Effective Presentation Techniques free essay sample

The term ‘presentation’ is defined as a formal manner of speaking, instructing or putting oneself forward. Broadly speaking, a presentation is a method involving and audio and visual aids that are used to explain a certain topic or demonstrate an idea to an audience. Presentations may be informative, persuasive, and motivational; sales oriented or multipurpose in serving a variety of aims for the presenter. Depending upon the nature of the presentation and the underlying purpose it is meant to serve, it may be written, impromptu, extemporaneous or memorized. Presentations are not limited to the business context and are used widely in other spheres of life including academics and politics, however they are considered an necessary tool by organizations in terms of communication to the staff regarding new work practices and company policies and as such serve a useful purpose of disseminating information in a formal and structured way in addition to giving the audience a chance to have their concerns and queries addressed. For a presentation to be perfect and successful in fulfilling its objective it is important for the presenter to understand that the process is not limited to speaking alone and involves careful consideration of a variety of other factors that can influence the extent to which an audience is able to benefit from it. It is essential that the presenter is aware of the logistics prior to beginning his presentation. This includes an understanding of crucial factors such as the length of time one is allowed to speak, the nature of equipment available as well as attributes of the audience such as age, education, economic status. As the nature of the audience has implications for the presentation style adopted it is best to collect information on the listeners in order to maximize results. Experts propound that the importance of the human element in effective presentation delivery must not be ignored and factors such as content, structure and preparation must be given considerable thought as one prepares to present. A careful analysis should be made of the information embedded n the presentation and the extent to which it fulfills the needs of the audience in addition to ensuring that the quantity of material included does not lead to an over load and prevent the listeners from absorbing important pieces of information that are central to the topic. Presentation slides should be engaging but also easy to understand (Reynolds, 2008). A good presentation must be organized in way that it reasonably balanced between the beginning, middle and the end. Haphazard or unstructured delivery of information simple causes confusion making it difficult for the listeners retain information and phrase their queries accordingly. An effective use of analogies, metaphors and stories not only helps in clarifying and simplifying a complex issue but also serves to engage the audience. A crisp beginning involving an anecdote or a question is likely to invoke the interest of the audience at the very beginning however only an effectively structured format is capable of maintain that interest. Similarly a conclusion that is unique and well-articulated is likely to have a long lasting impact as opposed to a summary at the end which merely repeats the information presented earlier. Despite the availability of high tech equipment that makes a presentation interactive and interesting to the audience, it is must not be ignored that ultimately the listeners are at the mercy of the presenter. Body language, eye contact, speech and tone are all factors under the presenter’s own control that are crucial towards developing or eliminating the interest of the audience. The voice is considered the strongest tool at the hands of the presenter as it carries a large crux of the message that the audience takes home. According to Grant Williams (2002), vocal qualities are defined in terms of volume, tone, pitch, pace and color. Employing the wrong combination of these can considerably lower the audience’s interest and prevent them from asking questions towards the end. Since presentations are as much about seeing and they are about speaking, the body language of the presenter is another crucial element that must be considered. According to some authors (Smith Bace ,2002), eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, proximity and posture are all important spects that form body language and help in communicating messages. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, the presenter is able to establish a degree of comfort for the listeners who feel as if the information is truly for their benefit. Gestures on the other hand are important in establishing an impression of the presenter, standing stiff with little movement can have the audience perceive the speaker as boring where as a speaker w ho uses hand movements and points to the relevant material on the slides is received well and manages to facilitate understanding. Although the preceding analysis indicates most techniques the speaker may find useful in their application, there are a few mistakes that are common and often prevent a presentation from achieving its central purpose. Often in an attempt to ensure that listeners are able to grasp information, the presenter ends up repeating information which serves has the negative effect of boredom and leads to listeners losing interest in what is being presented. Poor time management and lack of preparation often leads to a presenter narrating the information directly from the slides in a monotone which not only makes the speaker lose credibility but also results in early departures from the audience. Another crucial factor often ignored by most presenters is a self-analysis to indicate their speech or body language related habits that may be deemed unprofessional by the listeners. An ideal way to shed distracting habits could be to have informal sessions with coworkers and peers and ask them to point whenever an unprofessional speech or body language action is unconsciously committed. To conclude, the aforementioned paragraphs indicate a variety of elements that can influence the performance of a presenter and inevitably the extent to which a presentation is close to perfection. A well prepared and confident presenter is one who not only keeps the audience interested during the session but also manages to adequately address their concerns at the end. Indeed presentations are a useful tool in delivering information and demonstrating new ideas to an audience, however a lack of consideration of the ‘human element’ that governs the process might result in poor execution and failure on the part of the presenter.