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Presentation Styles
In the last couple of newsletters we looked at the benefits of giving presentations, the barriers to doing it, and the importance of preparation, including environment, objective and structure. Having thoroughly prepared your presentation it is vital you rehearse it, preferably with a sympathetic, but objective, observer to give you helpful feedback. Only by talking it through out loud will you become comfortable with the material and discover what flows well when spoken, as opposed to what reads well on the page. You may need to make adjustments – you might stumble over certain words or combinations of words or need to clarify their meaning. When you start to rehearse out loud you will also become aware of your own presentation style. Don’t try to change your natural style or you will come across as false. You may also discover that you unconsciously adopt a repetitive pattern of behaviour while speaking to an audience. This may need to be corrected or it might distract the audience from what you are saying! For example have you ever spotted any of these characters at presentations you have attended? The Hand Washer – constantly rubbing their hands together
The Change Jangler – who keeps his hands in his pockets and rifles through the contents
The Walker – who is always on the move, back and forth
The Hair Pusher/Groomer – who repeatedly fiddles with their hair
The Scratcher – no explanation needed here!
The Tosser – who throws the chalk/pen/ other small item casually into the air
The Reluctant Nudist – who is uncomfortable with being the centre of attention and protects himself by standing as “closed up” as possible
The Teapot – who likes to declaim and plants one hand on a hip while the other gesticulates wildly or gently rests on top of a flip chart stand
You’re not going to catch me with my trousers down – this one pushes his hands deep into his pockets and may develop into a change jangler
The Table Crawler – who props himself up on the nearest table and crawls towards you whilst making his point
You may have noticed most of these. They become very distracting when two or more are used together! Practice will help you to become aware of any irritating habits and to correct them, so allow yourself time to rehearse, review and rehearse again. Remember Action Cures Fear The more you do it – the easier it becomes. I hope you will have some fun developing your own presentation style. Next time we will wrap up this series of newsletters by looking at the thoughts of an audience on what they feel makes a presentation useful and powerful. |
