NEWSLETTERS
Seated Presentations To Time-Starved Executives
by
Roberta Prescott
THE CHALLENGE: Can
you get your message across past impatience and distractions?
THE SOLUTION: Make use of these tips:
-
Be ready
-
Control Your Body Language and Voice
-
Rehearse
BE READY:
For your agenda to be hijacked
The
Challenge: It will be rare to get through your entire presentation.
Many Senior Managers go off topic quickly. Your time can be cut
at will / you’ll probably begin later than you were told.
The
Solutions:
- If asked
for a ten-minute presentation prepare seven.
- Set
your agenda quickly up front.
- Learn how to cut your presentation on the fly.
- Color code
your notes for levels of importance – key
points that must be delivered in one color, secondary
and throwaway
points in other colors.
For
rude behavior
The Challenge: Participants using laptops to check e-mail,
talking on cell phones, bringing work to do, having side conversations.
Decision-maker leaves.
The Solutions:
- Be
analytical. Ask yourself Is the behavior a lack of meeting
etiquette? Or is the audience giving you
a message
that you are terminally boring? Or is
the timing
bad – you’re up last, and they’re up
against a deadline.
- Test
it by changing your timing or your voice, or engaging
these individuals in interaction.
- Use
a graceful disengagement to reschedule. e.g. “Let’s
allow time to digest, and then reconvene.”
CONTROL
BODY LANGUAGE AND VOICE:
Eyes
The
Challenge: Eye Contact is important..
The
Solutions:
- Use
your eye contact as an opportunity to gauge reactions
and interest. e.g.,
- Excess flipping through your
handout as an early
warning system.
- Do
look at the decision-maker, but not ALL of the time.
- Memorize your first 30 seconds so that you can have immediate eye contact.
Sitting
The Challenge: The way you’re viewed when seated often
speaks louder than your words.
The
Solutions:
- Use
a forward balanced position with both feet flat
on the ground, bearing some
of your weight – this
moves your body and energy forward.
Test it. Cross your legs and observe your
weight shifting backward in the chair.
- Maintain
good posture, alertly tall, but not stiff.
- Observe
the body language of television anchors.
Hands
The Challenge: Gestures, or the lack of them, can be self-defeating.
The
Solutions:
- Use
only a few well-chosen gestures. Keep them small if
you don’t want to spill your coffee or water
all over that
nice wooden table.
- If
you want to become a conductor take a music course. Otherwise
lose that pen. People will focus
on it instead
of you.
- Own
your space – no hands in your lap and shoulders
hunched forward.
- Mannerisms
indicate tension. Avoid playing with glasses, clicking
your pen, swinging in your chair
or over handling
your notes.
Voice
The Challenge: Your voice counts for 38% of your message
The
Solutions:
- Don’t
forget to breathe. Oxygen fuels your
voice.
- Slow
down. Plan pauses for timing / to breathe / to
think.
- To
avoid a monotone emphasize
key words vocally.
Don’t
rely on a prepared
text.
- Be
careful of vocal mannerisms – “um”, “you
know”,
“okay”,
basically”, etc. Instead, put your
lips together,
pause and breathe in through your nose.
REHEARSE:
The Challenge: “Winging It” doesn’t work.
The Solutions:
- Rehearsing
builds confidence so you can think quickly
on your feet.
- Note:
Your rehearsal will run 20% faster than your
presentation. Plan for it. Here’s
what to practice:
- Your
opening so your eyes are not in your notes.
- Your
outline / sequence of ideas.
- Your
transitions.
- The
rough spots.
©
The Prescott Group
