Tips on giving powerful presentations

Many people fear giving presentations. No matter the size of our audience or the type of presentation, there are some simple steps we can take to put our best foot forward. Whether it is a five-minute sales presentation or an hour-long keynote address, there is a basic structure.

The opening serves to favorably attract immediate interest from your audience. Then comes our message. State this in a clear and orderly manner. Evidence is used throughout the presentation to establish credibility, inspire respect and confidence from our audience. The closing should leave the audience with a favorable, memorable impression, and perhaps a call to action.

The opening differs from its content. The opening elicits the audience's interest in us and our message. We may use a startling or a mysterious statement: "Last year, over one million drills were sold -- nobody was interested in the drills ... what they were interested in. ..."

We may choose to use a question based on need or interest: "If I could show you a way to ... would you be interested?" We can start with a compliment: "Congratulations on your 125 percent sales increase." And a dramatic incident or story is effective. This dramatic incident should be from our own life -- we have earned the right to tell it because we experienced it.

Our message should always follow a logical order and be peppered with evidence. At Dale Carnegie we use the acronym EVIDENCE DEFEATS DOUBT. Demonstrations. Examples, Facts, Exhibits, Analogies, Testimonials, Statistics are all forms of evidence. It is best to use several different forms of evidence, making sure our testimonials; facts and statistics are all accurate.

The closing of a presentation should add to a positive, lasting impression. To close we can: summarize in a few words, throw down a challenge, dramatize our ideas, repeat the most important point, use a motivating statement, and use a quotation or speak on a personal level.

Never ever memorize our talks word for word. Fill our talks with illustrations and examples. Know far more about our subject than we can possibly use. Rehearse our talks by conversing with friends. Don't imitate others, we should be ourselves! Good presenters excel at building listener rapport. They do so by being honored to address the audience, and they say so. They give their listeners sincere appreciation.

They mention the names of some of the listeners. These people play themselves down, not up! They address the audience in the form of "we" not "you." Good presenters talk in terms of their audience's interests, and have a good time making their talks. Never apologize -- the audience will never know if we forgot a critical handout, if we left a visual in the office, etc.

Giving good presentations takes practice and a little preparation. It is good to arrive early, know our audience, and perhaps do some deep breathing exercises prior to speaking. And of course, it is worthwhile to mention that the author of "Presentation Plus," David Peoples, recommends taking the Dale Carnegie Course

Whether we are the main conference speaker, or we are making a presentation at our managers meeting, we all have the ability to present our ideas in an informative, creative way. It takes a little research, and some forethought and practice, but we can do it!

Sharon Mueller is the regional manager for Dale Carnegie Training. Dale Carnegie Training recently partnered with Metro Business College in Cape Girardeau. To find out more about this partnership and course offerings, call Mueller at 332-0900 or email at smueller@carnegiestl.com.