Episode #125: Presentation Visuals Mastery Part Six

We continue with part six of Presentation Visuals Mastery.

Where we stand is important. But as a presenter where should we stand? If it is a big venue and the screen takes up the whole background, I like to use the front, left and right side of the stage for a bit of variation. I try to stand as far to the front as I can, on the very apron of the stage. I try not to fall into the audience. Although I have come close to that a few times, by getting a bit too close. Often the stage is curved at the very front and if you walk in a straight line across the stage, you can find yourself in the orchestra pit, if you are not careful. It’s good to be close, because then you are physically close to your audience. You can have more impact and more body language power when you are up close and personal. That’s always a good position to be in.

Sometimes you’ll have something on screen you want to refer to. Use your arms to reach back to what’s on screen pointing there, but keep looking at your audience. Your arm actually indicates where you want your audience to look. That’s very good so they see they need to look at the screen now. Or, we need to look at this part of the screen now. Use that gesture to very effectively to make the audience focus on the thing you have selected. Use it for audience focus but don’t keep using it all the time. Be sparing with this technique

Tell people where you are going with your presentation. Set it up so people are aware of what is coming up. “Now we are going to talk about so and so.” The next screen comes up and they know what to expect, rather than being surprised all the time about what is coming up. This keeps them focused. Using your bridges or your transitions in your talk about your key points, you bring them visually into the next section of your talk. This works very well.

As I said before, the worst thing in the world is you are in light and the audience is in darkness and you can’t see their faces to gauge their reactions to what you are saying. In Japan I’ve noticed that Japanese audiences, if you turn the lights out, are very quick to lose focus. I think it’s probably true around the world, but because I do a lot of presenting here, I probably notice it more in Japan. Don’t turn the lights off the audience. Keep the lights on the audience and allow yourself to read the reaction to your voice and what you are saying. Look at their faces. How many are nodding? How many are just looking dead bored? How many are now on their iPhone checking email because you have lost them. You need to be able to see them to be able to keep the focus on your audience, to then switch gears.

Now if you need to get your audience back in the room, ask a question, a rhetorical question. They don’t know though whether it’s a rhetorical question or a real question. But by asking a question, you get their attention back in the room. You have to get them back from wherever they have escaped and you have got them again and you can keep going.

In the majority of cases, the way we present should be in conversational language. Storytelling is very good. We all relate to storytelling. It takes us into the context, the why of what you are talking about very quickly. And congruency between what you are presenting and how you are presenting it is very important.

I can’t remember the comedian. This is going back 50 years ago now. I remember I heard some American comedian and he was talking about being a graduate of the so and so school of speed reading. But he spoke in this really slow voice. “My. Name. Is… I. am. A. Graduate. Of.The.So and so.School.Of.Speed.Reading.” Speaking like this as a graduate of the school of speed reading was funny because it was so contradictory. It was for a joke. It was comedy. But it worked because there was no congruency. He was not matching the way of delivering the words with the message.

The same thing for us. If it is a very serious point, then you shouldn’t be laughing, you shouldn’t be smiling. Your face should look serious. If it is a lighthearted point, if it is something that is good news, don’t look unhappy. Don’t look serious, look happy. Use our faces for highlighting. Something surprising, requires a surprised face. If it is a very great piece of news, show a really happy face. The voice, the face, the body language, everything matches up with the message. So we need to make sure that the content is matched by the way we deliver the message. We must be congruent.

Speed is something that we use for variation in our voice. Speeding things up, or slowing them down for emphasis. Putting the power in! Taking the power out. These are all controls we can use for variation. We have modulation in our voice, where we are going up and down as well, which gives us power, gives us variation as a speaker.

We can add in gestures and about 15 seconds per gesture is about the maximum that you want to hold a gesture. The power of the gesture dies after that and it just becomes annoying. So turn the gestures on, then turn them off. And use your body language too, using your intrinsic energy. In Japanese we talk about the “ki” as in the martial art of Aikido. The energy, the power we have inside us, we use to project that power, that energy out to the audience. You give the audience your energy, you give them your power. In this way, you can bring their energy level up so that they are more receptive to your message. So if your energy levels start dropping through the process of giving your presentations, you’ll notice that your audience’s attention level will start to drop too and they will start to become distracted. So be prepared to keep your energy levels high.

Next week we will conclude this series with part seven of Presentation Visuals Mastery.