background for presentation

background for presentation

The Power of Effective Presentations

1. Introduction

The book you hold in your hands is about the power of effective presentation. The word presentation contains all kinds of connotations; it is, for some, a term laden with the boredom of school lessons, endured rather than enjoyed. For others, it suggests only a formal set-piece, scheduled into the working day but not much related to the real business of trying to influence the thinking or attitudes of others. We mean something more general. Every time you present your ideas to others, in a sense you are making a presentation, whether it is in a formal speech or in a more informal way, as when you are trying to get your point across at a meeting or persuade others of the merits of your case. And we are concerned with all these situations. Our objective is to provide insights into communication and then show how you can apply them to improve your own powers of persuasion in any situation.

2. Understanding the Audience

This is an essential area of presentation preparation. If you are unclear about whom you are speaking to, how can you expect to prepare an effective presentation? The first step in understanding your audience is to consider the time and its context. What this means is you need to think about when and where your presentation is taking place. In simplistic terms, what worked for an audience last year may not work for the same audience in the coming year; it is no longer relevant. Always ask yourself what you want the audience to do after they have heard your presentation. A presentation may be to educate people about an issue, persuade people to change their attitude, or try to stop them from doing something. Your aim may be for the audience to think deeply about an issue, and the nature of the issue may affect the way you present as well. An audience may be a very diverse group of people or a relatively homogenous group. You may need to employ different communication techniques to engage these two different kinds of audiences. Another major factor in understanding your audience is to consider the prior attitude of the audience towards the issue that you are presenting. An audience that has already made a decision or choice in response to an issue holds a strong position on that issue. It can be very difficult to try and move that audience from their initial position. Audience members on the opposite side of the argument to yours may react negatively to your presentation and act defensively as well. It is key in such situations to be non-confrontational and to try and consider the argument from the perspective of the opposite side. This kind of audience may be a long way from agreeing with your position, but you may have very small steps that you want the audience to take, and it is important that you outline what these steps are.

3. Crafting a Compelling Message

Your ability to answer these questions effectively will determine your message strategy and how it is organized. The primary goal is to focus on message clarity and the simplification of complex ideas. Your message will be more persuasive and effective if the audience understands it. This can often result in a change in position, adoption of a new behavior or reinforcement of existing attitudes or decisions. Simply put, the message should answer the question, “So what?” A compelling message successfully meets the communication objectives and is understood and accepted by the audience. Here are some additional guidelines to ensure your message is effectively crafted into something that is meaningful and relevant to the audience.

Ultimately, your listeners will evaluate your presentation based on whether or not it meets their specific needs. To create a message that is relevant and meaningful, put yourself in the shoes of the audience. To hit the mark, answer the following questions: – What are the audience’s expectations? (Why are they present?) – What is the level of knowledge and interest in the topic? – What is the situation in which the message will be received? – What results are anticipated from the presentation? – What will be the impact to the audience if they accept your message? – What resistant beliefs or attitudes will the message have to overcome?

4. Delivering with Impact

4.1 Focused content Determine the goal of your presentation. What do you want the audience to do, believe, or know after you have finished speaking? Craft your message with this goal in mind. Do not dilute your message with information that is not crucial to your presentation goal. A focused presentation is much more powerful than a wandering discussion that leaves the audience wondering, “What was the point?” Consider the needs, values, and knowledge of your audience. How is what you are talking about relevant to them? Any good idea can be tailored to be most meaningful to a particular audience. This does not mean that you have to alter your beliefs or compromise your values to communicate with different groups, but you do have to show how your idea is relevant to them.

Do you care if your message reaches your audience? Your ability to present with impact is the most important skill for accomplishing this. Here are the factors that contribute to creating and delivering a presentation with impact.

5. Conclusion

Finally, armed with a strong understanding of how presentations can affect communication and learning, I offered some general tips on presentation. Some of this advice was spoken in a context that would suggest the use of a slide show, but it is important for the reader to think beyond this. As mentioned in chapter two, displays are not solely limited to slide shows, and speakers may at times opt for a more simplistic or symbolic visual aid. This may still fall under the category of good display. Overall, these tips were offered to show that effective presentations are attainable to anyone who puts time and effort into it. High quality display and presentation is a skill in itself, and with the right attitude it can be mastered.

In chapter three I moved on to the concept of display and the ways in which different forms of it can increase the listener’s understanding and retention of a message. In today’s society most people will think of PowerPoint as the tool for presentations slide shows, and I too, briefly looked at the do’s and don’ts of this medium. But I also pointed out that display is not limited to presentations, and that effective presenters are able to use visual aids outside of slide shows to enhance a message. The information I provided on these two chapters illustrates to present as an exchange of information between speaker and listener. ActionResult focused on a few nine squares summarizing the two aspects of the exchange-action and result. Although presentations differ, most speakers wish to achieve a particular desired result, whether it is informing listeners about a new workplace protocol, or selling an idea that something needs to be done about global warming. I pointed out that too often the message in which the presenter is trying to convey is not the same message that is received by the listeners. This is usually due to a cluttered message or misinterpretation. The material reviewed thus far has shown us how effective presentations can enhance information exchange and increase understanding of the speaker’s intended message.

In this essay, I have examined the importance of effective presentations. I have relied heavily on the work of psychologists A. W. Comme and E. E. Serviss to provide a firm foundation for my discussions. I began with a look at the two different types of memory – immediate memory and lasting memory. Using Comme and Serviss’s model, I discussed how effective presentations can promote retention of information in both aspects of memory. I then moved on to point out that presentations are not only a series of spoken words, and that both verbal and non-verbal communication can affect how a message is received.