Key to a Successful Business Presentation

We are born as human beings to present ourselves since we start communicating in our childhood. The monosyllabic presentation gradually takes shape into unorganized sentences and then the complete ones by the time we reach kindergarten school.

The foundation for organized flow of thought, getting translated to speech, is the fundamental criterion for presentation. It is required in an informal fashion in our personal life and formally for our professional life. Presentation ranges from sales, business, employee communication, self-development etc. etc.

Presentation is neither successful only when there is a “gift of the gab” nor in the “drop of the hat”. They need serious preparation. From personal experience I can assure you that every presentation is the first presentation and it gives the same tension, nervousness and uneasiness as the real first one has done. The size and type of audience doesn’t matter.

Parts

Every presentation comprises of two broad parts – verbal and non-verbal. Right from the moment you walk up the stage or into a hall, you are observed and the audience forms the first impression. Hence, the non verbal expressions consist of A. Confidence reflected in the smiling face and poise while walking up. B. Facial expression expressing positive energy to keep the tempo up and bind the audience to the presentation. The verbal part must concentrate on the tone, pitch and clarity of the presenter.

Requirements

An impressive presentation should entertain and educate the audience with required information. There should be a healthy blend of “edge of the seat” attention, relevant humor and lighter vein, in the presentation.

Good presenting is about entertaining as well as conveying information. At the same time, people retain more if they are enjoying themselves and feeling relaxed in the mind. One has a very short time to make a positive impact and good opening impression. So make sure one has a good, strong, solid introduction, and you have it right in your tongue tips.

The impressive and attention-attracting presentations start off with the introduction to the subject/topic followed by a focused but casual description of the aim(s) and objective(s) of it. You can also start with anecdotes and statements made by famous people but the veracity of them needs to be checked before coming up with them.

Once you are into a presentation, make sure that you start getting grip on your audience by building it up in the strongest and the most convincing fashion. If you are nervous then get more involved into the subject and continuously program yourself to deliver nothing short of the best. To aptly quote Friedrich Nietzsche here, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Thus you better feel better while you progress in enrapturing the audience by constantly improving through your presentation.

Modern day presentation is mostly interactive. People are bored with classroom deliveries and post presentation hand-outs. Frankly, they are yielding lesser than expected results. Involvement leading to participation of the audience heightens retention as the percentage break up of Tony Buzan’s figures on the subject of information retention say: Read 10% – Heard 20% – Seen 30% – Heard and Seen 50% – Said 70% – Said and Done 90%.

Presentations are always impressive when it is focused on the process of delivery. Modern day presentations are made from laptop computers, mobile phones or personal digital assistants through LCD projectors. You must also be doing the same unless the presentation is a pure delivery of speech and you do not need any visuals to support it. The audio-visual support is like a double-edged sword. You can win over the audience if you use it in proper synchronization with your speech; you can just lose it if the audio-visual is not well rehearsed and synchronized with the presentation. It is good to use simple background in light colors in case of a small audience and dark ones in case of big ones. One would be wise to use plain fonts like Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman and avoid snazzy and decorative fonts as it is presentation and not an invitation to a wedding party.

Formats

It is important to remember, that the format of a presentation would vary. In most cases nowadays business presentations are made in groups which get divided beforehand into teams. So, it is the cluster ring sitting style which is adapted here. It brings energy, a feeling of camaraderie and hence the participants are eager and attentive.

In case of day-long presentation, it is obvious to give breaks at an interval of approximately 45 minutes to 60 minutes. The duration can vary from 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on whether it is a tea/coffee or lunch break.

I have always been an ardent believer of presentations combining activities with slideshows. Relevant paper pen/pencil activities or physical activities (for example: balloon games) can always help audience to retain the learning for a long time and stretch their muscles in between. The only challenge is the number of people in the hall for the presentation can not be high. In such cases, it is better to stick to the traditional slide show type.

Deliverables

If you are on a Power Point presentation, remember to distribute hand-outs of the slides printed on the left half of an A4 size spiral bound copy and corresponding blank lines on the right to note observations during the course of the presentation. Keep your stationeries, props, activity materials and other required things perfectly ready at least an hour before you start. You never expect the unexpected to happen and mar your efforts in the last minute to the start.

MANAGING THE SHOW: Sometimes bigger audiences can get slightly unruly and noisy. Some might just keep talking amongst one another and you are bound to get distracted. Stop immediately and look at the person(s) and keep silent. The house will immediately be in order. Breaks in speaking during a presentation are sometimes required and the best way to take them without letting off the flow is to involve the audience in an activity. The activity must be in sync with the topic being presented. It is always prudent to keep the question answer session at the end of a specific section or end of the session, which ever is comfortable with you and the audience.

To bring you to the end of this article, I can share the single most important requirement to be an impressive and effective presenter: do more of it. The above discussion is just a guideline. Books in volumes are written, articles and journals discuss it over thousands of lines but, the finest presenters in the world are the ones who are doing the exercise for months and years together.