Break Away from Ready Salted Crisps

There’s no bigger creature of habit than me. I always eat ready salted crisps and I always have crunchy nut cornflakes for breakfast. The current Mrs Ode is no different, she always has lasagne whenever we go out – I’ve even seen her try and order it in an Indian restaurant.

We are all like this in some way, ok maybe not with the freaky lasagne fetish but we all have habits. Sticking with the ‘norm’ is fine. It feels safe and in many ways we are in our comfort zone. However, from time to time we need to put on our hard hats and venture out of our safe, warm and toasty comfort zone so that we can experiment and try new things.

Our habits even find their way into how we deliver presentations, especially in the first few minutes when opening. This, for many people is the worst part of the whole presenting experience. A lot of presenters play safe and stick to the same way of opening that they have done for years. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the traditional way of opening, for example:-

– Welcome and introduction
– Introduce presentation topic
– Introduce content

…And then bang, you start talking about the content; the meat of the presentation.

It’s safe and easy on the ear for the audience. But does it capture the audience’s imagination from the start? Let’s take a look at a few ways in which you may decide to vary your opening. WARNING – Hard hat on, you are about to leave your comfort zone…

The Big ‘Ask’
Once you have introduced yourself why not ask the audience a question?

For example – “Before I start my presentation this morning I would like to ask you all a question…”

Trust me, their ears will prick up immediately and you’ve got the audience in the palm of your hand right from the start. Use this technique 2 or 3 times throughout your presentation. The audience will be so scared of missing the question that they will keep listening intently. If you have a large group then you may want to ask for a show of hands, as big groups don’t always like to shout out answers.

Shock tactic
Once you have introduced yourself why not throw in a provocative statistic, statement or fact. If you are using this technique just make sure that your information will surprise or shock them.

For example – “Before I start my presentation this morning I would like to share this fact with you…”

As with the Question Technique, you will have the audience listening intently right from the start.

Wrap up your presentation by using this fact again as part of your summary. This is called the ‘bookend technique’ and is a cracking way of bringing it all together. Be brave and give one or both of these a go.

If you would like a chat to see how I can help improve your presentation skills then don’t hesitate to give me a call personally on 07825 301660 or click here for our full contact details to get in touch.

Right, I’m feeling a touch peckish – I’m off for a bag of ready salted crisps and a bowl of crunchy nutters.

Why Presentations Sometimes Fail

I recently watched a presentation at a training conference. I sat there and just 5 minutes into it, it appeared that I was just as confused as everyone else, “What on earth is she on about?” I thought. The speaker was using loads of jargon and prattled on about absolutely nothing for 20 long minutes. I very quickly switched off and started to think about more important things such as should I have mushy or processed peas with my chips at lunch time.

Presentations that don’t go according to plan can leave the presenter kicking themselves and in some cases a reluctance to carry out future presentations. Here are my top tips on making sure that your audience don’t start thinking about what peas to choose for their lunch:-

No point
It’s easy to forget what the point of your presentation is. You get so sucked up in the content that you forget the original reason that you were supposed to get up there and speak in the first place. Always ask yourself:-
What’s the point of the presentation?
What’s my key message?
What do I want/need the audience to know?
All of these points need to be communicated to the audience right from the start otherwise, you will lose them very quickly.

The audience
The most important people in the room are your audience, so see your presentation through the audience’s eyes. If you were sat there listening to you what would you want to hear? What would keep you listening intently? What would switch you off?
It’s also key to know who’s in your audience; that way you know how to design and pitch your presentation. Stay away from unnecessary jargon; you don’t want the audience to have to work or get lost in what you are saying. It should be easy for them. They should sit down, relax and listen to you but also understand you.

Too long
Sometimes you will be given a timescale but if you don’t then just make sure that you don’t waffle on or go off the point. The audience will inevitably switch off or at worst, drop off!

Break it up
If it’s a 20 minute presentation then you can’t simply just talk at the audience, you need to mix it up. Use real life stories, or case studies. Bring your words to life.  Stories will help to put into context what you are saying. Use slides (as long as they are clear and concise) and definitely don’t do ‘death by power-point’. Wherever possible, involve the audience, ask them questions etc.

I’ve spoken to many people after a failed presentation and they always say the same thing -“I didn’t practice enough” or “My nerves got the better of me”. Drill down a little further and I’ll guarantee that it wasn’t just that at all, it was more than likely they committed one, if not all of the presentation sins.

Do you need a hand developing your presenting skills? Why not get in touch to see how our presentation skills courses can help.