Group Presentations

In a group presentation, several presenters need to collaborate and coordinate so they offer a seamless end result to the audience. Yet integrating a variety of material and diverse personalities can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help make group presentations effective.

PICK A LEADER

This is the "point person" who can keep things organized and flowing smoothly. The leader can set the tone, give the introduction, manage the Q&A, referring questions to the appropriate presenter, and make concluding remarks.

KNOW WHAT OTHERS ARE GOING TO SAY

Get together in the early planning stage of the presentation and share outlines. Integrate the material so it looks like one presentation rather than several separate ones. Look for places you can refer to points or examples others use and tie them into your section.

HAVE CLEAR TRANSITIONS

Create transition statements that hand off the presentation to the next person and show the audience how the segments hang together. For example, "Now that I've provided an overview of the new accounting system, Alex will now show you how some of the features will make your daily reporting so much easier."

ENSURE VISUAL CONSISTENCY

All slides should look and feel the same. Agree up front what the master slide will look like and what fonts, headings and graphics will be used. Take care that everyone's slides have a similar quantity of data or visuals on them. Also ensure that each presenter has approximately the same number of slides.

PRACTICE TOGETHER

Without several group practice sessions, it will be very difficult for the presentation to appear seamless. Practice together, with the slides, to work out rough spots in timing, transitions and integration. Practice in front of colleagues to get objective opinions.

SUPPORT EACH OTHER

When the audience evaluates the presentation, they will look at it as a whole. So it's in everyone's best interests that each speaker is as good as possible. Support the other presenters during the preparation stage by offering suggestions and feedback. Support them during the presentation by paying attention while they are speaking and being ready to jump in if someone loses his train of thought or is stymied by a tough question.

Group presentations, like panel discussions, can be an audience-pleasing alternative to the standard, one person presentation. But only if the entire group comes across as a cohesive, integrated whole.

Comments

[Kathy Reiffenstein]

Lisa,

Thanks for your comment and for introducing me to your work.

You are so right about the challenges with visual consistency...I find that's a challenge even with one person let alone a group!!

Best,
Kathy

[Kathy Reiffenstein]

Hi 7MinuteStar,

Thanks for stopping by. What a fabulous idea you had re the short play as a way of integrating all the speakers. I love it! And I agree with you...I think it would have been very successful, given some good preparation and rehearsal (which should happen anyway!!).

It's sad to see so many business people so averse to taking a well-calculated risk. Or maybe they just don't want to stand out from the crowd??? Unfortunately it's the audience who ultimately suffers.

Kathy

[Name Lisa B. Marshall]

I wrote about co-presenting in two recent episodes/articles. http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com

I forgot to mention the visual consistency in my articles! That seems to be a problem particularly with student team presentations.

[The7minutestar]

Totally agree with all points. Once a presenting group I know made up of three different companies who pitched together for a common budget faced a challenge: how to be perceived as a team. One speaker? No go. Three different speakers presenting their corresponding parts? No team spirit palpable. A mix of speaking blocks? Too chaotic. I suggested to write a short play integrating all three of them and reflecting the way from zero to that pitch in a dialogue-driven style. It would have been just wonderful, but they didn't dare to do it in the end. Too risky they said. I say with a good, professional preparation they would have outpaced the competition by far. Well, some food for thought...