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
