The last two months we’ve discussed powerful audience-centric presentation Introductions and Summaries, as if the two book ends holding your presentation together. So, now let’s focus on what’s left – your powerful Message in the Middle.
Presentations
End Strong
Last month’s piece on presentation intros generated some gratifying positive buzz and requests for more. So, let’s go to the end of the message and ‘tell ‘em what we said.’ Audience-Centric presentations should end, not just stop. And they should End Strong. Your intro is critically important, but so is your summary or conclusion. You can also ‘Get Them at Goodbye!’
Get Them At Hello!
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.
Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect!
I hate to trash a childhood fantasy, but Practice doesn’t really make Perfect … it only makes Permanent. Only Perfect Practice makes Perfect. I’ve ranted before about why presenters shouldn’t try to memorize their presentations. They should learn them through practice and refinement of message content and structure. Some thoughts for your consideration:
Overcoming Stage Fright
A blogger was doing research on stage fright for speakers and asked me how people can overcome it. My short answer was ‘They can’t – it’s a perfectly normal human response to fear or stress.’ Here are the highlights from the rest of the interview.
Powerful Pitch
A reader recently entered a local business pitch competition with a grand prize of $5,000 and asked for feedback on her ‘script’. I thought you’d find my comments interesting.
Surviving Questions
What you do with audience questions has a critical impact on your results, often more than the overall content itself. I’m pleased with the positive reader reaction to previous articles that discussed several effective strategies for handling those questions – hold them until the end, invite them anytime or the two hybrid strategies described in detail last month.
So … someone asks a question. Now what do you do? Here are some Best Practices to help you survive and thrive during the Q&A.
Two Smart Alternatives
Looks like last month’s piece on handling audience questions generated lots of interest, especially about the Two Smart Alternatives I said would be in this month’s ‘Communicate Confidently!’. So … here you go.
As discussed last time, choosing which audience question strategy – anytime or only at the end – is not easy because neither one works best for all presenters, all messages and all audiences. But here are two smart alternatives for this dilemma, … two hybrid strategies that involve the best features of both approaches.
Any Questions?
It’s time to add some Best-in-Class strategies for handling audience questions to your growing Workplace Presenter’s Tool Kit. What they ask and how you respond can make or break your credibility, impact your confidence and influence your outcomes.
If you thoroughly planned and prepared your presentation, that detailed process should help you anticipate 90% of the questions 90% of the audience will ask 90% of the time. Not bad odds for sure.
Overcoming Stage Fright?
How can people overcome stage fright or Presentation Anxiety (PA), the clinical term? Short answer – they can’t – it’s a perfectly normal human response to fear or stress. But what I help my executive coaching clients accomplish is managing their PA through Minimizing and Masking techniques.