Professionally Speaking...

Presentation Tip: President Obama and How to be Credible

Participants in my presentation skills workshops typically cite concerns about not being credible to the audience as one of the key contributors to their presentation nervousness and anxiety. This worry gets expressed in a variety of ways:

• I won't be able to answer a question from the audience
• I won't sound like I know what I'm talking about
• I'll forget what I wanted to say
• The audience knows more than I do

So what is this magical quality called credibility? And how do we get it?

Derived from the Latin credere [to believe], Webster defines credible as: 1. capable of being believed; trustworthy. 2. effective or reliable. In presentations, we can define credible to mean that your audience will trust you are providing relevant information and you deserve to be listened to because you have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter.

How To Be Credible

Some speakers rely on academic credentials, job title or length of tenure to bestow instant credibility. But that's a risky strategy because a discerning audience will be looking for confident delivery, depth of content and examples that resonate to assess how credible a speaker is.

Drawing on examples from President Obama's press conference last night on health care reform, here are some ways to create credibility.

Tone and Manner

The way you 'show up' in front of the audience impacts how they react to you. An assured demeanor, a confident tone of voice and strong eye contact help the audience believe that you are worth listening to and are going to provide them relevant and useful information. Mr. Obama's tone throughout his prepared remarks and while answering questions was decisive and confident, intensifying his credibility.

Preparation

Being well prepared for your presentation shows respect for your audience and positions you as a professional who knows the importance of delivering value. Have a thorough knowledge of your subject matter, including aspects that you may not be covering in the presentation, anticipate what questions the audience may have and organize your physical material (handouts, slides, notes) so that you portray a confident demeanor. In spite of the complexity of the health care reform issue, Mr. Obama was well versed in his facts, figures and examples, well rehearsed and able to synthesize the necessary information to respond to questions.

Powerful Opening

The first few minutes of your presentation are where the audience forms its impression of you. If you don't present a compelling reason to listen, you've lost their attention and it's much trickier to get it back. Don't waste this time with filler comments like asking everyone how they are or saying how happy you are to be there. Instead grab the audience's attention with a powerful opening like a startling statistic, a story or a clever definition or quote. Give them a reason to believe you are worth listening to.

Here I think Mr. Obama missed an opportunity to more impactfully introduce his message. He began with a brief summary of the state of the economy, including statistics of job losses and financial collapses. Although this did set the tone for the reminder of his remarks, he could have opened with one of the poignant stories he used later on, or with a series of statistics [for example] about how many Americans can't afford health insurance, how that statistic compares to other developed countries and how much health care costs have increased over the last 5 years.

Examples

Using examples that resonate with the audience and that support your key points will help you gain credibility. It shows you understand your subject well enough to use stories or anecdotes to illustrate your message and you understand the audience's needs well enough to ensure that the examples speak to their experience. Here is where Obama excelled. His entire presentation was filled with compelling stories and specific examples which added texture to his message and demonstrated the breadth and depth of his knowledge.

Sincerity

Audiences can tell when you're not sincere. And this blows a major hole in your credibility. Don't be afraid to say you don't know the answer to a question or you haven't heard about that new research project. Even the President of the United States admitted, in answer to a reporter's question, that he didn't know the specifics she was asking for, but would check and get her the information. Your credibility will take a much bigger hit when you try to side step a question or answer with a bunch of fluff the audience can see through.

It can also add to your credibility when you sincerely and rationally discuss an opposing view. Mr. Obama several times acknowledged that he knows some of the American people and some members of Congress are skeptical and apprehensive about the health care changes he is advocating. And he expressed his understanding of those concerns. As a presenter, by putting yourself in your opponents' shoes, you demonstrate your credibility by being able to see both sides of an issue and refusing to be defensive about your position.

Credibility is an intangible quality, sometimes hard to pin down. But it is most definitely a quality that can be acquired and enhanced. Incorporate a confident tone and manner, adequate preparation, powerful openings, compelling examples and sincerity into your presentations...in addition to generally improving the effectiveness of your message, these techniques will also increase your credibility.

6 Steps For Creating A Presentation

Everybody knows how to create a presentation, right? You just sit down at the computer, open PowerPoint and start filling in content on the slides. Mmmm...perhaps not. Perhaps there is a better way.

When we have a presentation looming, our bias for action tempts us to skip any planning phase and get right to producing the final product. We may even fool ourselves into thinking that we plan and create simultaneously. But sufficient time devoted to mapping and organizing your presentation up front allows you to deliver a more focused message that is more likely to address your audience's needs.

Let me suggest a process:

1. Audience Needs Analysis. Before you put pen to paper or finger to keyboard, spend some time determining what your audience already knows about your topic, what information they can use, how do they feel about the topic you're presenting. You want to answer the WIIFM question...the "what's in it for me?" question that every audience member has.

Some methods you can use to uncover information about your audience's needs: ask questions of a few representative audience members; talk to people who have presented to this audience before; do a survey; question the person who invited you to do the presentation.

2. Outline Your Presentation. Develop a bullet-pointed outline of what you want to cover and the approximate order. Don't go into a lot of detail here...this is just your road map. Make notes on areas that you need to research or on which you need to find additional resources. Once you've completed the outline, it should give you a good sense of whether or not your presentation flows logically, covers the key aspects of your topic and fits the allotted time frame. It is during this step that you want to answer the question, "What is the one key message I want my audience to take away from my presentation?"

3. Research. Next you want to compile the more detailed information and resources you made note of in the Outline step. This may entail reading, interviews and internet research. Make modifications to your outline based on your audience needs analysis and research.

4. Write Out Your Presentation. Now that you have all your material organized, write out your complete presentation. Although this seems onerous and I certainly don't recommend that you deliver your presentation from a fully scripted version, this is an interim step that allows you to get a good sense of the flow of your information and work on intentionally crafting your language.

5. Create Delivery Notes. Create the notes that you will use to deliver your presentation by condensing the fully scripted version to bullet points. [Note: these are bullet points for you, not for any slides you may design.] There are a variety of note formats you can use and I recommend trying a few to see what works best. This step gives you another chance to refine your message, make it more focused and incorporate vivid examples.

6. Design PowerPoint Slides. Yes...it's the very last step. [And it's a good idea here to ask if you really need PowerPoint...will it enhance your audience's understanding?] Once you have created and refined your presentation, then and only then should you design your slides. Now you can really focus on what slides will add additional clarity to your spoken words, what slides will give the audience a vivid graphic example to help them get your point, what slides will help explain a particularly complex idea.

Some of these steps may indeed overlap. For example, parts of your audience needs analysis and your research may occur simultaneously. Your research and designing your slides may overlap as you find a terrific chart or illustration that you want to include. You may also decide to omit writing out your presentation and move directly from research into creating your notes; however, I do not recommend this for beginning presenters or those who present infrequently.

For your next presentation, try this approach to creating your remarks. I guarantee you that your message will be clearer, your audience will be better served and as a bonus extra, you'll be much better prepared which will free you up to really focus on connecting with your audience.