When you are speaking before a group be it a presentation for five minutes or you are speaking for the whole program these rules apply. It is always amazing to me how many of these rules are not followed and then people wonder why they are not more effective with their presentation
Speaking Do’s
- Be prepared! – Know your purpose! – Analyze your audience and fit the talk to their needs! Know to whom you are going to talk and what it is you want them to do because of your presentation. Only giving product information will not be of great interest. What is new, different or exciting about your product? What makes you excited about this product? Work on conveying that to the audience.
- Establish good eye contact – Speak clearly – Project your voice – Smile. Talk to the audience and talk so the person in the back of the room can hear you. This is your chance to show everyone what a great person you are and what a wonderful relationship you have with your clients. No one wants to listen to a grump, so smile till it hurts because it projects across the room and brings smiles back to you.
- Use pauses effectively – Use pointers specifically – Use natural gestures. Let people soak in what you are saying. Pauses are effective in bringing home a point you are trying to make. If you use the overheads, then use a pointer to highlight the place on the overhead. A laser pointer is only about ten dollars and it allows you to quickly point out the item, and then return your attention to the audience.
- Practice the talk out loud – Stay within the time frame – Use a conversational tone. Practice the talk until you can give it in the time allowed. When you go over on the time people expect, they start to get antsy and will only remember that you talked too long. Practice it until it is like a conversation with a friend and it will come across as if you are talking to your friends!
- Select the words carefully – Use the KISS formula – Be enthusiastic – Use simple and effective visual aids. Keep it super simple. Remember, not everyone has the technical expertise you do on your products. Use no more than four points on each overhead and have hard copy of your overhead to leave with your audience. Remember, when you are enthusiastic, they will get enthusiastic.
- Use an attention getter – Over learn the opening remarks – Establish credibility. When you start you have to grab their attention. By saying something startling or memorable to start with the audience will pay attention. Establish quickly that you have earned the right to give them the information.
Speaking Don’ts
- Don’t read – Don’t memorize – Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare. You can use notes, but if you just read to the audience, you might as well save them the trouble of listening and just hand out your talk, so they can read it at their leisure. If you want the respect of your audience, be prepared ahead of time!
- Don’t start the speech until you reach the lectern. If you are to be heard, then wait until you are at the lectern before you begin your talk. Let the audience see you, then start to speak.
- Don’t rock back and forth or side to side – Don’t fidget or play with your notes. Don’t appear like you are nervous or you will make your audience nervous. If you have prepared and practiced your talk, you have nothing to fear.
- Don’t turn your back on the audience unnecessarily. Remember you are talking to the audience, not someone off stage or some object to the back or side. Most of us do not like to listen to someone who won’t look at us.
- Don’t show your visual aids until necessary – Don’t talk to the visual aids. When you use overheads don’t talk to the overhead. Point out the place on the overhead you want the audience to look, then turn back to them and talk about that point.
- Don’t get a white-knuckle grip on the lectern – Don’t tell off-color or inappropriate jokes – Don’t run overtime. Keep your talk and jokes clean and “G” rated and you won’t run the risk of offending someone in the audience. Be relaxed and enjoy the spotlight.
- Don’t use “Uh’s…”, “And uh’s…”, “Now…”, “Okay…” and “You know…” repeatedly. Enough said! Practice and this will not be a problem. Tape record your talk and listen to it to see if you are using these in your speech patterns.
Remember, if you want to get your point across to someone else, dramatize it. The use of drama and showmanship in selling, advertising and speaking are the keys to success. By dramatizing your ideas, you are not just telling someone cold, hard facts, but telling them a story entire of color and excitement.
By: John C. Erdman
