THE EXCEPTIONAL PRESENTER

Transcription

1 A Proven Formula to Open Up! and Own the Room THE EXCEPTIONAL PRESENTER (TIMOTHY KOEGEL/Greenleaf Book Group Press/May 2007/ 188 Pages/ $21.95) 국내 미출간 세계 베스트셀러(NBS) 서비스는 (주)네오넷코리아가 해외에서 저작권자와의 저작권 계약을 통해, 영미권, 일본, 중국의 경제 경영 및 정치 서적의 베스트셀러, 스테디셀러의 핵심 내용을 간략하게 정리한 요약(Summary) 정보입니다. 저작권법에 의하여 (주)네오넷코리아의 정식인가 없이 무단전재, 무단복제 및 전송을 할 수 없으며, 모든 출판권과 전송권은 저작권자에게 있음을 알려드립니다.

2 THE EXCEPTIONAL PRESENTER A Proven Formula to Open Up! and Own the Room MAIN IDEA The potential payoff for possessing exceptional presentation skills has never been higher than it is at the present time. If you can make great presentations: You can build and enhance your reputation. You can sell more by presenting to groups. You can win your peers over to your ideas. You position yourself to get promoted. You can win more business for your firm. You become more versatile and more needed. Put differently the better your presentation skills are, the more professional you become and the more money you will make. There is a direct link between how strong your presentation skills are and what you ultimately achieve in your career. At first glance, becoming an exceptional presenter may seem like an impossible task but it s not actually beyond reach. As long as you know what you need to do and then work to improve your skills, with consistent practice you can lift your presentation skills from being average to exceptional. The key is to focus on and then work at regularly upgrading your presentation skills. Improving your ability to present and persuade will affect every aspect of your life. Please remember three things: (1) Do not accept average when you can be exceptional. (2) Every contact counts. Every interview counts. Every presentation counts. (3) Those who practice improve. Those who don t, don t. Once you achieve exceptional, you will never again accept average. Good luck. Timothy Koegel Your presentation skill level will affect your income and your career track. It will affect your personal relationships and your ability to lead and persuade others. It will affect what job you land and what reputation you build. Becoming an exceptional presenter is NOT a Herculean task. In fact, it s not a task at all. It is a journey that I believe you will find to be enjoyable, energizing and rewarding. Practice is the most important part of the improvement program. If your delivery skills are second nature, they will not fail under pressure. Timothy Koegel TIMOTHY KOEGEL is the founder of his own presentation and media training company, The Koegel Group. He has been specializing in this area for more than two decades. Mr. Koegel has worked to enhance the presentation skills of CEOs, world leaders, business executives, managers and sales professionals. He holds boot camps nationally to help prepare business executives for venture funding presentations and IPO road shows. Mr. Koegel has also acted as a consultant to the political world and has held training sessions attended by members of the House, the Senate and the White House. A graduate of Notre Dame, Mr. Koegel also lectures at business schools throughout the country

3 The Web site for this book is at The six characteristics of exceptional presenters Organized Passionate Engaging Natural Understand Your Audience Practice! Putting it all together To be organized as a speaker means you ve developed a logical structure where ideas flow from one point to the next seamlessly and in an integrated fashion. If you have a good structure, you can grab attention, cover all the relevant points and then finish strongly and memorably. If you don t look organized, it will appear like you didn t care enough to prepare. The characteristics of an organized presentation are: It will be short and focused on the most relevant facts rather than long and rambling. It will be structured using the classical outline: Tell what you re going to tell them. (Your opening) Tell them the facts. (The body of your presentation) Tell them what you just told them. (Your close) It will include notes and handouts which show preparation and clarify the information being delivered. It will start and finish on time. You will have prepared in advance to make sure all the presentation equipment is working properly. Your presentation will start and finish strongly. To start well, grab attention by using a quote, a question, a tie-in to some topical event or even a prediction. To end effectively, state your purpose and call for action

4 What you say last is what will be remembered so make this a statement with impact. Something along the lines of: The choices we make in the next 30 days or so will likely have a huge impact on the future of our company. May we make some smart choices. Work very hard at being concise. People will love you for it. Use less time that you have been assigned to make the greatest possible impact

5 If you re not passionate about what you re talking about, what possible chance is there any of your listeners will be? Quite simply passionate presenters are more persuasive than those who are nonchalant. To enhance your chances of getting a yes, increase the amount of passion you bring to bear. While there is no universal style for passion, it does get expressed through the way you deliver your message. With that in mind, there are four skill sets you can work on to increase your passion level: The orator is the embodiment of the passions of the multitude. Before he can inspire them with any emotion he must be swayed by it himself. Before he can move their tears his own must flow. To convince them he must himself believe. Sir Winston Churchill Nothing great can be achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson There is no one style for passion. Passion is expressed almost entirely through delivery. If you want your audience to take action, it is not enough to convince them. They must be persuaded to take action. Timothy Koegel - 5 -

6 Your posture as a presenter is an excellent indicator of your level of comfort, your confidence and experience. Posture is an essential component in the first impression you make and is important whether you are standing, using a lectern or seated at a table. To come across as relaxed, confident and professional: If you re standing, square your shoulders and stand tall without any swaying, rocking or shuffling. Always keep your head and eyes up. Make good eye contact to connect with your audience. Smile. A genuine and sincere smile will warm up even a very cold situation. Use your hands to gesture but keep them at your side when standing or on the table when seated. Move around with purpose and energy. Don t look like you re retreating but keep projecting yourself. Gestures are good because they are a natural part of the way we communicate but you have to be careful not to overuse them. If you re flailing around wildly with your hands, that will end up being a distraction. By contrast, a few natural-looking gestures will add emphasis to what you re saying. To use gestures effectively: Don t let your hands dangle nervously in front of you. Relax. Get your elbows away from your rib cage. Use specific gestures in a defined way. As a general rule, the most effective gestures tend to be below your shoulders and above your waist. When you make a gesture, don t rush. Hold your gesture for a few seconds and then let your hands move naturally back towards your sides. Get into the habit of using both hands when gesturing. If you re right-handed and you use only your right hand for gestures, it will get a little repetitive. Mix one-handed and two-handed gestures. Use gestures to help the audience understand, not as a focal point for your entire presentation. Your voice is the vehicle which transports your message. It s important that you expand the range of your voice so you can avoid speaking in a monotone. People associate a strong voice with confidence so you also need to practice projecting your voice so it comes across well. When speaking: - 6 -

7 Don t yell but do speak up so people can hear what you re saying without straining. Avoid speaking too quickly. That s a natural tendency when we re nervous. Slow down and speak from your lungs and diaphragm, not just your throat. Try recording yourself speaking and see what you sound like. Compare how you sound to professionals and practice to get better. Ideally your voice should bring energy, excitement and enthusiasm. Practice so those elements will be present whenever you speak. To become an exceptional presenter, you ll need to eliminate any of the verbal graffiti or filler you may be injecting into your speech without even realizing it. That means getting rid of um, you know or er and also avoiding nonsensical phrases like clearly, actually or to be honest with you. To teach yourself to have stronger speech: 1. Record yourself and take note of the type of verbal graffiti you tend to use. 2. Recognize your pattern whether you tend to put graffiti at the start of a sentence or at the end. 3. Anticipate whenyou re just about to use some verbal graffiti in your presentation. 4. Pause, resist the urge to use some verbal filler and instead move straight on with what needs to be said. Establish some new and improved speech patterns by moving straight on to your next thought. You ll need to work at this 24/7 and include eliminating verbal graffiti from your casual conversations as well if you re to move towards being an exceptional presenter. There are eleven ways exceptional presenters work to connect with their audiences which you should follow: 1. Speak to the interests of your audience by talking about what s important to them - 7 -

8 rather than what s important to you. They don t care how many offices you have or how long you ve been in business. They want to know what you can do for them. Take every piece of information you have in your presentation and talk about what exactly that means for each member of your audience. Keep asking yourself: How does what I m saying add value for these people and provide them with something that will be vital to their future? Always know the answer to that question before you attempt to present your ideas and suggestions. 2. Use stories, anecdotes and examples to bring your material to life. These verbal devices make information relevant for listeners. People tend to remember stories because they create vivid mental pictures which also have embedded emotions attached. Use stories to stimulate the listener s heart and mind. 3. Employ effective eye contact which essentially means establishing sustained eye contact with various individuals in the audience for three or four seconds at a time. Be careful not to make people feel uncomfortable but good eye contact conveys sincerity and credibility. Don t look exclusively at the person who you assume is the decision maker because that tends to alienate everyone else. Also don t gravitate to the friendly faces in the audience but share eye contact with everyone. The more polished you are in giving eye contact, the better it will be for everyone involved. 4. Don t waste time talking to your objects because flip charts, whiteboards, projectors or even conference tables don t make decisions. Instead, speak to the people who are present. Maximize your eye contact with them and minimize the amount of time you spend talking with all your inanimate objects. Keep your shoulders square and look your audience in the eye. 5. Smile a lot because this is a great way to ease tension. Nervous or preoccupied people don t smile. Lift yourself out of their ranks by smiling heaps. If you say something funny or witty, enjoy the moment. The more relaxed you are as a presenter, the more relaxed your audience will become. 6. Know people s names and use them as often as seems appropriate to the situation. If at all possible, make a seating chart as people come into the room and sit down. Greet them, learn their names and introduce yourself before you start. You can then use your seating chart to build rapport or to grab their attention as required. 7. Get to your feet when making a presentation because this allows you to take charge. You ll be more persuasive when standing because: You ll be able to make good eye contact. People will look up which suggests authority. You can control the flow of conversation better

9 You ll be more readily seen and heard. Your voice will sound better and carry further. You will be able to use your visual aids. As you move around, you ll create energy. You ll express yourself more dynamically. Overall, when you stand to make a presentation, you change the dynamics of the room and create some advantages for yourself. Instead of being one dimensional, you ll come across as smooth and polished which is surely not a bad thing. 8. Integrate current events intelligently to make what you re saying topical and fresh. Doing this also demonstrates what you have to say is relevant. This can turn a canned speech into an impromptu speech which people love. For example, if you stand and say, How many of you have read the lead story in today s Wall Street Journal? everyone will be favorably impressed. If you can find something funny to tie your presentation to, all the better. 9. Use appropriate humor to break down barriers, build rapport and disarm your opponents. If you can get people laughing with you, they will naturally like you. Keep an eye out for funny stories which tie in to your message or lead in to what you want to say and get good at telling these stories. There is an art to this so observe others who do this well for tips. 10. Read your audience and adapt your message to the signals they are sending out. If they are highly receptive, you ll be able to build on what you re saying. If you sense confusion, elaborate more. If you can tell people are sensitive to an issue, tread carefully. Watch for their signals and clues. Every audience sends out loads of signals, just make sure you re watching for what they re saying. 11. If at all feasible, get your audience physically involved in actually doing something as part of your presentation. Physical involvement enhances learning. It can take many different forms: Ask a question and wait for a response. Ask people to write down some key points. Set presentation aids in different parts of the room. Provide an outline and have them fill in the blanks. Move around the stage purposefully. Use the audience in your stories or examples. Ask people s opinions. Conduct a survey of the audience. Have them raise their hands

10 Split into smaller groups for discussion. Bring along a periodical or magazine. Use video clips that illustrate your point. Give rewards and prizes for participation. Give handouts. Remember that a person s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Dale Carnegie Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand. Mark Twain I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. Groucho Marx I refuse to live in any country that would elect me to public office. James Carville, political advisor A natural presentation sounds like you ve got the material down pat. These types of presentations are therefore lively and flowing rather than stiff and formal. Exceptional presenters look and sound natural because they ve worked at it and practiced what they need to do. Keep in mind what is written usually doesn t flow all that well when spoken. You have to get some experience in taking some formal material and transposing it into good conversational material. This will take practice before your speech will come across as natural rather than canned. One speaker who was exceptionally good at this was President Ronald Reagan. He worked for a number of years as a broadcaster prior to entering politics and that

11 background served him well. President Reagan was able to take highly charged situations and turn these to his advantage because of his communication skills. For example, during a presidential debate held during the 1984 presidential campaign, everyone knew questions were going to be raised about President Reagan s age in comparison to his opponent, Walter Mondale. When the subject was finally broached, President Reagan said: I refuse to make age an issue in this election. I will not exploit, for political purposes, my opponent s youth and inexperience. When everyone laughed, Mr. Mondale later admitted he realized that marked the end of any chance he had of winning the election. Age took a back seat to other issues throughout the rest of the campaign. One area where it is particularly important to come across as natural rather than scripted is in how you handle question and answer sessions. Your credibility as a presenter can rise or fall significantly on how you handle these Q&A sessions. If you have a strong Q&A session, the professionalism and strength of your presentation can be enhanced. Conversely, if handled poorly, Q&A can dilute everything you have been trying to build. To handle Q&A sessions well: Retain your composure at all times and keep sending out the correct nonverbal signals. Keep your cool, even when the questions are uncomfortable. Read your audience so you have a good idea of their intent when asking questions. Are they seeking clarification or are they challenging what you have suggested? Make the distinction between questions based on misunderstanding and those based on hostility or rejection. Rehearse in advance run some practice Q&A sessions and have people throw you the toughest questions you can conceive. Practice how you ll handle these situations should they arise so you can feel comfortable about your ability to handle the real thing. Respect your audience by answering every question which gets put to you. Don t try and run down people in the audience because it s not professional. You might end up satisfying your ego at the expense of your credibility. Stand your ground but allow for the fact differences of opinion will exist. Make very certain you actually understand the question being asked perhaps by asking them for an illustration. You can t answer what you don t understand so get it clear in your own mind first. Many speakers rephrase the question first to check they ve understood it correctly. Remember to involve everyone in your answer so don t direct your comments solely

12 to the person who asked the original question. Keep eye contact with everyone in the group while you answer questions. Retain control by staying on topic. If someone asks you an unrelated question, politely bring them back to your topic and see whether they have a question which is more relevant. Remember your emphasis here is to gauge how well people have understood what you re saying rather than winning converts. Keep things simple answer the question and then move on. Don t fidget or get nervous even if they ask some very tough questions. They might just be testing you to see how you will react. If you get a very negative question, neutralize it first by restating it more accurately. For example, if someone bluntly states: Why are your fees so high? you can and should come back with: Well, your question has to do with how we structure our fees. Let me explain.... Use Q&A time to correct any inaccuracies which have arisen by going through and stating clearly what you did and did not say. You can also point out people are jumping to the wrong conclusion if it seems appropriate. Explain clearly there are some issues you can discuss and others you cannot which will be reasonable if some of your information is commercially sensitive. If a question gets asked you re not qualified to answer, say so. Don t feel compelled to respond. Never ever bluff don t pretend that you know something which you don t. It will come back to haunt you. If you don t have an answer, say so. Offer to do some follow up research and get back to the person asking the question if it is important. Feel comfortable with some pauses during Q&A give yourself time to think. You re better off taking 15- to 30-seconds to gather your thoughts first than to hem and haw your way around in circles while you try and find a direction. Say: Let me think about that before I respond. If you re still drawing a blank, ask for some further clarification of the reasoning. Confident speakers are comfortable with a few moments of silence. It does not unnerve them. There are hundreds of opportunities every day to practice presentation skills. The only thing you need is the desire to practice. Most people never practice. If they do, it s on their way to present a proposal, interview for a job, deliver a keynote presentation or sell an idea to their boss. The time to practice is not in live, win-or-lose situations. The time to practice is during your normal daily routines, when habits can be formed and

13 mistakes are not costly. Timothy Koege Always do your homework when it comes to making a presentation. Research your audience and try and anticipate the issues, concerns and objectives they re likely to have. Prepare so you can speak to the issues that are important to them. How do you do this? Talk with people inside their organization and ask lots of questions. Read their marketing materials and brochures so you know where they re coming from. Go to their Web site and check out their company values, mission statement and so forth. Scan any magazine articles which have been written about members of your audience. Visit their stores, offices or places of business. Obtain copies of their most recent newsletters. Gather information about their industry, their competitors and any topics of special interest. Ask for a list of who will be attending, their roles and responsibilities. Understand what specific dress standards will apply so you can dress to fit in. Decide whether you need to gear your presentation towards a friendly, hostile or neutral audience. Research out what level of general background knowledge you can anticipate everyone will have. Are you going to be talking to experts in their field or people with just a passing familiarity with your topic? This will influence how you prepare and structure what you present. Overall, take an informed stab at anticipating what your audience s expectations will be. A bit of online research and two or three phone calls to the organizers should be enough for you to be well prepared. Remember as you gather these facts you want to come across as curious rather than paranoid. Tell them you want to know these things so you can ensure the presentation is productive and helpful more than anything else. Most organizations will be quite happy to provide this kind of information

14 Your goal as a presenter should be to demonstrate that you understand their business, the issues they face and have some information which will assist them to move forward. Once you re armed with facts, you can then set about developing a great introduction which will immediately lay a good platform for an effective presentation. A good introduction: Should give reasons for your credibility as a speaker. Creates anticipation for what you have to say. Makes your topic seem relevant and important. Is brief and succinct. If you re developing your own introduction which you will supply to the people you are about to make a presentation to, include the 3ps: P1 Talk about your professional background any titles, honors, awards you have gained as well as some details about your level of background experience. P2 Mention your personal background any links between yourself and the group you are to speak to. This may be in the form of family connections, hobbies or more personal connections. Lay the foundation for empathy to emerge. P3 Outline your specific purpose in speaking today in such a way that you make your presentation highly relevant and important. An example: The timing of this presentation could not be better. Everyone in this room is aware that competition in our industry has become much more intense in the past twelve months since deregulation took effect. While there is no question this has been a great development for the public at large, it does mean that we have to change the way we do business if we are to have any hope of excelling in the future. Today s speaker has a proven track record in helping organizations like ours communicate with the marketplace better. He has been a consultant to some of the largest companies in the world as they have worked through similar challenges, and we re very fortunate to be able to take advantage of his expertise. He will also be taking a question-and-answer session at the conclusion of his presentation so give some thought to the specific questions you d like to ask. It s my pleasure now to turn the time to Mr. John Smith, author of the best-selling book Joint Ventures: The Key to 21st Century Success. When giving a presentation, if at all possible arrive at your venue early and mingle with the people first. Meet as many participants as possible and win some allies before you start. This will enhance your understanding of the audience and bring focus to their needs you plan on meeting

15 Once you fly, you will walk with your eyes skyward. For there you have been and there you will go again. Leonardo da Vinci Public speaking is one of the best things I hate. Yogi Berra, baseball player The Blue Angels, the precision flying team of the United States Navy, have briefing meetings prior to EVERY performance. They consider the briefings to be a very important part of performing safe and successful demonstrations. Prior to every show, the Blue Angels team meets in a briefing room. The #1 pilot says everything that he is going to say in the air. All of the pilots close their eyes and visualize what it s going to look like. If they are doing a loop, the #1 pilot will go through every single voice call that he s going to make on the radios, and all of the pilots visualize what the loop is going to look like. By the end of the briefing, they have flown the entire demonstration, the entire show, before they even get in their jets. Timothy Koegel The mind doesn t know the difference between actual performance and what we visualize in vivid detail. Neil Rock, expert on goal setting and visualization Visualize yourself delivering an organized, passionate, engaging presentation in a conversational manner, and it will be so. Do as the Blue Angels do, go through your entire presentation out loud. Timothy Koegel The skills involved in giving exceptional presentations are actually quite basic. To master them, you have to make them a habit so you ll use them even under intense pressure. The only way that s going to ever happen is if you practice them until these skills become second nature

16 This is true for all noteworthy human achievements: An average regulation NFL game has about 65 offensive plays, each of which lasts an average of five-and-one-half seconds. That means the ball is in play for only about 6 minutes per game, yet the players all spend 50 to 60 hours a week practicing and preparing for each game. It s not unusual for Olympic gymnasts to repeat their routines 5,000 times in training for their events. World-class swimmers typically will swim twelve miles a day, six days a week for about twelve years before they get to an Olympic swim meet. That s about 45,000 miles of practice. If you want to become an exceptional presenter, you have to work at it. The more effort you put into practice, the stronger your presentation skills will be when the pressure is on. The great thing about improving your presentation skills is you don t need props or even an audience to work on enhancing your skills. All that s required is a desire to improve and the willpower to keep working at it. To make your presentation practice more effective, track your daily progress on a chart like that at right. Document where you are each week and track how often you are practicing to get better. The more you practice, the sooner you will be making progress towards being an exceptional presenter

17 If a company were to lose 5% of its revenues to accounting fraud, it would immediately put checks and balances in place to stop the bleeding. Yet it is safe to say many companies are losing more than that because of below par presentation skills but often nothing is done about that. As a result, if you can become an exceptional presenter, your company can make some highly impressive revenue gains. It s quite natural to feel nervous about giving a presentation. Skilled presenters use that nervous energy to sharpen and enhance their presentation. Try these tips: Practice the first two-minutes of your presentation over and over so you will make a solid opening on which you can build. Remind yourself the audience probably won t notice any minor glitches so don t sweat it if little things crop up. They re inconsequential. Create a cheat sheet which you have at hand should your mind go blank. Break your presentation into 3-minute segments and rehearse each separately. That

18 allows you to fine-tune segments and change things on the fly. Remember you re not trying to explain absolutely everything you know but instead keep it simple. If people want more detail, they can see you later. Always arrive at the venue an hour early so you can get all audiovisual equipment working in advance. Visualize yourself being a success and get out there and make that a reality. * * * [세계 베스트셀러(NBS) 서비스는 영문의 경제 경영 및 정치 서적의 베스트셀러, 스테디셀러의 핵심 내용을 간략하게 정리한 요약(Summary) 서비스입니다. 영문 서비스는 단순히 서적을 소개하거나 광고를 위한 Book Review가 아니라 세계의 베스

19 트셀러 도서의 핵심을 체계적으로 정리한 도서 정보로써, 이 서비스를 통해 세계의 정치 경제 문화의 흐름을 빠르게 파악할 수 있습니다. 세계 지도층이 읽는 세계 베스트셀러 도서를 가장 빠르고 효율적으로 접해보시기 바랍니다.]