Last week I
did a talk at Smidig2013, and I did my best to use the presentation skills I
learned earlier this year in a practical training class. You can find the talk here (in Norwegian). In this post I will summarize
my notes from the presentation skills class:
1) Body
language:
a) Standing
still:
Stay still
and firm when you talk. Be grounded on the floor.
I had a tendency to sway, both in hips and in
knees. In the presentation I held last week, you see that I do this a little
bit in the beginning, then remembering to stand still.
b) Moving
around:
It is great
to use the whole floor, do this: talk, move, talk. This means do not talk when
you move, and it is ok to move and turn your back to the audience, but do pause
the talking when you do this.
I have a tendency to much more swaying when I
move, so for me, it is more important to focus on a then on this.
c) Arms
-
do not touch yourself (not in the face or anywhere else.)
- you may have your arm(s) straight down beside you
- or you may use your hands to gesticulate –not in front of you, the best is using large movements out to the side (feels wired, but looks great, use video and record yourself and you will be convinced)
For me, I have focused on the first one of this, I am aware of the last one,
but think this is hard. Most of my gesticulation is in front of me.
d) Words
Skip all words
that do not have a meaning. Words like “ehm”, “sure”, “right”, “like” and so on.
It is much better to pause and to have just silence. It feels strange, but
sounds great!
After practising this and recording myself, I
have been aware that silence is definitely my friend. When I need to think, it
feels like minutes, but in reality, it only takes seconds. A pause only makes
the content standing out.
2) Content
When all
the rest is in place, off course content is the most important part of the
presentation.
a) Introduction
part one
(10-30
seconds) Get on the same page with the audience, let the audience know that you
know the context and domain, and get each and one of them to buy in to the idea
of you being able to contribute in the area of topic.
For me this was an eye-opener. Before I
attended this class, I had the impression that it was smart to present any
controversial ideas or summarise the whole point of the presentation in the
introduction. Big mistake!
b)
Introduction part two
(10-30
seconds) Let the audience know what they can expect during the presentation,
i.e.: “in this presentation I will start by examining the three different
options, and summarize pros and cons. I will also present the recommended solution
and how to bring this forward”
I did not know how important it is to let the
audience get a sense of what to expect, and this being key to engage the
audience during the presentation, making them curios.
c) The PowerPoint
Who are the
slides for? –It is not supposed to be for the presenter J The audience are only capable of either
reading or listening –not both at the same time.
If it is
important that the slides capture content for people not present (it is going
to be sent out) consider making two separate slide decks or provide the extra
content in the “notes” section.
I have fallen in love with pictures on my
slides only. This is also what I used in my presentation at Smidig 2013. These are three slides from that slide deck:
d) The end
Summarize your point and present next steps or actions that the audence should take.