Welcome
It has been a while since my last newsletter, my only excuse is that
I have been quite busy, running courses and an employee survey for one
of my clients. So I apologise for the delay in sending this newsletter
out.
I would like to welcome all the new readers who are receiving this
newsletter for the first time. I hope you find it interesting and
useful.
The A to Z of Effective Presentations article in this issue continues
with more "P s". This time "P is for Pace, Pauses, Powerful Phrases and
Pointers ".
Yours
sincerely,
Graham Young
+44 1276 502257
Upcoming Courses
Courses available over the next few months include:
- Effective Business Presentations Fri 20th June in Slough
- Effective Business Presentations Wed 2nd July in Camberley
- Effective Business Presentations Fri 18th July in Oxford
- Effective Business Presentations Wed 30th July in Guildford
- Effective Business Presentations Wed 13th August in Camberley
- Effective Business Presentations Wed 10th September in Reading
- Effective Business Presentations Wed 26th September at Heathrow
By attending one of these courses you can discover how to structure
and deliver an effective business presentation. This is not just
training on how to speak in public. It is concise, fact laden training
on how to give a presentation that will make your voice heard and your
objectives fulfilled.
If you have already attended one of my courses and you found it
educational, enjoyable and effective why not forward this email to a
colleague and encourage them to book on one of these courses.
For more information or to book click
here.
The A to Z of Effective Presentations
In previous newsletters, which you can access here, I have covered A to
O , so now it is the letter "P" In this issue "P" stands for Pace,
Pauses, Powerful Phrases and Pointers.
P is for Pace
When you are full of nervous energy, you tend to talk faster. So make
a conscious effort to slow down and speak clearly.
When you are presenting you should talk slightly slower than you
would in normal conversation, this allows the audience time to think
about what you are saying. Talking too fast will make it harder for your
audience to concentrate on your words. After a while, they will start to
lose concentration and stop listening.
However, do not over do it. Speaking too slowly can sound monotonous
and make it appear that you are talking down to your audience, in which
case they will again lose interest. The best speakers vary their pace
throughout a presentation.
P is for Pauses
Silent pauses can be a particularly powerful way to get the point
across. Pause for a couple of seconds before you make a significant
statement. People will pay more attention to it. By interrupting the
rhythm of your voice, your audience sub-consciously recognise that
something is about to happen and it makes then listen even harder.
At the start of a presentation before you make your opening remarks,
pause, look around the room smile at your audience and gather your
thoughts. Instead of diving straight in, a pause at the start will
ensure everyone's attention is on you and that they are ready and eager
to hear what you are going to say.
People who are new to presenting or public speaking, often feel that
they cannot stop talking and that any pause seems to last a lifetime.
They want to get the presentation over with as quickly as possible and
by stopping talking not only are they delaying the finish, they are not
doing what the are there to do, which is talk. It is as if leaving a
pause is drawing attention to themselves, rather then their speech. They
would be right but it is a very useful thing to do.
P is for Powerful Phrases
In the same way that using a monotone dreary voice with no energy or
power is a recipe for disaster, so can your choice of words. The English
language contains many words some are passive but others are powerful,
emotive words.
By using these powerful emotive words, you can supercharge your
presentation. Probably the most powerful word is 'you'. It may not sound
particularly powerful but if you maximise the use of the word 'you'
throughout your presentation, you will gain a far better response.
Do not present in the third party, it makes it very remote. You
should try to involve your audience in your presentation and by using
the word 'you', that is exactly what you are doing.
Try inserting the word "you" 30 times in the first 5 minutes of your
talk. I guarantee your audience will like your presentation. Why?
Firstly, it is because people like it when you talk about them.
Secondly, it is impossible to use the word "you" that many times with
out thinking about the "you" you are referring to, and the more you
think about your subject from the audience's perspective the better your
presentation will be.
In general, people like to be in control, which is why people love
buying things but hate being sold to. So use words and phrases in your
presentations that appear to give people control over what they are
doing. For instance: allow them to discover things rather than telling
them how it is.
There are many other powerful words including: Discover Easy
Guarantee Health Love Money New Proven Results Safety Save Time Free For
example:
You will discover how you can . . . safely and easily.
By discovering the safe, proven techniques in this book, you are
guaranteed to give presentations that are more effective.
By giving Effective Business Presentations, you can save time and
money and your manager will love you.
P is for Pointers
Using pointers, be they the traditional aerial type or laser
pointers, rarely adds value to a presentation. More often than not, they
give a presenter something to play with, which irritates the audience.
In my experience, it is best not to use them.
If you feel that you need to point to different parts of your visual
aids to convey your message, you will probably be better off redesigning
your visual aids so that they are clear enough to convey the message
without using a pointer. Try building them up bit by bit as you talk
about them, or highlight an area by drawing a circle around it and then
zoom in to that area on the next slide.
.
Improve
Your Presentations I hope you
have found this newsletter useful and interesting. You can learn a lot
more about how to structure and give an Effective Business Presentation,
by:
- Attending a Young Markets Effective
Presentations Skills training course
- Reading my ebook "The A to Z of
Effective Business Presentations" which you can download from my
website today.
- Taking my on-line course which is
just one of the many sales related training modules at
www.salestrainingonline.com
Please feel free to forward this on
to your friends and colleagues. If you have received this second
hand and would like your own personal copy of future issues, please
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