Another PowerPointless presentation –well, not all of it

A presentation aimed at a room of 25 business owners and managers that filled many slides with 8 to 12 numbered/bulleted points. That means the text was not evident to those beyond the first three rows –provided they had 20:20 or corrected vision.

While the practical sessions helped to make the workshop more meaningful for the participants, a golden opportunity was lost by limiting the extent of the learning outcomes. Promises to send the slides later may seem ideal –but could in fact be just another promise. As one delegate, who had attended an earlier workshop by the same team said in an aside, "well, sending the slides didn't work on the last training workshop, so I doubt they will arrive this time around”.

Maybe the facilitators preferred to achieve a 50% rather than 95% success rate of learning outcomes –actions that delegates take later.

Here are a few suggestions to avoid embarrassment to yourself and irritation to your listeners:

• Use visual aids appropriate to your presentation. Choose from photographs, flip-charts, sample materials, PowerPoint slides.

• Despite research showing that an audience cannot read the slides and listen to the speaker saying the same words simultaneously, too many presenters continue to use PowerPoint slides as notes to be read to the audience.

• When used skilfully, PowerPoint slides can take an average presentation up several notches and make it truly memorable. –for the right reason.

• Do not spend the time apologising for not being skilled in using your visual aides. Instead, prepare beforehand how to use the equipment or have a skilled operator do these tasks for you.

• If your visual aids irritate, confuse or bore your audience, you won’t succeed in giving a stunning presentation, gain the attention of your audience or create a desire in then for your message.

Murphy’s Law about if anything can go wrong, it will, often seems applicable to using visual aids in presentations. So, always check and recheck your visual aids before your presentation. Ensure you have an alternative/ backup way of delivering your presentation in the event Murphy’s Law kicks in and the equipment malfunctions.

Beat Murphy at his own game....

Veronica

Subject line and content at odds with each other?

Have you had the experience of receiving an email message in which the content of the message had no bearing on the subject line? In speaking, some people share content that is very different from their subject line. The result is mixed messages -or none that brings clarity.

Just a few days ago, I listened to a sales presentation in which the presenter devoted much time to telling about what’s wrong with a competitor’s services rather than focusing on what was good about his. I was interested in hearing about advantages of using his service and any feedback he had received from satisfied customers -which would have confirmed the benefits of using his business.

What the presenter did not take on board is the fact that my reason for coming -and of the others in the room -was not to hear about competing businesses –for that we would have chosen a different venue. It is in fact, we wanted to find out more about his/her business and to consider how using his services would benefit our own businesses. He missed the opportunity to persuade, inform and educate his listeners.

Today’s GEM
Even before you decide what to say, consider: WHO will be listening to you and WHY.

Veronica
Speaking with confidence

Do you need a resident Wordsmith?

A recent discussion caused me to reflect again on the importance of choose words suitable to the occasion and listeners.

Quite irritating for me is listening to speakers who litter their presentations with ‘stuff’ and ‘ting/thing’. What this says to me is that the speaker is either too lazy to choose words that are specific and accurately describe the item or situation they are referring to or is being evasive and is reluctant to share information. Worse than using this in personal discussions, it’s a hundred times worse when these vague words –irritatingly so, are used in business conversations. On the other hand, I cannot help but be impressed when the speaker use words to paint a clear picture, even in the absence of any supporting visual aid. So here are my suggestions for making clear, easily understood and powerful presentations.

* Avoid using vague, non-specific and unimaginative words such as: thing, stuff, something, nobody/none.

* Apply ‘Word Power’. Choose simple yet powerful and persuasive words. For example, use horrendous instead of rather high to describe an extreme situation.

* Choose words that will not cause offence on grounds of religion, gender, culture, ethnicity
or disability. Unless it’s a specific request from your audience – do not use bad language during your presentation.

* Always choose words and give examples that will aid your listeners’ understanding of your messages.

Veronica