Presentation Skills: Making Successful Pitches Carolyn McNicholas

1. Presentation Skills: Making Successful PitchesCarolyn McNicholas

2. Fear of Public Speaking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R6IVLwCCls

3. Great Presenters

4. This Lecture Covers • Pre-preparation planning • Presentation structure • Visual aids • Presentation effectiveness • Overcoming fear

5. Pre-Preparation Planning • What are you presenting? • What are your objectives? How do you achieve them? • Any constraints? • Who are our audience? What are their expectations?

6. Is Your Goal • To familiarise/inform the audience? • Explain a concept? • Present results, facts, figures? • Convince the audience? • Accept our conclusions • Agree on recommendations • Contribute funds • Buy • Invest / Lend • Job offer

7. Pass an Assessment ! Wow! Fantastic !!

8. 5 mins Assessed on • Communication and impact • Originality of presentation • Structure of argument • Value proposition clear • General impression • European dimension – where launch • Cultural understanding

9. Cultural Understanding? • Need to explain the concept • May need to familiarise/inform the audience • Reflect on cultural and commercial implications http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfGeacdMe70

10. Start to Visualise the Presentation

11. Constraints • Location • Time allotment • Time slot • Team skills / credentials • Equipment needs / availability • Audience

12. Know Your Audience • Number • Professional status / education / gender / ethnicity • Reasons for attending / expectations • Anticipate likes / dislikes

13. Audiences want .... • To feel you know your subject • To see you look the part and have prepared • To be informed

14. Audiences do not want .... • To be confused • To be bored • To be blinded by new words, by jargon • Low hanging fruit, • Let’s shoot the puppy • Could we park that one • Think outside the box • Too much detail • To be talked down to • To waste their time Read your audience!

15. INVITE THE RIGHT AUDIENCE ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggMFwdQkK2k

16. Presentation Structure • Brainstorming • Visualise the content • Be selective • Must Have • Should Have • Nice to Have • Sort into categories • Beginning / middle / end

17. Structure Then, tell them The Main Body Then, tell them what you have told them Closer Tell them what you are going to tell them Opener

18. Openers ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression’ Attention Benefits Credentials Direction

19. Attention Grabbers • News item • Question • Quotation • Ice Breaker • Fact • Joke • Drama • Story or anecdote

20. Closers • Recap main points • Repeat benefits • Call to action • Lasting Impression

21. Sequence of Main Points • Chronological • Problem to Solution • Project Progress • Causes to Effect • Escalating (Smallest to Largest) • Must sell the benefits • KISS

22. Information can be Expressed • Visually • With words • With numbers • With graphs • With artwork • With photographs or sound clips

23. Visual Aids

24. Why use presentational aids? • To display your technological proficiency • To show that you speak the language • To facilitate communication of your message

25. Audience Retention After 3 hrs After 3 days Tell Only 70% 10% Show Only 72% 20% Show and Tell 85% 65%

26. Text Visuals • Six by six rule for text • Use one idea per visual • Don’t have too many slides • Use CAPITALS and small letters • Minimum font size 26 • Check spelling, grammar, numbers, consistency

27. Use Colour for Contrast / Persuasion Severity Black Growth Green Danger Red Peaceful Blue Enthusiasm Yellow Innocence White Energy Orange

28. Colour and Perception

29. Beware Power Point http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck

30. Presentational Aids are Addictive • Do not hide behind technology • Technology can fail • Bring back-up copies • On different storage media • Remember handouts and takeaways • The most important presentational aid is YOU!

31. Presentation Effectiveness • What we say 7% • How we say it 38% • Body Language 55%

32. Vocal Image • Pitch • Pace • Volume • Pauses

33. Visual Image • Posture • Gestures • Dress • Eye Contact • Never look at the screen • Cue cards vs script

34. Overcoming Fear ‘mangling the language, destroying its meaning by avoiding the use of verbs, twisting nouns into verbs and endlessly repeating phrases until they become zombified’ ‘misunderestimate’

35. Causes of Fear • Forgetting what to say • Not being perfect or knowledgeable • People will judge us • Negative reaction from audience • Losing the audience • Equipment failure

36. Never • Say you are nervous • Say you are unprepared • Admit you have forgotten anything • Tell negative stories • Rush to finish • Apologise

37. Summary • Plan • Pre preparation, know constraints • Practice • Rehearse (again and again) and refine • Bring backup copies • Present • With confidence • Have fun – visualise success • Post mortem • Get feedback • Follow up

38. Good ideas can be rejected! Bessemer Venture Partners rejected FedEx (7 times), PayPal, Cisco Systems AND .... “outrageously expensive” Students? A new search engine? No Source : http://www.bvp.com/port/anti.asp

39. Any questions?