(Time for a re-run on this popular overview piece from 2019)
Do you ever experience pain in creating and delivering important workplace presentations? Do your audiences experience pain listening to those presentations? If you answered ‘yes’, read on for a brief overview of Presentation Best Practices. They can help you present with more confidence … and less pain for you and for them.
Last month, our piece on presentation stance drew positive comments from readers. Good to know that its focus on standing clear, standing straight and standing still resonated with workplace presenters.
But other readers asked for some tips when delivering a more casual presentation while seated or in a virtual setting. So, here you are. Don’t thank me … it’s my pleasure.
How you stand when delivering an in-person presentation can harness physical power and project confidence, credibility and competence to the audience … or not. Because your audience only knows what it sees, your stance can be a great natural visual aid. It can also show nervousness or lack of confidence very quickly and clearly. So … look the part you’re playing – a confident and credible presenter.
I really love the ‘Power of the Three Es’. Your workplace audiences expect and deserve presentations that are ‘Effective, Efficient and Engaging’, so don’t let them down. And remember the ‘Fourth E’, so necessary to achieve those results – Effort.
Looks like our summary of Gesturing ‘Worst Practices’ last month was a big hit … except for those people who though I was talking about them. As promised, this month we do a deep dive on Gesturing Best Practices that you can add to your Presenter Tool Kits to add dynamic Sizzle to your Gestures. So, hang on – it will be a fast ride.
(This month, we rerun a popular feature from last year. So, take a second look at Gestures.)
How good are your presentation gestures? Want to find out? I see a lot of hands up, so let’s start with a brief summary of Gesturing ‘Worst Practices’. It should be an interesting and mildly amusing trip, but may hit too close to home. Then next month, we’ll focus on Best Practice skills to fix the problems.
(Our nostalgic trip down memory lane this month replays a popular 10/2019 piece on surviving audience questions. Many of the best practices still work in the era of Zoom presentations. They’ll all work again when we’re safely back in the land of face-to-face. Enjoy …)
This deep dive discusses how to handle audience questions. What you do … and don’t do … with them has a critical impact on your results, often more than the overall message content itself. Here are some ‘Do & Don’t’ Best Practices to help you Survive and Thrive during the Audience Q&A.
Has this ever happened to you? Emma arrived at work early, got a cup of coffee and settled into tackling her highest priority task of the day. When, out of nowhere, her boss Bob approached her cubicle and asked the question that strikes fear in the hearts most of employees, ‘Hi Emma … you busy?’
We all learned about the three parts of a speech in high school: the introduction, body and conclusion. You remember … ‘Tell ‘em what you’re gonna say … say it … and tell ‘em what you said.’ Nothing new here.
Each of these three components is important for different reasons, but your Power Intro plays a critical role in the success of your presentation and accomplishing your intended outcomes. On average, it’s less than 10% of your total presentation time. So, with a 30-minute presentation, your intro is three minutes … or less.
For the last two years, we’ve been asking critical questions about your workplace presentations and sales pitches and providing simple Best Practices to answer them.