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Making Powerful Presentations and Posters: Connecting with your Audience. 20 October 2009 (v2). Carl Thormeyer KSBW-TV8 (NBC). Giving a Talk? Presenting a Paper? Ask these Questions!. What? Why? Who? How? Where? When?. Ask these Questions:.
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Making Powerful Presentationsand Posters:Connecting with your Audience 20 October 2009 (v2) Carl Thormeyer KSBW-TV8 (NBC)
Giving a Talk?Presenting a Paper?Ask these Questions! • What? • Why? • Who? • How? • Where? • When?
Ask these Questions: • What do I want to talk about? (Intent) • Why do I want to talk about it? (Purpose) • Who do I want to tell it to? (Audience • Who will I actually be talking to? Analysis) • What am I going to say? (Audience “Needs”) • How am I going to say it? (Content) • How will I develop my speech? (Structure) • Where will I be speaking? (Location) • When am I going to speak? (Time? Length?)
What do I want to talk about? • Personal Experiences? • (Tell me a story…) • Professional Knowledge and Expertise? • (What do I have to offer?) • Selling an Idea? • (Sales and Marketing; Obtaining Funding) • As Entertainment? • (again, tell me a story!)
Why do I want to talk about it? • General Purpose: • To Inform • To Entertain • To Persuade • Specific Purpose: • Exchange technical information among peers • Entertain a group gathered to hear me speak • Convince my listeners to adopt my point of view
Who do I want to tell it to? • Classroom of Students • Professional Society Meeting • After Dinner Crowd • Someone who can Fund my Project!
What am I going to say? What are the needs of my audience? What do they want to hear? Why should they listen to me? They ask: - “Why should I care?” - “What’s in it for me?”
How am I going to say it? • In lay language? • As a highly technical presentation? • As entertainment?
How will I develop my speech? • By using “groups of three” • With effective organization • Through effective use of visual aids (Keep it simple!!!)
Slide Etiquette • Positioning • Look at the audience • Don’t block the view of a slide • Avoid “death by viewgraph” (fewer is better) • Slide content • Use “bullets”, not paragraphs! (6x6 rule) • Never read a slide! • Pictures are better than words
Oh, by the way…. What About Posters?
Successful Posters • Importance / Relevance (Why should I care?) • Presentation (Visually appealing and attractive?) (Don’t post the pages of your paper!) • Technical Merit Scientific value and accuracy? • Understandability (Do I “get it”? Understand it ?)
Where will I be speaking? • Classroom? • Auditorium? • Banquet room? • Is there a stage? • How about a lectern? • What about microphones? What types? ------------------------------------------------------ • Poster location? Power? Table? Chair?
When am I going to speak? • Confirming the session… • Time of day? Length of speech? • Poster up on time!!! Rules of Time - Know what time it is at all times! - Never go overtime! - Always have time for questions / interaction.
Execution • Don’t read or memorize a paper word-for-word • Give credit where credit is due • Have a positive message • Tell your own story • Be the authority!
Resources • Toastmasters International Manuals www.toastmasters.org • Presentations that Persuade and Motivate • Harvard Business School Press (2004) • The Toastmasters International Guide to Successful Speaking • Dearborn Financial Publishing, Inc. (1997) • AMS Speakers Guide www.ametsoc.org