Facing our fears

You are not alone if the thought of speaking in public scares you. Giving a presentation is difficult for most people. Presenting or speaking to an audience tops the list in surveys of people's top fears - more than heights, flying or dying.

To quote the popular saying about giving presentations and public speaking:

"Most people would prefer to be lying in the casket rather than giving the eulogy."

By the end of this we will never look at another presentation the same; we will hopefully reduce our fear of public speaking and be presentation experts! 

Presentations

The most important challenge a presenter faces is capturing the audiences attention. Also, to remember that simply grabbing the audiences attention is not enough. We must hold their attention for the entire presentation. For your message to be most effectively received the audience must hear it.

Following are 9 proven strategies for capturing and maintaining your audiences attention.

Drama & Movement

Drama

Try to remember a time when you were little, sitting on grandmas knee and hearing one of her tales.
It might be helpful to think of a story related how she had to walk 10k up hill to school.

Story telling has been an effective presentation skill since childhood. They create word-pictures that create images in the listeners mind. These pictures and stories stick with us more thoroughly then simply being lectured.

When thinking of a presentation try to look at it as a type of theatre. Where you are conveying a story through a form of entertainment.

This form of theater needs gestures, emphasis and modulation.

I remember my first Geography class in grade 9; a gentlemen was going over the guidelines and expectations in his class. We had heard these several times that day and he was speaking in a monotone voice. I can remember approximately the first 5 minutes of what he said and then the next thing I knew my friend was waking me up because I had fallen asleep.

You do not want to scream at your audience, but as a presenter you want to avoid speaking in a monotone voice. Varying the pitch or level of your voice is a great idea. Also, the right pauses will make the audience hang on to every word with anticipation and excitement.

Movement

Vary your position. Do not stand at the lectern during the entire presentation. Going towards your audience, using slight hand gestures to emphasize your points can be very powerful techniques.

Although movement keeps the audience alert, do not pace from side to side. Try not to over exaggerate everything you say or the key points will not stick out. Too much movement has a negative effect and your audience will start to simply pay attention to your movements not your presentation.

Eye Contact

Eye contact is the direct link from the presenter to the audience.

Did you take my earrings? Are you lying to me? Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't take my earrings.

People associate eyes with honesty. In order for the audience to believe you, you must make eye contact.

Eye Contact - Small Groups

Start at one side of the room. Look into the eyes of a person for two to five seconds; as you make a point and then move on to the next person. Some presenters move their eye contact at the point of punctuation in their sentence. Do not look at the group in a strict rotation, move across the room. It is important you connect with everyone in the room, not just the listeners that seem to agree with you.

Eye Contact - Large Groups

With large groups it is nearly impossible to connect with everyone in the room. Divide the audience into sections and pick a person in each section. Repeat this method until the end of your presentation, but do not continuously connect with the same person.  

Eye Contact - Faking it

It's not an understatement that presentations can be very nerve racking. If you find it difficult to make proper eye contact with anybody there is a still something you can do. Instead of looking directly into the person's eyes look at the top of their forehead. This will give the impression that you are looking directly at them. If after a while you are feeling confident looking at their forehead, move your gaze to the bridge of their nose. After some time doing that you may eventually be able to look each member of your audience directly in the eye.

Have a look at this video to see the Do's and Dont's of Eye contact!

Visual Aids

Visual aids involve your audience and require a change from one activity to another: from hearing to seeing. When an audience can both hear and see what you are saying you are appealing to more then one sense at a time. Having them not only focus their attention on you, but reinforcing your words making them more likely to retain the information.

Visuals aids are beneficial for both the presenter and the listener. The allow the speaker too remember all the key points and to stay on track.

Here are some statistics

• Studies by educational researchers suggest that approximately 83% of human learning occurs visually, and the remaining 17% through the other senses - 11% through hearing, 3.5% through smell, 1% through taste, and 1.5% through touch.

The studies suggest that three days after an event, people retain 10% of what they heard from an oral presentation, 35% from a visual presentation, and 65% from a visual and oral presentation.

This graph itself shows the statistics for my audience. So not only did I express the statistics, I used a visual aid to present my information.

Here are some examples of visual aids you can use:

• powerpoints
• charts
• bristol boards
• overheads
• samples of products
• posters
• videos
• etc

Visual aids are critical. The following links have some ideas on how to create and use visual aids. They are a must see!
http://www.osha.gov/doc/outreachtraining/htmlfiles/traintec.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_6197286_create-aids-presentations-communicate-ideas.html

http://www.hawaii.edu/mauispeech/html/visual_aids.html

A Promise and a Question

Everyone likes being involved and hearing they have something to gain if they pay attention.

Promise: As a presenter you want to let the audience know why they are listening to you, what exactly they have to gain from your presentation.

For example: By the end of this blog you will be a presentation expert!

Questions: Keep your audience alive, you want them to engage themselves in your presentation. Frequently ask questions, ask for a show of hands. Active responses by the audience shows that they are thinking about what you are saying.  

Demonstrations and Samples

Early we were talking about keeping your audience active by involving them using questions. Another technique is demonstrations. You can select an individual from the audience and have them assist you in your demonstration.

Not only does this involve your audience it actually shows them how to implement what you are talking about. Through out the years I have given many presentations and I have always found my most effective presentations is when I deliver my content with demonstrations. Many of us are hands on individuals; you can tell us 1000 times, but until we are actually in the situations seeing it done or having to do it ourselves it will not stick,

Samples/Gimmicks

Word of mouth is a great form of advertisement if you are promoting a product why not throw the audience a few of your products. After you are done, if the product is liked the advantages of the presentation will continue through word of mouth.

Ensuring you do this in moderation and can maintain control of the situation pass around samples of your product. Allow samples as another visual aid, so the listeners are not only hearing about your product, but actually seeing it.

Self-Interest

Aligned with a promise, your listeners want the simple question to be answered.

What's-in-it-for-me?

Throughout your entire presentation bare in mind everybody likes self gain; they are interested in things that benefit them.

In this blog we have reviewed different techniques to assist an individual with presenting.  However, just learning the concepts are not enough; it is equally important to practice these skills. Individuals who make it a point to embrace speaking in public and presenting presentations will have a key advantage over their coworkers and/or competitors.  Who knows, the next time an author writes about remarkable public speakers, your name will make the list!

Following is an excellent example of a good presenter. Don McMillan's presentation about Powerpoints.