The following is an introduction to effective speech presentation skills. Underlying everything is the assumption that you have something to say that is of interest to your potential audience. This is an assumption that should never be forgotten. The information you are providing should be perceived as being valued by you and valuable to them. Any perception on the part of your potential audience that you wasted their time is worse than having done nothing at all.

Therefore, when thinking about your presentation, always look at it from your audience's point of view:

• What can I tell them that will be helpful?
• What points should be underscored and enforced?
• What actions do I want them to take as a result of my presentation?

Focus on your audience and the results you're looking for, and the presentation will take care of itself.

The Basics of Effective Presentations

What's the Point?

Everybody's been subjected to it. A well-meaning speaker gets up in front of an audience, and delivers a speech that can only be called "History of the Universe, Part 6." This speaker tells you so much and covers so many topics you have no idea what the point is. By the time you hear, "In conclusion..." you can't tie it back to other fragments of information that have registered in your brain.

Remember that speaker whenever you get ready to make a presentation. You can fail to make your point when you wander around it. You can sacrifice the point by weighing it down with tangents, unnecessary details, and flights of fancy.

A good presentation is one that leaves the audience with a single idea that can be summed up in one sentence . . . a sentence the presenter should know before beginning. It's one that focuses on what the audience would be interested in hearing, not on what the speaker is interested in saying. It's one that only uses information germane to making that point, without detracting from it.

Details can often kill a presentation. That's because the medium is oral, and a person's ability to comprehend oral material is not nearly as great as comprehension of the written word. If you use a lot of details you'll sidetrack the audience. Stay on the line. Use facts to illustrate, to drive home a point, and save them to do just that.

The same can be said for tangents and stories. Use them only when they help illustrate your point, not because they're good stories.

The Material or the Speaker?

There is no right way to give a particular presentation. Every person has an optimum way of delivering information because everyone is different. This might be overstating the obvious, but the fact remains that many good presentations have failed when the speaker tried to emulate someone else rather than deliver the message as a natural extension of his or her own personality.

That's why you have to focus on the results-oriented objectives of the material. A good presentation is enabling; it's teaching, and most likely your class is there to learn. So focus on getting results not getting through the material the way you were taught it.

A good presenter speaks in an individualized style and is comfortable and familiar with the material. In that mode, the audience can sense the speaker's comfort, putting them at ease and, more important, making them more receptive. The point here is simple: Everyone has their own style. Imitate other speakers only to the degree that their style also feels comfortable to you.

What Makes a Good Speaker?

1. Presenting in his or her own style.
2. Knowing the material.

Beyond that is simply the combination of practice and experience. If the thought of speaking to a group makes you nervous, you should practice. Sit in an empty room and speak out loud , then try it in front of someone. Some people avoid this process because it's intimidating, but it's nothing compared to a full audience. You'll be amazed how much practice can help.

Pre-presentation Check-list

Remember Richard Nixon's Upper Lip?

You may remember from old video footage of the first televised presidential candidate TV debates between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy that whenever Nixon got into tough material or became uncomfortable while speaking his body betrayed him. Beads of sweat started to form on his upper lip - a dead giveaway. It's called an anxiety response, it happens to everyone, and it happens to everyone differently.

Therefore, before you get ready to speak, remember the physical part of your presentation. Check your appearance in the mirror. Relieve yourself. Get a drink of water, and if you have a long presentation, or are subject to dry-mouth, have some water near you when speaking. If you're a hands-in-pocket person, empty your pockets so you won't be jiggling your change.

What Else Could Go Wrong?

Face it, sweat's nothing compared to what communications people call a "crash." There are many kinds of crashes, most of which can be avoided. So, take it from one who has been at a crash site too many times:

1. Always see the room you're speaking in before you give your presentation.
2. Play with the lights in the room and know how to operate them, and how you want them.
3. A room should never be completely black...(people do fall asleep and snore)....nor light enough to detract from slides if they're being used.
4. Always know where you're going to stand, and make sure you're in front of the room.
5. Have a watch with you so you don't exceed time. (More on this later.)
6. If you have the opportunity, practice in that room.
7. If using slides, know where the clicker is. Make sure the screen is big enough and the slides focused.
8. If using slides or overheads, check them by projecting them...all of them. The first time you're missing something or see a slide that's backwards, upside down or sideways, you'll never forget to do this again.)
9. If using slides or overheads, have an extra bulb. (Imagine not having one, and needing it.)
10. Make sure you have all your writing materials: paper, markers, easel.
11. Be prepared and ready to go 15 minutes before the session begins.

It's Show Time -- Don't Forget to Begin

You can always tell a rookie: The one who walks up, stands in front of the room and starts with words pouring out. The beginning is abrupt. It's a straight dive into the presentation. Some people do it to overcome nervousness, but it reduces the effectiveness. Therefore, remember to begin at the beginning.

Presenting at its best gives each individual in the class the sense of being addressed directly by the presenter. In order to do that effectively you've got to make some attempt at human contact.

So always try to begin slowly. Stand up for a few seconds, introduce yourself if you haven't been introduced by someone else, and try to be a bit informal...even if it's just "good morning."

Think of something to say to lead into the material, don't just start. Try a personal recollection of how you got involved...what success you had with Six Sigma, or how you have learned to view it differently since you've been trained. The key is informality and making contact with the audience. Make some eye contact, settle in, and get as comfortable as you can.

Sometimes the Joke is Oneself

People love to laugh, and a joke is one of the best ways to get an audience comfortable and liking you. It is also the most commonly used form of podium suicide. The rule here is simple: If you're not sure you can pull it off, you probably can't. If you love to tell jokes or humorous stories, go for it. Just remember three things.

1. Who your audience is.
2. Keep it short if you can.
3. See if you can make it either germane or as a lead-in to your topic.

Doing it Right

Speed: The biggest mistake people make when presenting technical material for the first time is that they go too fast and speak too quickly.

The reason for this is probably two-fold: first there is basic nervousness which makes you speed up combined with practice which allows you to speed up because you know your material so well. The best way to avoid this is to take note, when practicing, of the pace you're most comfortable with, and stay with it. You should also make sure you're not painfully slow because that aggravates people as well.

Try for a moderate speaking pace, something you'll find through practice.

Timing/Pacing: The Navy did a study a few years ago and found that the optimum attention span for an adult is 22 minutes. Obviously, content, and context could dictate otherwise, but frankly, I try to stick to this rule: 22 minutes speaking, eight minutes of questions and answers - half an hour per formal presentation session.

Reading: It's easy to read a script or notes, but it's more effective not to read. Depending on who you are and what you're comfortable with you may end up writing everything out or you may just make outline notes.

No matter how you prepare, always try to interact with the class as much as possible. There's a little technique called the eye sweep, where, from time to time, you move your eyes down and sweep them up to the audience. Don't be afraid to look down, but don't use it as crutch to avoid looking at the audience either.

Informality: This gets us back into personal style. Always try to be yourself up there. If you're a joke teller, go ahead and tell a joke that is germane. For everyone, stories that illustrate points are excellent. They tend to be informal, break up the pace of the presentation and add some reality to the message.

Using Slides: Slides are nothing more than speaker support, and as such you should interact with them. Point to them, comment on them... "As you can see here"... "This next slide will show you what I mean"...but don't just read them. Put them in the context of what they mean or illustrate.

Also, please remember to practice working through a slide show, I have seen too many people get thrown off by miscuing slides or having overheads out of order. In the event that it does happen (a minor crash), stop and fix it.

The Final Word:

Effective presentations are those in which a person is comfortable and knows his material. A good presentation is simply an effective presentation with a little personal energy injected. A great presentation is one in which the presenter makes sense, has fun and gives the audience something of value.

So do that: give it your all, make sense, have fun, and always try to say something worth listening to. Do this, and you can't go wrong.