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Your
Presentation Success Is Our Passion
Present It Right...The First Time!
DO
YOU GET IN YOUR OWN WAY?
"Can
I walk around when I talk?" "What's wrong with standing
on the right side of the screen?" "Why can't I use the
arrow keys to move my slides forward, or get someone else to do
it for me?"
What happens
when you get in your own way as you present? You dilute the message,
distracting both the audience and yourself. You lose the intent
and focus of the talk. Here are some ideas on how not to get in
your own way.
Walk,
don't shuffle: Walking from one specific spot to another
is fine, but beware of shuffling from foot to foot - it's distracting
to your audience. If you're not sure you're a shuffler, then stand
on a piece of paper. People who shuffle usually rock from side
to side moving their feet ever so slightly or rock back and forth.
You will hear the paper noise as you move from one foot to the
other. Do, however, plan to walk to and stand in several places.
Just be sure you don't block your audience's view of the screen.
Stand
to the left of the screen: In English as well as many
other languages, people read from left to right. By standing on
the left side of the screen (as your audience looks at it), the
audience sees you and then the slide. When you stand to the right
of the screen, your audience looks at you, then has to move their
eyes to the left to read the words from left to right, then sees
you again. That is distracting and more work for the eyes.
Arrow
keys: Your tasks as a presenter are, first, to talk to
your audience and engage their interest. Once you have their interest,
you must show your slides and explain them. That's enough for
one presenter to handle. When you add the task of looking down,
finding the arrow key, and then pushing it to go to the next slide,
that's too much. You lose eye contact with the audience and a
focus on the content of your slides. A remote mouse is much easier
to use. Just hold it by your side. You don't have to point it
at the screen - it's unnecessary and distracting.
Loss of focus
is also why you don't want someone else to advance your slides
for you, unless that person is reading your script as you talk.
Then he or she will know when to switch the slides. But if you
do not have a script, you have to keep looking at the person to
signal when to advance the slides.
To sum it
all up, make sure you don't get in your own way as you present.
You may wish to ask some colleagues these questions:
- Does my
walking distract from my talking? Am I actually walking, or
just shuffling my feet?
- Do I stand
where it's easy for the audience to see me as well as the screen
as they read the slide?
- Do I use
the remote mouse correctly, with no extraneous movement?
USE
THE COMMUNICATION STAIRCASE
Imagine you
are in a meeting and someone is showing financial information
about the company: how many products were sold last year; lists
of key costs. As you look at the data, you're not sure if you
should be happy or concerned. Are the numbers an improvement over
last year's? Do they fit within the projections made? How do trends
compare over the last few years?
The speaker
doesn't bother answering any of these questions, either on the
slides or in the narration. But the audience wants more than numbers.
To meet their needs, consider following the communication
staircase model.
Step
1: Convey the information. The first step is to convey
accurate information in a manner that your audience understands
and can read.
Step
2: Interpret the information. The second step is to interpret
the data. Tell your audience how these numbers compare to the
projections and what they mean for the company. Are these good
numbers? Should the audience be pleased with the information?
Step
3: Add to the information. Next, talk about the reasons
for the numbers. Add information that is not on the slide: manufacturing
issues, an influx of new customers that overburdened computer
systems.
Step
4: Share a vision. Finally, share your vision for the
future.
Here's an
example of a communication staircase, including brief statements
of the specifics for each step.
ARE
YOUR FILES TOO BIG TO E-MAIL?
Use a program
called NXPowerLite to reduce the file size. This program compressed
a 6.7 MB file to 1.1 MB and another 6.8 MB file to 4.2. NXPowerLite
is a single, stand-alone file that doesn't need to be installed-simply
save it somewhere on your PC such as on your Desktop. Double-click
the icon and browse to find the file you want to reduce, or drag
a PowerPoint presentation onto the NXPowerLite icon. That's it!
Go to www.nxpowerlite.com
for more information.
Another way
to reduce the size of your files is to turn off the "fast
save" feature. First close all your PowerPoint files. Then
go to Tools> Options>Save tab and uncheck the Allow fast
saves box. To learn more about the fast save feature and why you
should turn it off, go to http://office.microsoft.com/nb-no/assistance/HA011168771033.aspx
HOW
PEOPLE LEARN: MODALITY PRINCIPLE
USE ANIMATION PLUS NARRATION
The past few
months in Presentation Points, we've been talking about
Richard E. Mayer's principles about how people learn. A professor
of Psychology at UC Santa Barbara, Mayer has written many books
on education and learning, including Multi-Media Learning.
So far, we've discussed Mayer's:
- Multimedia
Principle: Use words and pictures, not words alone.
- Coherence
Principle: Focus your material, excluding extraneous
information.
- Spatial
Contiguity Principle: Present corresponding words and
pictures close together on the page or screen rather than far
away from each other.
This month,
we'll focus on:
- Modality
Principle: Use animation and narration rather than
animation and on-screen text.
Mayer's tests
have shown that people learn better when they see an animation
and hear the words that go with that animation. This method is
preferable to putting both animation and text on the screen. When
you show both animation and text, the learner is using only the
visual modality. But when you show the animation and talk about
it, the learner also exercises the auditory modality. Using both
channels to process the information is much more effective than
the visual channel alone.
Animation
with spoken text, not printed text
Here's a very simple example of the modality principle.
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Here
you see all the words that go with the pictures. |
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Now
you see fewer words. |
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Now
you see no words at all on the slide. This is often the best
option, especially when showing pictures of processes or flow
charts. |
AND
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
PRESENTERS
Be sure you don't get in your own way.
DESIGNERS
Try out the NXPowerLite compression program.
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