{"id":787,"date":"2015-10-27T00:48:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T16:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myronstaana.net\/?p=787"},"modified":"2017-09-09T21:29:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T13:29:55","slug":"how-to-deliver-an-impressive-presentation-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mssbizsolutions.com\/how-to-deliver-an-impressive-presentation-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Goods of IMPRESSentation: Eleven keys to winning hearts and minds with words Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
A couple of days ago, we talked about the first part of this article on how to deliver an IMPRESSentation but before we move on with remaining five (5) ‘Goods of IMPRESSentation’ to complete our eleven (11) keys to winning hearts and minds with words, let’s first go through a quick review of the first six (6).<\/span><\/p>\n I hope that by this time, you’ve already been applying the first six (6) winning keys or Goods of IMPRESSentation. At this point, let’s now talk about the Goods # seven (7) to eleven (11).<\/span><\/p>\n The success of our presentation heavily relies on how we send across the message we need to communicate and how we put to use our own best visual aid, ourselves, and of course our voice and the message that comes with it. Below are just some of the great tips I would like to share about delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n Remember what we shared the last time? “It’s not just what we say. It’s also how we say it”. <\/em>This is so true. Even if we are certain we know what we’re presenting, it might not go across that way to our audience if we don’t sound confident or if we sound like we’re asking questions and doubting ourselves instead of firmly telling statements or assuring people.<\/span><\/p>\n One tip that I love to share is breathing in as much air as we need before we say a sentence. Inhaling properly builds a great momentum that when we speak, our voice doesn’t only sound loud and clear. It also comes off very assertively.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of assertive, assertiveness is another indispensable component of an impressive presentation. If confidence is how we sound, being assertive is what we say and how positively it’s phrased. This is exactly what assertiveness means. It’s the combination of sounding confident and choosing our words well in a way that’s formed positively.<\/span><\/p>\n To phrase our words in a positive way, we have to think quickly first before we speak. We don’t want to end up already hurting our audience’s feelings or offending some, intentionally or not, before we realize it. One example I can give is instead of saying “I think”<\/em>, say “I believe<\/em>” when we’re answering questions or sharing our beliefs and principles. This way, we sound more believable, credible, and reputable.<\/span><\/p>\n Positive Scripting or Positive Phraseology is yet another interesting topic that we can discuss next or that you can take the initiative to research about if you have time.<\/span><\/p>\n To enhance our delivery, beautify our voice, and boost our presentation, we may need to keep at a minimum or better yet, avoid stuttering or stammering.<\/span><\/p>\n Stuttering is an involuntary repetition of words or syllables of words when we’re speaking while stammering is a sudden involuntary hesitation or tendency to repeat the first letters of a word.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the reasons why these speech impediments happen is we talk faster than we think. In other words, our mouth gets too ahead of our brain. To prevent any of these from happening, let’s take it easy. Think of the next one or two thoughts that we’ll talk about in a matter of three seconds before we say them. Also, as we are already saying them, let’s make sure that we enunciate clearly and not too fast nor too slow so we don’t end up eating our words.<\/span><\/p>\n Killing dead air sounds like a double-dead situation, but don’t you worry. You’ll not end up in prison doing so. Instead, it’ll help your delivery more if you can shorten or better yet, avoid it.<\/span><\/p>\n An short period of silence that usually happens when a person is thinking of what to say next is\u00a0totally fine though. However, when it exceeds three to four seconds, then it becomes dead air, which is not really that good anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n While it may not be a big deal for some people, others might misinterpret it as an issue of confidence, expertise, or a communication lapse.<\/span><\/p>\n Ergo, let’s just make sure that we don’t go beyond three to four seconds processing how to continue. We can pause to think in between, but we have to think fast and move on.<\/span><\/p>\n As for speech fillers, it’ll also enhance our delivery more if we can keep them at a minimum or much better, totally get rid of them. Speech fillers are uttered unintentionally or unavoidably as our habitual tendency to fill up the gaps of our speech (dead air) with sounds like ‘um’, or ‘ah’. We simply make sounds while thinking. The universal remedy for eradicating them would be to PAUSE for no more than three to four seconds. We have to train our system to utter them no more and just stop and think when we’re deciding on what to say next. It could be as simple as that. Try it.<\/span><\/p>\n Just like with stage actors, theatrics are also involved in presenting impressively. It doesn’t literally mean that we have to portray a character and stay in character all the way. When we say theatrics, we are referring to a not-too-excessive expression of whatever emotions or behavior we need to display when presenting.<\/span><\/p>\n To understand further what I mean, let’s understand some of my tips below.<\/span><\/p>\n If we have to show to our audience that we’re happy, then we have to smile or laugh genuinely. If we’re promoting something in our presentation that requires us to look firm or serious, then these are the exact faces we have to wear. If we desire to be believable and impress with our presentation, our face should be a representation of the specific feelings that our whole delivery embodies. Look what we feel. Allow the audience to identify with us and feel what we feel as well.<\/span><\/p>\n This is yet another important skill that we must master if we want to impress. No matter how many people we’re presenting to, there’s a way to appear to them as if we’re reaching out or communicating to each one of them.<\/span><\/p>\n One best practice that I personally apply is the Lighthouse Effect.<\/strong> <\/em>Similar to how a lighthouse moves, we can scan our audience slowly from left to right and back. As we do it, we need to make sure that we try to establish eye contact with as many people as we can. This way, we’ll look like we’re really making an effort looking at them and communicating to them.<\/span><\/p>\n Remember, when our audience feels that there’s passion in what we do, we could convince them to believe in what we are presenting the same way that they can clearly see we believe in it too.<\/span><\/p>\n Body language is a seriously broad topic and talking about it in detail may already write me a book with this article. Therefore, let me just focus on our bodily movements instead.<\/span><\/p>\n Do you know that apart from the actual transitions, both what we say and the computer effects on PowerPoint, we can also\u00a0use our body to segue from one topic to another. Yes, it’s not just what we say and show, it’s also what we do.<\/span><\/p>\n Some presenters prefer to just stay on either side of the white screen or their projected presentation. The problem with that though is that there’s a sort of an imbalance, or looks like it, when we just opt to stay on one side. Why not try transferring to the other side after the elaborate discussion of one topic or concept and perhaps, back to our original position after another discussion or two? \u00a0Just don’t pace as the audience would funnily look like they’re watching a tennis game.<\/span><\/p>\n Another very key consideration that impresses during presentations is the way we stand in front. One of the most common best practices is to stand with our stomachs in and our chests out, but standing relaxed and not too uptight, and with one of our feet forward. Another workable stance is standing side view with one half facing the audience and the other half fronting our presentation. If we’re on the right side of the presentation, the audience should see our right shoulder. If we’re on the left side, they should see our left shoulder. It’s really no rocket science.<\/span><\/p>\n While I must admit that each presenter has his own style or that one style may not always work for everybody else, hand gestures, generally speaking, incredibly facilitate our clear explanations and more understandable communication with our audience.<\/span><\/p>\n For some reason, and I’m talking based on experience, making use of hands to express what we talk about helps us enunciate words clearly, pronounce them correctly too, process our thoughts more effectively, and feel much more comfortable speaking. I’m not particularly sure about the science or art behind it, but I highly recommend you practice using your hands as you present. You’ll have a much better feeling.<\/span><\/p>\n This self-coined term looks or sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because I derived this phrase from the boxing jargon, RING GENERALSHIP<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n In the sport of boxing, this term pertains to a boxer’s tactical technique of controlling his game and finding the right spots from where to hit his opponent through clever movements and effective utilization of the space in the ring. As a big fan of boxing and a strong advocate of movements as a needed ‘Good’ of IMPRESSentation, I decided to apply this jargon to this subject matter and call it room, if we’re in a classroom, or stage, if we’re up on stage, generalship.<\/span><\/p>\n What this simply promotes is that we’re not only required to just stay put on one side of our\u00a0presentation or in front. We may also utilize the space in front of our presentation and even on the left, in the middle, and on the right side of our audience to look as if we’re making an effort reaching out to the audience or talking to each member one by one.<\/span><\/p>\n This style not only makes us\u00a0engaging, conversational, and interesting. It also makes the audience involved, comfortable, and awake all throughout the presentation.<\/span><\/p>\n1. SUBJECT MASTERY<\/span><\/h3>\n
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2. QUALITY POWERPOINT PRESENTATION<\/span><\/h3>\n
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3. SUFFICIENT PREPARATION<\/span><\/h3>\n
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4. PRESENTER’S PACKAGING<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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5. VOICE QUALITY<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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6. THOUGHT ORGANIZATION<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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7. DELIVERY<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Sound confident and credible<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Phrase words assertively<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Avoid stuttering and\/or stammering<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Kill dead air and manage our speech fillers<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
8. THEATRICS OF A POWER PRESENTATION<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Show the right facial expressions<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Establish and maintain eye contact<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Use body language and physical movements<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Enhance your speech with hand gestures<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
9. ROOM OR STAGE GENERALSHIP<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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10. TIME MANAGEMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n