MANAGEMENT PRESENTATIONS

In business, a great deal of communication is made verbally. Researches show that 65% to 75% of managerial time is spent talking to others. The numbers vary depending upon the level of the person. Presentations form one of the foremost qualities that a manager should have in corporate sector. He should be able to present effectively all the ideas he has, in the shortest time possible. He has to make presentations to internal and external people. Without the ability to make effective presentations, one is doomed in the corporate bodies. They are like a show case of a product. Just as in movies, it is not the dialogue writer or the director who gets all the credit, but the hero. A manger’s role is no different. Otherwise, he will be reduced to “behind the curtain” crew. For many, standing and speaking in front of an audience is just a matter of confidence; for some, it’s just a matter of having the facility to speak. Some would say it’s just a matter of strategy. Public speaking and presentation skills are not just natural abilities that effortlessly come out every time you are faced with an audience; they are artistic abilities that you can learn, develop and perfect through time by means of proper training, constant practice, and use of techniques. Presentations can really be daunting especially if you are not used to it, but with proper preparation and tools, you can surely get your message across. There are formal and informal presentations. Both these need slightly different techniques, though several of them hold good for both of them. Here a few a things that you should know for making effective presentations. Overcoming fear

Most of us feel uncomfortable when we speak to a group, and many students would like to avoid the stress and anxiety of speaking in public. Nevertheless, many university programs now require students to make class presentations or to conduct seminar sessions. It’s normal to feel nervous every time a speaking engagement gets near. Even best speakers claim to have that feeling from time to time and still ask for presentation tips from fellow public speakers or their mentors. The main reasons for this appear to be:

Unfamiliar Situation: Because most people speak formally only rarely to an audience the novelty of the situation is a cause of apprehension.

Lack of Confidence: This stems often from a feeling that others are better speakers than ourselves, or that they know more about the topic in question.

Sense of Isolation: The speaker is alone, the centre of attraction - and vulnerable.

Self-Consciousness: about our accents, grammar, voice and image generally.

Fear of looking Foolish: We may worry that we will forget what we wanted to say, and will stumble over our words, will say the 'wrong' thing, etc.

Fear of the Consequences such as being 'judged' by others, particularly bosses and peers, as lacking in ability or insight because of a poor public presentation. At least with a written work mistakes can be made in private!

Do not fight nerves, welcome them!

Only then you can get on with the presentation instead of focusing in on being nervous. Actors recognize the value of nerves...they add to the value of the performance. If you welcome nerves, then the presentation becomes a challenge and you become better. If you let your nerves take over, then you go into the flight mode by withdrawing from the audience. Again, welcome your nerves, recognize them, let them help you gain that needed edge! When you feel tension or anxiety, remember that everyone gets them, but the winners use them to their advantage, while the losers get overwhelmed by them.

Tension can be reduced by performing some relaxation exercises. Listed below are some to get you started:

• Before the presentation: Close your eyes. Sit still. Think of nothing. After you feel less tense, slowly conceive the presentation in your mind. Do not struggle to get it to the memory. It will unfold by itself. Otherwise, you can always look at the slides and give your presentations. Taking deep breaths always relaxes body and the mind.

• Mental Visualization: Before the presentation, visualize the room, audience, and you giving the presentation. Mentally go over what you are going to do from the moment you start to the end of the presentation. “I can do it!” is the mantra you should recite to yourself.

• You do NOT need to get rid of anxiety and tension! Channel the energy into concentration and expressiveness. But make sure that your anxiety and tension are not as noticeable to the audience as it is to you.

• Even the best presenters make mistakes. The key is to continue on after the mistake. If you pick up and continue, so will the audience. Winners continue! Losers stop!

• Never drink alcohol to reduce tension! It affects not only your coordination but also your awareness of coordination. You might not realize it, but your audience will!

Well begun, half done!

The first four minutes are the time when you are likely to have the attention of your audience, it is important to make an impact with your introduction.

Grab the attention of your audience by giving them a reason to listen; the more personal and relevant, the better. You could begin with a good joke or a curious analogy.

The introduction of a presentation is very important. Make a connection with the audience straight away and set the stage for the rest of your argument. Start your presentation by immediately involving the audience through questions. Remember people love to talk. It’s human nature. Start with an unexpected statement to seize the audience's attention.

Greet the audience (for example, 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen'), and tell them who you are. Good presentations usually then follow this formula:

• tell the audience what you are going to tell them,

• then tell them,

• at the end tell them what you have told them.

Don't start with an apology unless you've really made a serious error, or it's a part of your plans and an intentional humorous device. The audience will forgive you far more than you will forgive yourself. Your apologising will make people feel uncomfortable.

Try to start on time even if some of the audience is late. Waiting too long undermines your confidence, and the audience's respect for you.

Creating Your Own Style

Before making a presentation, you should know the level of your audience. Depending upon their level, understanding and knowledge the presentation should be pitched. Too low a standard makes the audience lose their interest in the presentation. Similarly high flown presentation which is beyond the level of the audience also tires them out. Therefore, it is very essential to communicate at the level of the audience.

Select the right Style – Formal or Informal.

As already mentioned, the techniques for these two types slightly vary. Let’ discuss them:

Formal Presentations

• Dressing appropriately. • Using the right language. • Using cartoons or pictures on your slides. • Introducing yourself and thanking the audience. • Have a smile on the face, it adorns it.

Informal Presentations

• Address your audience as you would normally on a one-to-one basis. • Be brief and to the point without forgetting the allotted time. • Have a smile on the face, it adorns it. • Use examples if you know the audience quite a lot. • Don't hesitate to make your presentation interactive. • Ask the experts in the audience to confirm your theories or assumptions.

Preparing the Presentation Material

Researching the Subject While preparing for the presentation some of the questions you should ask to yourself are:

How much do I already know about the subject? Whom am I presenting to? For how long am I presenting? When and in what setting is the presentation going to take place?

Selecting the Content

Put the gathered information into words. You must have worked hard on researching and gathered much information. Since time is the key factor, you had better classify the information into three categories -- essential, helpful and nice to have. Whatever, you could not have included in the slides, keep it as reserve. Sometimes you can use it in Q&A session.

Writing a Script

First prepare the first draft. Then edit it yourself and prepare the second draft. Filter out what is not essential The next stage is attend to grammar and use of effective language. Once you have finalized the draft, identify important points that should go into the slides. Then concentrate on the preparation of slides in addition to language – the font, the design, the graphics, the colour scheme etc. In academic presentations avoid sounds that go with the slides.

Using Handouts

Use of handouts is very common in presentations. They help the audience to carry home ideas. But you should take care that your handouts become an obstacle to your presentation. People try to read the handouts during the presentations without listening what you show or say. Therefore, you should try to avoid giving the handouts in advance. But announce to the audience before the presentation that you will give handouts, so that, they do not take down notes and try to shuffle their attention between taking down the notes and listening or watching your presentation. However, some presentations are expository and need to be referred to during the presentation. In such cases, distribute to the audience the handouts in advance.

But never circulate notes during the presentation as that would surely disturb your presentation.

Planning Your Talk Plan the body of your presentation. The closing statement in the presentation should be memorable, because conclusion is as important as the beginning. It could be a very appropriate quotation or a catchy slogan or something similar.

Taking Control of the Audience

Audience are normally three types -- hostile audience, friendly audience and indifferent audience. It’s your job to get them to you. Some people like attention paid to them. That is one of the tricks. Look at them a little more often or ask them some rhetorical questions. Sometimes humour works. If two of you talk between themselves, stop your presentation briefly and keep looking at them with a smile. Then everyone looks at them. This works for sure! I have tried in classrooms and presentations. This also works when someone drifts into a siesta, especially after lunch in an air-conditioned room. You can try some more techniques except being aggressiveness. It doesn’t help. Besides, you too lose your concentration.

Managing Your Audience

Speaking the audience's language is essential to get acceptance. Read their body language and make spontaneous adjustments. If necessary make a repetition. Avoid a didactic tone.

You should also avoid conflict and argument. As I said earlier, involving your audience is a sure way of making your presentation successful.

Speaking Effectively

Since most of the presentation is made orally, you should develop an interesting voice. Whenever you want to highlight a point and draw the attention of your audience, use silence and pauses effectively. You could also use stress and emphasis by slowing down or raising the tone slightly. If you are involved in the presentation most of these things come to you involuntarily. But if you are doing it very consciously you will have to identify these techniques deliberately. But never use artificial accent. Be yourself! Sometimes artificial accent causes amusement, if not irritation. If you have acquired good accent through your schooling or exposure, no problems!

Backing up your memory

Never read from a script. It is also unwise to have the talk written out in detail as a prompt sheet - the chances are you will not locate the thing you want to say amongst all the other text. You should know most of what you want to say - if you don't then you should not be giving the talk! So prepare cue cards which have key words and phrases (and possibly sketches) on them. Cards of 6” x 4 “size are ideal to handle. Don't forget to number the cards in case you drop them.

Remember to mark on your cards the visual aids that go with them so that the right OHP transparency or slide is shown at the right time. If you handle the laptop or computer yourself you can synchronize your slides with your talk well. But sometimes the laptop is placed in a corner and you have to make the presentation from the middle of the dais or from a lectern. In such cases, you will have to depend on someone to coordinate. But the best way to overcome this is to use a remote mouse. I have used it very effectively and it helps to operate the computer even when you are in between the audience. Normally they will have a range up to 30 feet if you keep your batteries new.

Presenting with Visual Aids

Use pictures to deliver your message. A good Presentation is mainly driven by what is on the slides. The rule of the thumb is that if it is significant, it should definitely be included on the slide. Next to know what to say and when to say it.

Add colour for greater impact. A presentation should always be colourful. When you work with computers, choose the right equipment. Your colour scheme should be pleasing to the eye. The letters should be crisp and visible even to the one in the last row. Occasionally, you walk to the end of the room before your presentation and see how comfortably you can read.

Visual aids significantly improve the interest of a presentation. However, they must be relevant to what you want to say. A careless design or use of a slide can simply get in the way of the presentation. What you use depends on the type of talk you are giving. Overhead projection transparencies (OHPs), 35mm slides Flipchart or white board are almost obsolete. Computer projection (PowerPoint, applications such as Excel, etc) through LCD is the current trend.

Slides contain the minimum information necessary. To do otherwise risks making the slide unreadable or will divert your audience's attention so that they spend time reading the slide rather than listening to you. Try to limit words per slide to a maximum of 10. Use a reasonable size font and a typeface which will enlarge well. Typically use a minimum 18pt Times Roman or even larger. A guideline is: if you can read the slide from a distance of 2 metres (without projection) then it's probably OK

Use colour on your slides but avoid orange and yellow which do not show up very well when projected. For text only, white or yellow on blue is pleasant to look at and easy to read. Avoid adding matter during the talk - it's messy and the audience will be fascinated by your shaking hand!

Room lighting should be considered. Too much light near the screen will make it difficult to see the detail. On the other hand, a completely darkened room can send the audience to sleep. Try to avoid having to keep switching lights on and off, but if you do have to do this, know where the light switches are and how to use them.

Use no more than two different fonts and no more than two size/bold/italic variants or the whole thing becomes confused. If in doubt simply pick a good readable serif font and use it big and bold for headings, and 14 - 16 point size for the body text.

Absolutely avoid upper case (capital letters) in body text, because people need to be able to read word-shapes as well as the letters, and of course upper case makes every word a rectangle, so it takes ages to read. Upper case is just about okay for headings if you really have to.

Avoid excessive bullets. Get away from the standard template and begin replacing titles and bullets in more creative ways of displaying information using graphs, tables, images, and photographs. This takes some creative effort, however. Practice it. Once you get used, it will be a pleasure to create new slides.

Makings slides with Powerpoint

Use a Template

Use a set font and color scheme. Different styles will be disturbing to the audience. You want the audience to focus on what you present, not the way you present.

Fonts

Choose a clean font that is easy to read. Roman and Gothic typefaces are easier to read than Script or Old English. Stick with one or two types of fonts.

Font Size

Bulleted items should be no smaller than 22 points. The title should be no smaller than 28 points.

Bullets

Keep each bullet to one line, two at the most. Limit the number of bullets in a screen to six, four if there is a large title, logo, picture, etc. Matter given in a slide is only “cueing” i.e. telling the audience on what you are going to say and NOT all that you want to say. Cues can be thought of as a brief “preview.” This gives the audience a “framework” to build upon.

If you crowd too much text, the audience will not read it.

–Too much text makes it look busy and is hard to read. –Why should they spend the energy reading it, when you are going to tell them what it says? –Our reading speed does not match our listening speed; hence, they confuse instead of reinforcing each other.

Caps and Italics

Do not use all capital letters as capital letters make it hard to read. Italics also are difficult to read. Use them only for brief “quotes” or to highlight thoughts or ideas. They are also used for book, journal, or magazine titles

Colors

• Reds and oranges are high-energy but can be difficult to stay focused on. • Greens, blues, and browns are mellower, but not as attention grabbing. • White on dark background should not be used if the audience is more than 20’ away.

Backgrounds

A white on a dark background can be used for slides to highlight slides which have fewer words as:

– The author assumes most users will view the presentation on their own computer. – Having a dark background on a computer screen reduces glare.

The Color Wheel

Colors separated by another color are contrasting colors (also known as complementary) Adjacent colors (next to each other) harmonize with one another. e.g. Green and Yellow The color wheel below is simplified for easy use

Clashing Colors

Colors that are directly opposite from one another are said to clash. These provide readability - e.g. yellow on blue.

To make a slide stand out, change the font or background

YOU

Do not use the media to hide you The audience came to see you The media should enhance the presentation, not BE the presentation If all you are going to do is read from the slides or overheads, then just send them the slides Remember, only you can prevent “Death by PowerPoint”

You may also look up the following links for more help on presentations:

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadpres.html

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/templates/presentation.rtf

Don’t’ overrun the time

Keep to the time allowed. If you can, keep it short. It's better to under-run than over-run. As a rule of thumb, allow 2 minutes for each general overhead transparency or Powerpoint slide you use, but longer for any that you want to use for developing specific points. The general guidelines is, the audience will get bored with something on the screen for more than 5 minutes, especially if you are not actively talking about it. So switch the display off, or replace the slide with some form of 'wallpaper' such as a company logo.

No digressions please!

Stick to the plan for the presentation, don't be tempted to digress - you will eat up time and could end up in a dead-end with no escape!

Unless explicitly told not to, leave time for discussion - 5 minutes is sufficient to allow clarification of points. The session chairman may extend this if the questioning becomes interesting.

Body Language

Body Language is one of the most contributing factors for an effective presentation. You should learn to use your hands effectively – not moving too fast nor keeping them too still. Making an eye contact with every one and friendly smile always wins. Your movements should be natural. Too hurried pacing or standing still are not advisable.

Eye contact: This helps to regulate the flow of communication. It signals interest in others and increases the speaker's credibility. Speakers who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.

One key element of facial expression is eye contact. It is estimated that 80 percent of nonverbal communication takes place with your face and eyes. Eye contact is the cement that binds together speakers and their audiences. When you speak, your eyes involve your listeners in your presentation There is no faster way to break a communication bond between you and the audience than failing to look at your listeners. No matter the size of your audience, each listener wants to feel that you are talking directly to him or her. Looking at your listeners as individuals convinces them that you are sincere are interested in them, and

care whether or not they accept your message. Effective eye contact is also an important feedback device that makes the speaking situation a two-way communication process. By looking at your audience, you determine how they are reacting to your presentation. How to use your eyes effectively? Your eyes convey a message to your audience. Here are tips to help you use your eyes to better communicate with your audience. Establish a visual bond. Select one person and maintain eye contact with that person long enough to establish a visual bond, about five to ten seconds. Then shift your gaze to another person. In a small group, this is relatively easy. With larger crowds it's difficult. Instead select one or two individuals in each section of the room and establish personal bonds with them. This will leave each listener with the impression you're talking directly to him or her. Monitor visual feedback. While you are talking, your listeners are responding with their own nonverbal message such as a smile or nod of the head. Use your eyes to seek out this valuable feedback. If individuals aren't looking at you, they may not be listening, either. Reasons for this include the following: Problem Solution They can't hear you.

If you are not using a microphone, speak louder

They are bored. Use humor, increase your vocal variety, or add powerful gestures or body movements.

They are puzzled. Repeat or rephrase what you have just said. They are fidgeting nervously.

You may be using distracting mannerisms. Heighten your self-awareness of your voice and body language.

On the other hand, if your listener's faces indicate interest and close attention, don't change a thing. You're doing a great job.

Facial Expressions: Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth, and liking. So, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm, and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and others will react favourably. They will be more comfortable around you and will want to listen to you more. Practice smiling. By smiling you are conveying the message that you are pleased to be speaking to your audience. This makes them feel more comfortable, which in turn affects how you relate to your audience.

Gestures: If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be perceived as boring and stiff. A lively speaking style captures attention, makes the material more interesting, and facilitates understanding.

Posture and body orientation : You communicate numerous messages by the way you talk and move. Standing erect and leaning forward communicates that you are approachable, receptive, and friendly. Interpersonal closeness results when you and your audience face each other. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided as it communicates disinterest.

Proximity: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with others. You should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading other's space. Some of these are: rocking, leg swinging, tapping, and gaze aversion. Typically, in large rooms, space invasion is not a problem. In most instances there is too much distance. To counteract this, move around the room to increase interaction with your audience. Increasing the proximity enables you to make better eye contact and increases the opportunities for others to speak.

Use your hands to emphasise points but don't indulge in to much hand waving. People can, over time, develop irritating habits. Ask colleagues occasionally what they think of your style.

Look at the audience as much as possible, but don't fix on an individual - it can be intimidating. Pitch your presentation towards the back of the audience, especially in larger rooms.

Don't face the display screen behind you and talk to it. Other annoying habits include:

• Standing in a position where you obscure the screen. In fact, positively check for anyone in the audience who may be disadvantaged and try to accommodate them.

• Muttering over a transparency on the OHP projector plate an not realising that you are blocking the projection of the image. It is preferable to point to the screen than the foil on the OHP (apart from the fact that you will probably dazzle yourself with the brightness of the projector)

Avoid moving about too much. Pacing up and down can unnerve the audience, although some animation is desirable.

Keep an eye on the audience's body language. Know when to stop and also when to cut out a piece of the presentation.

Delivery

One of the major criticisms of speakers is that they speak in a monotonous voice. Listeners perceive this type of speaker as boring and dull. People report that they learn less and lose interest more quickly when listening to those who have not learned to modulate their voices.

Speak clearly. Don't shout or whisper - judge the acoustics of the room.

Don't rush, or talk deliberately slowly. Be natural - although not conversational.

Deliberately pause at key points - this has the effect of emphasising the importance of a particular point you are making.

To make the presentation interesting, change your delivery, but not too obviously, eg:

• speed

• pitch of voice

Use a tape recorder so you can listen to yourself. This will identify how much you vary the tone of your voice; any points you might want to emphasise; and the amount of enthusiasm you communicate.

Do not use artificial accent. Be yourself. Trying to imitate American accent many times create comic relief to the audience.

Question-Answer Session

Ooops.. The presentation is over. You have made your well-prepared sure-to win presentation. Now you try to heave a sigh of relief. Wait.. not so fast. The lasting im0ression is always made with Q&A session. It is here the really interested ill interact with you. It is here you show your knowledge about the subject. There may be a few non-serious audience who sneak out on some pretext, don’t get discouraged. If questions are slow in coming, you can start things off by asking a question of the audience - so have one prepared.

Although some people get a perverse pleasure from putting others on the spot, and some try to look good in front of the boss, most people ask questions from a genuine interest. Questions do not mean you did not explain the topic well, but that their interest is deeper than the average audience.

If a presentation has already been made earlier before on the same topic, keep your response for such likely questions ready Listen to the question carefully and patiently Don’t presume the question. If you do not know the answer for a specific question, don’t bluff. Be honest, tell them that you don’t know it and would find out and mail him. If you have a hostile question you could use your sense of humour. If you are not blessed with a sense, at least be cool. Never lose your temper. Quickly move on to the next question. When a question that is not relevant to the presentation is asked, it is appropriate to point it out politely that question is not relevant and the group should focus on the issues at hand. Don’t debate. Stick to facts. There is no need to be very persuasive, be informative. No matter how hard you try, not everyone in the world will agree with you!

While a question is being asked, focus on who asks, but when you respond, look at the entire audience. This will indicate that matter concerns everyone. When you re running out of time, signal it. Announce before hand that there is time for only one more question.

Answers that last 10 to 40 seconds work best. If they are too short, they seem abrupt; while longer answers appear too elaborate. Also, be sure to keep on track. Do not let off-the-wall questions sidetrack you into areas that are not relevant to the presentation.

Make a good conclusion even after Q&A session. This will help you summarize the presentation and the important issues raised during the session.

Finally ...,

Enjoy yourself. The audience will be on your side and want to hear what you have to say!

Preparation and knowledge are the pre-requisites for a successful presentation, but confidence and control are just as important.

Remember and apply Eleanor Roosevelt's maxim that "no-one can intimidate me without my permission".

Remember also that "Depth of conviction counts more than height of logic, and enthusiasm is worth more than knowledge",

Good presenting is about entertaining as well as conveying information. As well, people retain more if they are enjoying themselves and feeling relaxed. So whatever your subject and audience, try to find ways to make the content and delivery enjoyable - even the most serious of occasions, and the driest of subjects, can be lifted to an enjoyable or even an amusing level one way or another with a little research, imagination, and humour.

Quotes are a wonderful and easy way to stimulate emotions and feelings, and of course quotes can be used to illustrate and emphasise just about any point or concept you can imagine. Research and collect good quotations and include then in your notes. Memorise one or two if you can because this makes the delivery seem more powerful. Always credit the source of quotes you use.

See the funny quotations and inspirational quotes webpages for ideas and examples.

Team Presentations

While many business professionals re still responsible for giving individual presentations, the tea presentations are becoming an important part of today’s corporate culture. Understanding how to approach the task of working as a team and working through the steps in systematic way will ensure the success of your writing and presentation projects. The normal temptation for a team is to select one who is the best speaker and nominate that person to do the entire presentation. Sometimes it does not work all that well. The simple reason is that if the work is of the entire team, all the members should be involved.. It does not matter if there are variations in the levels of presentation skills. The expertise that each one brings into the team makes up this minor lacuna. Further, demonstrating the commitment of all team members to the presentation can enhance the team’s credibility and drive home the message creditably.

Let's first acknowledge that in some ways, team and solo presentations are alike. Both rely on the same fundamentals—setting objectives, preparing, structuring, and then presenting with the right skills and techniques. But the similarities pretty much end there, and the recognition that you're now part of a team becomes all-important. To be successful, a team presentation must come off as just that: a team presentation.

Every team should have a team leader, one who leads the team in deciding on the specific outcome to be achieved. Most important, the team leader should guide, not dictate. The leader's job really is to facilitate the process of deciding objectives and key messages. What response does the team want from its audience? If the team is successful, what will happen?

Deciding who should present what topics depends on your overall objectives and the command of the content each person has. Among close colleagues, that's usually an easy decision. In any case, consider the special knowledge and job experience of each member and how that fits into the overall scheme. That's more important than picking team members based on rank alone.

Consistency applies as well to the use of visuals. It's best to have a single template, with everyone following the same design guidelines. Use the same color coding and consistent font style and size throughout. And, of course, stick with the same graphics software.

Rehearse as a group—early and often

Run through all the presentations. Focus on how each one is structured. Review visuals. Clearly establish everyone's role and how the presentations link to one another. Get used to one another's speaking styles and especially, strengths and weaknesses. Is there too much content? Too little? Is there overlap? Do the presentations complement and support one another? Do they flow logically? Are they aligned with your objectives? The team should also prepare for Q&A's as a group. That means anticipating questions that are likely to come up and agreeing as a team on the answers. Also agree in advance on the team member or members who are best suited to respond to a given question

You're "on," even when you're not speaking.

In a team presentation, everyone is being watched, not just the presenter. So stay alert. Listen. Show interest in what's being said. Remember: your body language can convey a positive or negative message.. Don't slouch or look bored. And unless it's absolutely necessary, do not whisper an aside to another team member. Also pay attention to the audience. You may pick up signs helping you to gauge audience response. That can be useful if you are yet to present.

General Guidelines for Making Team Presentations

1. The responsibility of answering questions towards the end of the presentation could be distributed according to individual’s specialisation and aptitude. But care should be taken that all members of the team are familiar with the steps and content of the presentation.

2. Practice the presentation as a team, especially when it is made through written material. This will give the presentation good cohesion without it being isolated pieces of information.

3. Introduce yourself and the other members of the team at the beginning of the presentation itself. Give an outline of the presentation and inform the audience who will do it what.

4. Always use ‘we’ in stead of ‘I’.

5. Make clear and smooth transition from presenter to presenter. “Now that I have talked about the financial part, our dietician will make a brief presentation about the food you should be taking for keeping yourself fit and healthy.”

6. Follow a uniform pattern in visual aids. If you are using Microsoft Power point, use consistent template as a package. If the format, medium and appearance are consistent, it will help to knit the parts of presentations together.

Dos and Don’ts for good presentations

• Do not put both hands in your pockets for long periods of time. This tends to make you look unprofessional. It is OK to put one hand in a pocket to ensure there is no loose change or keys to jingle around as they will distract the listeners.

• Do not lean on the podium for long periods. The audience may begin to wonder when you are going to fall over.

• Speak to the audience...NOT to the visual aids, such as flip charts or overheads. Also, do not stand between the visual aid and the audience. Now-a-days LCD projectors are hung from the ceiling; so there may not be this problem.

• Speak clearly and loudly enough for all to hear. Do not speak in a monotone voice. Use inflection to emphasize your main points.

• Use coloured backgrounds for your slides (such as yellow) as the bright white light can be harsh on the eyes. This will quickly cause your audience to tire.

• It would make your presentation very effective if you know at least some names of your audience. If they are wearing badges, or if you have a list of them with photographs, you can do that. It will clearly tell them that you are interested in your work.

• Listen intently to comments and opinions, rather than dismissing them. The audience will feel that their ideas, comments, and opinions are worthwhile.

• Move around the room as you speak. This movement creates a physical closeness to the audience. But do it slowly.

• Get to the presentation before your audience arrives; be the last one to leave.