Refuse to be Boring

She walked to the front and froze

 
Knowing of my interest in all things related to presenting, my wife told me a story this week. Her teaching colleague, Sara, had the unfortunate experience of “freezing” at the beginning of a presentation. She had done the presentation before, but not to this class. She walked to the front of the room, looked at the 50 students, greeted them, and froze. It was a surprising and difficult experience for her.

Freezing in those first moments of a presentation is a physiological reaction to stress – it is the “fight, flight, or freeze” response.  The body releases adrenalin and cortisol into the bloodstream, which in turn causes an increased heart rate, faster breathing (which contributes to a shaky voice), sweaty palms, and dry mouth. I suspect it has happened to most presenters at one time or another. 

So, how can you minimize the risk of freezing at the beginning of your presentation?  Different strategies work for different presenters.  Everyone agrees that being well prepared and comfortable with your content is vital. Even something as simple as “dressing for success” can be part of your preparation. Arriving early and checking out the room in which you will present can also increase your comfort level.  Before the presentation, take a couple of minutes for yourself, breathe deeply, and focus.  (Before the class Sara had been involved in intense discussions at a meeting, she had to leave the meeting and run to the presentation; she did not have a chance to catch her breath and focus). 

The most common time to lose focus and freeze is at the beginning of the presentation. Even though I present a lot, I still feel “nerves” during the beginning moments. My trick to get past it is to memorize the first sentence of my opening (it is the only part of my presentations that I memorize).  For me, saying the first sentence is like opening a door and taking the first step into a room – or in this case, a presentation. Once I am “in”, everything settles down.  If you think you’d like to try this, you could write down your first sentence as a prompt to yourself, or if you are opening with a quote or a question you could have that on one of the first slides. Everyone prepares for the first moments differently; you need to find what works for you.

Preparation and focus are important in controlling pre-presentation anxiety. Even so, accept that “nerves” may hit at the beginning, but once you get started they will go away. 

Thanks to Sara who agreed to for share her story in this blog.  She laughs about the experience now, but believes it is important to share with other presenters. By the way, once she got past the first couple of awkward minutes, the class went fine. 

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

I got spurs that jingle jangle jingle…

Have you ever been distracted by a presenter (or someone you are talking to), who jingles coins in their pocket? This always reminds me of the song Jingle Jangle Jingle (written in 1942 by Joseph Lilley and Frank Loesser).  

 
Presenters are often nervous and/or excited about their presentation; this energy can show itself in (distracting) nervous habits.  However you don’t want to distract your audience by fiddling with things in your pocket (like coins!), continuously adjusting your clothes, or playing with objects in your hands. 

In her book, New Sales Speak: The 9 Biggest Sales Presentations Mistakes and How to Avoid Them, Terry Sjodin (www.sjodincommunications.com) devotes an entire chapter to “Distracting Gestures and Body Language”. She describes some of the more humorous things she has seen presenters do while speaking, like sticking a pen in their ear, unbuttoning and buttoning their shirt and kicking out a leg out every time they made a point.  Of course there is also the verbal manifestation of “jingle jangle jingle”, referred to as disfluencies.  They include filler words that speakers use repeatedly, for example “um”, “uh”, “well”, “like” and “ya know”.

If you’d like to know if you have distracting mannerisms, I suggest that you video yourself presenting, or have a friend/colleague watch you present and give you feedback (but they need to be honest!).  Before I present I always remove everyting from my pockets - I used to be a pocket change jingler, and sometimes catch myself jingling as I talk to people.

The jingle, jangle, jingles distract your audience, which takes their attention away from the message you are trying to deliver.  It can also undermine your credibility as a speaker.  

So, leave your spurs at home. What jingle, jangle, jingles have you seen?

Joe Pops

Jingle, jangle, jingle is available on iTunes. CAUTION: it is one of those tunes that gets stuck in your head (ohrwurm/earworm). (I like the Tex Ritter version best!)

Refuse to be boring

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your point? 4 tips on writing the message for your presentation.

Think about the last presentation you attended; what was the presenter’s point? 

Designing a presentation around the most important point (the message) greatly increases the chances that the audience will remember it over time. This is why presentation design starts with crafting a clear concise message. One mistake presenters make is to assume an audience can remember multiple “takeaways”. The old saying is true; if everything is important then nothing is important.

I follow a message crafting framework that is taught by Dcode communications (www.dcodecommunications.com) in their presentation training program called Wavelength. They recommend crafting your message by completing the statement What I really want you to understand is _______ .  The you is the audience for the particular presentation you are working on; the what is the one thing you need them to remember after you finish.

It sounds easy but it isn’t.  A couple years ago my wife asked me to help her design a presentation on writing for (academic) publication; it took a lot of discussion and questions (from me) for her to identify the most important point she wanted the audience to take away. During our discussion her “message” often blended with the learning objectives of the presentation, but there is a difference. For even experienced presenters it can be challenging to boil down the content into a single message; the content supports the message.

Here are my tips for writing a presentation message:

Figure out your point, as in the question, “So what’s your point?” Your point is not your goal - your goal for the presentation is the result of the audience understanding, and acting on, your point.

Try and write your message in one clear and concise sentence, “What I really want you to understand is …”. If you are a Twitter user, think of it as a 140 character tweet.

Use the words “you or your” in the message. (Remember the You factor from a previous blog)

Don’t assume your message is obvious - is it obvious for everyone in the audience?

State your message early and late in your presentation but don’t actually say “What I really want you to understand is…” Design everything in your presentation (content and visuals) around supporting your message. As the folks at Dcode say, “Presentation is driven by message, not content.” 

So remember, presentation design starts with crafting a clear concise message. Designing your presentation around your message will greatly increase the chance that your audience will remember it long after you leave the room.

What do you think?

 

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

“Everything here is a TLA!”

 
One of my colleagues used to say “Everything here is a TLA!”  (three letter acronym).  We use acronyms without even thinking.  During presentations I sometimes hear a TLA (or other multi-letter acronym) used that I don’t know, or remember. My favorite is EBITA - earnings before the deduction of interest, tax and amortization expenses (I had to look that up - again).   

The presenter assuming that the audience is familiar with the same acronyms they are is a sign of the “curse of knowledge”.  Being afflicted with the “curse” means that once you know something well you cannot go back to the state where you didn’t know it; you may assume that everyone else knows it too. The “curse” can cause an interesting problem; the more you know the worse you may become at communicating that knowledge.  Applying that to the acronym issue - we use a large number of acronyms in our communication every day, but does everyone know them?

How can you successfully use acronyms in your presentation?  You have to know your audience – will everyone know the acronyms you are going to use?  Better yet, assume that everyone will not know or remember the TLAs in your world. Make sure you say the words each time rather than using the acronym, or replace it with a simpler term.  In my EBITA example, I would simply use the term profit; I know it’s not that simple, but it will let the audience know what you are talking about. 

So KIS (keep it simple) and avoid using TLAs. You should be able to beat the “curse” … at least as it applies to acronyms.

Do you know any other ways to avoid using acronyms in presentations?

Joe Pops

RTBB

Are you blending your presentations?

 Two of the most common presentation types are informative and persuasive.  

The main elements in an informative presentation are facts, figures, features, graphs, and charts.  The goal of this presentation type is to educate the audience; an example of an informative presentation is a lecture.

The main elements in a persuasive presentation include stories, analogies, examples, quotations, and metaphors; the goal of this presentation is to get the audience to do or feel something. Examples of persuasive presentations include sermons and motivational speeches. (and hopefully sales presentations) 

The majority of presentations in organizations (for both internal and external purposes) contain mostly informative presentation elements. This can result in a presentation called a “data dump” … lots of information, very little persuasion.  This is problematic because the goal of a presentation (in a business context) is typically to sell people new ideas and new ways of doing things.  The presenter is challenged to persuade the audience to accept something that is new to them. 

Using persuasive style elements in your presentation will help the audience see “why is this important” or “what’s in it for me”.   But of course facts are important too.  Good presenters blend elements from informative and persuasive presentation types – each presentation/audience/situation requires a unique blend.    

What elements do you blend together in your presentations?

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

 

 

 

How many slides do you have?

 
Has anyone ever asked “How many slides do you have?” when inquiring about the length of your presentation?  I think this goes back to an old belief that presenters (supposedly) should average 1 slide per minute…it was assumed that by using this “rule” you could gauge the length of the presentation.  Of course there isn’t a “1 slide per minute” rule.  In fact there are no rules regarding the number of slides a presenter should have for a specific time, or how much time you should spend per slide.   The only rule presenters should follow is to finish on time – or even better, a little early!

In The Non-Designer’s Presentation Book, author Robin Williams states that “Slides are free – don’t be afraid to use as many as you need to present the information clearly.” She also shares some helpful slide design tips.  If you have several points that will not be expand upon, you can leave them on one slide … as long as they relate to a single topic.  However if you plan to expand on each point it is better to have one point per slide.  Just remember to use a readable font size (around 30 points) and make sure that the audience can read the slide in around 3 seconds.  Having a variety of slide styles - slides with multiple points and slides with single points - helps you vary the pace of your presentation, which will make it more interesting for your audience.

At the end of my “Presentation on Presentations” I often ask the audience, “How many slides did I use?” They always guess numbers that are much lower than what I actually used.  My point is that the number of slides is not important, what is important is using them to effectively support your message.   

What do you think?

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

Sales vs. product presentations: one size does not fit all

 
There was a question posted by Craig Preston (Saratech Inc) on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago.  He asked, “Why do sales people modify their slide presentation instead of using the one prepared for them?”  

I think sales people modify the presentations provided by marketing because they are typically product presentations, not sales presentations.  My definition of a product presentation is a presentation that is focused on a product/service; it highlights features and benefits. I believe a sales presentation is different, it goes beyond the product. It focuses on a specific audience and their situation; specifically how the product benefits them or addresses their unique requirements.  Each sales presentation is tailored to the needs of the audience.

When people who work in marketing design a presentation, they assume (for practical reasons) that the needs of each potential customer are basically the same and that they face the same challenges. Certainly, to some extent, this can be true. However each sales situation is unique, as are the customers and their issues/challenges.  For this reason you must know each of your customers and their circumstances.

Your sales presentation should resonate with your customer...the only way to get the presentation to resonate is to customize it for each customer and their needs.  One size does not fit all.

What do you think? 

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

Is your medium your message?

 
On a recent blog post at Duarte.com (http://tinyurl.com/3bwr4kg) it was stated that “Your slides are a visual representation of your idea and are a reflection of you.” This tweaked my interest because I had just read a similar statement in The Non-Designers Presentation Book by Robin Willliams  (http://tinyurl.com/6jflvnm).  In the book she said, “You are your slides. If they are sloppy and unclear, it naturally follows (in many minds) that you are sloppy and unclear, or that your information is not sound.”

So at least two experts in presentation design agree - you are your slides.  This makes sense to me, and goes back to Marshall McLuhan who, in 1964, coined the phrase "the medium is the message" to illustrate that the delivery medium and the message being delivered have a symbiotic relationship.

Although this concept was conceived long before PowerPoint, I think it is applicable today.  I believe it’s particularly applicable in sales presentations in which the presentation is proposing a product or service AND at the same time represents the sales organization.  For example, if an organization’s brand promise states that they offer simple solutions to their customers’ problems, then it seems that their sales pitch/presentation should be designed to reflect simplicity (simple clean slides). Wordy complex slides would be “anti-message” and could weaken the overall impact of the presentation.  

Is how you design your presentation and slides a big part of your message? Do you think that design is as important as content?  Is the medium the message? 

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

Hit your pause button - the black slide

 
After a presentation I gave in the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago, a colleague asked me about a (plain) black slide I had inserted in my presentation.   It’s something I learned from a workshop, a book or a blog … I can’t remember exactly. The idea is that during your presentation you may want to “pause” the presentation in order to get everyone’s attention, and make a specific point. 

I use this pause in a variety of ways.  I will

• tell a special story
• demonstrate a unique feature of one of my products
• involve the audience in an activity
• introduce the next topic in my presentation, to give it context

When you intentionally put up the black slide (pause the presentation), the audience immediately focuses on you.  This is the ideal time to make your point, or have your STAR moment (Something They’ll Always Remember - see previous post). 

Remote presentation “clickers” have a feature that “goes to black”, however I find by actually inserting the black slide I don’t have to remember to use the feature.  The black slide appears at exactly the place I want and keeps me on track.  The pause also breaks up the rhythm of the presentation; it adds some contrast, a visual break for your audience.

Has anyone else heard of, or tried, the black slide technique? How does it work for you?

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

 

Apples to apples & the whole nine yards

 
Last week I was in the Netherlands and had the opportunity to work with some very dynamic colleagues.  As expected, we spent most of our time talking about presentations.  During the week I gave four presentations; I must say I was a little nervous. Of course I was concerned how my message(s) would be received, but there was something else.  Everyone in these audiences spoke English very well; however, it was their second (or third) language.  Presenting in this situation can be a challenge, you aren’t sure if your phrases and terms will be understood by your audience.  Given how we speak, it is virtually impossible to avoid some slang terms (or colloquialisms) unless you are going to “read” your presentation from a script, which can be problematic (boring) in itself.

During one presentation, I used the phrase “apples to apples” and the expression “the whole nine yards”.  While my colleagues understood “apples to apples”, “the whole nine yards” didn’t have a Dutch equivalent that my colleagues could immediately think of.  There is a lesson here - if you are presenting to a group in a language other than their first one, remember that the phrases you use every day at home, may not mean anything to them.  Use simpler words and more direct phrasing (but don’t dumb it down) and speak clearly. The whole point of the engaging style of presentation is to make it easy for your audience to follow you and understand your message.

One Dutch colleague told me that he presents to his Chinese colleagues in English; in this situation, no one in the room is communicating in their first language.  He suggested in this situation it may be better to use a more traditional presentation style, and put more words on the slides.  This way the audience could read some of the words they didn’t understand, and it would help them follow along.  Adding a few more words to these slides (the opposite of the engaging style) makes a lot sense in this situation, I study French and I can read it better than I speak it.  Of course having too many words will cause other problems. In this situation using more/ better images could be a big help as well, as long as they resonate with your message. 

The last thing to do is slow down, make sure the words are clearly heard. When you are passionate about your topic it’s easy to get excited and speed up. I know this is one of my challenges as a presenter.

I am interested if you have any tips or ideas about presenting to an audience whose first language is different than your own. As my colleague put it, it’s good just to be aware of the challenge.

Joe Pops

Refuse to be boring

Just to be clear, "the whole nine yards" means completely, the whole thing, or everything.