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A large part of corporate life is spent interacting
& communicating with people. The most important of these communications
is undoubtedly oral presentations. A good presenter can influence
major decision making & can inform, explain, persuade or motivate
as required.
Pulling off a good presentation is by no means an easy job. Thorough
preparation & this checklist will ensure that you make the best
out of it.
Pre presentation
Run through the presentation once
Revise content
Rehearse
Reach the hall/room early
Check the equipment (See Appendix)
Interact with the audience
Take a few deep breaths to chase away the butterflies in the stomach
Content
Structure your presentation by dividing it into a few broad outlines.
Remember, a presentation aid like PowerPoint is a great tool for
delivering presentations, not for planning. The 10 line slides that
you see are proof of this.
Provide explanatory titles to the slides & a visible transition
when you are moving from one section of the presentation to another.
Proofread the text or better still get someone to proofread for
grammar, punctuation, spelling as it is difficult to notice your
own faux pas.
Try to find out as much as possible about the audience, their level
of knowledge on what you are presenting & what they expect from
the presentation. Keep the content geared toward the audience.
Stick to the time alloted (plan your time on a micro level if required,
with the estimated time taken for each slide. Still, be ready to
skip some slides to make it on time if the alloted time gets curtailed
at the last moment.
Make your presentation lively by including examples & anecdotes.
While writing bullet points, use phrases instead of sentences wherever
possible.
Do not put more than 6-7 lines per slide.
Unless it is a presentation that you normally deliver at various
places, do some research.
Body Language
Maintain eye contact with the whole audience.
Identify a few 'friendly' faces which are nodding & encouraging
& spend more time looking at them, but do not deliver the whole
presentation to only one person.
Palms can be held higher than the hip level, close together.
Do not fold hands.
Voice
Vary tone, speak clearly & slowly
Don't just 'read' from the slide
If it is a large hall, ask the person at the last row if he/she
can hear you properly.
Design
Use "Slide Master" in PowerPoint to apply consistent
color, template, graphics & placement
Use a maximum of two special effects
Do not use any animation once the contents of the slide is place,
it will only distract attention.
Keep the font size large enough
Ensure the color contrast makes the text stand out.
If black & white handouts are to be given, provide color contrast
likewise or make a separate file.
Questions
There is no substitute to thorough preparation.
Anticipate common questions & prepare yourself for them.
Repeat questions, it is not only beneficial for the rest of the
audience, you too can buy some time to phrase your answer
Do not start answering at the middle of the question
Think of other positive indicators to a question than "good
question"
Never give out indications like a negative tone or body language
to show that a question is stupid or bad.
If discussions on certain points happen in between, blank out the
projection for the time being (For example in PowerPoint, press
"Ctrl+B" for a black screen or "Ctrl+W" for
a white screen. After the discussion, press the same hot key combination
to return to your presentation. You could also use a slide with
a lot of blank space in it). This will ensure that the audience's
attention is focused on you.
Post presentation
Solicit feedback wherever possible.
Give some 'take home' material.
If you are giving handouts to the audience after the presentation,
try & include some extra content & references in the handouts.
There is always room for improvement & making your next presentation
even better. Jot down areas where you could improve in your next
presentation
Practice makes a man perfect
Appendix
Multimedia Projector Demystified (for windows users)
Connect power to projector, power to laptop via the adapter (otherwise
ensure that it has enough charge), laptop to projector
Warm up time could be a few seconds
Switch on the multimedia projector first after connecting the laptop
Check for the default resolution it can handle
Make sure the Projector is in the "Computer" mode.
Planning out something innovative? Need two laptops? It may not
connect to two monitors at a time
Does it have support for sound?
Will the laptop settings be synchronized (image size, resolution,
etc.)? Look for a 'sync' button if the projection is not very clear
Use "Standby" button on projector or "Blank"
on remote to get a blank screen
Use Function keys . The Fn key is usually on the bottom left side
of the laptop keyboard. Search on the keyboard for "LCD/CRT"
or a small monitor icon to get the other key. Hold down "Fn+F8"
or "Fn+F7" or "Fn+F5" or "Fn+F3" (allow
a few seconds gap after you press each key combination once) to
get a display on the laptop as well as the screen. The possible
displays are:
- projector only
- laptop only
- projector and laptop
Fine tune the display if its not clear (focus, alignment, brightness,
contrast, etc.)
If display is still not clear, check 'Refresh Rate' under 'Display
Properties' (right click on blank portion of desktop). Change it
to 60 Hz
If background has a green, red or blue tint, reset all settings
to the factory standard.
After the presentation, do not switch off the power to the projector.
Switch off the lamp ("Off" switch on the projector). The
fan will still be on & cool down the projector.
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