How To Effectively Deliver Painless, Engaging and Impactful Presentations

“Who wants to present this project report?”, your boss/ teacher, or supervisor asked. Whoever volunteers to present, help promote the company or take one for the team shall be handsomely rewarded! (as it should be)” he/ she continued.

At this point, I began searching every inch of my being for the fortitude to raise my arm. As it started its shaky rise, my palm trembled and anxiety flooded my body. My lips were parted and my mouth became dry, yet I was unable to speak.

The hammering of my heart was accentuated by the room’s silence, which made it sound like wild horses galloping across the arid land.

Right at that moment, the stillness was broken by a loud “Sure, I’ll do it Boss/”Senior”/ Sir/ Ma’am.” and, at the same time, my hand began to languish… Wayne (or whoever you always felt was confident and eloquent) was there. The jovial but undeniably admirable “extrovert” of the class, department, and team turned to our boss and replied, “Erm, I may not know the full facts of the projects just yet, but I’ll study it carefully and rehearse the presentation adequately and, erm, definitely help to secure a strong positive impression for the company/ team!”

Wayne’s clenched fist demonstrated his zeal and bravado. Our boss glared at all of us with a big grin and the words, “That’s what I’m looking for! Wayne, you made us proud. I knew I could always rely on you.

My fists were clenched too. However, it was to signal my regret and frustration. “I did most of the report! I already know the full facts of the report, I know better! I should be the one to be depended on!”.

Then, the moment came…I cursed under my breath, “It’s okay…I’ll just do the backend.”.

Let’s STOP RIGHT HERE – STOP hiding behind the self-deluding comforter – “It’s okay…I’ll just do the backend.”

You are missing out!

Throughout history people have used public speaking as an essential means of communication, especially to the masses. Greek leader, Pericles, succinctly put it 2,500 years ago and it still holds true today: “One who forms a judgement on any point but cannot explain” it clearly “might as well never have thought at all on the subject.” (Stephen E. Lucas, 2015).

We might share ideas on how to create a business or enterprises similar to Facebook, Tesla, Apple, or Alibaba, and we’ve had these wonderful concepts simmering in your minds for years. But what good is that if we can’t communicate our ideas to: 1) attract like-minded individuals to our causes and help us establish the organization; 2) persuade venture capitalists, angel investors, or even customers to purchase our goods or services; and 3) share our brands with the public in order to build our brands and expand our markets. If you can’t talk about it, your notion to make a difference won’t develop and grow. Period.

Nowadays, in addition to the interpersonal/conversational/Q&A portion of interviews, candidates are often asked to do a brief but compelling presentation (often lasting 5 minutes with a tiny PowerPoint deck). Young professionals are expected by their employers to lead meetings and briefings, serve as brand ambassadors at conferences and exhibitions, and master public speaking is essential to succeeding in these roles.

As pointed out by Stephen E. Lucas in his book “The Art of Public Speaking”, “In a recent survey of more than 300 employers, 93 percent stated that the ability to think critically and communicate clearly is more important for career success than is a job candidate’s undergraduate major. In another survey, the American Management Association asked 768 executives and managers to rank the skills most essential to today’s workplace. What was at the top of their list? Communication Skills.”, which in similar vein, a research carried out by the Carnegie Institute of Technology concurred with results reflecting “…that 85 percent of your financial success is due to skills in “human engineering,” your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead…”.

Some people may either blithely or with a defeatist attitude say, “That’s all right, I’m not aspiring to be a bigshot, a great leader, manager, politician, president, preacher, expert authority…I don’t need public speaking skills…”.

Even if you don’t feel the need to speak in front of groups right now, you might in a year, or five years into your current position, for career advancement. If you have the slightest bit of ambition, you WILL eventually find yourself in need of it!

One of the biggest phobias of individuals is giving a captivating, captivating, and effective presentation; it terrifies people from all walks of life. regardless of whether you’re a working professional, undergraduate, or kindergarten or first grader. Presenting or public speaking is loathed by many people, yet it permeates every aspect of our lives, from show and tell to business presentations, class participation to conference speeches.

The aforementioned situation undoubtedly made you remember a moment when you had to choose a newspaper article, prepare a research paper, or conduct a book review, then present an oral report on it. Recall the nervousness, the butterflies in your stomach, the clammy, sweaty palms, the parched mouth, and the lips?

“If public speaking scares you, you’re in good company. (Fear of) Public speaking (a.k.a. glossophobia) is ranked ahead of (fear of) death in the list of people’s fears.” – (Arruda, 2019)

Citation:

Arruda, W. (2019, May). Eight Things That Will Take The Stress Out Of Public Speaking. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2019/05/19/eight-things-that-will-take-the-stress-out-of-public-speaking/#49e6171148ea

*Cue Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”*

This is how we intend to help you achieve that – the ability to give painlessly charismatic and persuasive presentations & speeches without the need for fancy PowerPoint presentation slides (but…click here for full tips on attractive slide design)!

The main source of that anxiety and unease is the constant worry that most speakers have: “How do I know what to say?” Being stuck for words during a presentation hurts and is irritating.

In light of this, the purpose of this post is to give our readers a framework for creating a captivating, engaging, and creative presentations utilizing the well-known Monroe’s Motivated Sequence as a guide!

Effective Presentation Skills: 5 steps Monroe’s Motivated Sequence (ANSVA):

1. Attention
   • If you don’t have your audience’s attention, you’ve lost right from the start; start your presentation with something startling, shocking enough to rivet your audience for at least 15 secs.
2. Needs
   • be audience-centric; discover what are their needs – if you’re speaking to a group of, say, ex-convicts, what most of them desire is acceptance & re-integration to society. You can’t please all, but you sure can impact most of them once you address their underlying needs.
3. Satisfaction
   • Share your solution(s) to satisfy your audiences’ needs; walk them through your proven process with supporting evidence and/or past users’ testimonials
4. Visualization
   • Walk them through the visualization process of what they stand to gain from adopting your solution(s) – the motivation to adopt your suggestions starts from here – you have to see it to want it 🙂
5. Action (Call to action)
   • conclude with a clarion call to act; your audience are ready, they are on board, you have the momentum built – don’t end on an anti-climatic finish – ask them for a commitment and make them part of the solution!

Presentation Tip #1: Grabbing Audience’s ATTENTION With Killer Intros

Nowadays, people’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and it becomes worse as they get younger. Your audience members will give you anywhere from 15 seconds to 1.5 minutes of their time. During this window of opportunity, your hook must be unexpected. Something that quickly takes over your audience’s mental space. something that quickly causes people to reflect. Because of this, starting your sentence with “Imagine this” or “Picture this” is a great idea. What comes next can be either salutary or detrimental to one’s health/ career/ happiness/ freedom (up to your presentation content).

WATCH: “How To Start Your Speech or Presentation | 4 Effective Tips To Hook The Audience”

Presentation Tip #2: Fulfilling the NEEDS of your audience

We are aware that the presenter in this section is expected to highlight the underlying wants and desires of his or her audience. There is no question in my mind. Your ability to emphasize the needs of your audience will impress them. For example, a semi-retired person attending a conference on investments and estate planning needs security and the ability to leave a thoughtful legacy. A member of the general public attending a conference on medicine needs information on health-related preventions. Your boss listening to your presentation needs a presentation that is succinct, coherent, and helpful (i.e., one that emphasizes insights over information).

At this point, your audience might see you as being very perceptive and impressive. What will strengthen the impact would be the sharing of your vulnerabilities as well. Knowing their needs is good. Sharing the same needs is great. Saying things like “I share the same mindset/ philosophy…” breaks down trust barriers and elevates rapport with your audience.

Presentation Tip #3: Provide a SATISFACTORY solution to your audience

This is the main part of your speech/ presentation. Brevity and relatability are crucial in this situation, but here is also the portion when most presenters fall flat because they become fixated on going on and on and on about the facts, features, figures, and elaborations (click here for tips on giving dry, informative presentations). Share the features of your product or service succinctly, but focus more on HOW each feature solves your audience’s problems and meets their wants. Incorporate precedent-based testimonies, not to gloat but rather to demonstrate the transformation that others have successfully imitated. The greatness of the features is not what draws your audience in. What matters is how it applies to their daily lives.

Presentation Tip #4: Have your audience VISUALIZE the positive future

Visualizing the advantages of your ideas, plans, approaches, or systems will help you keep your audience’s interest throughout your presentation. Your benefits presentation should be organized into short-term and long-term benefits. For instance, a class monitor can ask students to consider the advantages of adopting a routine for cleaning the classroom and a rewards system for tasks well done.

In addition to emphasizing the immediate rewards that his or her classmates can receive for performing their cleaning duties (such as candies, stickers, etc.), make an argument for the longer-term advantages of a hygienic and clean classroom, such as the benefits they stand to receive if they can maintain the routine for the entire year and the avoidance of getting sick because of an unhygienic learning environment.

Presentation Tip #5: Calling your audience to commit to an ACTION

The trick to the final call to action is giving your audience the time and space to have your ideas and solutions marinate in their heads for a while and a natural epiphany or voluntary subscription to your ideas/ suggestions trumps a “pushy” call to action. The success of your presentation may benefit from calming your audience’s fears; utilize stoppers like “No obligations…” or “…feel free to take it back and discuss it over…and if you find it relevant and beneficial, (action)…”

Public Speaking Academy’s take on Monroe’s Motivated Sequence will aid you in achieving:

• Impactful and inspiring openings (hint: startling hook)

• Breaking through your audience’s psychological barriers to build trust (hint: sharing vulnerabilities)

• Greater rapport with your audience by understanding and allaying your audience’s concerns (hint: sharing of the same needs humanizes the presenter; it has been said, “Nobody cares how much you know…until they know how much you care.”)

• Positive and uplifting attitude (hint: not being “pushy” or “salesy”; it has been said, “Your attitude more than your aptitude determines for altitude.”)

Extra presentation tip: How to Let Your Passion Shine Through Your Presentations

Passion as a strong emotion, when incorporated in your presentation, can make the difference between an average and a memorable presentation.

Although enthusiasm cannot be manufactured (at least not in a convincing way! ), there are presentation principles that can help your passion exude in your speech or presentation – one of them is – Speak with Energy, Confidence and Power

It should go without saying that the way you deliver your speech is just as crucial as the speech’s actual content. When you are giving a presentation about a project you are enthusiastic about, speech delivery strategies are very important. These strategies can include fundamentals of body language as well as vocal variation throughout your presentation. You try to provide a presentation with enthusiasm, authority, and power by combining these strategies.

Posture is one part of presentation that is frequently disregarded. You can create the ideal environment for a potent sharing of your enthusiasm by taking a bold, assured stance. Consider a presenter who is hunched over a podium and drones on about a certain subject. His or her enthusiasm is unlikely to come across. On the other hand, maintaining straightened back and shoulders that are relaxed yet erect can aid in securing your message. Another way to convey confidence in your message of passion is to use powerful vocal projection. Beyond simply turning up the volume, you can avoid monotony or dryness in your presentation by experimenting with modulated and varying tone and tempo.

WATCH: “How To Be Charismatic Without Sounding Fake & Unnatural | Public Speaking Tip”

Click: full three tips on injecting passion into your presentations to turbo-charge your audience ‘s engagement and excitement even more!

We hope these public speaking tips have been useful for you in delivering your next painless, persuasive and well-structured presentations, and here’s a quick summary:

If you’re keen on going through the signature presentation skills training courses that I have designed, to take your public speaking and presentation skills to the next level:

Click for more about our (weekly group classes) Public Speaking Courses for Adults

Click for more about our (2-day) public speaking/ presentation course for adults

Click for more about our (weekly group classes) Public Speaking Course for Kids / Children