ardms ambassador effective presentations ambassador...top ten slide tips – garr reynolds 10 tips...
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ARDMS Ambassador – Effective Presentations
There are many books, websites, articles, and videos about how to write and present an
effective speech. Perhaps you’ve taken a speech class or joined a Toastmasters group to hone
your skills. No matter how much you know or how many presentations you’ve given, you
probably agree that there is always room for enhancement.
We encourage ARDMS Ambassadors to continually ask for – and use – feedback so that
improvement remains a process rather than an endpoint.
How Good Are Your Presentation Skills? Mind Tools has a 14-question online quiz that assesses your presentation abilities in four key
areas:
Understanding your audience
Preparing your content
Delivering confidently
Controlling the environment
Immediately after completing the quiz, the site provides you with your score and a personalized
interpretation of your strengths and areas for improvement. Additional links are offered for how
to present information in easy-to-remember ways, persuade audiences, and manage your stress.
If you’d like to take the quiz, go to https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCS_96.htm
Anatomy of a Speech
Introduction Objective: Orient the audience and make them want to listen
Gain Attention: It can be just one sentence or even one word.
1. Quote
2. Humor
3. Rhetorical questions
4. Anecdote
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5. Something surprising
Establish Your Credibility
1. You are knowledgeable or competent in the topic. (Tell them, if necessary.)
2. You are honest, sincere, and trustworthy. (Show them with eye contact and tone.)
3. You are passionate about the topic. (Tell them and show them with enthusiasm.)
Create Rapport
1. Be part of the audience by using inclusive pronouns, such as us and we.
2. Highlight similarities between you and the audience
Provide Background Information
1. Get audience up to speed on what they’ll need to know before the main points.
2. Define acronyms you’ll be using.
Tell Audience Why They Need the Information
1. Answer the question: “What’s in it for me?”
2. Even if it’s obvious, acknowledge that you know they know, and say it anyway.
Thesis and Preview Objective: Tell the audience clearly and directly what the main topic is and which main points
you’ll be discussing.
1. Example: “We’ll be talking about ____________. “Specifically, we’ll look at ______,
________, and ____________.”
2. Keep your topic narrow and to-the-point.
3. Have no more than three main points. Chunk all the information you have so that it
fits logically into three parts.
Body Objective: Organize each of your three main points as a mini-speech. Organize by topic, time,
location, attributes, responsibilities, or some other pattern that makes sense for your topic.
Use internal transitions between sub points.
1. Introduce your first main point. Basically, state a thesis/preview of only this main point.
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2. Discuss the point. Remember that your goal is to have your audience understand,
remember, and perhaps act on your message. Use all means available to accomplish that
goal.
a. Analogies help audiences understand new or difficult information.
b. Stories pull us in and are a nice break from facts.
c. Research adds credibility; it needs to be cited.
d. Statistics are important, but exact numbers aren’t. Use rounded numbers and
bold, clear visual aids whenever feasible.
e. Quotes add interest and validation to what you’re saying. Be sure to attribute
them.
f. Facts are important, of course. Break them up with a variety tools listed above.
g. Lists are boring in a speech. If all you want to do is give us a list, it’s more
appropriate to just give us a handout. If your information must be listed, be sure
to enhance the material with a variety of supporting material.
h. Concrete, visual language
i. As much as possible, have your audience imagine what you are talking
about by using descriptors that paint a picture and have the audience see,
hear, touch, smell, or taste what you’re talking about.
ii. The more the audience can “see” what you are saying, the more actively
they will listen and the more accurately they will remember.
3. Summarize your first main point. In a short sentence, repeat the main idea of what you
said. What is it that you want them to think or to do?
Major Transition Objective: Move the audience from one main point to the next.
1. Count: “That brings us to the second responsibility of our department.”
2. Ask a question: “Why do we need to restructure?”
3. Break the sentence into two parts: Example: “Now that we’ve looked at how the field of
ultrasound is changing, let’s talk about what we can do to keep up.”
Conclusion Objective: Let the audience know the end is near and give them nuggets to remember.
1. Begin with “In conclusion….”
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2. Summarize the main points with one sentence per main point.
3. Do not add any information that wasn’t presented earlier in the speech.
4. Reiterate why the audience needs this information (i.e., what’s in it for them).
5. Tell the audience what you want them to think or to do.
6. Say “Thank You.”
Additional Resources Delivering Presentations Confidently -- A series of steps
http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-Confidently-in-Public
For those who want an advanced course, this site offers analyses and critiques of famous
speeches and well-received TED talks
http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/tag/speech-examples/
Top Ten Slide Tips – Garr Reynolds
http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/design/
10 Tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea – from TED’s in-house expert. Posted
by Tedstaff on July 15, 2014.
http://blog.ted.com/2014/07/15/10-tips-for-better-slide-decks/