Your professional association is having its annual workshop. You have been asked to lead one of the training conferences.
What a nice complement! Someone believes what you have to say will be interesting, helpful, informative, or inspirational—perhaps all of the above. You are delighted. You accept. The date goes on your calendar; it seems very far away. You tell yourself you have lots of time to prepare. After all, you have been asked to present a topic you know about. (if the subject is one you don’t know about, decline the invitation—or suggest a more familiar topic.) How tough can this be?
The answer begs another question, “How effective do you want to be?” Delivering a successful presentation takes effort. It absolutely can be tough. But you can do it.
Appreciate audience dynamics
Before planning even one word of your presentation, give serious thought to the dynamics at work in a training session.
Sally—a typical attendee—and the other assistants are attending because they feel a need for information, encouragement, inspiration, or help. They come to your conference hoping you will give them what they need. You, as the presenter, want some things too—a positive response, interaction with the participants, personal fulfillment, recognition of your expertise.
The first goal of the effective presenter is to meet the individual needs of those in the audience. Focus on this primary objective; keep it in the forefront of your planning. Everything else builds from this important premise. Nearly anyone can lecture, but presenting an effective conference moves beyond lecturing to involvement. To meet Sally’s needs, you must focus on Sally—not on you.
With these dynamics firmly in mind—they tend to slip away unless you conscientiously keep them in focus—you are ready to start work on your presentation.
Know your assignment
The first step in your preparation is to have a clear understanding of what is expected. Know:
• precisely what your topic is
• when you are to start and finish
• what comes before and after on the program
• where you will be speaking
• room setup
• equipment available
• number of people expected
• as much about the audience as possible
Information gives you confidence as you prepare. It is your responsibility to ask for specifics as well as for anything you need to do your work well.
Create a good first impression
Recall the last conference you attended. Whether you spent an hour or a day there, very likely you formed an opinion of the speaker within the first two minutes.
As a speaker your preparation and attitude are apparent to your audience almost immediately. Not only is a first impression formed very quickly, it influences to a large degree everything following.
Be prepared—especially for those crucial two minutes when Sally is making up her mind about your credibility. You want to establish “presence.”
Presence is the ability to project self-confidence, assurance, poise, authenticity, knowledgeability, and preparedness. To establish your presence:
• Practice good posture.
• Own the platform. In most instances where a speaker’s stand is used, you will want to move out from behind it often.
• Dress comfortably. Choose clothes and shoes that look and feel good.
• Treat yourself well. Being healthy and rested helps you feel and do your best.
• Spiritually prepare. Trust God to bless your efforts and to guide and direct what you do and say.
• Skip apologies. Know the speaker who starts by saying how uncomfortable she is, how she isn’t good at this, or something of the kind? You can do so much better. Remember: to meet Sally’s needs, you must focus on Sally—not on you.
• Know your subject. Not just what you will present, but more. Knowing your subject well gives you an inner confidence that adds to your presence.
• Speak with authority. Your audience wants you to give them answers. Make clear statements. Qualifiers like “I think,” “someone said,” “maybe,” “sort of,” “might,” “kind of,” and “someone wrote” weaken your facts and undermine your credibility.
• Show enthusiasm. Use what you know about the audience to establish things you have in common. Authentic interest overshadows a lot of inadequacies; the best techniques fall short without energy.
• Use eye contact. From the moment you step to the platform, look at the individuals in the group. You will immediately notice some exceptionally receptive faces. You may notice some not-so-receptive ones too. The tendency is to “play” to the non-receptives and try to win them over. Don’t. Focus on the positive majority.
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For the entire series, click on the link that follows:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Please share your thoughts, comments, questions!