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	PRESENTERS: WHY CAN'T YOU RELAX?
	PRESENTERS: THE VISUAL AUDIENCE CHALLENGE
	DESIGNERS: CREATING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR YOUR PRESENTATION
	REFLECTIONS FROM PRESENTERS

WHY CAN'T YOU RELAX?

You're about to start presenting, and you feel jittery. As you do your opening, you still feel a bit edgy. By the end of your talk, you are calmer but still don't feel relaxed. Why? I am sure there are many reasons. Let's discuss one of them today.

Most people spend their lives hurrying from one place or one event to another. Rarely do they have time to enjoy themselves without the pressure of having to be somewhere else soon. They operate under the constant feeling of, "I'm almost late again for the meeting or for getting that work done. I've got to go faster." Their adrenalin kicks in and they keep going.

A presentation demands that you stop and be there with your audience. You aren't supposed to be thinking about the parent/teacher conference that night, the boss demanding a status report, or the car in the repair shop. You are supposed to be with your audience, body and mind, right here and now. But how can you possibly put yourself in a state that is so unfamiliar to most of us?

Ask yourself, "What do I do in my life that puts me in the moment, when my body and mind are just there and I'm not constantly thinking about the past or future?" For me it is dancing, Pilates and yoga several times a week, and the 10-to-30-minute contemplations I do every day. Others may attain that sense of space and timelessness just before they swing the golf club.

Consider what puts you in the moment and re-create that state of mind and body as you present. If you are a person who doesn't know how to stop, try this. Lie down on the floor in a quiet place. Set a timer for one to five minutes, and just lie there. Let yourself relax. Then the next time you stand in front of a group, remind your body and mind how you felt just lying there. You may be surprised when you feel calmer and more able to be there with your audience.

THE VISUAL AUDIENCE CHALLENGE

Recently in a seminar someone said, "I can't stand it when no one in the audience smiles or looks interested in what I am saying. I feel myself getting more nervous and more anxious as the minutes pass." This is a visually oriented person who gets her cues from the external world. Consequently, when she sees an audience that is expressionless and not giving her any feedback on what she is saying, she gets anxious. She usually ends up talking to the one or two people in the audience who are smiling and nodding as she talks.

If you are visually oriented, you must train yourself not to get upset if your audience is not giving you much of a positive reaction. They may just be people who don't show their reactions. They may be tired. They may be in a country or company whose culture is not to let others know what they are thinking. Many of the people in the audience may be more introverted not comfortable with outwardly showing their interest and excitement in your presentation.

Remember, body language can sometimes be useful, but it is not useful to base how your presentation is going solely by looking at your audience and seeing if they are smiling or nodding. If you have done your homework, analyzed your audience, know your topic is appropriate for them, and had people either from the audience or like the audience review your talk, you can tell yourself, "It's OK, I'm right on target." You know what you are saying makes sense to them. You don't need to have everyone externally demonstrating their appreciation for what you are saying.

CREATING AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR YOUR PRESENTATION

Here are four slides from our CD Slides That Win: Your Roadmap to Success. This CD has over 200 examples of good and bad PowerPoint slides. This example shows you how to create an executive summary. The summary makes it so much easier for your audience to understand the overall message of your presentation.

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Here's a note is from Jack Rumple. Thanks, Jack!

The April issue of Wilder's Presentation Points mentioned asking the audience questions and listening to them. I read an article in a magazine one time that was also about involving the audience. One quote that I've taken away from that article is, "When building a new mouse trap, leave room for the mouse."

The focus of the article was advertising through print, radio, and television. Instead of giving the audience the whole story, give them A and B and let them deduce C. Sometimes this is done too obscurely and the audience has no idea what C is, but when it is done well it is very effective because the audience participates in the message. One of the examples that I remember was the Absolut print ad campaign. They hide the distinctive shape of their bottle in an image without explicitly drawing the bottle. The audience has to find it for themselves.

The same can be said about presentations, from content to presentation graphics or slides. Keep the audience engaged throughout the presentation by working them through the story. This takes a lot of preparation in analyzing the audience, but the involvement and the shared experience of the presentation will make a lasting impact.

One final note that is only marginally related is a rule that I learned when I was training to become a skydiving coach/instructor. It is the 50-12-8 rule. Every 50 minutes, take a break. Every 12 minutes, change the presentation style. There are lots of ways to do this. You can change from lecture delivery to group discussion or from slide presentation to storytelling. The best way to drive the point home is to look at television shows. This is the reason there is a commercial break every 12 or so minutes.

Finally, every 8 minutes, involve the audience. Ask questions, provide a handout, or have the audience participate is some activity. Do anything that keeps the audience active during the presentation. This should be a maximum, not an average. The more involved the audience is, the more they will take away from the presentation.

Thank you very much for the wonderful newsletters about presenting. I've learned a lot from them and look forward to the new tips and techniques in each issue. I particularly enjoy the before and after slides as I'm trying to learn more about how to do these transformations on my own presentations.