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The Truth About Getting Your Point Across...
And Nothing But The
Truth
Part
IV: The Truth About Developing Effective Presentations
The Book of Lists reports that when asked of their greatest
fear 41% of people responded with public speaking, ranking it as
their number one fear. You find out that you have to present to
a group of people. Maybe you’re one of those 41% who would
rather die than speak to an audience. For some, the fear is so
paralyzing that they simply would rather quit their job than
stand in front of a group of people. Some people
will always have an insurmountable fear of presenting. Unless
their job requires that they do presentations, let them be.
Presenting isn’t for everyone and we shouldn’t put people on the
spot if they truly hate presenting and it’s not a job
requirement.
If it is a job requirement, though, those with a fear of
speaking either need to get a new job or they have to overcome
their fear. If you are in the camp that needs to speak in
front of a group as part of your job, you can ease some of the
pain and become effective at getting your point across through
the presentations you deliver.
This part contains five truths, as follows:
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Truth 17: Give them a reason to listen to you - Your presentation first and foremost has to be compelling and relevant for your audience. Your job is to capture their intrigue in the first few minutes so they'll want to listen to the rest of your presentation.
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Truth 18: Entertaining an audience breeds effective learning - I'm not talking about juggling or spinning plates on poles; what I am talking about is making your presentation lively and interesting enough to where it is easy to absorb the message.
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Truth 19: Pictures and graphics are great, but can get really annoying - Visual aids are great when it comes to delivering presentations, but sometimes your pictures and graphics can detract from your message. Don't let pictures or graphics be an annoyance.
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Truth 20: Relax, the audience is rooting for you - Generally speaking, your audience doesn't want to see you crash and burn right on the stage. Your audience doesn't want the next hour of their life to be miserable; they want to see you succeed and to feel like they haven't just wasted their time watching you fail.
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Truth 21: Develop content once, use it a thousand times - Developing and delivering great presentations is great, but if you have to spend hours and hours preparing for each presentation you'll burn a lot of unnecessary time. Recycle your content and enable yourself to give standing-o presentations with a minimum of effort.
Order The Truth About Getting Your Point Across here.
