Thursday, May 10, 2012

Are You Making Effective Presentations? Part 2 of 2

Today we finish a summary of the basics in making a presentation or speech. Diane DiResta's book, Knockout Presentations is a terrific and thorough resource.



Content today:
1. Do’s and Don’ts of Delivering Presentations
2. The Message of Color
3. Presentation Evaluation Form for Assessing Delivery and Organization (available online)

1. Do’s and Don’ts of Delivering Presentations

DO’s

Eliminate distracting behaviors

Videotape yourself and listen to your delivery.  Do you use non-words such as ah, um to fill in while you’re thinking?

Then turn the sound down and just watch.  How is your body language and facial expression?  What about your hands: do you use gestures effectively or do you keep your hands in your pockets and jingle your keys?

Be real

Audiences are more sophisticated than ever and will see through phoniness.  Be genuine and leverage your strengths.  Use personal examples when appropriate and allow time for your words and message to sink in.

Extend eye contact

Look directly at people in the audience for a complete sentence or two.  This generally takes five seconds or less to do and it helps you connect with the audience.

Expand your gestures

Not using gestures will make you look stiff.  Use your hands to emphasize key points or to draw attention to a visual aid.

Keep your posture in check

Standing up straight increases your personal presence and allows you to breathe properly.

Move with purpose

Rocking on your heels or pacing is distracting.  Stand still and focus on your gestures.  If you can’t stand still walk into the audience and talk directly to one person.  Then move toward someone else and talk to him or her.  Be careful not to wander too far away if you need to be close to your visuals.

Be enthusiastic

Get excited about your topic.  Be animated and expressive. 

Listen to your voice

Tape yourself and review that tape for pitch, pace, personality, etc but also listen to yourself during your presentation.  Some people tend to speak very rapidly when they are nervous.  If you find yourself running out of breath while you’re speaking, slow down—we all need to breathe.  Gasping for air causes you to rush and sound nervous.  Breathe deeply and parcel out enough air to finish the sentence.

Experiment with volume

A well-timed whisper or burst of volume may add a dramatic effect and stimulate audience interest.  Project your voice to ensure you can be heard in the back row of the room.

Use specific, precise language

Speaking is hindered by vague terminology.  Words like, “some” and “a lot” don’t say much and won’t convince your audience to take action.


Use vivid language

Paint a picture to give color to your speech.  Metaphors transport the listener to a different dimension, grab hold of the mind and stimulate the imagination.  The brain thinks in picture, not words.

Use action words

Persuade people to do something with active words they can visualize; create energy and a sense of movement.  Let your listeners visualize the action.

DON'Ts

Play with a pen or a pointer

This signals that you’re nervous.  Use a pen to write, and then put it down.

Turn your back on the audience

We connect with our eyes.  Learn to walk backward instead of turning your back.

Drink ice water

Ice water can cause constriction of the vocal folds.  Room-temperature water with lemon is the best choice for speakers.

Drink alcohol, coffee/soft drinks, or milk products

Alcohol is a depressant and may loosen your inhibitions too much.  The caffeine in coffee will make you jittery and feel more nervous.  Milk products create mucus, which will force you to clear your throat frequently.

Yell

If you have to get the audience’s attention, blow a whistle, play music or designate someone else to call the audience to order.

Plagiarize another person’s words

Not only can you be sued, but it means you don’t have anything to say.  If you quote another person, be sure to give credit.

Use ethnic slurs or highly charged words

Even the most common expressions may offend some people.

Use slang

Unless you’re making a point, slang will either date you, regionalize your or mark you as uneducated.

2. The Messages of Colors in the Presentation

Colors have subliminal messages.  After you learn what they mean, you’ll know how to use them.  Below are the emotional representations of the “hot” (red, yellow, orange) and “cool” (blue, purple, green) colors plus white and black.

Blue

This is the most popular background color because it’s peaceful and soothing.  Blue is calming, credible, conservative, peaceful, and trusting.  Blue is the background color of choice in over 90% of business presentations.

Green

An excellent background color for presentations that require interaction and/or feedback from the audience.  It’s restful and refreshing.  Green is harmonious, envious, growth, money, and relaxation.  It is also a good color to use as a highlight color.

Purple

This can also be a good background color.  Purple is impressive and spiritual and encourages vitality.  Use darker shades for backgrounds and lighter shades for accents.  Purple is vital, spiritual, whimsy, humorous (lighter shades), and detracting.

Red

Red is hot! It is a dominant color that calls attention to the message and stimulates audiences to take action.  Red is motivating but also represents pain.  As an accent color, it works well to catch and hold attention.  Note: for financial presentations do not use red as an accent color since red traditionally means loss, not profit.

Orange

Orange is an excellent contrast color against a dark background and a good choice for text or accents.  It’s a powerful and cheerful color that encourages communication.  Orange is happy, concentrating, intelligent and rebellious.

Yellow

Yellow stimulates the brain and promotes decisiveness.  Use yellow for text or accents — it’s an excellent contrast color against a dark background.  Yellow is bright, cheerful, enthusiastic, optimistic, and warm.  Use yellow in text and bullets, but be careful; big areas of bright yellow can be an irritation and can look washed out on a large screen in a big room.

White

Usually used as a text color with dark blue and other dark backgrounds.  You can use it for titles for text.  White represents a fresh canvas but add some accent colors if you use it as the main background color.  White is freshness, new, innocent, neutral, and pure.

Black

Black symbolizes a clean slate.  It’s used for emphasis and is associated with finality.  Black is sophisticated, independent, emphatic, and final.  Large areas of black add emphasis and highlight your information. 



Concern for the Color-Challenged

About 10% of males and less than 1% of females have a color perception defect known as color blindness.  This is an inaccurate term for a lack of perceptual sensitivity to certain colors.

There are three types of color receptors in our eyes:

Red

Green

Blue

We also have black and white receptors.

Color blindness results from a lack of one or more of the types of color receptors.  Most color perceptions defects are for red or green or both.  Another form of color blindness — yellow-blue— is extremely rare.

People who are color-challenged depend on the intensity of colors.  They may see them as shades of gray, but they can distinguish differences. 

The most common color perception problems are with certain combinations, such as yellow on green, green on red, red on green, blue on red, red on blue and red on black.


One Final Note

The way a slide presentation looks on your computer is usually very different from how it will look in a large room on a screen.

Graphics that look wonderful on a 15-inch screen appear too small or large on a screen.

Depending on the projection device being use, some colors may appear washed out.  For example:  When using white and yellow side by side on a graph or chart, the yellow may be so light that it will appear to be white.

Always test your slide presentation on a similar device before walking into the room to do your presentation.  One of the quickest ways to lose your audience is to be forced to make excuses for your materials.




Adapted from Knockout Presentations, by Diane DiResta

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