123 Making a Presentation Your own values and beliefs will be more credible if you can
weave them into a story. SPQR gives you the structure. You could
begin your presentation by telling a brief story, making sure that
your audience will be able to relate to it. Stories have a way of
sticking in the mind long after arguments have faded. Choose a
story that demonstrates your values in relation to the matter in
hand. Beware generalised sentiment. Avoid ‘motherhood and
apple pie’ stories. Make the story authentic and relevant. And
keep it brief. You need to allow as much time as possible for your
new ideas.
Building a pyramid Use a pyramid structure to outline your small number of key
points. Show the pyramid visually: overhead or PowerPoint
slides, or a flip chart. Indicate that these key points will form the
sections of the presentation.
Repetition is an essential feature of good presentations.
Because the audience can’t reread or rewind to remind
themselves of what you said, you need to build their recall by
repeating the key features of your presentation. The key features
will be your message, your structure, your key points and any
call to action that you deliver at the end. Aim to build the
audience’s recall on no more than about half-a-dozen pieces of
information.
Most people seem to know the famous
tell ’em
principle:
• Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em. • Tell ’em. • Tell ’em what you’ve told ’em. This valuable technique is one you should use often in your
presentation. Build the three-part repetition into the
presentation as a whole: tell ’em at the start what the whole
presentation will cover; and tell ’em at the end what the whole
thing has covered. Use the technique, too, within each part of the
presentation: summarising at the start and end, so that you lead
the audience into and out of each section explicitly.
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.
