Big presentation? Don't panic, prepare

By CYNTHIA C. PAUL
FMI

Your ability to present yourself well to an audience should be one of your most trusted assets. Of course, making presentations takes confidence, skill and practice, practice, practice.

Let's explore a system that you might use to prepare for a presentation.

Research

Research involves digging into the background and concerns facing the audience. Identify who the audience is, what their motivations and needs are, what level of interest they have in your topic, as well as the level of understanding of the points you will cover.

Research is a key step in uncovering the whys behind your message: Why are you there? Why is the audience interested in your presentation? Why now?

The first thing you need to know is why you are making this presentation. What is the objective that you're trying to accomplish? Think about what you want them to do when it's over.

Having a compelling reason for the audience to listen is essential. It creates interest in your message and keeps the audience riveted to you during your presentation. Articulating that reason in the first few minutes of your speech ensures you will capture and hold their attention. The research you do will pay off in creating an effective opening, outlining the body of your message and bringing your presentation to conclusion.

Research sources include past customers, suppliers, contractors; employees; local trade publications; newspapers, magazines and news programs; Internet chat rooms and data; banking, bonding, insurance representatives; professional organizations; libraries; market demographics and trends, and industry professionals.

What's In It For Me?

The key to being a persuasive presenter is first identifying WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) from the audience's perspective. What will the audience gain from listening to you? People have very short attention spans, so you must grab the audience's attention in the first few minutes.

A general contractor was asked to give a presentation to a local subcontractor's association on the benefits of creating a collaborative relationship between subs and generals on site. He started the presentation with:

"Tonight I am here for only one purpose. I have been asked to share a secret with you. My organization has discovered a secret for making money on even the toughest projects. It is a bit like having your own printing press for greenbacks. It's a money making scheme that adds to my bottom line as the general contractor, but most importantly to you, it significantly adds to the bottom line of every subcontractor on the jobsite."

Do you think the general contractor got audience's attention? Do you think there was not a subcontractor in the room that did not want to know how to "print" his own greenbacks? He successfully captured his audience's WIIFM.

You grab their attention by specifically outlining what benefit the audience will gain from listening to you. Get creative in how you get that message across: An interesting story with a moral, specifying the savings an owner can realize for using your company, or outlining how you can save a client time and hassles are just a few ideas. Think of what would capture your attention if you were in the audience.

Research into the motives of the audience is a simple way of determining what it will take to capture and keep their attention. If you cannot articulate what is in it for the audience, expand your research. Without a compelling reason, don't do the presentation.

Create an opening

How are you going to get your audience's attention? How are you going to make a personal connection with the group?

How to prepare for that big presentation Have you written down the objectives of your presentation? Have you decided how you're going to open the presentation to get their attention? Have you decided how to close the presentation so they remember what you want? Have you organized the body of your presentation according to some set of rules? Have you prepared items to use during the presentation that will keep the audience's interest? What questions do you want to ask? What questions will they ask you? Are you going to use visual aids? If so, what types of visual aids? How are you going to tailor this presentation to the specific audience that you'll be addressing? What notes or types of notes do you need to make this presentation work? Have you rehearsed, rehearsed and rehearsed?

If you don't get their attention immediately, your audience will require time to warm up to you. Studies indicate that you only have a few minutes to grab an audience's attention and establish yourself as a credible presenter. Within four minutes the audience has drawn conclusions about you and your message. That perception will impact the audience's interest in your talk and their ability to absorb your message.

Speakers will use a joke, a statement about someone in the audience or a powerful question or statement as a means of building a personal connection with the group.

Humor always comes with a few cautions. Tastes have changed regarding appropriate humor and even what is funny. Test your joke or story out with friends and associates before risking the reception with a client or in front of 100 of your industry peers. Bombing a joke in front of the audience will not help your confidence and it will distract from your overall message.

An effective opening covers five critical points: creates interest in your message; outlines what you want to accomplish; defines the area to be covered; identifies a benefit to the audience for listening, and transitions into the main body of your presentation.

Another example of a good opening was used by an underground contractor presenting a design change to the owner of a commercial project. The challenge was how to lay pipe across a wetland area without damage or unnecessary expense. The underground contractor opened his presentation by saying:

"$300,000 is what you have at risk in this decision. That is the amount of money that you will over-invest in this project by pursuing the current approach to piping in the wetlands. I want to take just 15 minutes of your time to discuss a proven approach to piping that will save you money and save the project two weeks of time."

The client not only enthusiastically embraced the idea, but served as a reference for the contractor on a sizable design-build project with another owner.

Design a conclusion

After you have developed your opening, think about how you will end your presentation. Rather than going through your preparation in a sequential manner, look at what you have to accomplish by the end. The end is what makes you or breaks you.

The axiom in public speaking is: "Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them." The idea is to repeat several times the issues that you want the audience to remember so that it's easier for them.

The ending needs to be your strongest, most compelling message. It is the grand finale of your message and needs to compel the audience to do something. The outcome may be selecting you for a project, selling a change order to an owner or convincing a subcontractor he needs additional safety precautions. End your presentation with a call to action.

Psychologists say that people remember things based on the laws of primacy and recency. Primacy says that you remember the things that you hear, see or do first. Recency says that you remember the things that you hear, see or do last. So be sure that you have both a catchy opening and a strong close. Make sure that your opening and closing are the best parts of your message.

The conclusion needs to be tied to the opening. If you said you were going to save the client $300,000 with a new approach, the conclusion should summarize your key points and ask them for their commitment to proceed. Your opening sets the stage for your conclusion. Openings and conclusions are so important that you need to memorize them word for word. Each should only be a few minutes in length. Tape record your opening and closing and listen to how you come across.

When you get behind, shave some time off the body of the talk so you can still deliver the ending in a strong way. That's easy to do when you have the conclusion memorized and rehearsed. If nothing else, leave them with a strong conclusion.

Key points

After you have designed the opening and the close, the next thing you do is to outline the body. Your opening and closing will determine how you design the main part of your presentation.

There are a number of ways to structure the body -- chronological, disadvantages/advantages, etc. What is important is that you create a cohesive message that showcases your key points. A common pitfall is trying to cover too many key points. When it comes to the body of a presentation, less is more. Cover fewer key points and spend more time on each point.

Once you've designed the body, then you need to think of some examples: stories, jokes, questions and analogies. They really help bring the information closer to the people you're presenting to. You should have analogies, a gimmick, a joke, a story or questions at least three times in your presentation. The longer the presentation, the more examples.

Incorporate variety at least every three to four minutes throughout your presentation. In a longer presentation, don't go more than five or six minutes before changing your visual aid, introducing a new story, or presenting a new example.

When using visual aids like flip charts, slides, videos or transparencies, remember that 83 percent of what we learn is through sight. Visual aids significantly increase the probability that people will remember what you've told them.

Customize presentation materials for your audience. Make them believe that you have prepared the materials specifically for them. General statements are not as well received as statements that can be applied specifically to the group that you're talking to. If you want them to learn from your presentation, make it specific. Use research to make your message believable to them.

Speaking notes can be set up in a number of different ways. One of the ways is by writing out a script. It's a great way to make sure you say exactly what you want them to know. A script, however, does result in poor eye contact, and you risk sounding dull. Brief notes are a better form. They give an informal structure to your presentation, allowing you to fill in the informal words between the formal ideas that you wish to convey. Your notes should be easily read, very brief, with no more than one idea on a card.

Some parts of the body of your presentation should be memorized. Reading essential information to an audience, rather than having it memorized, erodes your credibility. You want to convey that you know the information without having to look at notes. You'll seem more sincere and much more informed.

Practice, practice, practice

Now comes the critical part. Just like sports figures who spend hours and hours repeating the important parts of their process, you need to repeat the important parts of your process over and over. That's the only way that you'll be satisfied that you have your presentation down pat. This is also a tremendous confidence builder.

Practice in front of a mirror, your family, or your peers at work, but practice, practice, practice. There's no substitute for this step in the process. If you really want to be confident in making presentations, do more rehearsal.

If you want to get even better at making presentations look for opportunities to speak that aren't necessarily critical to your career. You might find opportunities at preconstruction meetings, seminars or company workshops, or meetings within the company.

Remember, the power of presentations is tremendous because, right or wrong, fair or unfair, the person who is capable of articulating an idea is usually credited for having it.

Cynthia Paul is a director with FMI, construction industry management consultants. She works with contractors of all sizes to develop their leaders and managers. FMI has offices in Raleigh, N.C.; Denver; and Tampa, Fla.

---

djc home | top | special issues index

Copyright © 1997 Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.