TOP PRESENTATION TIPS

Watch this video to learn how to get your audience engaged, before you even start speaking!

Did you know? I am qualified as a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) recognising speaking excellence – an honor which less than 600 people in the world hold! If you need:

💬 a presenter who the audience can connect with quickly in order to engage them with the topic, the theme, and the reason for being together

💬 a presentation that is informative, interactive and will leave a lasting impression

💬 the audience to come away with skills, concepts, and action items that can be used immediately

...let’s have a virtual coffee to discuss how I can support you. I can't wait to chat: kevin@kevinoc.com

Interview style presentations

Here are my top tips for when you find yourself in an interview style presentation, for example on a podcast. Don't be part of the group On and On Anon! Watch to learn more.

Learning from feedback

Give people your take on the information in your presentations. Remember, YOU are the expert and YOUR TAKE is what people really want to hear. Watch this video to learn more.

Try an interview approach

Next time you invite someone to update your team, interview them instead of asking them to come with a presentation. They will like it better (no formal prep) and you and your team will be able to ask questions that get to the heart of what is needed. This works great with quality and safety data, financial information, construction updates, and finding the mood of some of the staff.

A recommendation: get rid of the tables and bring the chairs up close to you and the one you are interviewing. This creates a sense of community and intimacy and helps support the one being interviewed…distance of any sort (as well as tables!) creates spectators instead of participators. Try it. Take the risk a few times and see what happens.

Give people YOUR take

Give people your take on the information in your presentations. Remember, YOU are the expert and YOUR TAKE is what people really want to hear. Watch this video to learn more.

Vertical vs Horizontal

Do you live and work on a vertical level with those ‘above’ and others ‘below’? Some marriages are like that. Some corporate teams operate like that too.

The one on ‘top’ as somehow superior to the others. Some even relish this superiority. Those ‘below’ understand that this set up is meant for obedience and conformity, to be careful, stay in line, don’t rock the boat.

Other teams operate on a horizontal level: with each person being respected as ‘social equals’ who are contributing to the whole. Not all are the ‘same’ but all are contributing with cooperation and respect.

How is it where you live? Where you work? In your country? In your family of origin?

What I find interesting about the vertical set up is that the real power belongs to those below: if they move, guess who falls?!

Unnecessary words

Think about the words you add unnecessarily into your vocabulary. In this video I talk about how ‘HI GUYS’ didn’t go down very well. Be aware of words you’re using that may rub your audience up the wrong way and try something else instead…for example, simply using the person’s name.

Humor in presentations

BE CAREFUL with humour in presentations…especially with sarcasm. Humor is instantly not funny when it hurts someone or embarrasses them. The best humor actually comes from the audience themselves. Learn more in this video!

Considering what your audience needs

When preparing your presentation, think about what information the AUDIENCE NEEDS and how they are going to use it. It shouldn’t just be what you want to say. Make sure you truly understand the essence of your presentation and can deliver it less than 3 minutes. Then hey presto... you have a powerful opening or closing!

PREPARE your presentation for all!

Do you use powerpoint? Remember it will look different on the big screen to how it looks on your computer screen. Organize the visualization of yours slides for those who are visually impaired, and ensure it’s simple enough that you can capture it for these people. Also consider people who are hearing impaired - always use a microphone. It makes you stronger and ensures you are the centre of attention, which is why they invited you there – you’re the expert! Watch this video to learn more...

The rule of 3 to make your next presentation THE BEST YET

Take 3 MINUTES to learn the rule of 3 and your next presentation will be THE BEST YET! It focuses your answer, helps you to understand exactly what you’re going to say and most importantly makes the audience remember what you said. And not only does it work for presentations, you can use it for wedding toasts, speaking to a stranger in an elevator, talking to your kids…

Watch this video and give it a try. Let me know what you think.

Simplify and illuminate

How much jargon has slipped into your day to day work and even your presentations? ADR, JAHCO, NQF, PAYOR MIX, HIPAA, RAPPS, TIPS, CHIRP, MOB, HOPD...

Great presenters simplify and illuminate as not everyone in the audience knows what all those letters are! So, consider this: spell it out, say the words, explain in lay terms what the term is and what it means. What is its importance for this presentation? For THIS presentation!

In most cases, the audience doesn't know the most important part of your presentation which is ‘your take’ on the topic, the data, the 'thing' that they came to hear about. They all have a number of boxes in their heads and your content (or jargon!) is ready to go into one of those boxes with a self-assured “Oh, I know what that means!” Make sure that your take on things has no prepared box. Be different enough so they have to roam from box to box and they cannot dismiss what you say with “Oh I know that!” Instead they have to respond with “Uh, I never heard it presented that way before!”

How to stop reading from your presentation slides

STOP reading from your slides when presenting! If you do, the audience will wish they could get that hour of their lives back again. Simplify your slide deck using the archive technique described in this video, then TEACH the slides, don’t read the slides!

Take your presentations to the next level

Here’s an idea to take your presentations to the next level. I call it, ‘The Larry King’! Try interviewing a person of prominence in the audience. Their ‘prominence’ is simply because they are the one being interviewed, not that they are a bigwig! Spend 15 minutes asking unrehearsed questions about their career, then let the audience get involved and ask their burning questions too! The answers are always fascinating (especially if you ask what they wanted to be when they were a little kid!) Meanwhile there is actually something else, something powerful, going on in the minds of the audience as well. Watch the video to find out what! Give it go…what’s the worst that could happen!

Asking vs telling

At the American College of Healthcare Executives meeting in Chicago last year, I had great fun teaching presentation skills to graduate students in healthcare. Imagine yourself giving a spontaneous three-minute presentation in front of 300 fellow comrades who were most happy it was you and not them! What would you do?

Well, this time it was a bit different. From three possibilities the ‘selected one’ was able to choose a topic and as they were ready to speak, we asked the audience what they wanted to hear about regarding the topic. "Who else was involved?" "When did it happen?" "What effect did it have on you?" "Can you describe the scene so we can ‘see’ it?" As the audience gave their suggestions, it was fun to see they eyes of the presenter light up with what seemed like, “Oh yes, I can do that, that too, and that too!”

So often we forget to ask the audience thinking, only thinking of what we want to present. Do you have a difficult audience or a ‘Dr. Evil’ in the group? …ask them for sure! When they see that you want to involve them, you will have life-long friends or at least friends for a long as you are speaking!

Even if you have only a few minutes, greet people as they enter and ask a simple question: “What would you most like to learn today?” By golly you could even get them into groups of three immediately and ask the same question! Then ask them not what they said, but what they learned from the other two. My hunch is that whatever you prepared is going to be presented anyway. With their comments lingering in your mind however, you’ll have a friendly audience, an involved audience, and you can even quote them throughout your talk! Always ask even when you ‘think’ you know the answer!

To understand a person, you must see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and feel with his heart

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) one of the earliest pioneers of modern psychology wrote: “to understand a person, you must see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and feel with his heart.”

As we “present,” we want the other to have an open mind; we wish to establish credibility with this other person; and we hope to engage them in response—perhaps with a “yes” or perhaps with a question—often with applause! (We just have to be careful that the applause is not our first priority!) In order to enjoy the ambience of a one-to-one conversation, we need to first access the “inner listener” of the other… who is this person?

On the now classic television series “Star Trek,” a science fiction story about travelers in space seeking out new life and exploring where no one has gone before, the explorers were on a planet with a labyrinth of mines. As they explored, the crew and the miners were being harassed by a huge, deadly, and moving stone-like being. This eyeless, marking-free “thing” that looked like a huge boulder was ravaging the miner community. This monster could cut through solid rock at a moment’s notice. Miners were being killed; seemingly nothing could stop the carnage. The monstrous boulder seemed impervious to all weapons.

One of the crewmembers noticed there were also “little” boulders scattered all around the area, and they were moving! Finally, one of the crew, the half-human, half-Vulcan Dr. Spock, decided the huge mass needed to be addressed. He used an ancient Vulcan method, the Vulcan Mind-Meld. In it, he laid his hands on the huge stone, and then with great emotional and physical pain, energy transferred from the living boulder to Dr. Spock’s awareness. Spock understood that this strange, deadly creature had been pregnant! Like all moms, she was concerned for her “little ones” (who were being harvested by the miners!). Once understood, all came to terms. The miners realized she and her little ones could cut more tunnels faster and better than they could; the crew discovered a brand new being; and mom was happy to be understood and had her little ones in tow! Empathy existed even in outer space . . . one-to-one.

The best presenters do the same thing, one hopes with less pain!

Paraphrase-Summarize-Empathize

Paraphrase-Summarize-Empathize are the platinum standards for the leader who teaches and facilitates the learning of those who need their problem to get on the right track to a solution.

- When we paraphrase, we are seeking to understand the other.
- When we summarize, we are working with the other to focus more clearly.
- And when we empathize, we are recognizing that even the most technical information has an emotional element to us and to the other.

This next week perhaps be aware of those around you who employ these more important but often neglected skills. How did they do it? What was it like for you when they used these skills with you?

The true meaning of value

Have you ever sat in the audience of a presenter who asked questions, seemingly to help the audience understand? Soon it became clear that what mattered was that the audience was supposed to give only the “right” answers. This form of teaching is common in traditional university classrooms and many professional schools. It encourages conformity, promotes discouragement, and often heightens a fear of embarrassment even among fellow professionals. As the audience offers up ideas, you can spot the presenter using this style because they keep saying, “Not quite . . . no . . . pretty close. I guess no one knows this!” What becomes clear is that value is defined by what the presenter sees as valuable, not the audience’s experience or feedback. I was in a pharmaceutical ad board with a noted content expert. Ad boards are used by the pharma industry to solicit ideas and reactions from physicians who are deemed Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). The best ad board are lively interchanges. This one was a noted expert for sure. The audience was non-verbally responsive. At one point a physician asked a question. The presenter took a step forward with eye contact and said, “What you meant to ask me was…” From that moment on not one question from highly educated physicians. Everyone mentally (and nonverbally) became a scolded second grader!

Every person in your audience and on your team wants only one thing: to have his or her problem solved. Even the most loving, caring, other- focused person wants exactly the same thing that the most selfish, narcissistic, obnoxious person on your team wants: the problem solved. This is the true meaning of value. We often hear the term “value proposition” in business today as if we know what will fulfill our customers. What we propose to them is to seek their “yes.” What if, however, we had a “value conversation” with them instead. What if we listened? What if we asked? What if we saw value as they saw it: Can you help me?

Think about your next office conversation. Do you (or your colleague) focus on the other person or do you simply engage in a mutual monologue? Listen closely next time. Does your conversational partner talk about you or about him- or herself? How about you? Who is your focus?

Ideas for you, as a learner

Meditation, whether religiously inspired or not, almost always begins with an awareness of our breathing. In and out, slower, more consciousness, more settled. When I was first introduced to this by my students, it seemed so novel to me. I was used to diving right in, unaware of my breath, unaware of how I felt at this moment, unaware my eyes were wide open when they needed a bit of eyes shut to then enter the journey of discovery.

Similarly when we teach or lead a program, even when we attend a workshop, self-reflection can be a big help regardless of who the audience is or how skilled the presenter is. Self-reflection can help us locate not only the objectives of the presenter, but the more important the ones of our own making. Why did I sign up for this workshop? What do I really want to leave with that will help my next step? Who is here that I can learn from? And perhaps most importantly (regardless of the talent of the presenter), what am I going to do to make this an important time for me?

Certainly, it is the responsibility and the calling of the presenter to do their very best to teach with engagement regardless of the size of the audience. (Yes, you CAN actively engage with hundreds of people in an audience…if you self-reflect on what they need, not only on what you will say or show on your PowerPoint.) It is also up to the learner to engage as well. Yet, when we are confronted with a nervous instructor and mounds of PowerPoint slides we can tend to wander our mind with judgment, silent advice, even resentment. And that, our own inner experience, can affect our learning just as much as any awful presentation.

So here are a few ideas for when you are in a meeting or lecture hall:

1. Be the first to raise your hand, to make an encouraging comment or with curiosity to ask a question supportive of what you and others may need. Be the first one, right away. I am constantly amazed how smart, educated, important professions fall silent at the exactly the time they need to chime in.

2. Consider what you need from this learning experience and selfishly as well as selflessly go after it. This does not mean you have to challenge the presenter, only put in front of them the challenge that you feel. Tell a short story, preface your question or comment, focus closely so that it pertains not only to you but to those others like you.

3. Accept your very next opportunity to be the presenter. Of course, this can cause some nerves. This will get better with practice. Then remind yourself that you are not nervous…you are excited to present and to engage. As Whitehead advised, so that they know more and can do more.

What will your presentation do to help the audience take that next right step?

When presenting, why do we overdose on PowerPoint, stand away from the audience, speak quickly, act anxiously, or even read every single word from a written document?

Is it fear born from excessive perfectionism, or an inflated thought that every single slide and word is of vital importance…all the while forgetting that our audience will likely forget much of the detail. What audiences do remember is the experience. They will remember, fondly or not, what that time with you was like. Did you disperse wisdom or data, understanding or slides, expertise or…more data? Audiences come to us in Kindergarten, University, or professional meetings for probably only one thing: they want to emerge better able to solve their problem, to improve their condition, to truly know and to do more.

Our task then is not to build a PowerPoint deck as our security blanket but rather to really think about this audience as different in some way from the last one. Really consider what will help this particular audience, this particular class, this one person. How can your interaction help them to take that next right step?

This next week, as you present in any situation, consider first not the content, but rather the consumer of the content. They have a problem. What will your presentation do to help them take that next right step?