Technical Writing ToolBox

I conducted a skills development workshop for STC India (New Delhi) chapter two years ago. The workshop was warmly appreciated by the participants. The slide along with text transcript is available in this post.

Though the presentation shared in this post is two years old, the basic principles of presentation has not changed much in the past hundred years.

Effective Presentation Skills – Presentation Transcript

1. Presentation Skills By Gurpreet Singh Saturday, May 22, 2010 New Delhi Learning Session, STC India
2. Contents
* MIPE: Purpose of a Presentation
* Rule of Three Vs
* The Three Ds of an Effective Presentation
o Data (Content)
o Design
o Delivery
* Removing Glossophobia (Stage Fright)
* Top Five Presentations Errors
* Question & Answers
3. MIPE: Purpose of an Effective Presentation
* To Motivate
* To Inform
* To Persuade
* To Entertain

4. Elements of an Effective Presentation: What makes a presentation effective?
5. Rule of Three Vs
* Elements in face-to-face communication
o Words (Verbal): 7%
o Tone of voice (Vocal): 38%
o Body Language (Visual): 55%

6. Presentation Skills Exercise #1
* The presentation shown in the video is?
o Motivating
o Informative
o Persuasive
o Entertaining
o None of the above
* Does the rule of 7%, 38% and 55% applies?

7. DATA (Content)
* Audience Analysis
* Presentation Outline
* Presentation Flow

8. Audience Analysis
* The rule of five Ws and one H
o What?
o Why?
o Who?
o Where?
o When?
o How?
“ I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. ” by Rudyard Kipling: “Just So Stories for little Children” (1902)
9. Audience Analysis
* A nalysis – Who are they? How many will be there?
* U nderstanding – What is their knowledge of the subject?
* D emographics – What is their age, sex, educational background?
* I nterest – Why are they there? Who asked them to be there?
* E nvironment – Where will I stand? Can they all see & hear me?
* N eeds – What are their needs? What are your needs as the speaker?
* C ustomized – What specific needs do you need to address?
* E xpectations – What do they expect to learn or hear from you?

10. Presentation Outline
11. Presentation Opening
* Outline of the presentation
* Startling question or a series of questions
* Quotation, illustration or a story
* Amazing Statistics
* Display of some object or picture
* Drama

12. Presentation Body
13. Presentation Body
* Chronological
o Reference to time
* Spatial
o Reference to space or arrangement in space
* Cause-Effect
o Showing Cause/Effect relationship

14. Presentation Body
* Comparative
o Showing comparison and contrast
* Topical
o Main topic divided into subtopics
* Problem-Solution
o Showing a problem and then its solution

15. Presentation Conclusion
* Sandwich effect: repeat your opening
* Summarize the main body
* Present a quotation
* Ask a question

16. Sample Outline
* Opening
o Capture audience attention
o Leads into speech topic
* Body
o Main Point #1
+ Subpoint
+ Support material
o Main Point #2
+ Subpoint
+ Support material
o Main Point #3
+ Subpoint
+ Support material
* Conclusion
o Review or Summary
o Call to action or memorable statement

17. Design (Visuals)
* Rule of Five x Five
* Consistent
o Fonts (size/type)
o Color
o Slide Layout
* Fewer (or perhaps no) Animation
o Use of Show/Hide Animation is OK!

18. Design (Colors)
* Sufficient contrast to enhance readability
o Black/Blue text on white background
o Yellow/White text on black/blue background
* Proper use of warm and cool colors

19. Presentation Skills Exercise #2
* Notice your feelings

20. Presentation Skills Exercise #2
* Notice your feelings

21. Design (Colors)
* Warm Colors
o Yellow, Red & Orange
o Relate with Sun, Blood & Fire

* Cool Colors
o Violet, Blue & Green
o Relate with Snow & Ice
22. Delivery
* Body Language
* Voice Modulation
* PowerPoint Slide Show Tips

23. Body Language
* Appropriate Eye Contact
* Positive Posture
* Informative Gestures
* Facial Expressions
* Movement

24. Voice Modulation
* Articulation (stressed part of speech)
o Presentation
o Presen TA tion
o Technology
o Tech NO logy
o Productivity
o Produc TI vity

25. Presentation Skills Exercise #3
* Read these lines aloud:
* I want to become successful
* I want to become successful and humble
* I want to become successful, humble and honest
* I want to become successful, humble, honest and passionate
* Which line ‘sounds’ different?
* And Why?

26. PowerPoint Slide Show Tips What How Move to any slide Slide # followed by [Enter] key Blank/Unblank B White/Unwhite , Move to first slide Hold left & right mouse button for 2 seconds All slides dialog Ctrl + S

27. Removing Glossophobia
* Reasons of Stage Fright
* I perceive or imagine the presence of significant others who are able to judge me
* I consider the possibility of my visible failure at a task
* I feel a need to do well to avoid failure
* I feel uncertain as to whether I will do well
* I focus on my own behavior and appearance

28. Top Five Presentation Errors
* PowerPointedness
* Reading everything written on slides
* Using jargon
* T.M.I
* Making slides complicated and unreadable

29. Error # 1 PowerPointedness- Extensive Use of Powerpoint ” It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control. Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable. ” – Gen. H. R. McMaster who banned PowerPoint presentations from US Army when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005.

30. Error # 2 Reading EVERYTHING on Slides

31. Error # 3 Using Jargon

32. Error # 4 T.M.I (Too Much Information)

33. Error # 5 Making Slides Complicated and Unreadable Using se ve ral colors in the same slide can m ak e it u n r e a d a b l e . Using different fonts and font size can make things worse . Too Many Animations Avoid

34. More presentation tips and information available at: http://gurpreetwrites.wordpress.com Thanks for attending! Gurpreet Singh is a professional writer and a trainer based in New Delhi having a keen interest in Human Psychology. He works in the creative realms of Technical Writing, Business Writing (MarCom), Web-Copy Writing and Training. He can be contacted at [email_address] .