Professionally Speaking...

Presentations: What To Wear

"I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch" ~~ Gilda Radner

If asked, most of us would say we want to look our best when we are at the front of a room, presenting to a group of people. However, in the flurry of pulling content together, finishing slides and producing handouts, we don't always give enough thought to the role our clothes play in our presentation.

Now I'm not advocating buying a new outfit every time you give a presentation (although...if you need an excuse...), but choosing appropriate clothing can help you feel more confident in front of an audience and can ensure that your physical appearance is not distracting from your message.

Here are some wardrobe tips to keep the focus off your clothing and on what you're saying.

1. Your image will speak volumes about you before you even open your mouth. Make sure it's saying the right things. Does your conservative suit and muted tie support your creative, innovative image? Does your blouse with the low cut neckline cry senior executive? Certainly different corporate cultures will embrace different styles. But the point is to be sure your clothing is indeed communicating the desired image.

2. Dress for the audience. Dress so they get a visually pleasing picture but not so they're distracted by your array of non-matching patterns, bold designs or heels so high you look like you're going to trip. Your audience shouldn't be more engaged by your clothing than they are by your message.

"Seldom do people discern eloquence under a threadbare cloak" ~~ Juvenal

3. Be the best dressed person in the room. Always dress a notch (but not two) above the standard attire as a compliment to your audience. It adds to your credibility.

4. Wear comfortable clothing. If you are tugging at clothes that don't fit properly or fidgeting with a neckline that's too low, it will be a disruption for your audience and will undermine your confidence. Determine what you're going to wear a few days before the presentation, try it on and move around in it. This also lets you determine if your outfit needs pressing or cleaning.

5. If you have pockets in whatever you're wearing, empty them before the presentation. There are few things more annoying than watching a presenter playing with pocket contents. And if those contents create noise (like coins or keys), it's doubly annoying.

6. Ensure that all your clothing is in good repair. That means hems should be secure, suits and shirts pressed, no obvious stains or rips.

7. Shoes deserve a special mention. In many cases, your shoes are at the audience's eye level if you're on a stage. Shoes should be polished and heels should not be worn down. Shoes shouldn't squeak. And ladies, if the three inch heels that look fabulous are so uncomfortable you can't get your mind off them, you certainly won't be at your best for your audience.

8. Choose jewelry carefully. Jewelry is a striking complement to most outfits, but if it's huge and jangly, it will be distracting. If a bracelet slides up and down your arm every time you gesture, if there's jingling every time you make hand movements, if your earrings are so huge that people can't take their eyes off them, your audience is going to be focused on these distractions.

"When in doubt, wear red" ~~ Bill Blass

9. Hair should be neatly trimmed and in a style which doesn't encourage you to play with it. One of my biggest peeves is women who have long hair and are constantly flipping and flinging it around. It's as if the hair takes on a persona of its own! This is typically a nervous habit and when done obsessively, it is painful for an audience to watch.

10.Makeup is an enhancement for most everyone, particularly if you are speaking to a large group and may appear rather small way up on stage. For women, eye makeup highlights the eyes and makes them more expressive. Guys, you may consider a bit of powder or foundation makeup if you are speaking under very bright lights or have a shiny complexion.

11.If you're traveling any distance to the presentation, try not to travel in the clothes you'll present in. They'll look wrinkled and you run the risk of picking up a stain or a rip during the journey.

Many of these tips just take some attention to detail. If you're not sure what image you convey, a videotape of your presentation can help you analyze what works well and what might need to change.

What other wardrobe tips have worked for you?

Presentation Tip: The Difficult Speech

Every so often we are called upon to make a difficult speech...you know the kind I mean. It might be a speech informing your employees that budgets are being cut by 25% and layoffs are required; it might be one where you communicate that the incentive trip everyone worked so hard for is canceled; it might be announcing to your faithful supporters than you are withdrawing from the campaign. 

How do you deliver these kinds of messages with grace, poise and confidence?

Be Clear and Concise
Your tendency may be to ramble around, avoiding the tough, stark facts. Or to use euphemisms to sugar coat the situation. But your audience will appreciate clarity, specifics and ramifications. Honesty plays a role here as well. Be as honest as you can, without divulging confidential or inappropriate information.

Empathize
Put yourself in your audience's shoes and imagine what they're feeling. In some cases this may be very easy to do, because you too are being negatively affected by the news, but in others, it may be more difficult. Don't be afraid to say, for example, "This is an awful situation. Of course you must be scared and angry." Even if you're delivering the company's 'position' on the event or circumstances, be human.

Explain But Don't Make Excuses
If you come across defensively or make elaborate excuses for why the situation isn't really the company's (or management's or your) fault, you will lose credibility with your audience. And it will be hard to empathize sincerely. By all means, provide facts and explanations but avoid finger-pointing or "if onlys". Answer questions as thoroughly as possible or suggest other resources which can provide more detail.

Maintain Eye Contact
If you can't look your audience in the eye, you will seem guilty, uncomfortable, insincere. Sort of like the child who, while disclaiming all knowledge of the broken vase, can't look the parent straight in the eye. You will exacerbate an already difficult situation. Fight with your demons before you get in front of the audience and show enough respect to connect with them by looking at them directly.

Find a Silver Lining
Frequently there may be some good news or positive possibilities in the midst of the bad news. Again, don't sugar coat the tough message, but take the opportunity to remind your audience that things may not be quite as bleak as they thought.

For example, in announcing that your company is moving to another area where economic conditions are more favorable (upsetting and disruptive to many employees), your silver lining could be that house prices are much lower and the company will be providing a generous re-location package. 

Take a look here at Hillary Clinton's speech when she withdrew from the 2008 presidential campaign. The "18,000,000 cracks in the glass ceiling" was the silver lining for her audience [this is at 23:00 of the speech].

The next time you have to deliver a difficult speech, your audience will be grateful that you cared enough to put these tips into practice. 

10 Tips for Moderating a Panel

Most of you would likely say that speaking on a panel is more difficult and requires more preparation than moderating one. And I'd say you're incorrect.

The role of the moderator is critical to the success of the panel, success being defined as how much value both the audience and the panelists derive from the experience. Contrary to what some may think, the moderator doesn't just keep time or make sure that everyone gets an equal say.

Here are 10 tips that will help moderators ensure that their audience stays engaged with the dialogue and their panelists stay on track.

1. Act as the Audience's Advocate   As moderator, you need to be consistently monitoring the audience to read their reactions and determine if you need to make any modifications to the order of questions, length of remarks or anything about the physical space. Too often, the moderator is focused on the panelists, what they're saying and who's hogging the mic. But according to Jeremiah Owyang, in his blog post, How To Successfully Moderate a Conference Panel, a moderator should serve the audience, not the panelists.

2. Hold a Pre-Event Briefing   When I say pre-event, I don't mean an hour before the panel is to start. A couple of weeks before the panel presentation, the moderator should meet with the panelists (conference call is fine, although face-to-face is better, if feasible), review the objectives of the presentation, the general framework and share an overview of the questions and tips for being a successful panelist.

Depending on the moderator's subject matter expertise and the panel organizer's style, the moderator may develop the questions or be given them. The goal of the briefing is to get everyone comfortable enough with the topic area and each others' contributions that the presentation appears smooth and seamless. Specific guidelines for example, strict adherence to time frames, no self promotion) should be covered.

3. Make Short, Interesting Introductions   The audience really doesn't want to sit through long, boring introductions filled with presenter accomplishments, degrees and awards. Instead, make the intros short (about 30 seconds each), briefly establish why each panelist is qualified to be there and include some details about what contribution she's going to make to the audience or why he's passionate about the topic.

4. Set the Stage Up Front   At the outset, let the audience know what is (and perhaps isn't) going to be covered, how the panelists will make the topic relevant for the audience, any general guidelines about timing (e.g., each panelist will make a 10 minute presentation and then we will take questions) or format (e.g., this presentation is being taped so you will be able to access a recording on the website tomorrow). Be sure to let the audience know any other relevant information or restrictions such as ~ when and where to direct questions; handout availability; any scheduled breaks.

5. Manage the Timing and Balance   One of the biggest complaints about panels is that speakers sometimes ramble on unstopped. The moderator orchestrates the energy of the dialogue by knowing when to politely interrupt a verbose panelist or when to ask a follow up question on a hot topic. The moderator should also facilitate reasonably even "air time" for each panelist. Know when to ask a different panelist to answer a question or address another aspect of the topic.  

6. Be Prepared and Be Flexible   Know generally what the panelists are going to say and prepare some follow up questions or comments that you can interject to keep the discussion moving and engaging. Be cautious not to play panel ping pong, where you ask a follow up question after each panelist's answer, making it look all too scripted and structured.

Be well enough prepared that, if the audience ventures into an unplanned aspect of the topic, you can be comfortable pursuing it as long as you believe it will further the overall objective

7. Don't Answer Questions Directed at Panelists   Check your ego at the door. As the moderator, your job is to facilitate dialogue between the audience and the panelists, synthesize ideas or comments for the audience and keep the flow going smoothly. This is a far greater contribution than showing off your subject matter expertise.

8. Be Aware of Your Body Language   Even though you may not be speaking as much as the panelists, you're just as much on show. As in any presentation, be aware of any distracting habits you may have. Don't check your iPhone, shuffle papers, chat with the person next to you or gaze off into space. Be involved and actively listening.

9. Develop a Strategy for Questions   Questions can enrich a presentation or derail it. Decide ahead of time, with the panelists, how you will manage questions. Are you going to take them from the floor throughout the presentation or are you going to have a dedicated Q&A session? 

Here are some options you can use to manage questions: have participants write out their questions and have a coordinator collect them; ask questioner to direct his question to a specific panelist so that every panelist doesn't have to weigh in if they don't have anything relevant to add; don't keep calling on the same person(s) in the audience; have some contingency questions prepared for the panel in case no one in the audience asks any. However you get the questions, be sure to repeat them so everyone in the audience can hear.

10.Look at Audience, Not Panelists   Refer back to #1. You should spend most of your time observing the audience and directing your comments to them. When asking a panelist a question, look at that person while you are speaking and then look back at the audience.

Being a good moderator is a tougher and more important job than you may think. No matter how brilliant the individual panelists, it is the moderator who blends their content with the audience's needs to produce the perfect outcome.

What other tips or best practices do you have to share...either from the perspective of being in the audience or being a moderator?

Other resources on the topic of panels:

10 Tips for Speaking on a Panel
How to be a Great Moderator
10 Rules for Being a Great Panel Moderator
Ten Rules for Being a Good Conference Panelist

10 Tips for Speaking on a Panel

I recently attended my local ASTD chapter meeting (www.dcastd.org) where a panel of CLOs talked about the role of global learning in tough economic times. I'm not usually a fan of panels, because they frequently appear disorganized with speakers rambling, cutting each other off and running out of time. But this panel was refreshingly different and very effective. 

What made it so good? The moderator played a huge role and I'll cover tips for moderating a panel in the next post. But the speakers did some things very right. Here are the tips I uncovered:

1.  Stand in Your Audience's Shoes   Figure out what they need or want to know. Figure out what they may be able to use. Then give it to them. Run all your comments through the filter of what's useful to the audience rather than what may make you look good or what YOU want to talk about.

2. Be Prepared   Just because you are sharing the limelight with other people, don't think this means you don't have to be rigorous in your preparation. Determine the 3 or 4 key messages that will be relevant to your audience and organize succinct, clear content around them. This is the key to being brief and pithy vs. rambling.

3. Use Stories   Examples and stories are the absolute best way to help your audience remember what you say and see the applicability for their circumstances. Be sure to practice your stories so they are crisp and support the point(s) you are making.

4. Anticipate Questions   Part of your prep must be to think about what questions your audience may have about your topic. Plan to cover off the most likely questions in your remarks --  and -- have answers and resources ready for other probable topics your audience will bring up.

5. Don't Use Slides   A panel is more like a dialogue or conversation among the panelists and the audience than it is a series of stand-alone presentations. Unless PowerPoint is critical to demonstrate a concept -- in which case you would probably be using a graph, chart or image -- ditch the slides in favor of connection and eye contact with the audience.

6. Interact with the Other Panelists   If this is a dialogue, then each panelist should be interacting with the other panelists as well as with the audience. When you are speaking, reference or link to something one of the other panelists said to emphasize or contrast your point. This helps synthesize the information for the audience and makes the panel discussion seem like an integrated whole.

7. Be Respectful   Don't cut off other panelists or the moderator. Don't interrupt in the middle of another panelist's remarks. Don't hog the spotlight. The best possible experience for the audience is for all the panelists to make a contribution to the discussion without any one of them standing out at the expense of another.

8. Don't Answer Every Question   You may indeed have an answer for every question that gets asked. That doesn't mean you have to offer them all. Be conscious of the balance on the panel. Don't feel compelled to constantly add your two cents after another panelist has given a perfectly fine answer. Re-read #7.

9. Be Conscious of How You Look When You're Not Speaking   If you're fidgeting, shuffling papers, checking your BlackBerry or gazing off into space, you're not being respectful to the other panelists and the audience will absolutely notice and interpret.

10.Provide Your Bio   If you provide your bio or an intro for the moderator, you will be assured of being introduced properly. Brevity is key. Think of the last time you sat in the audience and suffered through long-winded introductions, peppered with degrees and awards. Construct your intro so that it offers something interesting and relevant to the audience.

What other tips or best practices do you have to share...either from the perspective of being in the audience or being a panelist?

Tips From the Acting Stage, Episode #3

If you've ever attended live theatre, you know how riveting the experience can be, to the point where you feel you are right in the middle of the action on stage, aligned with the characters, experiencing their emotions. Have you ever wondered how the actors create such an engaging experience?

And if you could figure it out, wouldn't you want to duplicate that engagement the next time you're on the business stage?

Pshaw, you say, that's entertainment [well, perhaps you wouldn't say pshaw]. What does that have to do with a business person standing in front of a business audience, armed with bushels of PowerPoint slides?

Plenty, I say. There are three key lessons we can adapt from the acting stage.

LESSON #1

By the time stage actors get in front of their audience, they are well rehearsed and well prepared. They know their lines. They know where to pause for a laugh, for a tear or to let a point sink in. They don't stumble over their words. They don't forget what they wanted to say. They don't speak too fast or too slowly, because they have practiced their lines until they get just the right tone and pace.

I am certainly not advocating that, as business presenters, you memorize a script, word for word. But I am saying that if you practice your presentation enough times to become very familiar with your content and how you want to say it, you can come across as polished and intentional as an actor delivering lines. Once you know your content backward and forward, it frees you up to focus on fine tuning: for example, where is it best to pause to let the audience absorb what you've just said or where should you speak very distinctly to give added emphasis to a significant point.

LESSON #2

In a play there is a story line. There is a beginning where the overall premise is set forth, characters are introduced and some conflict is presented. There is a middle where action takes place, the story is advanced and potential solutions to the conflict are considered. And there is an end where the characters resolve (or don't) the conflict they've been grappling with.

A business presentation benefits from a story line as well. You should structure a beginning, a middle and an end, each section distinct yet integrated with the rest. Add a dollop of conflict to engage the listeners. 

Now I'm not suggesting that you insult someone or pick an argument to create conflict. In theatre, conflict is a technique where problems and obstacles are introduced into the action for characters to confront. Makes for a good story, because without conflict, nothing would happen. So in the business presentation, introduce conflict by describing the existing problems that the new system (or process or product) will overcome. Or talk about the skepticism and apprehension that everyone is feeling about the reorganization.

LESSON #3

Stage actors clearly know what emotion they want to evoke in the audience with each section of the play. Word choice, vocal tone, body language and physical movement are the tools they use.

As business presenters, we often don't think about what emotion we want our presentation to elicit from our audience. But having a vision of where you want the audience to empathize, where you want them to be outraged, where you want them to be enthusiastic, where you want them to be proud helps you choose the most effective combination of tools to accomplish that.

Emotions play a key role in comprehension, so proactively engage your audience's hearts as well as their minds to make your message even more powerful.

What other techniques can we learn and apply from the acting stage?

Tips From the Acting Stage, Episode #2 

Tips From the Acting Stage, Episode #1

What Can Your Audience Absorb?

When we prepare a presentation, in our enthusiasm for and expertise in our topic, we often disregard our audience's capacity to absorb information. We operate from a "more is better" mentality, reluctant to leave out any detail that somehow, possibly, maybe could be relevant.

The result, however, is far different than what we intend. Instead of dazzling our audiences with our knowledge and depth of understanding, and motivating them to buy into our message, too frequently we create audience confusion and overload.

WHAT AFFECTS AUDIENCE ABSORPTION?

Certainly the sheer volume of information included in a presentation has a big impact. As you prepare your presentation, ask yourself, "What is my critical message?" "What is the one thing I want people to remember once they leave the presentation?" If you filter all your data and information through those questions, you will become clearer on what content is critical and what is just nice to know and could be provided in handouts or as a follow up after the presentation.

Other variables that affect audience absorption are:

• Rate of Speech. If you speak too slowly, listeners may get bored and take mind vacations. If you speak too quickly, particularly if your material is involved, listeners may not be able to follow. Audio record your presentation when you rehearse and see what the pace sounds like when you play it back. Since it is sometimes difficult for us to be objective about our own voice, ask a colleague to listen.

• Complexity of Information. The more complex your data, the more challenging it will be for your audience to absorb it. In your preparation, research what your audience already knows about your topic to help you determine the appropriate level of complexity to present. Be sensitive to non-verbal clues from the audience (frowns, confused looks) and be ready to re-explain a point or give an example to enhance understanding.

• Language Choice. Choose words that make it easy for the audience to grasp your information and remember it. Stay away from jargon unless it is well understood by the audience. Use descriptive, colorful words. Speak at a vocabulary level that is appropriate for your audience. If the audience has to invest a lot of energy in deciphering what you're trying to say, they will have less to invest in comprehending your meaning.

• Organization of Material. Even the most complex information is easier to absorb when it is presented in a logical, organized fashion. Create an outline of your presentation when you are initially designing it because an outline more clearly shows flow and progression. Chunk your material so that it falls into logical modules. Use transition statements between modules to help the audience move into a new section. Summarize frequently.

3 KEY TECHNIQUES TO HELP AUDIENCES ABSORB

These techniques can make the difference between an audience internalizing your information and being able to recall it or not being able to remember what you said five minutes after they leave the presentation.

• Pictures and Graphs on Slides. The more you can use relevant and engaging images or charts on your slides, the more you enhance the audience's ability to absorb your message. Slide after slide of wordy bullet points not only becomes boring, it makes it more difficult for the audience to pay attention, as they are splitting their focus between listening to what you're saying and reading what's up on the slide. Images can aid understanding and memory yet not distract, like printed words do, from the speaker's verbal delivery.

• Stories. Stories are an exceptionally powerful tool to help an audience retain key points because they are filled with human interest...characters, scenarios, tension and resolution. Craft stories that strongly support your key message and then practice them numerous times until you have the timing and intonation perfect.

• Examples. Closely related to stories in terms of impact, examples can help the audience understand relevance and application. When you are preparing your presentation, develop numerous examples that will resonate with this particular audience, perhaps using people or work situations that are familiar to them.

What other techniques have you used to help your audiences absorb your message?

5 Ways To Integrate Twitter Into Your Presentations

In a previous post, I explored common concerns about Twitter usage in presentations and concluded that Twitter offers many benefits in terms of audience involvement and engagement. However, seeing the benefits of using Twitter and being able to incorporate it effectively into your presentation are two very different things.

So let's take a look at some best practices for integrating Twitter into a live presentation.

HASHTAGS

Set up a hashtag for the presentation. This is a keyword or phrase preceded by the # sign (e.g., #TwitTips) which then groups and archives all the tweets using that hashtag, so they can be accessed either as they are posted or at any time after. Even people not physically at the presentation can follow the tweeted comments. If you communicate the hashtag to attendees before the presentation, you can generate interest in your upcoming presentation by tweeting questions or recommended links and resources thereby facilitating a dialogue before you actually speak.

QUESTIONS

Use Twitter as a polling technique to gather attendees' opinions and answers. Let's say you are giving a presentation on the benefits of using social media and you want to know which sites attendees use on a regular basis. In the presentation, just ask them to tweet that information and then tally the responses. Now of course, you could also get this same information by simply asking for a show of hands. But that's not as engaging for participants, you'll likely get more detail in a tweet and the tweets will be archived, allowing you to refer back to them.

Use Twitter in a Q&A session to generate more involvement and give everyone an even playing field. Attendees may be more willing to tap or key in a question than they would be to raise their hand and verbalize it, particularly if the audience is large.

If you encourage attendees to tweet their questions, take frequent "Twitter breaks", (every 10-15 minutes), so you can process those questions and respond. You may also be pleasantly surprised when the peer-to-peer learning aspect of Twitter kicks in and other people in the audience answer the questions before you get to them.

MODERATOR

Co-opt a helper to moderate all the tweets (the tweetstream) for you to ensure that you don't miss any important comments or dialogue. You could even ask for a volunteer from the audience. The moderator should pass you questions or comments that are insightful or represent a majority view so you can reflect this dialogue, offer further explanations and respond to opinions. To be fully effective, talk with your moderator before the presentation and overview your key points. That way, she can be sure to capture tweets that would add richness to the conversation.

LIVE DISPLAY

Project the tweetstream (all the tweets being sent to the hashtag) on a screen at the front of the room. Use a tool like www.tweetchat.com to filter out non-hashtag tweets. This is perhaps the ultimate use of Twitter in a presentation as it allows everyone in the room to see all the tweets being sent in real time. There is the potential for the constantly running tweetstream to be distracting, for both the presenter and the audience, so I recommend showing it for short periods of time, when it adds value to the presentation, perhaps during the Q&A section. If you are projecting a live display, a moderator can be very helpful in organizing/summarizing the tweets and answering some of them directly.

FEEDBACK

Capture feedback during the presentation through Twitter. Rather than waiting until the end and asking attendees to fill in the evaluation forms, ask them to tweet feedback at appropriate points during the presentation. The feedback will be fresher (they won't have to think back to something you covered an hour ago), you may get a higher response rate and you may get more specifics than you do from a "scale of 1 to 5" type response.

Encouraging or proactively using Twitter in presentations is still somewhat uncharted territory. There is no doubt that you'll encounter a few twists and turns the first time you use it. But the enhanced audience participation, contribution and engagement are certainly worth enough to give it a try.

What experiences have you had using Twitter in one of your presentations?

OTHER RESOURCES

5 Ways to Use Twitter During a Presentation
Quote URL - A Twitter Tool to Quote, Save and Publish Tweets
Change the Context to Use Twitter Most Effectively

Rehearse More Effectively

I am a huge advocate of rehearsing a presentation multiple times before giving it (even though I hate rehearsing as much as the next person). Rehearsal has a multitude of benefits:

• It helps you internalize content, making it less likely you'll forget what to say.
• It makes your delivery sound more polished and confident.
• It helps minimize nervousness because you know you're prepared.

One of the key methods I recommend is rehearsing out loud so you can hear what you sound like. But recently a wise colleague challenged me when I recommended this approach in one of my bi-weekly Presentation Tips communiques, saying, "...you are making an unvoiced assumption of competence."

He went on to say, "If I don't know how to hit a golf ball correctly, practicing hitting one before I play a round of golf serves to erode my confidence. Tiger Woods, on the other hand, benefits a great deal by practicing before a round as he knows how to correct any swing flaws that surface during the practice."

It's an excellent point. The crux of the issue is whether or not the person rehearsing knows: how to do the activity correctly AND how to assess or evaluate the result.

HOW TO DO THE ACTIVITY CORRECTLY

With presentation skills, the trial and error method is a possibility, but it has potentially serious consequences. If you repeatedly employ poor presentation techniques, because of lack of knowledge or lack of awareness, you will get a reputation as a poor presenter and audiences will punish you with lack of attention and lack of response.

Learning the best practices of presentation skills through formal training, coaching or reading books is certainly the most effective way to improve.

HOW TO EVALUATE THE RESULT

Once you have acquired knowledge about what's effective and what's not effective in a presentation, then your rehearsal takes on a different face. Now, like Tiger Woods in the earlier example, you are better equipped to assess when you are deviating from what's effective. Moreover, you have a better idea of how to correct it.

At this point, you will get value from rehearsing out loud. Here are some other ways to help you evaluate your performance and effectiveness:

• Videotape yourself. When you can see as well as hear yourself, you get a fuller picture of your likely impact on an audience.
• Better yet, rehearse in front of colleagues who can give you feedback on how you come across.
• Even better, rehearse in front of a professional who can not only assess your skills but also provide coaching on how to correct or enhance aspects of your presentation.

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.