9 Face to Face: Personal & Presentations

Oral communications takes many forms from informal conversations between two people to a job interview with two or three people to formal presentations for an auditorium audience.   The foundations are always the same: identify your audience; know your content; provide support for your material; and practice your delivery.

Audience

This is always the first step.  Who are you speaking to?  Sketch out in your mind the person or type of persons likely to be present with you in an oral communication situation.  This understanding of your audience enables you to determine the structure, wording, and content that you need to use to make sure you message is clear and understood.  Start with the basic information of demographics, and build up the audience profile with what they know, and what they need to know about the topic.

Content

Your content should always be tailored to your audience.  Oral communications, whether in person or online, are best if you can provide a direct link for the audience as to why the topic is important.  Matt Abrahams’ suggests a three-prong approach: What, So What, Now What? (2018). It’s a clear approach to make that connection with the audience: make it relevant and useful.

Plan out your content carefully.

Your introduction must identify your topic, why it is important, who you are, and your expertise in the area.  At this initial contact stage you may find it helpful for both you and your audience to provide a brief overview of the path your content will take.  The more sign-posts or verbal headings you can provide to an audience, the easier it is to make sure they stay on the path with you.

When developing the content of your material for a presentation, it helps to pick a theme or image that represents the development or journey of the information.  Use an image or analogy that can carry you and your audience through as you outline the points.  For example, you can use the image of a mountain trek and the main points are stages of the trip: base of the mountain, stage one in the trees, stage two on the rocks stage three at the top, stage four the journey back to base camp.

Your conclusion needs to provide the listener a clear and brief summary of your topic, and main points of development, with a connection or call to action for the listener.  Sometimes that can be in the form of a question such as at the end of a job interview when you ask what professional development opportunities there are for employees, or a statement of hope for working together to contribute your skills in the location.

When writing out your content, avoid writing full sentences and stick to point form development of your material.  Writing full sentences leads your brain to rely on specific phrases and language and if you forget part of the phrase, it can lead you to a cliff’s edge.  Points (with examples) are easier to remember and you are less likely to rely on a script.

Support Matter

You are the most important part of a presentation.  Do not minimize your importance or message by diminishing your presence.  Support material – props, videos, or power points – should only enhance the experience, not take it over.

Props need to be relevant to your topic and have a clear purpose.  When completing a training, props are useful tools to demonstrate “how to”.  In situations with small groups, provide a prop for each participant in order to encourage engagement and to help the audience members understand and replicate the instructions.  In larger group situations, or online videos, encourage viewers to imagine or find their own prop to replicate the instructions.

Videos in presentations should be used sparingly as you may accidentally encourage the audience to be more interested in something other than you – unless it is a video you created.  Ask yourself “Does it make my point clearer?”  Easier for you does not equal easier for the audience.

PowerPoints, or slides, are very popular and can be helpful in presentations.  David J.P. Phillips’ excellent TEDx talk on How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint (2014), provides five “rules”.   Here’s a quick summary of those points (Spoiler alert). Throw away the templates: use dark backgrounds to make it easier on the audience’s eyes and to keep the focus on you.  Use contract (shading and colour) to direct the focus.  Reduce the size of the headings because the important information is in the body.  Use points not full sentences: your audience will ignore you and read if given the chance.  Focus on one main point per slide with no more than six items of support to increase audience attention and retention of information.   You are the important part of the presentation – not the PowerPoint – so make sure the focus remains on you.

Handouts and Takeaways can be useful tools to direct your audience and provide a quick reference to the material you covered in your presentation.  Try not to add any information you don’t cover in your presentation.

Styles that you may want to consider include a highlights or point-form of main points, a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions),  Fill in the Blanks quiz style, or Crossword.  The intent is to provide an opportunity to engage with the information in more than a passive reception manner.  When the audience engages, there is a better opportunity for retaining the content.

Visuals, layouts, and anything else that attracts and holds attention are good ways to involve your listeners.

Delivery

Few things can inspire as much fear as being told you have to make a presentation.  Your palms sweat and your mouth dries up: your body appears to betray you.  Understand your strong points, and the key elements of delivery, and with a little practice, you can make it through the event with respect.

Toastmasters is an international organization that provides members opportunities to practice public speaking.  They have also produced excellent resources such as Your Speaking Voice: Tips for Adding Strength and Authority to Your Voice (2021).

Verbal

Remember three things about your voice: modulation, pace, and volume.

Modulation is the up and down tone of your voice that communicates enthusiasm and interest in the event and subject.  Traditionally, your voice should descend a tone at the end of a sentence or point to indicate the conclusion.  When you use a higher tone at the end of a sentence, it indicates a question.  Don’t do that unless it really is a question.  If you read a script or from your notes, it tends to flatten your voice as your brain focuses on the words and pronunciation.  Reading means you lose your modulation which makes it sound like you are not interested.  Use points instead of sentences to keep fresh.

Pace refers to how quickly you speak, and where and why your pauses occur.  Speaking too quickly will have your listeners unable to follow you.  Speaking too slowly may make your audience (and you) uncomfortable.  Pause between slide changes, and before important points.  When learning to drive you were taught a formal stop means the car stops moving and you count to three: try a count of two between slides or point shifts.  It is common for the nervous fast talk at the beginning of an event so practice your introduction – including saying your name clearly and evenly, until you are comfortable.  That helps you get through the initial nerves and on to your familiar content ground.

Volume may be self-explanatory but we don’t always realize how loudly or softly we speak.  Find a comfortable ‘normal’ volume range for yourself based on the room, whether or not you are using a microphone, or if you are in a small group.  You can emphasize points with volume easily though avoid the blasting a conversation partner’s face with the strength of your opinion.

Your diaphragm – the muscle below you lungs – controls much of your voice.  You control how much space that muscle has to operate by your posture: stand tall with shoulders back and you increase the space, and your ability to generate greater control over your modulation, pace, and volume.

Your voice is a powerful tool for your presentation.  Take care of it.  Avoid drinking too cold or too hot fluids before speaking.  Avoid shouting as well especially 24 hours before your speaking event.

Non-Verbal

A picture is worth a thousand words and what you look like has an impact on how you are received.  There are many resources you can find that list a variety of points regarding your body language, and these can break down into three specific areas: posture, hands, and face.

Your stance or posture helps you feel comfortable and increases your breathing abilities.  Whether a short talk of five minutes or a longer one hour formal presentation, the ability to keep your chest open, and shoulders back starts with your legs.  Practice standing with your feet shoulder width apart and maintain a slight bend to the knees so they are not ‘locked’ in place as that gets very uncomfortable.  The more open your body remains, the more it is easy for the audience to trust you (watch Mark Bowden’s excellent video The Importance of Being Inauthentic, TEDx Toronto in 2013).

What to do with your hands?  Grasping your waist makes you look like a super-hero and while good preparation for confidence, not the best use of your hands in a presentation.  Sticking them in your pockets can also have ill consequences (check the video Make Body Language Your Superpower). Two important activities can help your hands stay active: keep the palms towards your audience and use them to match your points.  Avoid raising your hands above waist level unless you demonstrating and reinforcing a point.  Avoid finger jabbing and palm down smoothing.  Practice gestures to match your content (increases equal rising hand gestures).

Just like your hands, your face reflects your content and interest.  Use your eyes, eyebrows, and smile to engage with the audience and increase their engagement with you.  In a large group, pick a couple of people to look at around the room and make a regular scan.  One-on-one, make eye contact but not without regular breaks (you don’t want to send the wrong signals).

The last word: practice.

Special Circumstances

Group work and presentations are always a challenge.  Make sure everyone has a role and participates.  When introducing the topic, ensure each team member and their section is identified.  Assign someone the clicker role for the presentation support material or use the clicker as a baton and pass from one speaker to another as the material progresses.  Make sure to say each other’s names and content area when passing to the next speaker and they in turn need to thank the speaker before them for (name the content).  At the end, thank the audience and each speaker: stepping forward at your point is also good form.

Video presentations, especially when completed in the comfort of your home/home office, deserve a special mention in presentations.  Consider your surroundings before you press record: turn your camera on and look around you.  What is the viewer going to see?  Is it the image you want to project?  Tidy up for the camera and the audience so the focus can be on you.  Check your lighting.  Make sure you have light in front of you and block out or diffuse any light behind you (pull the curtains on windows) so you aren’t backlit because it will make your facial features black out.  Posture is equally important online.  Center yourself in the screen and avoid the background distractions (check for mirrors that may reveal too much).  Make eye contact with the camera, not your audience’s image.

Resources

Abrahams, Matt. (2018). The Master Communicator’s Toolbox. Stanford Graduate School of Business. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXtlXCrmqR4

Bowden, Mark. (2013). The Importance of Being Inauthentic. TedX Talk. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zpf8H_Dd40

Duarte, Nancy. (2012) Creating Slides People Will Remember. Harvard Business Review. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeV2fHEM4RI

Make Body Language Your Superpower. (2014). Stanford Graduate School of Business. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFLjudWTuGQ

Phillips, David J.P. ( 2014).  How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint. TedX Talk. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo

Toastmasters International. (2021) Your Speaking Voice: Tips for Adding Strength and Authority to Your Voice.  [Online] https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/your-speaking-voice

Erickson, Teresa and Ward, Tim. (2020). Resilience: Virtual Communications.

Dingwall, R., Labrie, Chuck, McLennon, Trecia, and Underwood, Laurie. (2017). Adapted by Niagara College 2018, Updated 2021. Professional Communications. Open Education Resource (OER), eCampus Ontario.  [Online] https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/profcommsontario/