Because I’m taking a PowerPoint class this summer, I’m naturally thinking about what makes good presentations—and presenters.
We’ve all sat through terrible presentations, and we’ve all experienced great ones that leave us thinking, “What a great speaker. I’d gladly listen to anything she has to say.”
What do great speakers do that the rest of us don’t? According to Christine Clapp, the author of Presenting at Work: A Guide to Public Speaking in Professional Contexts, they do several important things.
First, they don’t start by thanking the audience for attending. Why? Because that’s a “commonplace and lackluster way to open a speech.” Whew! I certainly never thought of that kind of an opening that way, but, come to think of it, why not grab your audience’s attention immediately with a great anecdote or interesting fact.
Good presenters, like the folks you see on TED Talks, move around. They don’t hide behind the lectern, nervously reading their notes verbatim. How do you get to that point? You convert your notes to an outline and practice it at least six (!) times. Then, when you’re comfortable with the outline, you can keep your notes at the lectern to refer to and still allow the audience to see your body language.
Excellent speakers time also themselves. Just as important, they don’t fill up their allotted time with talk. For a 60-minute talk, they make allowances for not starting on time and for the introduction they’re given. They allow just 18 minutes for their presentation. (Ms. Clapp points out that Martin Luther King’s legendary “I have a Dream” speech took just 17 minutes.) They factor in 20 minutes of Q&A and 3 minutes for a summary and call to action. They allow a bit of time for the event organizer to thank them and wrap up. They end early, and they’re heroes.
Ms. Clapp is also quick to say that great speakers don’t indulge in “death by PowerPoint.” For tips on making concise, 20-minute, 20-slide presentations that don’t create comatose audiences, check out www.pechakucha.org.
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