Workplace Communication: Business Presentations Pro Skills!

In This Lecture: Make Comfortable Small Talk

People often struggle to get the audience to respond to them positively and this will reduce their ability to convey their message. The way to resolve this problem is to remember the presentation is not about you; it’s about them. Focusing on the needs of others keeps you from worrying about yourself, but more importantly, can help the people you are presenting to feel more comfortable talking with you. Many presenters find that one way to engage the audience and get them on your side, even before a presentation starts, is interacting personally with some of the audience members during the period known as welcome time. If you’re not naturally good at making small talk, here are techniques that will make it easier.

• Make them feel safe
• Get them to talk
• Provide mutual value

*The course slides handout is available below to download if you would like to use it to follow along.

How to Use The “Your Turn” Lectures:

At the end of every video lecture is a section called “Your Turn.” It consists of the highlights of the lecture and some exercises that will help you put the ideas into action to create your own presentation, deliver it well, and manage the audience like an expert.

Since many of the exercises require your written answers, I recommend that you record them by hand in a notebook set aside for this purpose, or write them on your computer and print them out and keep them in a binder so you can have them accessible for quick reference as you work on putting the principles in this course into practice.

In This Lecture: Keep Them Listening and Interacting

You have to show your audience that in order to get the information they’ve come to hear, they have to listen to you. This advice seems deceptively obvious. I tell it to people who’ve come to me for presentation advice and they nod in agreement, as if to say, “Got it.” But they haven’t.

How do I know? Because the following example is somewhat typical: Sitting in the audience while observing a client during her presentation, I noticed although people were pretending to look at the presenter, most of the time they were using their open laptops to go shopping and check email. Afterward, I asked if she realized they weren’t listening.

“But they were,” she protested. “They were looking at me.”

“People can seem to be looking at you but not be listening. I mastered that skill in high school,” I said. “Let me ask you something: Do you enjoy being a presenter?”

“I love it,” she said.

“Are you bored while you present?” I asked.

“Not at all. It’s stimulating because I’m active all the time.”

“Which do you prefer? Presenting or listening.”

“Presenting,” she said. “I hate sitting passively while someone drones on—” As the shock of recognition passed across her face, she cut herself off, “Do you think that’s how my audience feels?”

Yes.

I suggested a challenge: Find a way to keep the listeners in the audience as stimulated and engaged as you are as a presenter.

In this section, I’m going to show you how to do just that.

• Solve Mysteries
• Ask the right questions
• Address every learning style

*The course slides handout is available below to download if you would like to use it to follow along.

How to Use The “Your Turn” Lectures:

At the end of every video lecture is a section called “Your Turn.” It consists of the highlights of the lecture and some exercises that will help you put the ideas into action to create your own presentation, deliver it well, and manage the audience like an expert.

Since many of the exercises require your written answers, I recommend that you record them by hand in a notebook set aside for this purpose, or write them on your computer and print them out and keep them in a binder so you can have them accessible for quick reference as you work on putting the principles in this course into practice.

In This Lecture: Tailor Your Approach to Any Audience

You may routinely give presentations on different topics to a particular kind of audience (a group of physicians, for example, or executives, or even a convocation of college students). You may also give presentations on the same topic to audiences of all different types. In either case, there will be times when you want to make the presentation even more effective by spending some advance time tailoring it for a specific audience.

It’s even more challenging when you arrive at a presentation only to discover the composition of your audience is not what you expected. Or, even if you’ve done your research and prepared very carefully for your audience, you realize that their expectations are different from what you had anticipated. In these cases, you’ll also have to tailor your presentation, but you’ll have to do it in real time.

Here are ways to meet both sets of challenges…

• Tailor to their goals
• Tailor to their expertise
• Tailor to their demographics

*The course slides handout is available below to download if you would like to use it to follow along.

How to Use The “Your Turn” Lectures:

At the end of every video lecture is a section called “Your Turn.” It consists of the highlights of the lecture and some exercises that will help you put the ideas into action to create your own presentation, deliver it well, and manage the audience like an expert.

Since many of the exercises require your written answers, I recommend that you record them by hand in a notebook set aside for this purpose, or write them on your computer and print them out and keep them in a binder so you can have them accessible for quick reference as you work on putting the principles in this course into practice.

In This Lecture: Stay on Track to Minimize Distractions

Eventually, every presenter has to deal with distraction caused by misbehaving audience members.

Educational psychologist Rudolf Dreikurs suggested that misbehavior is caused by people who don’t feel they belong. They may resort to disruptive behavior, seeking attention and power so they’ll be included; they may seek revenge to get back at the organization or people they resent; or they may become apathetic, feeling the situation is hopeless.

This section will show you practical solutions that allow you to handle such problems quickly and easily, staying in charge without being heavy-handed.

• Handle disruptions
• Handle apathy
• Handle negativity

*The course slides handout is available below to download if you would like to use it to follow along.

How to Use The “Your Turn” Lectures:

At the end of every video lecture is a section called “Your Turn.” It consists of the highlights of the lecture and some exercises that will help you put the ideas into action to create your own presentation, deliver it well, and manage the audience like an expert.

Since many of the exercises require your written answers, I recommend that you record them by hand in a notebook set aside for this purpose, or write them on your computer and print them out and keep them in a binder so you can have them accessible for quick reference as you work on putting the principles in this course into practice.

In This Lecture: Avoid Common Presentation Mistakes

I have spent 10 years of research analyzing the presentations of 452 business professionals. After 4,680 hours of observation and another 4,825 hours of feedback, I’ve discovered 10 mistakes that thread their way into nearly every presenter’s toolbag. In this section, you’ll discover what they are and exactly how to avoid and overcome them.

• Give a powerful Introduction
• Create a catchy hook
• Create an actionable agenda
• Build an audience driven powerpoint
• Practice the right way
• Include real compelling examples
• Use a deep, resonant tone with effective pauses
• Use confident body language
• End on time
• Close well

*The course slides handout is available below to download if you would like to use it to follow along.

How to Use The “Your Turn” Lectures:

At the end of every video lecture is a section called “Your Turn.” It consists of the highlights of the lecture and some exercises that will help you put the ideas into action to create your own presentation, deliver it well, and manage the audience like an expert.

Since many of the exercises require your written answers, I recommend that you record them by hand in a notebook set aside for this purpose, or write them on your computer and print them out and keep them in a binder so you can have them accessible for quick reference as you work on putting the principles in this course into practice.

In This Lecture: Top 5 Best Practices of Public Speaking

This video offers you the principles and tools that can help you do many things, among them create a customized, memorable presentation that your audience will crave; overcome your fears and become a confident presenter; and engage and entertain even the most challenging audience. To get results, you have to act on that advice.

This section encourages you to take a few minutes to think about where you would like to make changes. Write down the top five areas in which this video has shown you ways to improve your presentation skills. Since research and my own experiences indicate that people can focus only three goals at a time, I suggest you choose the three you want to incorporate in your life first. Start working on those, and once you have achieved them, work on the next three. Continue until you have achieved them all.