succeed in your business/career by becoming a persuasive speaker, a compelling GenX leader, or an indispensible employee. Find out more about how to increase your market worth today by subscribing to his free newsletter, available at: => http://beyondtheceiling.com/newsletter.html
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