What’s Your Value Proposition?

Whether or not you use presentations to persuade, sell, market, or showcase, consider this simple question: If you’re presenting to a group of people, surely it’s because you ultimately want them to do something, right? Even if you’re not selling a product or service, at least you want to persuade them to the merits of your point of view. You may want them to think differently or try a new approach.
Still, if you’re trying to convince people of something they’re not interested in, they won’t listen to you. So, when will people listen to you? They listen when you address their interest or their problem. And when and why do people buy? They buy when they are convinced that your solution or value proposition will solve their problem. They take action only when they are convinced.
In certain cases you may need to create or highlight the problem for them. For example “No-one likes to admit they’re living beyond their means. But if more than 10% of your household income is financing “bad debt” then the person I’ve just alluded to is you.” You’ve just created a problem in the mind of someone who one minute ago may have been in denial.
Remember, saying how your solution will solve their problem is far more enticing than describing what a product or service can do. Be sure to build your content based on this time-tested concept called “sell benefits, not features.” To help you do that, you can design your presentation using the following five steps:
1. Outline the problem audience members are dealing with.
2. Describe both the current situation and the ideal situation.
3. Show that the current situation can be improved on.
4. Outline how your solution creates the ideal situation.
5. Show how adopting your solution will solve the problem.
The logic is quite simple. Why would people change their behavior or part with their money unless you’re solving their problems or satisfying their perceived needs? The rate of change or amount they spend is in proportion to three things: (1) their perception of the size of their problem, (2) the consequences of not taking action, and (3) the value of whatever solution they find.
Why do people spend money on luxury items when a basic item usually performs more than 90 percent of the required functions (for example, buying motor vehicles, TV sets, cell phones)? The answer is the same as above—that is, the more luxurious item satisfies their perceived need, even if that need is the desire to be seen as successful. Your ability to find an audience member’s “hot button”—in this case, a need for a high-end product—is your key to their deciding in your favor.
The same principle applies in non-sales situations. For example, the young man who asks for his lady-love’s hand in marriage needs to satisfy her father’s desire to know that he’ll keep her safe and happy. His relationship with his future parents-in-law rests on his ability to persuade them of his intent and ability to do just that.
The CEO needs to convince employees who are implementing a new strategy that they’ll overcome glitches in the production process (their problems), facilitate smoother operations (thus reduce their stress), and foster increased productivity and higher profits (bottom line).
Offer a value proposition that solves their problems and you’ll get their buy-in.

What is Your Competitive Edge?
Two speakers are pitching for an engagement. They seem to offer exactly the same product of exactly the same quality at exactly the same price. You can only choose one speaker. Which would you choose?
When given a choice, people select, often in a split second, what they perceive to benefit them most, often regardless of the fee. In simple terms, they seek the “edge” that tips the scale on their decision-making—the “something” that’s most important to them. They believe their decision is logical, but often it’s a gut feel which even they can not explain.
Today it’s about capturing people’s attention by being different. So before you plan your presentation, identify your edge—the one factor that makes you stand out from your competitors. Because if you don’t have an edge, what do you have?
Not surprisingly, you’ll find the same principle applies to selling an idea, a plan of action, or a viewpoint that encourages audience members to get involved.

Did It Deliver on Your Objective?
It’s wonderful to pull off a slick presentation knowing everything went well: you finished on time, you made emotional connections, you felt people liked you. These are all good, but did you succeed in achieving these critical outcomes:
1. Did the audience understand what your central point was?
2. Did you clearly state your key objective?
3. Did you actually ask them to take action (ask for the business)?
4. Did your audience buy you and did you convince them?
Many seemingly good presentations actually fail to get the sale or persuade listeners to take the desired course of action. That’s why it’s critical to put a strong “outcomes strategy” in place before you start.
Put simply, at what stage will you ask people for your desired outcome and how will you close if they say yes? Prepare for your presentation using these important steps—begin with the end in mind—and you’ve set a clear objective.

[as published in the October 2011 edition of Speaker Magazine http://bit.ly/qQwSID]

Paul du Toit, Author of “You Can Present With Confidence” and Certified Speaking Professional.

10 Points for Winning Proposals

A business presentation is the physical manifestation of a written proposal. You are in effect delivering your proposal in the flesh. Instead of a PDF document, the client gets you, in person with an array of paraphernalia in tow – your voice, visuals, charts, pictures, text, thirst, hunger, bladder and other logistical requirements, whilst demanding their undivided attention for the duration of your presentation. This is regardless of whether their share price is plummeting or factory burning – you’d like them to listen to you and watch your slides.

In contrast, your PDF’d proposal can be perused, at their leisure, when it suits them – or ignored. So let’s ensure that when you do present your proposal in written format rather than in person, that it warrants the attention – and action of your reader.

Before we get to some guidelines, please consider the following. In business you’re never going to close every sale. By the same token, even the worst salesman sometimes picks up a sale, no matter how good or bad the approach, pitch or proposal. We’re aiming for the ones in the middle, that vast ocean of undecided folk who need a degree of persuasion to get them to act.

Here are a few simple guidelines to preparing a compelling written business proposal:

1. Firstly, what exactly do you hope to achieve? That’s a great place to start. As a result of reading your proposal what exactly do you want your prospect to do? you need to have a very clear objective.
2. Do your research. Your first paragraph serves as your introduction and should create context. Preferably show an understanding of the client’s business and identify the problem/issue that your proposal will address.
3. The body of your proposal should outline in clear but simple terms the nature of the clients problem/opportunity, show that you understand what needs to be done to solve the problem or capitalise on the opportunity, and outline how your solution can meet that need.
4. Only provide the information that the client needs to facilitate a decision – and no more!. Most people do not have time to wade through extensive detail. They can get this from your website, or if necessary you can attach an addendum.
5. Your conclusion can summarize the main points of your proposal, but should clearly state what should happen next, how and when you will follow up.
6. For purposes of credibility your signature/letterhead should contain all relevant contact details including your company registration number, relevant accreditations and website address.
7. A proposal must have clear terms and conditions (including payment terms) explaining cancellation clauses and consequences. This protects you in the event of the “goalposts being moved”. Contrary to commonly held fears, this will not antagonize the client since they expect this information in your proposal. T&C’s also ensure that the client takes you seriously, and gives you something to fall back on if a sale is concluded.
8. Get someone else in your office to cast an eye over your proposal. They might notice and error or opportunity that you missed, thus enhancing the power of your proposal.
9. PDF (portable document format) your proposal so that changes can not be made.
10. In your covering email request acknowledgement of receipt. If this is not forthcoming within 48 hours, enquire, either by email or telephone whether the proposal has been received. An unread proposal is a waste of your precious time and energy.

A well thought out proposal will give you the best chance of winning the business on terms that are favourable to you. Follow these 10 simple guidelines, and you will give yourself that chance.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and Author of “You Can Present With Confidence” (Greenleaf Book Group Press) and Presentation Skills Coach.

Are You Talking To Me?

The biggest enemy of successful presentations in any form – be they business presentations, lectures or keynote speeches is not an inattentive audience. Surprisingly, it’s self imposed by the presenter: a fanatical focus on the content. This may seem like a rather strange comment, but if your content is so dynamic, why not put it in to an article and email it to your audience instead?  Perhaps it’s because unlike an email or article, a presentation is delivered to a captive audience – those present, who can’t close you down quite so easily. Yes, I agree, if your content is rubbish who will want to keep listening to you anyway? My view is not directed at presenters who take the trouble to deliver excellent content, but rather at those who fail to connect with their audiences.

I’ve listed to literally hundreds of presentations and speeches. At the end of each one I hear opinions such as : “That was brilliant” or “after 10 minutes I had no idea what he was on about” or “just seemed to lack passion” or “one of the best I’ve ever heard!” to mention just a few.

What really makes a presentation good or bad? What makes it worth listening to or a waste of time? Most of the people I talk to seem to agree that it is a combination of many things extending beyond just having interesting content. I believe that there are 2 primary areas that you need to focus on: Content… and delivery.

Compelling content may get you a mark of 50%. Great delivery may also get you 50%. Whether it’s one or the other you still only get 50%. Often, I’m sad to say, the presenter scores a zero. What you’re looking for as a presenter is a full house on both counts. So how do things go wrong?

It does not occur to many presenters that it is impossible to give an audience a fully comprehensive coverage of any topic in a limited time. It is however possible to give one central message with a handful of sub points. The main problem in a nutshell? Trying to pack in too much stuff in to a limited time frame. So my first tip is this:

Out of the huge bank of knowledge at your disposal on your topic, select a central message and few simple supportive points to drive that message home. You may want to add in some humour and a few stories, but by and large, that sorts out the content. Simply avoid cramming in too much stuff. Now, what’s the delivery bit?

As a member of an audience I want to feel that you are speaking to me, not at me. Presenters intent on getting through their content seldom achieve this. Firstly they seem more intent on staring at their visuals (which they use as prompts), and second their focus seems primarily to keep on track and not leaving anything out.

One of the reasons that this problem arises is that these presenters spend far more time on preparing content than they do on rehearsing delivery. Structure is very important, I agree. You want a strong ending, your introduction should set up your talk and you want the body of the presentation to be interesting and logical. But you need to spend a good deal of time rehearsing how you will deliver this message. This includes the quality of your voice, how you will stand, gestures that you may use, where you will insert pauses for effect and whether you will be serious or friendly. This is the stuff that your audience will experience, and it forms a large chunk of what they will be judging you on. The time to focus on this is after your initial preparation. The key word here is rehearse. In order to be able to do this you need to finish the preparation of your content a few days in advance.

So how long does one need to rehearse for a business presentation? 2-3 times should do the trick – or until you have it right. How long does one need to practice for a keynote speech? Rehearse until you can’t get it wrong.

When you step down from the podium, I’m sure you’ll want people to be saying: “Wasn’t that a wonderful presentation?” You’ll achieve this if you deliver a concise message and if people feel that you were speaking to them personally. By preparing properly on both these fronts (content and delivery), not only will your audience enjoy your presentation, you will too!

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional, Author of You Can Present With Confidence (2011).

Finding The One Thing

As an author on the subject of presenting and speaking, I’m frequently asked how one goes about becoming a professional speaker.* Sometimes the word “motivational” is used in place of professional, which usually indicates that this is merely a wish rather than a dream with any substance. This may seem harsh, but allow me to explain.

Most people on planet Earth over the age of 2 years can actually speak, meaning that they have the ability to communicate by stringing a few words or sentences together. That’s in excess of 5 billion people. But a minuscule percentage of those 5 billion + folks actually get paid for delivering even one speech in their entire lives. There must be literally tens of thousands of people who have at some stage entertained this idea. Yet, the Global Speakers Federation has less than 7000 members at the time of writing. Less than 10% of these are Certified Speaking Professionals (a designation awarded to professional speakers who have met certain strict criteria). Assuming that this Federation (representing the official speaker associations of 11 countries) only represents 10% of all professional speakers – which is a conservative estimate, then the global industry would consist of around 70,000 speakers. This would by definition exclude teachers, lecturers and religious orators. I would guess that the most common of these may be – the “motivational speaker”.

So what makes someone a speaker? A great voice? Sought after expertise? Superior communication skills? An ability to structure and deliver a good speech on a particular topic? The answer is all of these, but the starting point would be someone who is an expert in their field. The ability to structure and then deliver a great speech would be second. Practice would be high on the list too. A good voice is a bonus. So let’s hone in on the most important thing.

In order to become a subject expert you need to study or develop experience and expretise in particular area or field. The more niche that field, the more of an expert you will be perceived to be. The more it can be aligned to creating productivity or profit, the higher the fee you can expect to command as you will be more likely to find a market for your speech. For example, if you spoke on the topic of “mining equipment” or “safety” you may be one of many experts in that field. However, if your niche was “Crane Operators: Reducing Accidents and Dramatically Increasing Productivity” – even though your market is limited, you may find yourself in high demand because… you guessed it: No one else speaks on this topic in the whole wide world except you, and the topic is very important!

In 1991 a memorable cowboy movie was released called City Slickers. starring Jack Palance (Curly) and Billy Crystal (Mitch). During an outride, whilst having a general discussion about life, Curly suggests to Mitch

“You know, I think I’ve found the true meaning of life”
“What is it?” asks Mitch.
“It’s this.” says Curly raising his right index finger.
“What, your finger?”
“One thing. Just one thing. If you find that, everything else means squat!” (actually, he used an expletive here…)
“Well? What’s the one thing?”
“That” replies Curly “is what you gotta figure out.”

[Pause here to think a bit, please!]

It takes no more than 6 months of intensive study to become a credible expert on most subjects. But then you’d be putting in 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Author Malcolm Gladwell asserts in Outliers that to develop a skill to world class standard (like for instance mastering a musical instrument) requires about 10,000 hours of practice. It’s possible, but it requires a level of dedication that most people are either unable or unwilling to commit to.

My 10 year old daughter takes piano lessons and is showing a flair for the instrument. She practices 10-12 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Unless she rapidly disciplines herself to raise that to half an hour and ultimately 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, she may become a good piano player, but the title of “world’s greatest concert pianist” will be beyond her grasp.

So – how does one become a professional speaker – in other words *a speaker who gets booked regularly for a fee?

There are 3 key steps.

1. Become a subject expert, preferably in a narrow niche. Alternatively, be the first in that field.
2. Learn how to structure an interesting speech around your topic.
3. Become very good on the platform.

All this takes time, dedication and practice. If you want to be an even better speaker, learn how to use your voice optimally, learn how to run a professional speaking business, commit to ongoing and never ending personal education as a speaker – and start speaking to audiences regularly.

That’s how the professionals do it, and if you want to be one, you need to do the same. The starting point to becoming a “Professional Speaker” is ultimately about finding your “One Thing.”

Paul du Toit, Author of You Can Present With Confidence (Greenleaf Book Group Press 2011) and Certified Speaking Professional.

Taking Yourself Too Seriously

In presenting terms, this is often the key difference between experience and inexperience. Our initial attempts at speaking to any audience are so focused on content that we focus on little else. Most of us don’t rehearse – it’s too much like hard work, and besides, there’s always one last slide to touch up. Those of us blessed with a healthy dose of vanity (a good thing, I say) will take the trouble to dress well for the occasion, and so you should. The visual impact is important, especialy at the beginning while they’re sizing you up. But why are we so slow to realize the critical importance of delivery?

We know when we’ve heard a convincing presentation, a great speech. It flows. It all works. The pace is right, the voice is beautiful and the energy is authentic. We hardly notice the visuals, if any – because they weren’t the point. To the speaker, the audience was. How do we know this? Because we got the message, clearly.

Do we remember everything that was said? No. But we remember the main point, and perhaps a few memorable phrases. We may even take some action on what we’ve learned.

Let’s acknowledge this truth. Everyone who wants to present has to start somewhere, and it’s unlikely to be at the top. So if this point of view appears critical of where you are right now, rather view it as a progress pin. It really takes years to become really, really good at speaking in public. It doesn’t take long to become good if you’re determined – it’s “good to superb” that really takes time. It’s those finishing touches. And while we’re learning it’s very easy to take on an overly critical view of one’s ability and become discouraged.

The scourge of perfectionism is our most brutal enemy. Here is a sound metaphor or two. No champion tennis player wins a match by playing faultlessly, and no golfer ever won a tournament without missing a putt. So why should we feel that giving a perfect presentation is a prerequisite for getting your message across convincingly? It isn’t.

The occasional mistake, perhaps a mistimed phrase or a quip that didn’t work – all fine ( just avoid starting off with a joke that flops – that’s asking for flak!). Were you able to get the crux of your message across? Did the audience enjoy what you had to say? A few giggles maybe? Did they perhaps take action afterwards? And did you feel a connection with them as they listened to you?

A good gauge of your progress as a presenter is how much you’re enjoying yourself on the podium. And you won’t be if you’re trapped inside your own head.

So do it for your audience. Put in the rehearsal up front. Know what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it before you step up. Then have fun. Speak enthusiastically and passionately. Emphasize key words. You may find that the audience will appreciate what you have to say.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and Author of You Can Present with Confidence (Greenleaf Book Group Press 2011)

 

 

 

 

Connecting with Your Eyes

Speaking to live audiences comes in many forms – as host, speaker, presenter, lecturer or preacher to name a few. Each has it’s own subtle differences. For instance the purpose of a speech could be to educate, entertain, motivate or inform. But the purpose of a presentation is almost always to persuade. With a good budget it is now quite possible to persuade via multimedia presentations without having humans in the presentation at all. However, even the most successful hi-tech marketing campaigns tend to rely on the “human touch” to get their messages across. A case in point would be Steve Jobs launch of the iPad for Apple. So if you’re the one fronting for your product, you need to understand the power of the greatest connecting tool you have – your eyes.

Watch any presenter who reads most of their presentation from the screen. Ask yourself how long you, the listener, are likely to remain interested? When they’re not looking at you, you’re unlikely to stay looking at them. Because our eyes feed us more information than the rest of our senses combined, we are most likely to focus where our eyes are. So, if you’re the presenter, you want to maintain eye contact for practically every second that you’re speaking so that you keep your audience with you.

I’m often asked if it’s possible to make eye contact with everyone in the audience? Logically, the bigger the audience the more difficult this becomes. You then want to appear to be making eye contact with everyone. You do this by including sections of the audience in your block of vision. Be careful not to accidentally pay far more attention to one section than another. You want to include everyone, so move from side to centre to side. Be alert to taking in people seated on the periphery, particularly those at the front.

If you’re feeling somewhat nervous, find a few friendly faces in the audience and keep going back to them. Those smiling faces will give you power and soon quell any nerves you may be wrestling. That positive visual interaction will in turn benefit the rest of the audience as you gain in confidence.

What if you’re using cue cards or a monitor? The trick is to look at these aides as you finish a sentence, pick up on your next point and only start speaking once your eyes are up again. That pause gives the audience a much needed opportunity to absorb what you have just said. The only time you should ever look at the screen is when you’re using a laser pointer. Those little red beams should be used sparingly in any case.

It should be obvious that use of a slide show can compromise your eye contact, particularly when you have plenty of slides for a short duration. The trick is to use as few slides as possible, with as little text as possible. Use as only a few words per point. Slides should be interesting enough not to detract from your ability to connect with your audience. And remember not to stray too far from your monitor, or you may be forced to look back at the screen.

Of course, if you rehearse a few times, you may not be as reliant on your slides as the person (can’t call them a presenter, really!) who simply reads their slides. Rehearsal will serve you by ultimately increasing your audience eye contact.

And as you become adept at connecting with your eyes, the strongest connecting tool that there is, you can win hearts too by adding a smile from time to time. That extra warmth is what really cements the connection!

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and Author of “You Can Present with Confidence” (Greenleaf Book Group Press 2011)

How Great Speakers Deal with Nervousness

The closer you are physically to a “speaker in action” the easier it is to tell whether or not he or she is nervous. The tell-tale signs present vocally and/or physically, are numerous and occur individually or in “clusters”. Some examples are shallowness or shortness of breath, a quivering or high pitched voice, rushing, repetition of phrases such as “you know” or “basically”, sweating and fidgeting with hands or feet.

Why do these things happen? Isaac Newton (1642-1727) gave us an answer: “To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.” The symptom of nervousness emanates from mental anxiety and manifests in nervous energy. Energy is significant. Without energy the individual can achieve nothing. But in order to be productive, that energy must be under control. Nervousness in a speaker is a state in which a degree of available energy is outside of the control of that person. When speaking to an audience you need to have your wits about you as there are a number of different actions that need to be properly synchronized in order for you to come across convincingly. It follows then that nervous energy is energy wasted, or energy dissipated from where it should be going. Ideally, you want that energy working for you, not against you.

Experienced speakers are by no means immune from nervousness ahead of an address. The reason that polished speakers and presenters seem so much more confident is that they have learned how to channel their nervous energy. The view is that nervousness is not a bad thing, it is in fact quite natural. The trick is to learn to channel that energy. That’s all very well, but how, and where to?

The act of speaking involves air being pushed, in a controlled manner, through the trachea and over the larynx to create sound. Through a series of complex actions the brain dictates what the voice should say and how the words should be said. The muscle that controls the flow of air is situated above the stomach, below the rib cage and is known as the diaphragm. This is one of the most powerful and sophisticated muscles in the human body – and is the perfect storage place for all that nervous energy.

A typical nervous response is for energy to flow toward the limb ends. It’s common to observe a novice presenter fiddling with a pen or notes, or shuffling his feet. In order to eradicate this involuntary behaviour, you can use rehearsal time to mentally focus the nervous energy away from the hands and feet toward the diaphragm. That way, this energy is used productively to control the voice from the diaphragm instead of being wasted. Breathing becomes deeper, hands and feet are calm and the voice takes on an air of authority. As you rehearse channeling nervous energy to the diaphragm your confidence will increase and the nervous energy will literally begin dissipating. It’s a gradual process, but if you persevere, it works. This simple act of assuming control allows that fine precision instrument, the voice to operate optimally.

Just as the brain controls speech, it also sabotages speech by allowing anxiety to creep in. That energy needs to go somewhere, or your head will literally explode. That place should be the diaphragm in order to offset the process of increasing nervousness.

It’s important to note that nervousness seldom stems from a lack of topic knowledge, but rather a fear of presentation itself. So before you take to the podium, take 5 slow, deep breaths – in through the nose, and out through the mouth while establishing this mental process of control. This will exercise and relax the diaphragm simultaneously. Then check your attire, make sure that all equipment is working, put a smile on your face and stride forward.

You may experience the butterflies before a speech or presentation, but as the old saying goes, you want those butterflies flying neatly in formation!

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and Author.

Fail to Prepare, Expect Disaster

There are many ways to deliver a good speech. And there is more than one way to prepare a dazzling presentation. But it’s unusual to hear a good speech or presentation that did not involve preparation in one form or another. Here are some common scenarios:

• You’ve studied your topic and know your stuff. Your research spans a period of time. Very little further research is necessary. You can talk about it for a week if needs be.
• You’re the subject expert. You know which bits you’re going to share. You just need to organize those bits.
• You’re not the subject expert, but you’ve researched your material thoroughly and have put together a sound presentation. You plan to rehearse.
• You know something about the topic so you’re going to “wing it” on the day.

It’s not for me to judge the circumstances under which you present. But it would be useful to heed this important warning: If you don’t prepare what you are going to say, and create a logical structure, expect disaster. This is good for no-one, except, in the case of a business presentation, your competitors!

It’s also necessary to point out that all presentations are not the same. Presentations broadly have one of four kinds of formats:

• The keynote speech. Your objective is to deliver a key message with supporting arguments in a short time – usually an hour or less, in order to entertain or inspire people or both. A keynote comprises high content information around a central topic. You may use stories, anecdotes and quotes. Visuals like props or slides can be used, but should be purposeful and well thought out. Throughout the speech keynoters may make a point, illustrate it with a story or anecdote, repeat the point and move on. They start strong, keep interest high, and end with a powerful closing statement. Good keynoters seldom waffle, that’s why they are highly paid.
• The business presentation. Here your objective is to persuade people to buy or buy in to your product, service or idea. Successful presentations often follow a logical and effective formula – an introduction where you set up your topic; the body where you provide a compelling argument supported by benefits of your solution; and a conclusion where you offer your presentation summary and request action.
• The product demonstration. By practically showing the features and benefits of your product, you are able to engage people’s senses and get them involved. A product demonstration can be effective to keep existing customers or win new ones.
• Lectures, seminars or training programmes where delegates may settle in for a few hours or days and expect detailed information – often on a central topic. This format is more forgiving, but often requires facilitation skills. The longer a session, the more it becomes necessary to engage audience participation to maintain interest.

Using any of these formats you may invite questions from your audience at some stage. Whichever format you are using, preparation is vital. The newer the presentation is for you, the more important it is to prepare adequately. Know how you will start and how you will end, what goes in where, at what stage questions will be invited, and how much time you have. Presenters may feel that once they are familiar with their presentation, they need no longer prepare. This is a mistake, because every audience is different. By customizing each presentation according to your expected audience you automatically increase your chances of success.

There is simply no substitution for adequate preparation. You will feel it and your audience will know it. Once your flow and structure is in place, go over your presentation a few times. A few practice runs will give you the confidence to get up on the day and achieve your objective.

Since you’d like to be taken seriously (or get a few laughs if you’re a comedian!), it’s usually worth the trouble knowing that you’re going to get it right in advance – both for you and for your audience!

Paul du Toit Certified Speaking Professional and Author of “You Can Present with Confidence” Greenleaf Book Group Press

How To Engage Your Audience

If you’ve ever been bored by someone’s presentation, then you’ll want to ensure that you don’t do the same to your audience when it’s your turn to speak. Here are 13 great tips on how to engage your audience so that they enjoy your presentation, and take action (if that’s what you intended!).

• Look at them. Make eye contact. In fact, do it a lot. It’s far easier to make eye contact when you don’t keep staring at the screen (or horrors, reading off it). Take in all sections of the audience, not just one area.
• Smile frequently, but appropriately. It’s no use smiling while you’re saying something sad. That’s incongruent. But a friendly demeanor warms your audience to you.
• Involve them. Ask questions, encourage responses and then acknowledge their responses by expanding on their views. That way you will encourage more people to respond and get involved. You can also ask them to do something physical. Be mindful of not embarrassing people.
• Tell stories. When you were little, the best treat that Mum or Dad could give you before lights out was a bed time story. Adults buy newspapers because we’re addicted to stories. You may not realize this, but you have plenty of your own stories that you can use to enhance your presentation. Rediscover your own stories and use them in your presentations.
• Use descriptive gestures. The brain picks up a great deal of information from movements and body language messages. People will work out whether you’re relaxed or tense by the way you use gestures. Small, half-hearted apologetic gestures show you’re unsure of yourself. Big, deliberate, flowing gestures give the message that you’re relaxed and in control.
• Use your voice effectively. You need to speak clearly at a moderate pace (not too fast), use inflection and project so that everyone in the room can hear you. Tools such as emphasis and effective pausing will also enhance vocal quality.
• Use props. Magicians use cloths, balloons, playing cards and pigeons. Ventriloquists use puppets and hand socks. You may use a ball, item of clothing, robot or anything that may enhance your message. Props certainly add variety to a talk, especially when used skillfully.
• If you’re going to use video clips choose 1 or 2 really good, fresh ones – no more. Your audience can watch TV at home. They’ve come to listen to you speak, not to view your collection of viral video clips. Besides, they’ve seen most of them anyway.
• If you’re going to use slides, use as few as possible, make them interesting and cull as much text as possible. The more words you have on the screen, the more disengaged your audience will be from you. Use just one photo per slide unless you’re comparing.
• Be interesting. Pick a handful of main points you are going to make and create a good presentation around them. Bombarding your audience with too much content will ensure that they clock out early.
• Be prepared. Organize your thoughts and your content before hand and rehearse what you’re going to say a few times before unleashing your genius on an audience. They’ll be glad you did.
• Be energetic. Authentic, real enthusiasm is infectious. If you believe in yourself and you’re excited about your topic, the enthusiasm will flow naturally. It’s also a good idea to get yourself mentally in to the zone before your start.
• Enjoy yourself. It’s a privilege to address an audience. Make the most of it and make sure you have fun. If you do, chances are they will too!

There can be few things worse than delivering a boring presentation, except perhaps being on the receiving end. But you know that of course, we’ve all experienced a few of those. Now you won’t be a perpetrator of such tedium.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional, Author and Presentation Skills Expert.

Making Maximum Impact

When you speak to an audience you want to get your message across with impact, and within your allotted time. You may further wish to inform and persuade. Here are your tools:

• The sound of your voice (sometimes amplified)
• Your presentation content
• Your content structure (how effectively your content is organised)
• Your topic knowledge (additional knowledge separate from your content)
• Your intellect
• Your eye contact and body language
• Your attire
• Your skill at answering questions
• Other visual elements such as props, lighting….and oh yes, visuals projected on a screen!

All these elements play a role in the success of your presentation in varying degrees. The success of the presentation is determined by the outcome. Will they do what you suggest? That outcome is determined by how your preparation time was spent. When it goes wrong, it’s usually because your preparation time was improperly balanced. Meaning exactly what?

Your delivery of your content should take up a big chunk of your preparation time. Getting your structure to flow smoothly is also important, and there is a “beginning” and “end” element to structure – devising it and then practicing to test if it works or not.

If you use visuals in the form of slides, these should be a minor element of your preparation. The approach should be to add extra time for this, not take it out of your allocated preparation time. The classic trap that results in loss of impact is over-reliance on visuals – particularly ones laden with text.

So next time you ask someone “How was my presentation?” you may know by their answer whether your emphasis during preparation was correctly weighted in the right areas.

In truth, successful presenters succeed because they understand how to prepare. The rest spend 90% or more of their time preparing their slide shows.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional, Author and Presentation Skills Expert.