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How to Give a “Knockout” Presentation

Lawrence Business Management and Finance

High School

Sybille Gray

Cisco Master Presenter

April 28, 2011

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Agenda

• Introductions

• Importance of Presentation Skills

• General Guidelines - POPTA

• Presentation Design: Slide Do’s and Don’ts Handouts PowerPoint Navigation

• Delivery Do’s and Don’ts How to Handle Questions

• Final Thoughts

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Introductions

One Minute Introductions -

Name

Grade

Hobby / Talent

Name

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Introduction – Sybille Gray

• Master Presenter

• Presentation mastery through Toastmasters International and Mandell Communications

• Held workshops as President of Power Imaging Consulting and also for subject matter experts at Cisco, Inc.

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Importance

of

Mastering

Presentation Skills

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Why are presentation skills important?

• Job Hunting

- Speak better in Inteviews

• Academia (Crucial to Tenure) Conferences, Seminars, Teaching classes

• Industry (Way of Life) Training, Project Reports, Reports to Management

• Other Speaking in church, politics, fund raising,

community service, etc.

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General Guidelines

A good presentation is a “POPTA” presentation

What does POPTA stand for?

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General Guidelines

POPTA

• Purpose

• Organization

• Preparation

• Time

• Audience

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General Guidelines

for

“POPTA”

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General Guidelines

• Purpose

Define your purpose for your presentation Teach, Persuade, Prove, Review, Impress, Put to

Sleep, Entertain?

What do I want my audience to gain?

What might they already know about my topic?

Often your goal is a high level overview, even for a technical presentation

Don’t tell them everything you did, you’ll bore them

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General Guidelines

• Organization

Always have an outline Introduction – Body – Conclusion

Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them

Hint: I am doing this for this presentation

Problem then solution

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General Guidelines

• Introductions should … Speakers Name Include agenda Clarify the goals and objectives

• Introductions can … Include overview of a situation Statement of current situation Recap of history (Timeline) Use strategies to get attention: quote,

question, humor, creative image, anecdote

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General Guidelines

• Body

Chronological/Order

Narrative/Story

Problem/Solution

Cause/Effect

Topical/Subject: American Students - Business

Journalistic Question: Who? – Why? – What? – Where? - To Whom? – When? – How?

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General Guidelines

• Conclusion

Summarize the main points of your presentation

Provide closure and leave an impression

Recommendations, future directions, next steps

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General Guidelines

• Preparation An unprepared presenter loses the

audience before even starting Practice makes perfect and builds

confidence Arrive early, make sure everything is set up Dress appropriately – Business attire

Better to dress up than down

Slides should be done well in advance

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General Guidelines

• Time Be sure you know how much time you have while

preparing the presentation Not 5 minutes before you start

It is better to end early than to go over Always have a watch or clock in view

You’ll never have enough time to tell everything - stick to the most important points

Rule of thumb At most 1 slide per minute of presentation Better to plan 2 minutes for each slide

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General Guidelines

• Audience Be sure you know your audience well

Tailor presentation to your audience Failure to do this is probably the biggest mistake people

make

You should never give the same presentation twice

Are there multiple audiences? If so, direct different slides to different audiences

Watch the audience for clues

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Presentation Design:

Slide Do’s and Don’ts

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Presentation Design: Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• “PowerPoint doesn’t give presentations – PowerPoint makes slides” From microsoft.com website

• Comments should be more compelling than the slides

• Don’t put everything on the slide K.I.S.S. Principle

• Make bullet points consistent in structure

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word only

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Do include 50% white space

• Do make it obvious which section of your outline you’re in

• Do make each slide stand on its own Generally 1 main point for each slide

• Do use animation Don’t overuse it

Makes it difficult and annoying to navigate

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Make slide pictorial – Graphs, flowcharts

• Include written conclusion, meaningful labels, titles, captions, to graphs

Perc

enta

ge

IndustryAcademiaNoYesNoYes

100

80

60

40

20

0

Percentage of People Needing Presentation Skills

Conclusion - It is important to learn presentation skills!

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t use yellow text Do use dark text and bold

• Do use formatting and color to emphasize (e.g. POPTA)

• Don’t include unrelated pictures

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t include periods at the end of a

bullet.• Do include a journal name with a

reference Jensen, Jones-Farmer, Champ, and Woodall (2006,

Journal of Quality Technology)

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Two main classifications of fonts

- Serif - small flourishes extending from main

strokes of each letter

- San serif – straight and clean

• Do not use serif fonts - Times New Roman

• Do use sans serif fonts – Arial• Minimum font size for most rooms – 20 pt

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t just copy formulas and equations from your work (dissertation, paper, etc.) Also known as “equationitis”

Do use formulas and equations sparingly

Do explain all notation used

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Do chek yor speling for mestakes Typos instantly destroy credibility and convey

lack of preparation

Do have someone else read through presentation

• Do acknowledge previous work and help

• Do use a template if using PowerPoint

• Do put title slide at the end

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Do use a light background like this

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Or like this

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Or like this

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t use a dark background like this Even if using a lighter font color

Harder to read, especially from the back

More likely to put people asleep

Handouts often don’t look very good

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Slide Do’s and Don’ts

• Do use occasional “spice” or “pace breakers” Humor

Pictures

Sound

Animation

Questions (Not just Yes/No)

Surveys

Quizzes

Videos

Physical Objects

Top Ten Lists

Etc.

For example . . .A pace breaker can do this for your audience

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Handouts

• Use them if they help achieve your objective Especially for technical presentations

Greatly increases retention

• Often best to pass out at the end You want to keep the audience engaged

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Navigation in PowerPoint

• Always go through your presentation in slide show mode before giving it Multiple times

• Use keyboard short cuts, not the mouse

• F1 (in slide show mode) To bring up the list of all shortcut keys

(Escape to hide the list)

Use this while practicing to help you learn the navigation

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Navigation in PowerPoint

• To start slide show mode F5 (Automatically takes you to start of

presentation)

• To end slide show mode Escape

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Navigation in PowerPoint

• Home To go to the beginning slide

• End To go to last slide

• Type the slide #, then Enter To jump to any particular slide

• B Black screen

• W White screen

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Delivery

Do’s and Don’ts

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Delivery Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t read or “parrot” the slides Otherwise, why give a presentation?

• Do use the slides as a cue Let audience read

• Do use pointers sparingly They magnify nervousness

Create slides and use animation that emphasize your points

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Delivery Do’s and Don’ts

• Do plan breaks for longer presentations 10 minutes for every hour

Break – show slide # ? of Polar Bear

• Do be passionate about the topic Have fun, this is your opportunity

If your audience doesn’t know why your topic is important, you’ve lost them

• Don’t forget to practice Record yourself, tape yourself, or use a mirror

Reading through slides does not count as practice

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Delivery Do’s and Don’ts

• Do relax, use nerves to your advantage Breathe deeply, pause as needed

Don’t go too fast

Do watch out for mannerisms “Um . . um”

Pause instead of using “um”

• Do empty your pockets and hands

• Don’t point at computer, point at the screen

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Delivery Do’s and Don’ts

• Do use body language to help make a point Purposeful movements

• Do use appropriate posture Don’t slouch

Sitting implies informality

• Do move around if possible Don’t pace

Don’t be hyperactive

Center yourself, rearrange setup if needed

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Delivery Do’s and Don’ts

• Do face audience more than slides Don’t talk to the screen or wall

• Do vary your voice Don’t speak in monotone

Most people speak too soft, not too loud

• Do memorize slide numbers for key slides Or transition points

• Do get honest feedback from someone you trust

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Delivery Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t forget to smile

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Just Before You Present

30 Second Detail Check in front of mirror:

• Stains

• Earrings

• Teeth

• Nylons

• Buttons

• Hair

• Shoes

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Dress Professionally

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Handling Questions

• Welcome them Lots of questions are either a sign of:

Interest in what you are talking about– Audience internalizing

Failure to communicate an idea– Meaning that the person still wants to

understand

• Always repeat the question

1. For you to make sure you understood it

2. For audience to make sure they heard it

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Handling Questions

• Answer the question to the audience Then check back to the individual for

confirmation

• Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” Better than mumbling or fumbling an

answer

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Agenda Review

• Introductions

• Importance of Presentation Skills

• General Guidelines - POPTA

• Presentation Design: Slide Do’s and Don’ts Handouts PowerPoint Navigation

• Delivery Do’s and Don’ts How to Handle Questions

• Final Thoughts

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Final thoughts

• POPTA

• Good slides go a long way

• Practice, practice, practice

• Remember that the audience wants you to succeed

• Use other resources (Books, web, etc.)

• Dress for success

• Anyone can learn to be a better presenter!

• MUCH SUCCESS!

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How to Give a “Knockout” Presentation

Lawrence Business Management and Finance

High School

Sybille Gray

Cisco Master Presenter

April 28, 2011