Public Speaking and Presentations for Dummies, UK Edition E-Book

Malcolm Kushner

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 356

Beschreibung

Includes memorable ways to start and finish your speech with a flourish Straightforward advice on making your speeches sparkle With the right preparation even the most nervous speaker can deliver a winning presentation. Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies shows you how, from drafting your content to honing your tone for a perfect delivery. More confident speakers can find expert advice on getting visual aids right, impromptu speaking, dazzling in roundtables, and much more. Discover how to * Organise your speech * Conquer your fears * Research content effectively * Get your body language right * Use humour properly * Speak to a foreign audience

Leseprobe

Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies®

by Malcolm Kushner and Rob Yeung

Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies®

Published by John Wiley & Sons, LtdThe Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ England

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ISBN-13: 978-0-470-03472-9

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About the Authors

Malcolm Kushner, ‘America’s Favourite Humour Consultant’, is an internationally acclaimed expert on humour and communication and a professional speaker. Since 1982, he has trained thousands of managers, executives, and professionals how to gain a competitive edge with humour. His clients include IBM, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Chevron, Aetna, Motorola, and Bank of America.

A popular speaker, his Leading With Laughter presentation features rare video clips of US presidents using humour intentionally and successfully. He has performed the speech at many corporate and association meetings, as well as at the Smithsonian Institute.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Buffalo, Kushner holds a BA in Speech-Communication. His MA in Speech-Communication is from the University of Southern California, where he taught freshman speech. He also has a JD from the University of California Hastings College of the Law. Prior to becoming a humour consultant, he practiced law with a major San Francisco law firm.

Kushner is the author of The Light Touch: How to Use Humor for Business Success and Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers. He is also a co-creator of the humour exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Frequently interviewed by the media, Kushner has been profiled in Time, USA Today, The New York Times, and numerous other publications. His television and radio appearances include CNN, National Public Radio, CNBC, Voice of America, and The Larry King Show. His annual ‘Cost of Laughing Index’ has been featured on The Tonight Show and the front page of The Wall Street Journal.

Need a great speaker for your next meeting or event? Contact Malcolm at P.O. Box 7509, Santa Cruz, CA 95061, call 001-831- 425-4839, or e-mail him at [email protected]. Visit his Web site at www.kushnergroup.com.

Dr Rob Yeung is a director at business psychology consultancy Talentspace. He is often asked to coach teams and individuals on presentation skills – in particular on developing their presence and charisma when presenting. He travels extensively around the world, running workshops, participating in panel discussions, and giving presentations to audiences of up to many hundreds of people at a time.

He has written for Guardian, Daily Telegraph, and Financial Times and contributed to publications ranging from Men’s Health and New Woman to Accountancy and Sunday Times. He has published twelve other books on career and management topics including, in 2006, The Rules of Office Politics and The Rules of EQ (Cyan/Marshall Cavendish) and Answering Tough Interview Questions For Dummies (Wiley).

He is often seen on television including CNN and Channel 4’s Big Brother’s Little Brother. He is also the presenter of the highly acclaimed BBC television series How to Get Your Dream Job. A chartered psychologist of the British Psychological Society with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of London, he has also lectured at a number of business schools and universities.

Need one of the UK’s leading psychologists to work with you, your team or your organisation? Drop Dr Rob an email at [email protected] or visit www.talentspace.co.uk.

Malcolm’s Dedication

This book is dedicated to my parents – Pauline, Hank, and Helen. Thank you for all of your love and support.

Rob’s Dedication

To my parents for their support and unwavering confidence in me. Thanks also to the Talentspace team – especially Steve, Ian, and Penny for keeping the noise down when I was trying to concentrate!

Malcolm’s Acknowledgements

Let’s start with the people at Wiley. My thanks go to Marc Mikulich, Kathy Cox, and Jennifer Connolly.

Speaking of special thanks, I must shower praise upon my wife Christine Griger who looked at the pages as they came out of the printer. (Jennifer, if you think your job was tough enough, you should have seen what the stuff looked like before Chris’s corrections!) And I must thank my son Sam for his encouragement.

Special thanks go to the late San Francisco comedy coach John Cantu. He was a good friend and teacher. And he is greatly missed by everyone who knew him. Loyd Auerbach, Allatia Harris, and N.R. Mitgang also received repeated calls to tap their expertise – and came through every time.

I also want to thank all the other people who were interviewed for this book. They include John Austin, Neil Baron, Donna Bedford, J.E. Aeliot Boswell, Rachael Brune, Joe DiNucci, Steve Fraticelli, James Harris III, Barbara Howard, Joyce Lekas, Marcia Lemmons, Jim Luckaszewski, Chuck McCann, Jeff Raleigh, Steve Resnick, Jackie Roach, Zack Russ, David Schmidt, Ken Sereno, Allen Weiner, Bill Zachmeier, Patty White, Russell Feingold, David Bartlett, Scott Fivash, Kare Anderson, Shawn Whalen, Rich Johnson, and Martin Gonzales Bravo.

Thanks for support and encouragement go to Rich Herzfeld, Bob Reed, Jack Burkett, Stu Silverstein, Linda Mead, Debra DeCuir, Karen Kushner, Barbara Nash, Corwin and Tyler Sparks, and Arthur, Karen, Heather and Amy Tamarkin. Special thanks go to Tom Daly IV at Vital Speeches for granting permission to use so many of the quotes contained in this book.

Rob’s Acknowledgements

Thanks again to Jason Dunne at Wiley for offering me the opportunity to work on yet another Dummies book – this time with Malcolm Kushner. Thanks also to my long-suffering editor Daniel Mersey for his tireless enthusiasm and gentle guidance.

Thanks also to my many clients, who have given me the opportunity to practise and hone my presentation and public speaking skills. I remember being so frightened of speaking in front of my classmates at school that I felt physically sick. Nowadays I get pretty much the biggest buzz in my work from standing up in front of an audience and engaging, educating and entertaining them. So thanks to you all.

Publisher’s Acknowledgements

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

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Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

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Contents

Title

Introduction

Why You Need This Book

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organised

Icons Used in This Book

Where Do I Go from Here?

Part I : Getting Started

Chapter 1: Giving a Presentation or Speech

Finding Out What You Need to Know

Developing Your Presentation

Polishing It Off

Delivering a Presentation

Preparing for Special Speaking Situations

The Part of Tens

Chapter 2: Getting Ready to Present

Making Important Preparations

Analysing Your Audience

Relating to Your Audience

Chapter 3: Making the Most of Research

Gathering Sources

Getting Someone Else to Do Your Research – For Free

Researching on the Web

Chapter 4: Organising Your Presentation

Selecting Material to Include

Following Patterns of Organisation

Creating Your Outline

Timing

Organising Your Presentation Effectively

Part II : Preparing Your Presentation or Speech

Chapter 5: Building the Content of Your Presentation

Making Appeals to Your Audience

Finding Solid Forms of Support

Chapter 6: Getting Off on the Right Foot

Discovering What the Introduction Must Do

Creating the Perfect Introduction

Getting Started in Fifteen Fabulous Ways

Chapter 7: Finishing on a High Note

Making Your Conclusion Work

Creating the Perfect Conclusion

Wrapping It Up in Style

Part III : Making Your Presentation or Speech Sparkle

Chapter 8: Making Sense of Your Presentation

Editing Your Presentation – Pain-free

Making Transitions

Chapter 9: Getting the Words Right

Honing Your Tone and Style

Creating Catch Phrases

Spicing Up Your Speech with Classic Rhetorical Devices

Chapter 10: Developing Great Visual Aids

Using Charts and Graphs

Making Use of PowerPoint and Overheads

Flipping for Flipcharts

Creating Great Video (and Audio)

Making an Impact with Multimedia

Wowing Your Audience with Simple Multimedia Techniques

Being Handy with Handouts

Part IV : Delivering Your Presentation or Speech

Chapter 11: Overcoming Nerves

Changing Your Perceptions

Transforming Terror to Terrific

Preventing and Handling Nervousness

Chapter 12: Understanding Body Language

Understanding Body Language

Making Eye Contact Count

Dressing to Impress

Mastering Physical Positioning and Movement

Paralanguage: What Your Voice Says about You

Chapter 13: Handling Questions

Discovering the Basics

Coming Up with a Perfect Answer

Using Question-Handling Techniques

Dealing with Common Types of Questions

Responding to Special Situations

Handling Hostile Questions

Chapter 14: Handling the Audience

Reading an Audience’s Reaction

Putting the Audience at Ease

Handling a Tough Audience

Handling a Nonresponsive Audience

Part V : Common Speaking Situations

Chapter 15: Giving Impromptu Talks and Introducing Other Speakers

Saying a Few Words: Giving Impromptu Talks

Introducing Other Presenters

Chapter 16: Handling Panels and Roundtables

Being on a Panel

Participating in a Roundtable

Chapter 17: Speaking Internationally

Discovering the Culture of Your Audience

Crafting Your Message

Adapting Your Delivery

Part VI : The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten Types of Humour That Anyone Can Use

Using Personal Anecdotes

Analogies

Quotes

Cartoons

Definitions

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Signs

Laws

Greeting Cards

Bumper Stickers

Chapter 19: Ten Things to Check Before You Give a Presentation

Sound System

Podium

Audiovisual Equipment

Lighting

Human Equipment

Electricity and Water

Toilets

Seating Arrangements

Potential Distractions

How to Get There

Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Overcome the Fear Factor

Getting It in Perspective

Breathing Right

Handling Bodily Symptoms of Stress

Challenging Negative Thoughts

Visualising Success

Faking It Until You Can Make It

Practising, Practising, Practising

Becoming Familiar with the Environment

Diverting the Audience’s Attention

Using Whatever Works for You

: Further Reading

Introduction

Welcome to Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies, a book that we intend to help you have audiences eating out of the palms of your hands. We show you how to use basic speaking skills to influence your boss, colleagues, customers, relatives, loved ones, butcher, baker, candlestick maker, and anyone else who matters in your life.

This book provides all the tools you need to master giving presentations and speaking in public. And that doesn’t mean just formal presentations. Some of the most important presentations you ever give may not involve a microphone or a podium, like an impromptu talk about your strategy to some customers; an answer that defuses a hostile question at a business meeting; an impassioned plea to a parking attendant not to issue the ticket. Success or failure in all of these situations, as well as in formal speeches, depends on how you present yourself.

This book covers the full range of skills needed for presenting and public speaking. You can read everything from how to develop and deliver a good presentation to how to think on your feet. An old philosopher once said, ‘Every time you open your mouth, your mind is on parade.’ This book ensures that your parade looks sharp, sounds smart, and dazzles your audience.

Why You Need This Book

Whether you’re dealing with one person or one thousand, the ability to transmit ideas in a coherent and compelling fashion is one of the most important skills you can ever develop. Communicating ideas is a basic survival skill, and it always has been. From the earliest days when we learned to speak as a species and a caveman yelled ‘Fire!’, people have made speeches to motivate, persuade, and influence each other.

Want to get a good job? Want to get promoted? Want to command the respect of your peers? Want to get a date? The key to success is what you say. To get what you want in life, you have to present yourself forcefully, credibly, and convincingly. Yes, you can speak softly and carry a big stick, but the real winner is the person who talks you out of the stick.

In the information age, public speaking skills are more important than ever before. We live in a society of sound bites. Communication is the currency of the realm. In survey after survey, presentation skills are cited as a key factor in hiring and promotion decisions. The days when you could rise to the top just by being good at your job are over. Boards of directors, executive committees, and customers want more. You have to know how to get your message across.

Now let’s admit it. Many people get nervous about giving speeches, particularly in a formal setting. Our goal in writing this book is to rid you of those fears forever. If you simply apply the techniques described in Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies, you’ll be able to give a talk more competently than many Oscar-winning performers. We’re not saying you’ll be the next Prime Minister, but you will see how to deliver a speech in an organised and engaging manner.

And don’t fall for the big myth that you have to be ‘a born speaker’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the greatest orators in history were anything but ‘naturals’. Demosthenes – the famous speaker of ancient Greece – was a shy, stammering introvert when he decided to become a successful orator. He taught himself to speak by rehearsing with rocks in his mouth. If all you have in your mouth is your foot, then you’re way ahead of the game.

If you already have the gift of the gab, you can still pick up many tips and tricks from Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies. For example, you wouldn’t believe how often experienced speakers completely undermine their entire speech with poorly designed slides and overheads. If you read nothing more than the chapter on how to correct this common mistake (Chapter 10, by the way), this book is well worth your investment.

Let’s talk straight. Lots of books exist about public speaking, and they’re written by people who have various credentials. But between the two of us authors, we’ve taught at universities across the UK and the University of Southern California, worked internationally, ghost-written speeches for leading business executives, travelled the lecture circuit as keynote speakers at major corporate and association meetings, appeared on television in the UK and the US.

We’ve done all that stuff and more, and that experience is what makes this book unique. It contains a treasure trove of nuts-and-bolts information based on real-life experience. You see what really works and what doesn’t. Because if there are mistakes to be made, we’ve already made them – and now you don’t have to repeat them.

About This Book

If you want to improve the full range of your public speaking skills, then read the entire book. You will become an expert communicator.

Too busy to read a whole book? Don’t worry. Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies is designed with your time constraints in mind. The book is divided into easy-to-read segments that cover very specific topics. Choose an area of interest, such as dealing with hecklers, and turn directly to it.

Want to know about speaking in different cultures? Well, Chapter 17 is the one for you. If you want more than a dozen different ways to kick off your presentation, see Chapter 6.

Conventions Used in This Book

So you can navigate through this book better, we use the following conventions:

Italic is used for emphasis and to highlight new words or terms that are defined.

Boldfaced text is used to indicate keywords in bulleted lists.

Monofont is used for Web addresses.

Sidebars, which are shaded grey boxes with text enclosed in them, consist of information that is interesting to know but not necessarily critical to your understanding of the chapter or section’s topic.

Foolish Assumptions

While writing this book, we’ve made some assumptions about you and your knowledge of public speaking:

You may be fretting about your next speaking engagement because you don’t understand how to engage the audience.

You may know nothing about giving presentations or public speaking but would like to be prepared in case you’re ever asked to speak – impromptu or otherwise.

You may know quite a bit about public speaking and have a lot of experience, but want to polish your speech development and delivery skills.

You may know how to give a formal speech but would like to improve your speaking skills in special situations – question-and-answer sessions, panels, roundtables, or debates.

You may know quite a lot about presenting and public speaking but you want to learn some advanced techniques like using humour successfully or adapting your style for different audiences.

You may know that no reason exists to fear public speaking, but you fear it anyway and you want to know how to overcome your anxiety.

How This Book Is Organised

Public Speaking & Presentations For Dummies has six major parts, each of which is divided into chapters covering specific topics. The chapters are self-contained units of brilliant insight, so you don’t have to plough through them in sequence. You can read chapters separately or together in any order you wish. Don’t worry about missing any gems of wisdom. The book is thoroughly cross-referenced and guides you to related items of information.

Each part covers a major area of presenting and public speaking skills. The following is a brief tour of what you can find.

Part I: Getting Started

You’ve been asked to give a presentation, now what? How do you decide what to talk about? What if you’ve been given a topic you don’t like? Can you change it? How do you find out detailed information about your audience? Where can you get interesting material for your talk? These are some of the questions that we address in this section. Discover how to get your presentation research off to a fast, productive start.

Part II: Preparing Your Presentation or Speech

In today’s fast-paced, competitive environment, fortunes can rise or fall on the basis of a single presentation. So your talk had better be good – informative, to the point, attention grabbing, and memorable. And your speech doesn’t get that way by luck or accident. Careful preparation – from topic selection to outline structure to choice of material to writing the actual speech – is the key. In this section, we show you how to develop a speech that commands an audience’s attention, influences their thinking, and achieves your goals.

Part III: Making Your Presentation or Speech Sparkle

Powerful public speakers are not that different from run-of-the-mill speakers. Both use words. Both use visual aids. And both stand in front of an audience. But really good speakers use really good words. They polish their presentation until it’s a gem. They also make sure that their visual aids communicate rather than confound. And when they stand in front of an audience, they appear confident and in control. This part of the book tells you how to give your presentation or speech that ‘extra something’ that transforms it into an exciting event.

Part IV: Delivering Your Presentation or Speech

When giving a presentation or speech, you need to think about more than just your topic. You have to make decisions about whether you should use a podium; what you should wear; what gestures you should use; how fast you should speak; how you should handle the audience and their questions. And these are just a few of the issues involved in transforming your written message into a masterful oral performance. In this section, we show you how to deliver a presentation that wows your audience. Simple, proven techniques guarantee your success. If you’re nervous, shy, or disorganised, don’t worry. We also explain how to handle any fears you have about giving presentations or public speaking.

Part V: Common Speaking Situations

Even if you’re not a professional speaker, the odds are that you’ll have to give a presentation or speech every so often. You may have to address a group of businesspeople from another country. Or you may serve as a panelist at an event sponsored by your club, association, or religious organisation. And in this age of technology and globalism, this part is essential to discover how to speak internationally. In this section, we address these types of common speaking situations, and show you how to anticipate and prepare for them. You even discover how to give a speech ‘off the top of your head’.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

In this part, you can find simple types of humour that anyone can use to polish off a presentation or speech. We give you a list of things to check before you speak so you don’t leave out any of those important details that can stunt the effectiveness of your talk. And we finish with some top tips for dealing with any stress or anxiety you may feel at having to present to an audience.

Icons Used in This Book

We’ve included some navigational aids to highlight key points of text for you:

This icon signals important advice about how to maximise the effectiveness of your speech or presentation.

An elephant never forgets, but people do. This icon alerts you to information you’ll definitely want to remember.

This icon points to information that justifies your purchase of this book – brilliant advice that you can’t readily find anywhere else. Most of the information’s based on the personal experience, knowledge, and insights that we have collected over the years.

To indicate potential problems, we use this icon.

Where Do I Go from Here?

You hold in your hands a powerful tool – a guide to increasing your influence through the sheer force of your presentations. This tool can be used for good or evil. The choice is up to you. Consider yourself warned. You’re now ready to dive into this book. To begin your journey, turn to the Table of Contents or Index, pick a topic of interest, and turn to the page indicated. Good luck in your travels!

Part I

Getting Started

In this part . . .

T he toughest part of preparing a presentation or speech, or doing anything, is getting started. In these chapters, we show you how to take the first steps toward doing what has to be done. You can also find out what information you need to know about your audience to craft a successful presentation. We even cover how to get started researching what you’re going to say.

Chapter 1

Giving a Presentation or Speech

In This Chapter

Examining the contents of this book

Exploring what you need to know

W hether you’re giving your first presentation or your five hundredth, this book can show you how to improve your presentation and public speaking skills. The book is crammed full of practical ideas, techniques, and suggestions; beginners can benefit just from discovering and avoiding basic mistakes, and experienced presenters may appreciate the expert tips and techniques sprinkled throughout these pages. You don’t need to read this book from cover to cover (of course, you can if you want to). You can skip chapters and even sections within chapters, focusing only on the material that suits your needs. So if you’re looking for an idea of where to start or an idea of what chapters may benefit you the most, just check out the sections that follow to find out what each chapter has to offer.

Finding Out What You Need to Know

Before you give your presentation, or even write it, you need to know a lot of basic information. Chapters 2 and 3 tell you how to get started researching the basics.

Getting down the preliminaries

Getting asked to speak begins the process of making a lot of decisions. The first decision is exactly what to talk about. Even when you’re assigned a topic, you generally still have room to shape it. How you decide on an angle depends on the audience – not just their age and gender, but also their education, attitudes, and much more. Chapter 2 tells you what you need to know and how to find it out.

Doing research

No matter what you’re talking about, you can improve your speech by doing a little research. We don’t mean just locating facts and statistics. You can also find quotes, jokes, and stories to add colour to your speech or presentation. Chapter 3 puts a wealth of research tools and techniques at your disposal, such as using both local and specialist library resources, searching Web sites, and getting other people to do your research for you – for free.

Organising your presentation

After you’ve got a topic and you’ve done some research, you need to get organised. To make your presentation flow, you can choose from several patterns: Problem and solution; past, present, and future; and cause and effect. Chapter 4 gives you lots of ideas for ways to organise your material and shows you how to create a useful presentation outline that conforms to your time limits.

Developing Your Presentation

Speaking in front of others scares a lot of people. Many people see writing a speech as a hassle. And doing it right can take a lot of time. But calm down. This part of the book shows you everything you need to know to write a speech or presentation quickly and effectively.

Selecting the right material

You’ve done research and you’ve got an outline. Now you need to put some meat on those bones. (Or leaves on those branches if you’re a vegetarian.) If you’re looking for the key to captivating an audience with statistics, quotes, stories, and examples, you’re in luck. We unlock all kinds of potential presentation material in Chapter 5.

Starting and ending your speech

Many people believe that you have to open with a joke, but asking a rhetorical question or using a quotation for the opening – or the conclusion – can involve the audience better. In Chapters 6 and 7, we discuss interesting ways to open and close your presentation, and we give you great ideas to make sure you and your audience reach your conclusion at the same time.

Polishing It Off

Anyone can throw a presentation together, but you also need to make it memorable. If you need to find just that right turn of phrase, develop the winning argument, come up with the perfect example or anecdote that an audience will never forget, or get ideas on how to deliver your speech flawlessly even if you’re nervous, Chapters 8 to 10 make polishing your speech and delivery much easier.

Making sure your presentation makes sense

Obviously, your presentation makes perfect sense to you, but the test is whether it makes sense to your audience. If you’d rather not find out that crucial fact as you deliver it, visit Chapter 8 for ideas on how to put a little spit and polish on your presentation to make it stand out from the crowd.

Adding some style

You don’t have to be a poet or literary type to put a little richness into your presentation. Certain words and phrases can make more powerful statements than others – and you just have to pick the right ones. Chapter 9 shows you how to use rhetorical techniques to create some colourful lines and phrases to spice up your presentation.

Using visual aids

A picture can paint a thousand words – so see Chapter 10 for everything you need to know to make your graphics look good and to avoid common mistakes. From PowerPoint to overheads to good old-fashioned flipcharts, you can find several great choices for displaying information during your speech or presentation.

Delivering a Presentation

After you’ve created a brilliant, witty speech or presentation that captures your message exactly, you still have to perform it in front of an audience. So, if your goal is to receive a standing ovation, Chapters 11 to 14 may give you a chance for one.

Overcoming stage fright

If you’ve gone to all the trouble to create a brilliant presentation, you don’t want to ruin it by letting your nerves show up on the podium. If you need to calm your nerves at the outset or find some stress-busting techniques used by professional speakers, check out Chapter 11.

Talking with your body

The way you move and make eye contact affects how your audience receives your message. To ensure that your verbal and non-verbal messages match, check out Chapter 12 and find out all the details on how to move, dress, make eye contact, deal with your hands and habits, and get your other body-language questions answered.

Taking questions

Answering audience questions is an art in itself. What do you do if you don’t know the answer? How do you respond to hostile questions? What if the questioners have no idea what they’re talking about? Chapter 13 addresses all these issues and shows you how to anticipate questions, design perfect answers, and get an audience to ask questions.

Handling the audience

Your presentation is fantastic but your audience is not: They’re heckling you; they’re falling asleep; they’re leaving! Understanding how to read an audience is an essential skill for anyone who has to speak in public. You have to adapt quickly and know what you’re adapting to. To discover how to deal with tough audiences, keep their attention, and get them involved, see Chapter 14.

Preparing for Special Speaking Situations

Giving informal speeches, introducing other speakers, engaging in panel discussions, and handling international audiences are all common speaking situations, but they don’t fit into the normal pattern of presenting at a conference or speaking at a meeting. Special meetings require special preparation, and Chapters 15 to 17 show you how to handle all these situations.

Speaking on the spot

Being asked to get up and say a few words about something off-the-cuff is one of the most common, yet dreaded, speaking situations. The good news is that you won’t have to spend a lot of time preparing your speech. Of course, that’s also the bad news. Chapter 15 tells you how to anticipate those situations, plan for them, and give fabulous impromptu speeches.

Introducing other speakers

If you have to introduce a speaker at a meeting, conference, or convention, you probably wonder how big a deal to make of it. Should the introduction be long and flowery, be just a recitation of the speaker’s resume, or involve a lot of research to find some ‘inside’ stories about the speaker? Find out how to handle your next introduction in Chapter 15.

Speaking on panels or roundtables

Some people think serving on a panel or roundtable is easy. They think they can just wing it because the other panelists can always pick up the slack. If you happen to be more of a slacker than a pick-up-the-slacker, just remember that the audience is going to compare you to those other panelists, so you’d better be good. Chapter 16 shows you how to stand out from the crowd when you’re speaking on a panel or roundtable.

Speaking at international meetings

Today’s global economy has increased the number of businesspeople who speak before international audiences. While language differences are a big challenge, cultural differences can be even bigger. Use Chapter 17 to prepare for your next international meeting so you can avoid embarrassing gaffes.

The Part of Tens

In this section, we show you how to make your presentation sparkle with humour – even if you can’t tell a joke. The techniques are so simple that you’ll wonder why you didn’t use them before. We also point out what to check just before you speak and how to overcome last-minute nerves and the fear factor.

Chapter 2

Getting Ready to Present

In This Chapter

Preparing for your presentation

Understanding your audience

Connecting with your audience

Getting started is always the toughest part of any activity, including writing a speech or presentation – especially if you don’t want to give one in the first place. But don’t worry. Speechwriting doesn’t have to be torture and can even be fun – well, at least more fun than getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick.

This chapter shows you several simple techniques for getting started with your speech or presentation.

Making Important Preparations

Giving a speech or presentation doesn’t start when you step in front of an audience. Giving a talk doesn’t even start when you begin writing it. The entire process begins before you even accept the invitation to speak or present. The sections that follow discuss issues you should consider before you even commit yourself to a speaking engagement and things to think about prior to writing the content of your speech or presentation.

Deciding whether you should speak

Just because you’re asked to speak doesn’t mean you have to. Of course, if your boss asks you to give a talk, you’d better do it, but we’re referring to voluntary situations. Unfortunately, most people give little, if any, thought to whether they want to or should speak. Before you accept your next invitation to speak, consider the following issues so you can make the right decision:

Whether you have the time in your diary. Remember, just because you’re asked to speak for 30 minutes doesn’t mean that’s all the time it takes. You have to get to the event and back, of course, but you also need to leave time to answer questions and be available after you’re finished (see Chapter 13 for more information on being available after your talk). And you may need to engage in a bit of chit-chat either before or after your talk with the hosts who invited you. So, a 30-minute presentation can easily take up half of your day.

Whether you have the time to prepare. Make sure that you have enough time to prepare a presentation that you’re proud of and that meets the expectations of your audience – you want to create a great impression. While having an exact formula to follow would be great, in reality, preparing a 30-minute presentation can take hours, days, weeks, or months depending on whom you’re speaking to and how important the presentation is. For example, if you need to put together a slide presentation, that could take hours to write. And then, of course, you may need to practise the presentation until you feel comfortable with it. You’re the only one who can decide how much time is necessary for preparing your talk.

Whether you have something to say. Just because someone asks you to present doesn’t mean you have anything to say. Sometimes your best talk will be the one you don’t give.

Whether to accept immediately. You don’t have to decide the moment someone asks you and you probably shouldn’t. Take your time. Sleep on it. Get back to the person after you’ve had time to think about the considerations above.

Although we’re sure you are a great speaker, bear in mind that some people resort to all forms of flattery just to get you to accept their invitation, especially if they’re desperate to fill a speaking slot. Don’t be swept away by their praise. Even if you truly are the perfect person for their engagement, it may not be something you want to or can do. Politely declining is okay if, after you’ve considered all the issues, you’ve concluded that this speaking engagement is not for you.

Figuring out why you’re speaking

Three types of speaker exist: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.

To avoid wondering what happened, you should definitely find out why you’re speaking in the first place. Here are two effective ways to discover why you’re giving a talk:

Figure out the goals of your talk. Are you trying to inform, persuade, inspire, or entertain?

Examine your motivation for speaking and the audience’s motivation for listening. Have you been asked to speak? Have you been ordered to speak? Do you want to speak? Does the audience want to hear you? Have they been forced to hear you? Will they listen to you?

However you analyse your goals and motivation, the purpose remains the same – to know why you’re speaking so you don’t end up wondering what happened after it all goes horribly wrong.

Setting specific goals

Most people either set no goals when they decide to give a presentation or set goals that are vague, such as wanting to be a hit, wanting to impress a co-worker or management, or wanting to get the talk over with. However, deciding what you hope to accomplish through speaking – your goals – makes developing yourpresentation easier.

Some examples of goals you may have are

Wanting to build your credibility

Wanting to get the audience to agree with your position

Wanting to make the audience understand something

Wanting to make the audience laugh

Write out your goals before you write your presentation. Then you can easily decide what material to include and exclude. Anything that doesn’t further your goals o should be excluded.

Getting the essential information

No matter what type of presentation you’ve been invited to deliver, certain information is basic and essential. You must first know the name of your contact person. Armed with that knowledge, you can ask your contact to provide the rest of the information that you need. The following lists show some of the questions you want answered.

Ask these questions about the event so you’ll know the tone of the meeting and what will be expected from you:

What’s the purpose of the meeting?

Is it a regularly scheduled meeting or a special event?

Is it a formal or informal event?

What’s the atmosphere – very serious or light?

Will your talk be the main attraction?

Ask these questions about the format to make sure your presentation content is the right length and style to fit properly into the meeting:

What’s the agenda for the day?

What should the format be for your presentation:

• A general session?

• A breakout session?

• A panel discussion?

• Before, during, or after a meal?

What time will you begin speaking?

How long will you be expected to speak for?

Will there be other speakers?

When will they be speaking?

What will they be speaking about?

Will any of them be speaking in opposition to your views?

What occurs before your presentation?

What occurs after your presentation?

Ask these questions about the location to make sure that everything you need is available and arranged the way you prefer:

Where will you speak?

• Inside or outside?

• What type of room: banquet, meeting, auditorium, and so on?

How will the room and seating be set up?

What audio/visual and sound equipment will be available for you?

Will there be a podium/table/platform?

Ask these questions about the audience to get an idea of the mood they’ll be in when you speak and how they’ll react to you:

What’s the size of the audience?

Is the audience required to attend?