Business Managers: Grow through Communication Part 1

Imagine this…. Five eloquent, highly accomplished, well-dressed presenters, armed with shiny animated PowerPoint’s, who seemed to just  drag on and on and on and on. Their words really didn’t matter because the audience wouldn’t really hear any of it anyway. As you look around you notice that peoples, eyes are closed, and others pretended to take notes while playing games like solitaire on their laptops.

As each presenter believes their words are important, they really are. But as a presenter, if you don’t give an audience a good reason to listen, they will quickly tune you out.

Consider the following 4 of the 7 points before presenting the presentation:

The Take-Home

When speaking to a group your entire presentation must contain one key point. If you had to sum up your presentation up in 10 seconds, what would you want your audience to know?

Ask Yourself the Right Questions

What you think a listener needs to know may not be what that listener wants to know.Place yourself in your listener’s seat and ask the following questions: So what? Who cares? What does this mean to the listener, reader or viewer and me?.

Talk in nuggets

Powerful communicators who can embrace the attention of their audience, have something in common with each other. They’ve learned that speaking is for the ear, not for the eye.

Present, Don’t Read

Is your presentation written like a term paper? Is it written in sentences? Do you allow room for pauses so the listener can participate? People don’t converse in long-winded sentences. We speak in short phrases. So write in phrases or bullet points. You will then notice that you are talking more and reading less. Also remember to pause between key thoughts so your listeners can digest what you’re saying.

Sometimes presenters  worry that simplifying the information would harm their credibility. But in fact, it is quite the opposite. By doing so you are helping your audience to focus.