www.1001TopWords.com |
What Makes A Great Presenter?
Every day millions of people around the world make a presentation. Yet most of us who have been to meetings know that very few of those people are truly great. At each meeting there is usually only one person who stands out head and shoulders above the rest as someone who really connects with us in the audience. The truth is, most presenters are just plain average ? and quite a few are simply dreadful. So, how can you move from being a run of the mill presenter to being fantastic? Every one of us has the ability to be truly great as a presenter. There is nothing particularly special about the people who stand out as brilliant. However, the average presenter is usually holding themselves back, doing things which prevent them from being good. At every training course run by The Presentation Business we spend some time debating what makes a great presenter. This inevitably leads to a discussion of what the bad presenters do wrong. Having kept a record of what these sessions considered I have been able to produce a definitive list of what to do to make your presentations great. The overwhelming conclusion of all these discussions is: content is NOT important. Of the hundreds of people who have debated what makes a great presenter not a single person has mentioned the value of the content. Your audiences are likely to think in just the same way. They are NOT interested in what you are saying, but the way you are saying it. If you say it well, that appears to make the content interesting. But what this means is, if you concentrate your planning and preparation on content, you are likely only to be average. The most important factor for great presenters according to our discussions is that they make a personal connection to every member of the audience. This means lots of eye contact, liberal use of the words 'I' and 'you, and that everything you deliver is done form the audience's perspective. This means you need to know a great deal about your audience in advance so you can do this. The connection you make between yourself and your audience seems to be enhanced by the widespread use of examples. Our discussions at training courses show that your audience expects you to 'show' rather than 'tell'. In other words, you don't need to give them 'messages' and 'content'; instead you need to give them lots of examples and they will work out the message for themselves. A further element of this aspect of being a great presenter is that these examples should always include you. Your audience wants to know about your thoughts, your feelings and your opinions. They want to share your experiences. If all you deliver is content, this does not help your audience. They could get your content from a book, a web site or some other non human contact. The fact that you are presenting to them means your audience wants to hear from you personally. Your audience also wants you to be a living person. They don't want to hear from a statue. In other words you need to be active. The discussions held at our training courses show time and time again that presenters who move are the one who gain the most attention. If you think about this, it is quite understandable. In social situations we are active ? we use gestures, we move our bodies and change posture. To avoid doing so when presenting makes you look abnormal and this serves to disconnect you. There is also a big advantage to moving ? it helps reduce nerves when presenting. As well as moving to be natural, our discussions show that great presenters are interactive. They ask questions, they involve the audience and essentially they treat the presentation as a conversation. This helps boost the connection between themselves and the audience. That's because for the audience the interactivity appears normal, whereas being spoken at for a great length of time does not. Another important aspect of making your presentation appear normal is that your audience expects you to deliver your material without any prompts. Conversations do not need notes! Hence your presentation will benefit from appearing normal if you do not use notes or any prompts of any kind ? including bullet points on slides. Discussions at our training sessions show time and time again that audiences do not like presenters who use notes, prompt cards, bullet point slides or any other form of memory jogger. Audiences expect presenters to know their stuff. Great presenters never use notes. An extension of the lack of notes concept is that great presenters talk from the heart. They are passionate about their subject and they are emotional. The dispassionate, business-like presenter is one of the most disliked, according to our discussions. What this means is that you should talk less about your subject and much more about your experiences as this will help boost your passion. Our training sessions also reveal that audiences want to have fun. They want to see you enjoying yourself and they want to have a laugh. This does not mean you need to tell jokes, but it does mean your audiences expect you to be light. Even for serious subjects it seems that audiences expect some kind of lightness. They want humour and they want you to smile. Straight faced, dry presenters are particularly disliked by audiences. One final aspect that is revealed by the discussions at our training sessions and that is everyone in your audience expects the presenter to motivate them. This does not mean you need to be a motivational speaker. Rather what it means is that your audience is expecting you to tell them what to do. Your audience does not expect a presenter simply to deliver information ? they can get that from a book or a web site. Instead great presenters give audiences some action to take. All of these discussion points suggest that those presenters who treat their presentation as a conversation ? who just have a chat with the audience ? are the ones marked out as truly great. People who give presentations by delivering content are seen as boring and uninteresting. This also means their messages are not conveyed, so they may as well not be presenting in the first place. Oh, and one final thing. Our discussions show that audiences simply detest the use of computerised slides. They just want to hear from you. Truly great presenters therefore do one other vital thing ? they switch off the projector! Graham Jones runs The Presentation Business at http://www.presentationbiz.com which specialises in helping people become great public speakers.
|
RELATED ARTICLES
A Short Guide to Effective Public Speaking Delivering an effective presentation to 20 or to 200 people is difficult. Because listeners have better access to information since the internet became commonplace, audiences expect more content from speakers today. In addition, because of the entertainment slant of most media today, audiences want a presentation delivered with animation, humor, and pizzazz. Speak With E?s Part 2 "Educate, Energize, Entertain, and provide an experience for your audience" Making Transitions Ever notice how smoothly some speakers or writers move you through their speech or memo? It seems they effortlessly take you from start to finish without making you strain to follow. How to Use Public Speaking to Attract Clients When Robert Middleton moved his marketing consulting practice, Action Plan Marketing, to Palo Alto, California several years ago, he started his business from scratch. He had left his well-established client base several miles away and now had to find strategies to generate new clients. 13 Publicity Tips for Professional Speakers In a funk because other speakers seem to be snagging all the media attention? It's time to start claiming your share. Here are a baker's dozen of tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed. Top 7 Ways to Succeed in the Business of Speaking How attractive are you as a speaker? No, your looks, but your consistent ability to provide a quality presentation, attract clients, and be irresistibly attractive to meeting planners and speaker bureaus? Below are some useful tips that I learned while owning a national, professional speakers bureau for 13 years. 15 Ways To Keep Your Speaking Inspiring and Creative When stressed or blocked it is wise to make a change so thatwe don't stay in that place. Yet, many times we forget someof the simple things that we can do for ourselves, quicklyand easily to bring our inspiration back and increase ourcreativity. Public Speaking Tips: Lessons From Former US President Ronald Reagan If you want public speaking tips, what are the ten insights you can learn from former US President Ronald Reagan who was known as 'The Great Communicator'. Trust in Training: Societys Effect on an Audience It is important to be continually aware that a person usually will not be consciously aware of how and why they are reacting, yet even if they knew, they wouldn't tell you. Society conditions people to hide their true inner drives and motives especially from those close to them (or even to themselves). Only when they are assured - both intellectually and emotionally - that it is safe to do so, will they reveal what they really need, want, feel, or think. A trainer's job is to make a person feel as safe as possible in accepting, believing or doing whatever you want them to do. Getting Results from Your Writing & Speaking When we communicate, we usually want something to happen. We want results. And, when we're conscious of results, we're seeking effective communication. Overcoming Your Fears of Public Speaking You're waiting your turn to make a speech, when suddenly you realize that your stomach is doing strange things and your mind is rapidly going blank. How do you handle this critical time period? For Speaking Ease, Forgive Your Younger Self I love the Disney movie The Kid with Bruce Willis. In it he plays a stressed-out, high-power image consultant. He wears expensive suits, lives in a chic, elegantly furnished home and has all the money he can spend. His biggest challenge comes when a young boy--his younger self--comes to stay with him. He doesn't recognize himself at first, but then comes to see that he can heal himself by comforting the boy he was and accepting the man he is. (Don't worry, there's still a lot of other fun, surprising stuff that happens so I haven't TOTALLY given the plot away.) Speak in Public! Who Me? The first time I had to speak in front of a group was in Air Force boot camp. I had always been very shy, naive, and backward. During Air Force boot camp I was so impressed by my training instructors, I volunteered to be one! What to Do When an Audience Member Disagrees With You Some people enjoy drawing attention to themselves by trying to trip you up on a fact or statistic during your presentation. A few will find something you say threatening to their secure view of the universe and want you to know that " You are dead wrong!!" When this happens it is important to remember that you won't be able to please everyone in your audience and you shouldn't try. I personally feel that if I don't say something that afflicts the comfortable I'm not really doing my job effectively. Make Your Talks Pay: Have People Stand In Line Eager Give You Their Business Card If you've ever been on stage, doing a talk or presentation then you'll know how often this happens... Performance Feedback: Why Were Scared and How Not to Be Effective communication is not a one-way street. It involves an interaction between the sender and the receiver. The responsibility for this interaction is assumed by both parties. The speaker can solicit feedback and adjust the message accordingly. The listener can summarize what was said for the speaker and continually practice the empathetic process. Knowing Your Boundaries While delivering a speech, it is clear that we will be judged and perceived in a certain way based on our ideas, words, and body language. Taking a risk and really thinking out of the box can be quite rewarding and at the same time, it can be a disaster. The famous quote "there is a thin line between genius and insanity" probably stems from this. In order to remain on the genius side it is important to recognize our boundaries. Etiquette - An Essential Ingredient to Your Success As a Public Speaker Sadly, the public speaking circle has its fair share of individuals who think they have a right to be treated better than anyone else. Conventions of public speakers are quite a sight. It's like battle of the egos, and to be perfectly honest the really big names tend to stay away from such gatherings. I know of a number of speakers who at one time threw a tantrum or acted in a very demanding way while being paid to speak, word subsequently spread like wildfire, and they found themselves waiting a very long time before receiving any more bookings. How VALUABLE is Your Speaking Topic? What information can be used immediately by the audience and what is to follow? You Too Can Be A Public Speaker Have you ever watched a speaker and said, "Wow, I wish I could speak like that"? or "That person was just so wonderful. I could never do that." Well, I've got some good news for you. You too can be a public speaker. Public speaking is a learned skill, so anyone can do it. You just need to follow some simple steps and practice, practice, practice. If you know how to talk, you can become a public speaker. |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |