RGI News

Presentation Phobia (1): From Power Point Poison to Standing Ovation

September 2008

Every day engineers and technicians are being called upon to stand up and say a few words about their work. On paper, this sounds straightforward, but to those who have to make the presentation it can be a traumatic experience. Much of their nervousness can be reduce (it can seldom be entirely eliminated, as any experienced speaker will tell you) if they learn a few simple public speaking techniques.

In the next several articles, I’ll present the Three Ps of Presentations: Plan, Prepare, and Practice. This article will focus on the most common mistake presenters make: not taking the time to plan.

Establish the Circumstances

Before you begin, your first step is to understand the circumstances affecting your presentation. You must have answers to the following questions:

1.	Who will be in my audience? To focus your presentation properly and use appropriate terminology, you need to know whether your audience contains technical people who have experience in your field, managers who only have a general appreciation of the subject, or laypersons with very little or no technical knowledge.
2.	What will they know already? If you are to avoid boring your listeners by repeating information they already know, or confusing them by omitting essential background details, you need to find out how much they know now about your subject, or will have been told before you address them.
3.	How long do you have for the presentation? Find out how long you have been given. The answer will directly influence how much depth you can give the topic. Do you need to simply give the highlights, or can you provide details? There is nothing more stressful than having 40 minutes of content and finding out too late that you only have 10 minutes to present.
4.	Where is the presentation taking place? Identify whether the location is in your company’s board room, at a client’s site, or in a large conference size meeting room. You will also need to find out what equipment will be available and what you should carry with you. For example, do you bring your own computer and projector? What about a flipchart or white board?

Determine Your Audience’s Needs

We have all sat through boring, long-winded presentations that seem to have no direction. We are in the audience and wonder “What does this have to do with me?” Yet there are other presentations that seem to be tailored specifically to the group. How does the speaker do this?

The major problem with many presentations is that the content is speaker-focused rather than audience-focused. This is an easy trap to fall into. When asked to give a presentation, most inexperienced speakers jot down everything they know about the subject. This is a big mistake

What happens then is that the presentation becomes just that: everything they know about the subject and not what the audience needs to know about the subject.

List Audience Questions

The best way to make your presentation audience-focused is to start by identifying your audience (this is similar to the way you determine your reader in a written document). You need to know the type of person who will attend your presentation, the level of knowledge and interest they have in your topic, and what they will do with your information.

Once you know your audience, list as many questions as you can that they may ask about the topic. Try for at least 15 questions. This will help you identify the areas to address and the audience’s concerns before you prepare your content. Now you can answer the audience questions before they even ask them. This turns your presentation from a speaker-focused presentation (“This is everything I know about this topic.”) into an audience-focused presentation (“Here are the answers to your questions on this topic.”).

Most audience questions evolve from fears or concerns. Here are some examples:

How will we do this?
Will it be expensive?
Who will be responsible for what?
How long will it take?
What needs to be done to complete the task?
What experience do you have in this field?

Organize Your Information

Once you have identified your audience and listed their questions and concerns, you are ready to start structuring your presentation content.

In their book The Short Road to Great Presentations, (IEEE Press and Wiley-Interscience, 2003), Peter and Cheryl Reimold introduce a formula for structuring a presentation. They call it the Universal Presentation Structure which is especially helpful for technical professionals who relate well to formulas:

Introduction	1 to 2 Minutes
Body	3 to 5 key points
Conclusion	1 minute

This structure works for all types and lengths of presentations. If you have only 10 minutes or if you have 90 minutes, all you do is expand the Body. But never go over 5 key points; you will overwhelm your audience.

Tell Your Story Three Times

Another way to view this structure is the TELL-TELL-TELL method. You have to tell your audience what you have to say three different times in three different ways:

Tell 1: Tell your readers what they most need to hear: the key points. Then outline briefly the main topics you will cover.

Tell 2: Tell all the details associated with the key points, in the same order you mentioned them in Tell 1.

Tell 3: Sum up by briefly repeating the key points, and possibly offering a recommendation.

In my next article, I’ll discuss the second P, Prepare. In the meantime, take a look at this realistic and humorous perspective on presentations: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr08/comedy

Email me at LisaM@rgilearning.com if you have questions or comments.

Lisa Moretto is a Sr. Consultant with RGI Learning. For 16 years she has helped engineers improve their oral and written communication skills. Further explore our website (www.rgilearning.com) or call (585) 461-3617 to learn about RGI’s courses.

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