Tim Thompson - Archer English Consulting
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Clients
  • Workshops
  • Publications
  • Tim's Blog

Upgrading from a "Not Bad" to a "Good" Presenter

10/30/2016

0 Comments

 
Let's be honest, if you attend professional conferences regularly you've seen your fair share of bad presentations.  By now, if the presenter makes a little bit of eye contact and doesn't speak in monotone while reading a slew of text-filled slides you leave thinking, "Hey, that wasn't bad."  Seriously, "not bad" is the new "good" but this may not be enough for some public speakers.  They want to improve their skills and become legitimately "good".  Here are some suggestions for taking your presentation skills to the next level.

Many seasoned presenters will suggest observing other presenters.  I give this advice as well but to really shine try referencing a point made by a speaker from earlier in the day (especially a plenary talk that many of your audience members attended) in your talk.  This shows flexibility on your part and makes your talk feel current.  It also doesn't hurt to name drop or give a little shout out if that person happens to be attending your talk.

Next, share your personal stories.  Scientists often keep their presentations dry and fact based.  Why not talk to the audience members about how you failed, what you learned from failing, and then how that led to you trying something that turned out to be the breakthrough you are presenting on today?  Your scientific/academic talk doesn't have to come across like a TED Talk but it will stand out in the crowd when everyone else is turning their backs to the audience and reading the stats off their PowerPoints.

Speaking of slides, it can be hard to predict the size of the room you will be presenting in and the size of the screen your slides will be projected onto so avoid small fonts whenever you can.  The best way to accomplish this is to reduce the number of words on each slide.  Remember, slides are free.  You can break up sections of your talk over a number of slides.  On a side note, if your slide desk has a large number of slides, don't include the total number of slides in the slide footer (ie: 1/89).  Doing that can really damage the audience's motivation to listen to your talk as it will feel longer than it really is.

Another way to lose the audience is to overuse the word "I".  The best presenters enjoy presenting and ego plays a big part in that but step back and listen to yourself telling your story.  If you feel you are starting too many sentences with "I", trying editing a few sentences using the examples below.  
I discovered that the algae required more sunlight in the winter.  ---> It was interesting to discover that the algae required more sunlight in the winter.  OR  We were excited to discover that the algae required more sunlight in the winter.  OR  It turns out that that the algae required more sunlight in the winter.

Finally, make every effort to finish your presentation on time.  Newer presenters will be tempted to skip their last few slides to accomplish this but doing that can frustrate your audience.  I mean, you went to all the trouble to make those slides and now you consider them unimportant?  Summarize the key point or "takeaway" from each slide in about ten seconds when you notice you are running low on time.  When you finish your presentation you make your final impression and it can leave a strong impression on the audience.  By finishing on time (or, God forbid, a little early) you demonstrate your preparedness, your consideration of the audience's time, and are able to slow down and really focus on tying everything together and selling your talk's takeaways.  This also allows ample time for the audience to ask a question or two.

The next time you find yourself attending a conference, watch for presenters utilizing these tips and I'll bet you will find yourself nodding and thinking, "Hey, that was pretty good."



0 Comments

Presentation Skills Tips

10/24/2016

1 Comment

 
Here are 52 presentation skills tips to help you and your students give better presentations.  To learn more about these tips, contact me about scheduling a presentation skills workshop at your school or office.  Email: archerengcon@gmail.com

Pre-talk preparation
  1. Observe other presenters. Use mannerisms and slide designs that you like.  Avoid doing things you don’t like.
  2. The most successful presentations have a goal and a theme.
  3. Prepare your talk with a target audience in mind.
  4. Make sure your vocabulary level and speaking speed matches that audience.
  5. Establish a halfway point for your talk so you can check how you are managing your time.
  6. Be prepared to shorten your talk due to circumstances beyond your control.
  7. Finishing early is better than finishing late.  Don’t hold the audience hostage.
  8. Prezi is awesome, once.  Do you need to use tricks to keep the audience’s attention?
  9. Demo high-stakes presentation in low-stakes environments.

On-site preparation
  1. Arrive early to familiarize yourself with the venue and equipment and greet early arriving audience members.
  2. Tell the audience if you want them to hold their questions until the end or mute their phones.
  3. Make sure your speaking volume and font sizes are suitable for audience members in the back of the room.
  4. Control your breathing and try to slow down your speaking speed at the start of your talk.
  5. Give a complete introduction (greeting, introduce yourself, announce your topic, and hook the audience).
  6. You should hook the audience at the beginning.  Give them a selfish reason to listen.
  7. Don’t predict or draw attention to your mistakes.

Attitude/Nerves
  1. You can choose to enjoy public speaking or dread it (like riding a roller coaster).
  2. Your confidence level rises when you have something valuable to give the audience.
  3. The audience wants you to succeed.  What are you afraid of?
  4. Find friendly faces in the audience. 

Technology
  1. Have a copy of your materials online and on a USB in addition to printed copies.
  2. Don’t let your handheld microphone drop or turn away from a podium microphone.
  3. Don’t trust technology.  Test the tech but have a Plan B. 
  4. Buy your own PPT remote control.
  5. Know what the F5 key does.

Delivery
  1. Watch the audience watching you.  Make sure they understand you and respond to their non-verbal cues.
  2. Rotate your eye contact around different areas of the audience and try to build a connection with as many of the attendees as possible.
  3. Try not to turn your back to the audience.
  4. Energy/enthusiasm can compensate for dry content.
  5. Use your nervous energy to increase your enthusiasm.
  6. Pause confidently   Utilize “thoughtful pauses”.
  7. Always move with a purpose.  Don’t let your movements distract the audience.
  8. Don’t stand in the projector light.
  9. Stay flexible.  No one knows what you are planning to say.

Content
  1. Make sure your cover slide includes your presentation title, your name, and your affiliation. Your job title can also be added if it improves your credibility.
  2. Slides show and the presenter tells.  Utilize your visuals effectively.
  3. Let your slides guide you through the organization of your content so you can focus on telling your story.
  4. Use clear signposts. Let the audience know when you are moving to a new section.
  5. Animate busy slides.  The visuals should match your story as you are telling it.
  6. Slides are free.  You don’t have to put too much info on one slide.
  7. Having too many words on a slide leads to reading the slide.
  8. One typo can ruin your credibility.
  9. Avoid writing text over photos/colorful backgrounds.
  10. Don’t play music or videos and try to talk over them.
  11. Don’t skip slides, even if you are running low on time. Summarize their key points briefly.
  12. Handouts are not the same as slides.  Handouts should be text-heavy, slides text-light.
  13. Finish strong with takeaways from your talk and an action step.
  14. Your final slide should let the audience know how to contact you.

Q&A
  1. Keep backup data for Q&A on slides after your contact slide.
  2. If you don’t have the data requested during Q&A, offer to send the person who asked an email after the presentation.
  3. Offer to stay after the talk and chat with audience members who have very specific or personal issues to discuss.  Don’t waste the general audience’s time.
  4. Watch out for “hijackers” and audience members seeking the spotlight.

1 Comment

    Tim's Thoughts

    Here are some short ideas that probably don't deserve to be published but I felt were worth sharing.  

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Freelancing
    Miscellaneous
    Networking Thursdays
    Presentation Skills
    Writing

    Archives

    November 2022
    September 2021
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

Copyright Tim Thompson 2022