Ask the Expert

I know it’s tempting to sit at your desk and read over your notes or run through your speech in your head and call it a practice session.  In all reality, reviewing the information is helpful, but it doesn’t truly count as a practice session. The main problem is that it’s just not realistic. The added stress of standing up in front of an audience creates a whole new dynamic and it’s important that you practice under realistic conditions. The following tips will help you make the most of your practice sessions:

1. Strive for three complete practice sessions (using visual aids and speaking out loud).

2. Don’t memorize your presentation! Use your PowerPoint slides to prompt your memory and remember what to say.

3. Ideally you should practice in the same room (or a similar room) to the one in which you will deliver your presentation. Wear similar clothes to what you will wear on that day. It will help create a realistic situation, making you all the more comfortable when the day to present arrives.

Make Every Presentation Great,
Sheri Jeavons

Many of you struggle with developing content for your presentations. You may spend hours compiling information and putting it in a format that makes sense to you, only to deliver it to an audience of yawns and blank stares. There is an easy remedy for this problem called the TOP Mastery Craft Compelling Content Format.

The first step in this process is to think about your audience. Who are they? What do they want to leave your presentation knowing? What’s in it for them?

The second step is a compelling introduction. This consists of four elements and should be delivered in approximately two minutes.

1. Open/Goal Statement:  Highlight the audiences’ goal for your topic.
2. Current Situation: Briefly review the audience’s current situation as it relates to the information you are about to offer.
3. Agenda Topics: Briefly list the topics you will cover during the presentation to help solve your audience’s problems.
4. Value Statements: Highlight the value the audience will realize as a result of implementing your recommendation.

Make Every Presentation Great!

Sheri Jeavons

There is no doubt that heavy workloads have us all stretched to our limits these days. Executives are no exception. Their time is more valuable than ever. So, when you’re given a 10-minute meeting with an executive to pitch an idea, how do you make the most of your time?  Implement the Ten-Minute Solution Process:

1. Identify the pain or change opportunity
2. Propose goal-related solutions
3. Quantify solution options
4. Describe the pros and cons of each proposed solution
5. Urge specific action steps

Sticking to a short, goal-oriented agenda is sure to make your recommendations stand out from the crowd.

Make every presentation great!

Sheri Jeavons

One way to enhance your professional presence and get noticed is to stand when you present your ideas. It may feel awkward at first, especially if it isn’t common practice at your place of business, but it will help you gain visibility for your ideas and knowledge. It will also show your passion and enthusiasm for the information you have to deliver.  If you want to appear more relaxed, consider taking a seat to engage in a question and answer session.

One of the biggest issues I hear about from clients is that they are simply afraid to give a presentation. Standing up in front of a group makes their heart pound, hands sweat and knees shake.

While I can’t guarantee these tips will immediately eliminate your fear, they will certainly help you manage it by increasing your confidence:

1. Focus on your audience: Think about what you can do for the audience, not the personal anxiety you may have about presenting.
2. Pause for Power: Take a deep breath and calmly stand still until your thoughts return to you.
3. Remember, the audience does not see fear: They cannot see your heart pounding, stomach churning, knees wobbling or hands perspiring! Your audience wants you to do well. They want you to motivate, educate and inspire them.

Make every presentation great!

Sheri Jeavons

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  During these challenging times, this means that you need to take charge and lead your team or department accomplish your goals and overcome challenges. But what’s the best way to be a leader?  According to The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, the No. 1 trait people look for in a leader is honesty. There is more to being an honest leader than just telling the truth. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Be proactive about telling people what is going on. If the rumor miss is running, arrange a meeting to share what you know.
• Rehearse what you will say and stay factual.
• Minimize your personal bias toward the circumstances.
• Ask questions.
• Let people share their feelings and ideas.

Remember, to be the kind of leader people will willingly follow; honesty is always the best policy.

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

To keep your virtual audience from tuning out of your presentation, consider using interaction tools every one to two minutes. This lets your audience know that you’ll be asking for their input, looking for their response and requesting questions.

No matter what web-based meeting platform you use, it surely offers tools for interacting with attendees. These tools are the key to keeping your attendees focused and engaged.  The following tips will help you plan for interaction and help ensure your attendees are focused and getting the most out of your presentation

1. Strategize – Ask yourself:

• Who is going to be on the call? How many attendees?
• What do they want to know?
• From whom?
• When?
• At what point might my attendees lose focus?
• What is the best way to ask questions? Live questions, use chat or polls?

2. Build in time for interacting instead of powering through your presentation.

3. Plan on creating more slides with less information on each. This allows for more movement on the screen.

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

The No. 1 way to keep your audience’s attention is to focus your content on what THEY need to know.

It’s easy to develop your content based on what you want to tell them, but it is critical that you take a step back and think like your audience.

• Think about who will attend your presentation.
• What benefit will they receive from learning what you have to tell them?
• They must understand how your information relates to them specifically.

To really bring your message home, use someone’s name. For example, “Mary, you’ve always said that it takes you two hours to generate the weekly report, and no one runs reports faster than you. With this new software, you’ll be able to do the weekly reporting in thirty minutes or less.”

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

Between layoffs, budget cuts, shortened work weeks and more work than we can handle, chances are someone is going to catch you off guard with an issue that you’ll need to deal with on the spot. When this happens you may tend to ramble, make excuses or just get flustered.

Keeping our four-step Impromptu Process in mind will help you organize your thoughts and diffuse a potentially difficult situation:

• Step 1: Opening Statement: Your opening statement must be in response to the question or problem.  Make it a positive one or two sentence statement that addresses what the person originally wanted from you, but has not yet received.
• Step 2: State the Problem: Clearly state what you believe the problem or request to be.
• Step 3: Give Solutions: Present at least two solutions. Avoid giving excuses.
• Step 4: Close: Summarize what you have said and state your willingness to solve the problem. Give specific direction as to what needs to happen next.

Make every presentation great!

Sheri Jeavons

We’ve all been there… You’ve survived your presentation. You’ve delivered all your content, and you feel like things went well. Then, you utter the daring phrase, “Are there any questions?” That’s when you feel your confidence slip away.

So, how do you handle difficult questions? The following four-step process will help keep your confidence up and position you as the expert you are.

1. Listen to the entire question. Don’t start formulating your answer until the questioner has finished.
2. Repeat or rephrase the question to the entire audience. Shorten the question and use more neutral language to remove hostility and emotion.
3. Answer the question. Be honest, concise, and answer to the entire group.

When you’ve completed the Q&A session, go back and repeat the conclusion and action steps from your presentation. This helps leave the audience on a positive note, telling them your presentation was good for them and what they need to do next.

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons