The Value of Themes

When establishing your audience, ask questions not only about the people but also the event that is bringing them together. Most conferences and events will use a Theme, motto or similar device to create a sense of event and to aid in the transitions between parts of the program.

For the process of developing a presentation, referring back to the theme of the presentation lets your audience understand that you have prepared with them in mind. It also provides a starting point for determining your goal.

While these things on their own make themes valuable, linking your speak with the external (event or audience), themes can also be used internally to link and hold your speech together.

There are as many ways to achieve this as your imagination allows. The theme can either be on topic or totally unrelated to your presentation, but using an internal theme in either way will bind your presentation together.

An example of an “on topic” internal theme might be a speech which uses the same key phrase several times within the presentation. For example a speech which discusses the installation plan of a new computer network, might include a discussion of the specifications concluded with the phrase “Our new network will be faster, simpler and more flexible” – this part of the speech is followed by a second point about the end user support, also concluded with the same “Our new network will be faster, simpler and more flexible”.

An example of an off topic internal theme might be along the lines of baking a cake and preparing a speech – Your 1st step in deciding to make a cake is to work out what type of cake it will be – flavour etc. and for the speech it is the same, 2^nd point of your speech might be choosing your ingredients which are the contents of the speech, 3 rd point being the actual preparation (baking your cake) and the last step being practicing and refining your presentation (adding your Icing and candles).

In choosing an off-topic theme, choose something that would be widely known, this ensures that your audience can follow along your presentation easily. Also link your theme tightly to the actual topic and prior to presenting, it is a great idea to review the speech and ensure that the message is still clear.

In the example above the cake story served to link the points of the presentation into a logical order and provide transitions between your points, however if the audience emerges with a fully detailed recipe it would be safe to suggest your theme has by this point dominated your purpose. ( I don't follow this?)

Both External and Internal themes add value and power to your presentation; they differentiate your presentation from the every day and make your message more memorable.

Tips for taking telling to a true transfer of ideas

· External thematic links demonstrate thoughtfulness to the audience – this presentation is for them and not just the repeat of a stock presentation

· Internal Themes add interest and variety. They also have a capacity to hold various parts of a presentation together.

Developing a Presentation - Extracting Ideas From Social Media

The range of media available to us today can be seemingly endless, and each type of media allows opportunities to develop presentation ideas. When stuck for a message for a meeting or event, your solution could be in one of the newest of the many forms of media – Social media.

When I talk about social media, this includes sites such as Facebook and MySpace which allow you to see and interact with others online. Social media is an online presence where the content is produced and shared by the users of the media rather than the operators of the system.

These sites incorporate a function where users are able to provide updates about what they are doing and thinking about and users also have the capacity to upload pictures and clips which have caught their attention or interest.

A clip which is widely shared in this way is referred to as having gone Viral.  Introducing your presentation through referring to a viral clip or posting from social media establishes a link with those of your audience who had previously been exposed to the clip. It also demonstrates to your audience that you are aware of things happening in the broader community.

There are however things to be aware of in relation to the use of “Viral” media. The first is that the on-line world moves extremely quickly and where clothes might last a season (or more) things that are current and everybody is talking about today can be forgotten in a week or two. There are exceptions such as the audition clip of Susan Boyle which gained such a high and lasting profile in transitioned from social to news media, however for most viral media the shelf life is very short.

Also consider the audience when using social media references. Do you think the majority of the audience are likely to be familiar with social media? If so and you spend too much time describing the media article which they have already seen for themselves, their attention will soon wane.

From the opposite point of view, also be aware of making assumptions. If you introduce your presentation with a reference to a social media clip without enough content or background to explain it, those that have not seen the media item will not understand the reference. In practice it is a balancing act and the successful speaker will need to find a middle point to meet the whole audience.

Another social media platform is Twitter, and no, those posts from people using the site should not be referred to as a twit, rather they are called tweets and provide a very short comment about what the user is thinking.

An interesting function in Twitter is the trend information. Trend data allows users to see what topics and authors are currently popular and this, like the viral clips, provides an insight into what things are of interest to many people at any given time.

Incorporating content that you know is on broad interest is going to increase your opportunities to engage your audience and bring them with you through the presentation journey.

Tips for taking telling to a true transfer of ideas

·         Social Media can provide very up to date information on what is of interest in the community

·         Use social media that is fresh and recognise its generally short shelf life.

·         Provide an appropriate amount of context around the social media content, don’t over explain or provide too little background

Overcoming Writers Block

“Sorry that this update was late, I was just having trouble working out what I wanted to say” … well that might be an expected opening from someone suffering from writers block.

The experience of reaching a point in preparation and being unsure how to progress is one most people involved in developing presentations will be familiar with, and how you manage this will make a significant difference to your outcomes – resulting in either a presentation that is rambling and disjointed or a presentation that flows smoothly and is easy to follow

Despite the advances of modern medicine, in many cases the effective healer is time and likewise writers block can often be resolved though pausing and turning your attention to something else temporarily. While the fastest point between two points might be a direct line, pushing yourself through a block in the writing process can produce a product that is not as good as it could have been.

Of course using time to resolve the block to the writing process only works if 2 factors are present, time and commitment. If you have left the preparation to the day before you are due to deliver the presentation, you may feel that sense of stress that there is no time to wait for the presentation to develop at the back of your mind.

For this reason I always recommend that you develop the broad outline of the presentation a fair way in advance. The detail and examples you use to illustrate your presentation may be filled closer to the presentation date however a general structure, purpose and goal are good to develop in advance.

A commitment to the presentation is also required; it is not effective to allow the field of your presentation to lie fallow unless you are going to return to it.  Sometimes the ideas of how to move the presentation forward will come from a variety of places – things to see or hear in your day, television or newspaper articles – the sources of ideas are endless and so is the capacity to use these to overcome your blockages.

Discussing the issue with another person can also be an effective strategy to progress forward. Often the process of putting into words the presentation will help to clarify and define where you are and where you want to be.

A person to act as a sounding board to bounce ideas off or to explain the situation to can be invaluable, if fact your sounding board will often not need to say anything at all, just through stating the problem the solution will appear.

Without wishing to seem to be channelling a Cher song from the late eighties another strategy that can be applied is a process of turning back time. A speech or presentation is a journey and as such it may help to think of it as a journey through a series of caverns within an underground cave complex. You are leading your audience towards the light however from each cavern there are multiple tunnels leading onwards to more caverns.

The writer’s block may demonstrate that you have reached a dead end, a cavern with no exit, or at least no exits leading you towards the light of day – if this is the case moving back to the previous cavern and trying another tunnel, or if we are to move away from the metaphor, moving back to the previous section of the presentation and considering other options may provide a new path, or paths, towards the light.

If taking a step back is not assisting in providing some resolution, consider starting back at the beginning - what is your cause, your goal. As discussed above, the block maybe indicating you have wandered off the path and if you clearly understand where you are trying to get to, then that may provide the direction you need.

Sometimes however we set ourselves goals that on reflection we come to understand we cannot met, so reassessing the presentation goal as a whole may lead to you gaining an understanding that the presentation simply will not work or flow as you want it to.

Rather than persisting beyond this point, consider asking yourself the following “Is it good enough?”

It is very rare for me to be completely happy with any presentation, either in terms of development or delivery. This is not a reflection on the fact that the presentations are poor, but rather the constant feeling that it could have been better.

There is value, when you are stuck in the preparation at the point where every option you consider you find yourself rejecting to consider if you being too hard on yourself – while you are not happy with the next step in the flow of the presentation continuing on and using that segment that is not up to your standards may allow you to continue through and develop the rest of the speech and then see the problematic passage in the content of the whole presentation.

At this point you may see that the part that you were unhappy with is really not as bad as you initially thought, or alternatively the rest of the presentation provides ideas for improving that segment.

Tips for taking telling to a true transfer of ideas

·         Time – Allow plenty of preparation time some you can let the presentation lie

·         Talk – have support people you can discuss the issues with as vocalisation can lead to resolution

·         Turn – turn the speech around by back tracking to prior points or the presentation purpose

·         Try – work through a weak segment and see if the presentation as a whole leads to ideas to resolve the issues

Selecting your Topic

It has been said that the greatest challenge faced by a writer is that of the blank piece of paper and similar challenges can exist for anyone involved in the development of a presentation. At times you may have a general idea or outcome required of your presentation; however there are multiple methods to get to your goal. Perhaps the more challenging situation is when as a presenter you are given a brief to “just entertain them” … often prompting the question in the presenter’s mind of “Have I just been given enough rope to hang myself?”

2 factors to consider in approaching your presentation are cause and comfort. Cause is where you wish to take your audience; comfort is about how you want to get them to the destination.

Thinking about cause in more detail, your brief might be to inform a group of sales people about a new product line that they will have access to. Your presentation might be constructed around the technical specifications of the product or alternatively you might develop a presentation that highlights the new features and how they would benefit the consumer – both of these presentations (technical and marketing) achieve the brief you have been provided but would result in two quite different presentations.

The question in this scenario is do you want your audience to know the product or to be enthusiastic about the product. It is possible to achieve both outcomes however your initial strategy in preparing the presentation should be to focus on one goal, then review to incorporate the other goal. Trying to hit both targets too early in the development of the presentation can result in you missing both.

Your cause should be direct and if it takes more than about a dozen words to express it is probably in need of refinement. The more focused the cause, the more use they provide in getting your presentation to meet the audience.

As a speaker you are always asking that your audience trust you in some way, whether that is trust in your knowledge or authority on the subject on which you are speaking or simply your honesty and sincerity in your communication.

That trust can be easily lost if the audience senses you are acting or pretending. If your natural speaking style is to be informative and accurate, a presentation where you are vague or focused on humour can appear disjointed.

Does this mean you should never stretch yourself and always stick to what you know? Definitely not, I would encourage all presenters to try in each presentation to incorporate something new as these both expand the range of tools you have as a speaker and makes the presentation fresh – but if you have the option in choosing your style of delivery, you would be wise to consider what style you are most comfortable with.

By designing your presentation to play to your strengths you will find yourself more comfortable with the presentation and that comfort will communicate itself to the audience through confidence.

By having a cause to focus your presentation and a style of presentation that is comfortable, your presentation is on the way.

A tactical strike approach

Targeting your audience with specific strategies allows you to establish that sense of rapport, to engage the audience and build a degree of emotional support to carry you as a speaker through your presentation.

Any group that you are delivering a presentation to will share certain things in common, and by incorporating these shared traits into your presentation, you are able to deliver a presentation that will be of more interest to your audience.

Some of these shared traits include geography, that your audience is all (or at least a large proportion are) from the same local community. For a speaker from outside the community, referencing local landmarks, historical events or even sporting teams communicates to your audience that while you may be an outsider you have taken the time to try to gain a level of understanding of them.

These can be quickly incorporated into your presentation simply by leaving space and undertaking some observation, for example “flying into <insert name> airport and travelling to my hotel with its view of <Insert River or landmark> the aspect I first noticed was the hospitality and friendliness of your city …”

Another trait that your audience might share is an interest or occupation. Particularly when addressing industry conferences or community sector conferences, there is something that has brought your audience together and through referencing and linking your presentation to this interest you are able to establish a link between yourself and your audience.

An example is a recent presentation we conducted to a conference of medical staff on communicating with patients – not being trained as a medical professionals we didn’t even try to establish a link through medical terminology or history but rather picked an obscure town planning law and presented it in a way that assumed the audience would understand what law was about – This introduction produced the expected responses of puzzled expressions on the audiences faces who were suspecting that either we or they were in the wrong conference.

We were then able to transition to the body of the presentation by saying “What I just told you would have perfect sense to a town planner with years of working experience, however to an audience without that professional background the message was lost … Each of you are professionals with many years experience and training in your field however you too may find your message being lost in the complexity …”

This established both the fact that we understand where our audience was coming from and also highlighted a “light on the hill” a common point where the audiences needs and our presentation meet, answering in the first minute of the presentation the questions lurking in the audiences mind: “What’s in it for me” and “What could this person possibly be able to tell me”

Another strategy is to add context to your presentation by drawing upon previous events the audience has shared. This might include a situation where you are the third or fourth presentation of the day – you could refer back to the content of an earlier presentation and link it to the content you are delivering. This establishes a common starting point and helps your audience see your presentation as being for them specifically rather than a mass produced, oft repeated script.

Your group might also consist of a core group that attend the recurring event each time and that you have addressed previously. Referencing your previous presentation allows the audience to connect, particularly if there was something noteworthy that occurred – “Some of you will remember the airline shut-down that was occurring at our last conference together, I am hoping this weekend will not produce similar dramas but the fear of being trapped here with you all was certainly not keeping me away …”

For groups you are not familiar with presenting to,  never be afraid to ask questions of the organisers of the conferences or events questions to discover more about the audience:

·         “What can you tell me about the participants?”

·         “How has the event been promoted? How did you advertise the event?”

·         “Is this an established group where the participants know each other or a new group?”

Such questions can provide valuable information as part of the process of developing your presentation. I would always suggest that despite all preparation for your presentation that you retain a degree of flexibility and if possible arrive at the event prior to your presentation and take the opportunity to speak to several audience participants.

While asking the organisers what they would us to speak about is a standard question, we always maintain an awareness that what the organisers think the audience needs to hear and what the audience actually are interested in hearing about maybe two quite separate things. Part of the art of presenting is in creating a presentation that meets both needs.

Reaching out to your audience through building on common experiences is a very effective way to build rapport and enthusiasm and is easy to achieve when deliberate effort is applied.

Tips for taking telling to a true transfer of ideas

·         Ask questions of event organisers to get to know your audience

·         Ask yourself what do your audience share in common?

·         Think about what things you and your audience share

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