The Characteristics of a Good Presentation

Business is all about selling — a product, topic or concept. When making a business presentation, the most important thing is to know your material. If you do not know everything about what you are selling, it is not likely that the audience will be buying.

Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or . Presentations come in nearly as many forms as there are life situations. In the business world, there are sales presentations, informational and motivational presentations, first encounters, interviews, briefings, status reports, image-building, and training sessions. Presentations skills and public speaking skills are very useful in many aspects of work and life. Developing the confidence and capability to give good presentations, and to stand up in front of an audience and speak well, are also extremely helpful competencies for self-development too. Presentations and public speaking skills are not limited to certain special people – anyone can give a good presentation, or perform public speaking to a professional and impressive standard. Like most things, it simply takes a little preparation and practice.

The formats and purposes of presentations can be very different, for example: oral , multimedia (using various media – visuals, audio etc), PowerPoint presentations, long planned presentations, educational or training sessions, lectures, and simply giving a talk on a subject to a group on a voluntary basis for pleasure. Even speeches at weddings and eulogies at funerals are types of presentations. They are certainly a type of public speaking, and are no less stressful to some people for being out of a work situation.

Yet every successful presentation uses broadly the essential techniques and structures explained here. Aside from presentations techniques, confidence, experience – and preparation – are big factors.

Characteristics of a good presentation

Opening and closing phrases:

It Should be carefully framed keeping in view the situation , audience and subject. The speaker must select an opener, which attracts listeners attention and interest by using relevant and neutral statements.

Audibility of voice and words:

The very first requirement of a good presentation is that . in any given circumstance, the voice and words should be audible.

Bring out the meaning:

It is not only the quality of the speakers voice and the clear way in which he express his ideas; it is also the variety in his voice and gestures. Any interesting subject may become boring if a speaker of the subject is dull.

Simplicity:

The speaker should deliver the speech in simple words and sentences. Simple words and sentences make the speech effective.

Sincerity:

Thought, feeling and imagination must stimulate a speech if it is to sound sincere. all the three elements should be present in a speech and the speaker must always think, feel and imagine before he speaks if he is to bring out the full meaning.

Use of quotations:

A speaker should be very cautious in using quotations. He should avoid too many as well as long, foreign or Latin quotations. When the quotations are used, they should be correct and full.

Rehearsal:

Fear of forgetting may result in stage phobia. A speaker with a stage phobia concentrations his mood excessively on himself than on the listeners of the message. Constant practice and self- confidence can, however, help in overcoming stage phobia.

Environment for speaking while presentation

For effective speaking the place of delivering the speech plays a very important role. The speaker must be aware of the size of the room where he or she has to deliver the speech for an oral presentation. Sometimes the room are large and echoing. Speaking in such rooms requires less resonating sound .the voice should be little muffled following the lower notes. However, it should have the required power. For the acoustically treated rooms the resonance of the speech in an oral presentation has an absolutely different kind of impression in the audience. The speaker should also check his or her voice in the rooms; find it out on his or her own, whether it reaches the last listener sitting at the back row. the room should be ventilated and illuminated. There should not be any distractions to both the speaker and the listeners. The distractions like noise and any interruptions should not be entertained.

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Timing for the speech in an oral presentation

The efficient speaker arranges the text of his speech in such a way that till the end of the speech the listeners don not get restless. Also the time of the day affects the audience. The afternoon hours hardly make any listener interested to listen to a speech. But yet an efficient speaker may try to make that session interesting. For keeping to time an efficient speaker takes care of the concentration problem that audience has with regard to time. Initially the concentration level is not much. After a time duration it reaches its peak, then its starts falling. The end of the speech again increases the concentration level. However, the span of moderate concentration level may be attained by various concentration enhancing practices.

Making The Presentation

Preparation notes for the presentation

For the speech in an oral presentation if the speaker writes out the complete speech and learns it by heart when exact speech is delivered it sounds stilted. He or she reduces it to short notes and puts them on cards. These notes are nothing but key words.

The speaker does not require the paper weight to keep his or her papers as he or she can hold the cards very easily. the card should be prepared by the speaker in his or her own handwriting as during a speech or in an oral presentation if the speaker is not able to understand key item because of its illegibility, the complete speech of the oral presentation may be ruined. On each card he or she may write some message regarding making eye contact with the audience, making, no mannerisms, slowing down when speaking fast, stressing on key words, modulating the voice etc, so that they remind him at every ste and the speech is delivered successfully.

How to begin a presentation?

There are various ways of beginning a speech; the aim is to catch the attention of the audience. One may start with a question, a starting fact, a prominent statistic. One may begin with an anecdote or story, thus, “ladies and gentlemen, I am reminded of a story” one may make some personal references, expressing one’s great pleasure in being invited to speak and so on.

A well planned introduction motivates and stimulates the listeners. Simultaneously it generates confidence in the speaker. The impact of an impressive introduction is as follows:

• It grabs the attention of the audience.
• It establishes rapport with the audience.
• It earns the trust and belief of the audience in the speaker.
• The introduction showing the speaker’s personalisation of the topic generates a feel in audience about its significance.
• It creates the first impression of the speaker among his or her audience.

An effective introduction effects a smooth transition of the audience to the aim body of the speech.

The speaker should not start with an apology or with a sense of doubt. the speaker may choose from the following methods in the introduction to involve the audience in his or her speech:

• By relating an incident to grab the audience.
• By making a statement to arouse the curiosity.
• By presenting facts to arrest thinking.
• By giving statistics to startle him or her.
• By asking questions to make them start pondering over it.
• By giving a friendly look to make them feel happy and energetic.
• By telling a story to motivate them to think its significance.
• By paying a compliment to the audience to flatter them to listen to the speaker.

How to end a presentation?

The conclusion of the speech leaves the final impression on the minds of the listeners. a well conceived conclusion not only signals the end of the speech but also reinforces the central idea in the mind of the listeners. A good speech may lose impact all its conclusion is loose. A strong ending leaves the audience brooding and cogitating the speech they have just heard. The techniques to draw an ending of the speech are:

• By giving verbal clues like “let me end by saying”, “before I conclude”, “One last point”, “in conclusion”, “to sum up”,”to conclude”, etc.
• By our manner of delivery decreasing the pitch of the tone to the lower notes.
• By slowing down the articulation of words and phrases.
• By going back to the story or incident with which the speaker started his or her speech.
• By making the summary of the speech
• By quoting an eminent personality.

The speech should not end with the expressions like “I think that’s all i had to say”. In fact the conclusion should make it clear to the audience what they should do next. The conclusion should generate the last thought in the minds of the listeners regarding the issues taken up in the speech.

INTRODUCTION OF STEVE JOBS

Apple CEO Steven Paul “Steve” Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) is well known for his electrifying presentations. He was an American entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution[ and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar.

Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar.

Steve jobs is definitive gold standard when it comes to giving presentations. He is such an accomplished speaker people have been known to spend the night waiting in line freezing temperature just for the opportunity to get the best seat at one of his product launches for apple.

Conformation of his popularity is found in the fact YouTube currently has more than 20,000 clips of Steve jobs. Steve is not a natural, he works hard at the methodically improving his presentation

There are several key techniques that Steve jobs using during his electrifies Presentations:

• Set the Theme
• Make the theme clear and consistent
• Create a headline that sets the direction for your meeting
• Provide the Outline
• Open and close each section with a clear transition
• Make is easy for the listeners to follow your story
• Demonstrate Enthusiasm
• Wow your audience
• Sell an Experience
• Make numbers and statistics meaningful
• Analogies help connect the dots for your audience
• Make it Visual
• Paint a simple picture that doesn’t overwhelm
• Give them a Show
• Identify your memorable moment and build up to it
• Give your audience an added bonus to walk away with
• Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse
• Spend the time to rehearse
• When Steve jobs incorporate a product demonstration as part of his presentation, he hits all five of these qualities every time.
• Short: welcome adds-on to the main event.
• Simple and easy to follow.
• Face paced and interesting
• Sweet: show features which are impressive.
• Substantial: solutions to the real world problem
• His demonstration of a product is always memorable.

After watching and analyzing the presentations of Steve jobs, I thought about five ways to distill Jobs’ speaking techniques to help anyone craft and deliver a persuasive pitch.

1. BUILD TENSION

A good novelist doesn’t lay out the entire plot and conclusion on the first page of the book. He builds up to it. Jobs begins his presentation by reviewing the “revolutionary” products Apple has introduced. According to Jobs, “every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything…Apple has been fortunate to introduce a few things into the world.” Jobs continues by describing the 1984 launch of the Macintosh as an event that “changed the entire computer industry.” The same goes for the introduction of the first iPod in 2001, a product that he says”changed the entire music industry.”

After laying the groundwork, Jobs builds up to the new device by teasing the audience: “Today, we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first is a wide-screen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary new mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.” Jobs continues to build tension. He repeats the three devices several times then says, “Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device…today Apple is going to reinvent the phone!” The crowd goes wild.

Jobs conducts a presentation like a symphony, with ebbs and flows, build ups and climaxes. It leaves his listeners wildly excited. He Build up to something unexpected in his presentations.

2. STICK TO ONE THEME PER SLIDE

A brilliant designer once told me that effective presentation slides only have one message per slide. One slide , one key point. When Jobs introduced the “three revolutionary products” in the description above, he didn’t show one slide with points or mind-numbing data. An image is all he needs. The simplicity of the slides keeps the audience’s attention on the speaker, where it should be. Images are memorable, and more important, can complement the speaker. Too much text on a slide distracts from the speaker’s words. Prepare slides that are visually stimulating and focused on one key point.

3. ADD PIZZAZZ TO YOUR DELIVERY

Jobs modulates his vocal delivery to build up the excitement. When he opens his presentation by describing the revolutionary products Apple created in the past, his volume is low and he speaks slowly, almost in a reverential tone.

His volume continues to build until his line, “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” Be an electrifying speaker by varying the speed at which you speak and by raising and lowering your voice at the appropriate times.

4. PRACTICE

Jobs makes presentations look effortless because he takes nothing for granted. Jobs is known to rehearse

demonstrations for hours prior to launch events. Don’t lose your audience. Rehearse a presentation out loud until you’ve nailed it.

5. BE HONEST AND SHOW ENTHUSIASM

If you believe that your particular product or service will change the world, then say so. Have fun with the content.

During the iPhone launch, Jobs uses many adjectives to describe the new product, including “remarkable,””revolutionary,” and “cool.” He jokes that the touch-screen features of the phone “work like magic…and boy have we patented it.”

If you’re passionate about a product, service, or company, let your listeners know. Give yourself permission to loosen up, have fun, and express your enthusiasm!