8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world
Our publisher – Unique Voices Publishing – has pledged 10% of all proceeds from the sale of The One Minute Presenter go to The Library Project. Learn more about commitments here.
We just installed a library in the Dong Gou Elementary School which is in Shanxi province in China. Enjoy the pictures below.
Bert Decker has written an article I agree with on the most often mis-used statistic in presentation skill training. Namely Mehrabian research that found:
Verbal 7% (the word, or words, or message)
Vocal 38% (the sound of the voice)
Visual 55% (what people see)
The One Minute Presenter is a journey of 8 steps. Step 2 is “Treasure Your Audience”. One important component of really getting a deep understanding of your audience is to build a Golden Avatar of your ideal types of audiences.
I was recently reading about Ford approach to making a global car. I was interested to find that they are using a Golden Avatar approach by creating “Isabella Everyperson”.
Here’s how they use it:
Ford researched buyers of its previous Fiesta in Europe as well as customers who prefer small cars sold by Volkswagen in Europe, Honda Motor in the U.S., and Toyota in China. These were mostly consumers aged 20 to 30 who had limited funds but a big appetite for fashion and design. Ford next created an imaginary customer—a global archetype, if you will. Her name is “Isabella,” a recent college graduate living near Milan. Isabella is creative, thinking about pursuing journalism, a modest earner, and likes city living. She is fashionable and plugged into social media. “We found that Isabella’s personality traits, aspirations, and sensibilities, and what she wants in a car, [resonated] in each market where we ran consumer clinics, whether it was Sydney or St. Louis.”
Read the whole article in BusinessWeek here.
Matt Church has an excellent blog. Check out his article on what causes nerves.
There are many reasons why people feel nervous before a presentation. In my experience, the more presentations you give, the more you are able to cope with most of the visible signs of nervousness: sweating hands, dry throat, increased heart rate. I believe that while the nerves don’t go away, the fear does. Let’s assume you haven’t had any traumatic past experiences while presenting in public (this needs a different approach), there are some proven steps you can take to lower your physical reaction before a presentation.
Let’s look at one approach: Work your Body.
A good physical condition will help manage your nerves. Whatever exercise you enjoy most, schedule in a workout during the week before your presentation. Block off a couple of hours and add in a spa or massage afterwards. Pamper your body, it will help reduce your tension.
On the day of your presentation, take a walk outside or find somewhere quiet, like a garden or park, to breathe in some fresh air and get a bit closer to nature. It will calm your mind and the fresh air will improve your circulation.
A few hours before you present, stop drinking coffee, tea or sodas and switch to water. The more aerobic your body is the calmer you will feel.
Just before you come on stage, walk off your nerves and think about your opening words. By starting your presentation from a walk you are turning your nervous energy into excitement which is a good way to open.
Make sure you have a good supply of water during your presentation. Take deep breathes between main points or sections to ensure you have a good lung full of air. This calms and also improves your voice quality.
While most people do feel nervous before a presentation, by keeping in good shape and taking a few simple precautions you can help your body cope better with the physical reactions to feeling nervous.
When it comes to making a connection with your audience, the first tool to use is eye contact. Rapport cannot be maintained without eye contact. Imagine you were on a date or business lunch with an important client. What would the other person think if you never looked at them or made eye contact? What impression would you be giving them?
In an international business context, eye contact is an essential sign of confidence, trust and honesty. Not being able to maintain eye contact indicates uncertainty. So how long should you hold eye contact? There are cultural and gender differences that you need to consider. Western audiences are more comfortable with direct clear and longer eye contact while Asian audiences might feel intimidated if your gaze is held for too long. In more conservative Middle Eastern cultures it may be better to not focus on the female audience members.
As a presenter you need to project your sincerity and confidence at all times. First, think about the size of your audience. For small group presentations where you can see your audience very clearly, you can deliver one idea or one sentence to each person before moving on. Around three seconds seems to be a good time to engage their attention. With larger groups (over 50), you will need to focus on areas of the room. So recently I presented to a group of around 60 hotel general managers sitting at around 8 – 10 tables. I focused on each table, delivering one idea or sentence before moving onto the next table.
The benefit of this is that every member of the audience feels like you have spoken to them directly several times throughout your presentation. This personal connection is essential to maintain the rapport and to ensure their attention is focused on your message.
