How to effectively present in English in the 21st Century

Seth Godin writes about why reading your speech or presentation does not work. According to Seth, it is extremely difficult to read a speech and sound like you mean what you are saying.

“It’s extremely difficult to read a speech and sound as if you mean it.

For most of us, when reading, posture changes, the throat tightens and people can tell. Reading is different from speaking, and a different sort of attention is paid.”

When I am doing my presentation seminar, attendees have to do two presentations. The first is a brief self-introduction and the second is a final presentation on anything they like. What I find is that students, when given no time to write out a speech, actually sound a hundred times better, than students who are given time to write out a speech. They sound genuine, they sound like they really believe in what they are saying and above all they sound convincing.

I know, for most people presenting in a foreign language, having a pre-written speech is like a comfort blanket. But it really does not help you to deliver you message in the most convincing way.

Having a few “errm”s and “arrh”s in your speech is fine. It shows that you are genuine and it shows that what you are saying comes from the heart and not the head.

So next time you are preparing a presentation, do not write out a script. Make few notes by all means, but keep it natural aand allow the natural flow of your conversation to take over. If you cannot do that, then accept Seth Godin’s advice:

“… don’t bother giving a speech. Just send everyone a memo and save time and stress for all concerned.”

Stage fright or “podium fear” is probably the one reason people hate doing presentations. It is the reason for all those sleepless nights, loss of appetite and hatred for your boss and or job. But stage fright is nothing new, you are not alone when you experience it. Every presenter, actor, TV star and musician face it every day. Stage fright is what makes your performance brilliant. Stage fright should be embraced and worked with.

However, stage fright in its extreme form can cause you to ‘freeze up’, and when that happens it is not good. So how can you overcome this extreme form of stage fright? Here are a list of strategies that have always helped me and I hope can help you:

1. Arrive early and claim the room

By arriving early, setting up your computer / whiteboard / OHP etc you are becoming familiar with the room. After setting up your computer walk around the room, get a real feel for its dimensions and layout. Part of the problem we have when we present is that we are not familiar with the room in which we are presenting and therefore we naturally feel uncomfortable. By arriving early, and before your audience arrives, you allow yourself time to become familiar with the room and to ‘own’ it. Once you ‘own’ the room it becomes your territory and then you will feel much more comfortable. Imagine how you feel talking to a stranger at your desk or in your office – you do not feel nervous then do you? That is because it is your territory.

2. Prepare and practice

If you do not practice and prepare before hand then you are going to be very nervous. By practicing your presentation, going through it with your slides and not just reading and reading a paper script you will gradually feel more confident. By being confident you will overcome to worst of the nerves. Again, you need to do this with your slides as this gives your practice and rehearsal a more realistic feel and it also prevents you from losing your place in the middle of your presentation.

3. Greet your audience when they arrive

There is a subconscious factor working when you are standing at the door of the presentation room greeting your audience when they arrive. It gives you an air of power and control. It also gives you the chance to see that your audience are not angry monsters wanting to kill you, but nice, friendly people interesting in what you have to say. Hiding away at the back of the room is going to intensify your nerves. Being out there at the door greeting your audience is going to help you forget that you are nervous – after all what is more natural than meeting people?

4. Don’t change your presentation last minute

I still cannot believe that people do this – they spend weeks preparing for a big presentation, they practice many hours and then on the night before or even the morning before they change their presentation. Never do this! Changing your presentation hours before delivering it is going to intensify your fears. Set a cut off of one week before your presentation and then do not change it. You will be tempted to do it, but do not. Once you have your boss’s OK then stick with what you have got and then practice it. If you have practiced the presentation well enough, made no changes you will be confident and your fear will be less intense.

5. Visualise

Olympic athletes, stage actors and musicians all use this trick to enhance their performance. They visualise performing fantastically and winning the gold medal or receiving loud applause. As you are practicing your presentation visualise everything going well – visualise looking at the audience, clicking through your slides seamlessly and answering questions effectively. While most people find it difficult to see how this can work, trust me when I tell you that it really does. It prepares your body and mind and it helps you to perform brilliantly.

I hope these little tips help you when you next do your presentation – try them, they have be tried and tested by many great speakers over the years and they have been proven to work.

Recently, I attended a presentation evening, where a number of speakers were given 20 minutes to talk on any subject they pleased. The presentations given were excellent, but there was a recurring, annoying habit by most of the speakers.

The microphones used that day were lapel microphones. These are microphones that are attached to the lapel or shirt of the person speaking. They are excellent microphones as the audience cannot see them, but there is a problem.

The speaker often forgets that they are wearing them and keeps touching them during the presentation. The noise this touching creates is horrible and incredibly distracting to the audience.

So, if you are presenting and have to wear a lapel microphone, make sure that you keep your hands and arms away from them, or at least make sure that they are placed in an area that you will not be touching.

This week I came across two TV ads that contain compelling stories, and little or no words. What it told me, and what you can learn from these ads is that a good story can turn anything into a great. Whether it is a TV ad or a presentation, by telling a story, or a series of stories you will turn your presentation into something great.

It does not matter how good your English is, many native English speakers produce terrible presentations, it does not matter how good your slides are, many presentations with professional quality images are bad. If you do not tell a story within your presentation it will be a disaster. The secret to a great presentation can be summed up in two words: “compelling stories”.

Take a look at these fantastic ads. They are short, but well worth your viewing.

While the music really helps to focus the story, the images alone in this ad tells the story of a woman going through the different stages of life. The story is compelling and really does keep your attention.

This video uses clips to tell stories, in effect there are many stories contained in just over two minutes. However, it is powerful, compelling and really gets the audience’s attention.
By changing your approach to your next presentation and focussing on stories, you not only will improve the quality of your presentation, you will also make it much easier for you to speak.

It seems everyone loves lists, and so in that spirit here is my top five list of things you can do to improve your presentations instantly:

1. Move Around

This one I have mentioned before, but it is so important when you are presenting to an international audience. Staying behind the lectern tells your audience to are nervous and that you are not used to doing presentations. Essentially, you tell your audience that you are an amateur. To make yourself look more confident, come out from behind the lectern, walk around on stage. Now you do need to be careful. Walking up and down aimlessly can cause you to distract your audience, the way to do this is to move to the left of the stage and speak to the audience members on that side, then move to the right (or centre) and speak to the audience there. This shows confidence and also helps you to connect better with your audience because they feel that you are speaking directly to them, and not to the back wall of the room.

2. Ask Rhetorical Questions

A rhetorical question is a question you so not expect to be answered. For example:

” When we developed our new cell phone we came across the problem of consumer expectation. How did we overcome this problem?”

What you are doing here is asking your audience a question, and then answering the question yourself. In English a rhetorical question is not answered, and you need not worry about your audience shouting out an answer as the trick is to answer your question immediately after you ask it. If you pause too long, there may be some members of your audience who will answer the question. So be careful, ask the question and provide the answer immediately.

Asking rhetorical questions involve your audience, it makes your audience feel that they are part of your presentation, and this can only help you deliver an interesting and memorable presentation.

3. Use Relevant Images

I often talk about using images instead of bullet points on this blog, but there is an important warning here. If you use images that are not relevant to the word or words you are using then the impact of your image is lost. Make sure that the image you use is relevant to your subject or point.

4. Speak In A Conversational Style

Too often we make our presentations too formal, this perhaps is a consequence of the differences between English and Korean. English is a neutral language because it does not have a formal and informal style. If you meet meet President Barack Obama you can say “Hello Mr Obama”. If you meet a little child called Sarah, you can say “Hello Sarah”, there is little difference. However in Korean there are three distinct styles of language depending on who you are speaking to.

To be more engaging with your audience and for your audience to feel part of your presentation, you need to speak to them as if you were speaking with a friend. Always look at your audience as your friends, they want you to succeed, not fail. They are your friends. A simple way to do this is to use pronouns such as “I”, “you” and “we”. Using these words softens your speaking style and makes for a more conversational presentation.

5. Keep Your Presentation Short

Here is an endemic problem. When we are asked to do a presentation, one of the questions we ask is “how long do I have?” We then prepare a presentation that lasts as long as the time we are given. If we are given sixty minutes, for some strange reason we thing we should speak for sixty minutes. This is not true. What that sixty minutes means is that we can speak for up to sixty minutes. Therefore if you can communicate your message in thirty minutes, then fantastic! Either your audience can have an extra thirty minutes break (and they will love you for that) or you will have much more time to answer questions.

Either way, your presentation should only last as long as it takes for you to communicate your message, and not a minute more.

BONUS TIP

6. Keep Your Presentation Fresh

Quite often companies have a standard presentation that was created two or three years ago that they use time and time again to introduce their company. Usually this presentation was made by an employee that no longer works for the company and used an old version of PowerPoint. Not only does this presentation look dated, it also looks bad.

If you are asked to do a presentation, and are given a copy of the presentation to deliver, go through the presentation, update old images, upgrade it to the latest version of PowerPoint, or Keynote and check to see if it is as relevant today as it was two or three years ago. There is nothing worse for an audience to have to sit through a presentation that is clearly out of date.

Being aware of your audience’s needs is the single most important factor when it comes to presenting. Too many times a presenter is doing to impress their boss, and they do not care at all for their audience. Your audience can tell this very quickly, and are never impressed. So forget your boss, you are not presenting to them, and really think about what your audience want.