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Tools For Making Effective Presentations And Keeping Your Audience Engaged

When my children were growing up, they wrangled their way through quite an impressive menagerie of pets. In our house, human beings were generally outnumbered. We had to keep the animals happy and well-fed… or else.

My kids had a home away from home – it was called Theresa’s Pet Store. If you wanted a shark, a frog, a snake, lizard, cat, dog, sheep or horse, Theresa could set you up. Rodents, insects, reptiles and amphibians – she had everything for sale except single cell organisms.

One day while my children and I were standing in line to make our latest acquisition, (it was either a bunny rabbit or a tarantula, I forget) I noticed a large barrel overflowing with a collection of chew toys. You know the type; those rawhide bones and donuts and knuckles and chew sticks that dogs go ape over. (By the way, an ape will never go dog, but I digress.) Then, as my eyes drifted to the right, I caught sight of the most disgusting spectacle ever beheld by me or any other upright vertebrate.

I take it as serious business.

After having attended a formal “Effective Speaking” training program in 1996 at the British Foreign Office training center in London, I was quite hopeful to develop my skills as an effective speaker and presenter.
This three day program covered the above techniques in addition to a session on effective writing. I remember our facilitators kept repeating;

“There is only one tool that helps deliver good speeches or presentations – Practice, practice and more practice”.

Plan Your Content in Chunks: The listener can retain three or four main ideas, so condense your material into short units or chunks that they could repeat after you’re done. For example, you might focus on the three main components of your system that will help the client be more efficient; or the four components of your equipment that will save them energy or produce more. If you need to win the contract by presenting your specifications or benefits to prospective clients, they must understand it in small bites.

In my opinion, one cannot doubt the knowledge and quality of contents of an expert speaker. However if the above ingredients are missing, it is highly likely that your audience will lose interest. I have also seen that extensive and complicated presentations also cause severe damage to presenter’s ability to engage audience. I have also observed that some presenters keep going in the flow of their thoughts, and in trying to impress their audience forget that a normal human has a short attention time span. In my opinion, if your listeners can not retain 25% of what you have said – “you have failed to deliver your message”.

As an oral presenter, you are now a performer that needs to demonstrate confidence of your service, without being arrogant, but by clearly outlining in lay terms the solution that you can provide to the client. This must be supported with appropriate visuals, such as, Power Point or “Prezi,” or demonstrations that are simple without over-detailed graphs or charts that go on forever.

More often than not, the second time around does not turn out any better than the first. Unfortunately, there are endless opportunities to choose an advisor who talks the talk but fails to walk the walk. All sizzle and no steak. The line at your door is long and the nimrods are chomping at the bit to take that hard-earned cash off your hands. And you’re all too willing to hand it over. Why is this so often the case? Why is it so difficult for some of us to learn from our mistakes?

You could say my friend Bill suffered from a debilitating lack of self-awareness. He bitterly tried to make sense of his dilemma: “Perhaps clients reject me and my advice because I’m too honest with them. I tell them what they really have to do in order to get their company into optimum shape for a sale, merger or recapitalization.”

Bill continued: “My competition downplays all of this. They present a prettier picture, an easier experience, and a lower estimated cost. In contrast, my view seems too time intensive, and expensive. The competition won’t guarantee the desired outcome but they certainly imply that if they are chosen, success is all but guaranteed. Plus it will be less expensive and easier.”

Bill had a good point. Most people prefer easier and less expensive. After all, the path of least resistance always sounds so appealing. Bill and I had collaborated in the past and I reminded him of the many successes we shared with our clients. Invariably, they were owners and buyers that were well above average in awareness and business acumen. Aware, experienced people have a broader and deeper perspective and are far less likely to fall into the “easier and cheaper” trap. I observed that most of the time Bill “won the beauty contest” whenever the client was sufficiently evolved and capable of making a rational, well reasoned choice. Funny thing – these experienced and discerning clients never had a problem with Bill’s ears.

I have also seen presenters struggling with technical glitches, ask yourself:

How difficult to have an additional soft copy of your presentation and a printed version?
How difficult it is to check the microphone volume?
How difficult it is to control the lights at the stage to avoid blindness?

And the final word “Your audience do not know what you would tell them next, so if you have forgotten a point, keep moving on, they won’t notice it”.

If you follow these points, you will be repeatedly performing better.

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