Powerful Presenting: Knocking off their socks

THE sales force has finally got you a slot with the top brass of the mega corp. that can be the saviour of your product. Are you certain that you will be able to captivate them and get them eating out of your hand so that they will come through like the proverbial cavalry?

Present for pleasure

Making a presentation is no different basically than making a good report that will capture the attention of the reader and so the rules of presenting and writing are, in many ways, no different from each other. There has to be an introduction, a body with one or two thoughts and a satisfying conclusion. It has to be in the language that will be best understood by your audience and within their level of cognition. You also have to tailor your material keeping in view the audience and the reason you are speaking to them.

To be successful, you need to do the groundwork well. No matter how well you speak, no matter how convincing you sound, your audience will 'tune out' if you have not done your homework well. Please remember that if you seem disinterested or unprepared, you are showing a callousness that is unacceptable and rude.

Your captives

It is of considerable help to know as much as you can about your audience. If you know their names, designations and profiles beforehand it will be of immense value to you and your spiel. The more information you have about them, even if it is of only one or two members of the group, the more you can customise your talk to their listening pleasure. Some of the information you could try to find out is (i) Name/designation/decision making level (ii) Qualification and educational background/ schools and colleges attended (iii) Family and home (iv) Outside interests (v) Values and ethics and finally, (vi) Chips on their shoulder if any. It will also help if you contrive to know how much they already know about what you are going to talk about. This is difficult but sometimes a casual question beforehand will give you the whole gen!

Raison d'etre

You need to be sure of what the intention for the presentation will be. You must have a clear idea of your goal and what you hope to achieve at the end of the session. If it is a sales closure or VC funding or a vote on a proposal you have made before, you need to underline it in your mind.

Rarin' to go!

Despite your urgency of pushing your product (whatever it may be) at the presentation, you must provide the audience with some knowledge to 'work' on, so that they can ask questions. The material must have a high visual impact and contain simple, easy- to-understand language. Always arrive at the venue sufficiently early so that you can 'hook' up and get everything organised before the audience troops in to catch you fiddling about with the machinery. It also helps to get in some friendly banter with the audience prior to the start, as this will ease the natural diffidence that may have built up inside you. You will get some last minute feedback (before you begin), which will allow you to take into account what has been said by one or more of the audience.

The topography

I prefer the "U" formation to the traditional classroom style. This allows for a great deal of audience participation and active interaction. It helps if you can walk into the passage between the columns of the "U" and approach any of the participants for personalised attention.

Environment control!

Introduce yourself, and in doing so try not to sound pompous and self-righteous. If you do, your audience will switch off at once. Be certain that the audience is all seated comfortably and you have their undivided attention. If there is food in the room, you can be certain everybody will think of it rather than your presentation! Tell them also if you will welcome during or after the presentation. In short, lay down the ground rules!

The Power point

The Hows

You can deliver your message by a flash, power point or freelance graphics slide presentation which may be a plain slideshow, an animated one or one with full-motion video. It could be a speech (of the lecture variety) or a freewheeling session interspersed with anecdotes and the like.

Involvement

If you have a lively interaction with your audience you will find that they begin to give you better attention and actually start to participate in your presentation. You must try and involve the audience by giving them something to do preferably with their hands as well as their minds. Activity will keep them interested and awake! Sometimes even heckling can be useful especially if it is purposeful and relevant to the matter you are talking about. Keep in mind that the heckler is probably vocalising what is in the minds of the others. In such a case take the questions at face value and answer them clearly and concisely. Ask for acknowledgement from others in the audience thereby validating what you have said. In the event you do not happen know the answer, say you will find out and let the questioner know. Keep your promise and e-mail all the participants your response later.

Handouts

While all course material and handouts have to be bright and graphically appealing, make certain you have more copies than necessary. It often happens that more people attend and you'll end up with a shortage of material to distribute. Make up your mind if you want to give them the material before, during or after the presentation. Whichever it is, these guidelines may help:

Distribute before if

- you need the audience to have an idea of what you are going to talk about. Sometimes they will require points of reference or statistics that they may require to be aware of while listening to you. If you expect them to have done their homework before they come to your presentation, this is needed.

Distribute during if

- and only if you need to emphasise a point that is very essential. Remember that the mechanics of distributing the material will break the flow of thought and attention will wander. If you have efficient assistants who step in at just the right moment to provide the audience with the handouts, and which takes no more than 15-30 seconds, then go ahead.

Distribute after if

- your presentation has been complete in all respects and the material acts only as an aide memoire for them to refer to at a later time. You might mention in the course of your talk that they will not need to take notes as the material to be handed out at the end will give them all the details.

A rush on the ultimate

Close by underlining the basic learning to be had in your talk and tie up the loose ends if any. Answer all the questions raised, remembering to get back to questions you have promised to research and deliver. Reinforce your request at this stage to anchor your thought in the audience's mind. It is always an excellent touch to request feedback, even if the talk is a sales pitch. This shows that you are concerned about your performance and that you respect the time they have spent with you. People are always happy to provide such feedback and often give you good insights into your own style.

Finally

When you get a chance to have a dedicated audience, use the opportunity well and to your advantage. People do not have time, so be brief. Find out how much time you have and do not exceed it. Remember the famous maxim:

"Stand up to be seen, speak up to be heard, reach out to be understood and, sit down to be appreciated!"

S. RAMANUJACHARYA

professor1@sify.com