00:00:00 I hope this presentation goes better than the last one I did. I hate to think what that

00:00:22 was like. Well, first of all, let me say that I'm very happy to have the opportunity to

00:00:38 meet with you, to talk with you, to talk about our business. No, I don't need the slides

00:00:48 yet. Oh, I can control them from up here. Okay. Let's see now, where was I? Oh, yes,

00:01:02 I wanted to say how happy I am to be here today talking with you.

00:01:19 How many good ideas are lost or ignored simply because a speaker did not know how to present

00:01:26 them clearly and convincingly? Natural speakers aren't born. They develop into effective

00:01:33 communicators by preparing carefully and by practicing basic techniques that work. In this

00:01:39 course, I will provide suggestions and ideas that will help you improve your oral presentation

00:01:45 skills. The course manual elaborates on the points I will be covering in this tape. If you

00:01:51 have information or results you want an audience to understand, an idea you want to sell, or

00:01:57 possibly a research project you want funded, remember two unbreakable rules. Advanced

00:02:03 preparation is necessary and you've got to practice. I have the results of that study right

00:02:12 here. It's part of my notes. I'm sure I saw it here last night when I was getting ready for this presentation.

00:02:32 Before you show up here, there's a lot of preparation to be done and one very important

00:02:37 question to be answered. What does my audience need to hear from me? Many a failed presentation

00:02:44 begins with a speaker who took the approach, how can I tell the audience what I know? Try

00:02:50 to see what you're presenting through your audience's eyes. This exercise will help in

00:02:55 every area of your preparation and delivery. The first two steps in text preparation are

00:03:01 choosing an appropriate topic and determining the main points to present. Ask yourself what

00:03:07 ideas within your topic would be interesting to your audience. Next determine how much

00:03:12 time you have to present these ideas. This is part of the limiting process. You have

00:03:18 to limit your material to fit the available time and objectives of the presentation. It

00:03:24 is critical that you keep in mind your audience's objectives as well as your own. Why is your

00:03:30 presentation interesting and important to your audience? Why do they want to listen

00:03:35 to it? Remember, information without motivation is boring. When limiting your material, keep

00:03:42 in mind that a short talk is made up of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. And

00:03:49 effective long presentations are made up of a series of short talks on the major points

00:03:54 with each of these short talks containing a mini introduction, a body, and a mini conclusion.

00:04:02 Audience attention spans are very abbreviated and this style of long presentation construction

00:04:07 keeps their minds from wandering. The first step towards interesting your audience and

00:04:12 meeting their objectives is to determine whether you will be speaking to a management, technical,

00:04:19 or non-technical audience. A management audience is geared toward decision making and problem

00:04:25 solving. They will be very impatient with issues they don't care about. Members of a

00:04:31 technical audience share similar educational backgrounds and sometimes professions. If

00:04:36 you're lucky, they share your field and will understand the technical aspects of your presentation.

00:04:42 Otherwise, your technical audience members may be brilliant in their field but completely

00:04:47 uneducated in yours. In this case, you must introduce each piece of technical information

00:04:53 at an elementary level and increase the complexity of the information slowly. It's a time consuming

00:05:00 but effective approach. A non-technical audience requires an approach that uses simple visual

00:05:07 analogies. Cut your presentation down to the bare essentials and describe your important

00:05:12 concepts in a visual way, in a context that your audience can understand. Understanding

00:05:19 your audience influences your language level, the organization of your talk, and the amount

00:05:25 and type of background material you use.

00:05:31 To explain this point further, I'll just write down a few representative results here

00:05:35 for you. As you can see, these results are quite dramatic and support my theory.

00:06:00 Properly organized and presented visual aids can greatly enhance any presentation. Why?

00:06:07 Well to begin with, studies have proven that a visual aid used to emphasize or clarify

00:06:12 a point increases audience retention. When you tell and show the information, audience

00:06:18 retention more than triples. Further studies illustrate that the majority of people experience

00:06:24 a greater impact from visual information than from information that they hear. And

00:06:30 a third reason to include visual aids in your presentation is visual stimulation. The attention

00:06:36 of your audience is much less likely to wander if you support and expand on your presentation

00:06:42 with the use of visual aids. There are several situations in which visual aids become absolutely

00:06:48 necessary. Discussing numbers, chemical structures, complicated apparatus, and mathematical calculations.

00:06:57 Obviously, in each of these situations, the ability to see a visual representation of

00:07:02 the information greatly increases the audience's ability to understand it. When planning your

00:07:09 visual aids, keep in mind four important criteria. They must be visible, clear, simple, and controllable.

00:07:18 For example, there's no point in using a visual aid if the audience can't see it well enough

00:07:23 to understand the message. If you want your visual to be effective, don't use small lettering

00:07:29 on written or projected visuals. Lay out slides and transparencies in a horizontal format.

00:07:36 This will allow you to use the top half of the projection screen, avoiding the hard to

00:07:40 see lower half. Eliminate overcrowding in your visuals. Avoid anything in the visual

00:07:47 field that distracts the eye. Concentrate the audience's attention on the point that

00:07:52 your visual is illustrating. When using word charts, I use the guideline of six or less

00:07:59 lines per chart, six or less words per line. Whether developing slides, transparencies,

00:08:06 or information to write on a blackboard, resist using a sentence or a paragraph format in

00:08:12 your word charts. The key points can be presented in a headline format. By using a title and

00:08:19 bullets, you can emphasize without distracting from your oral presentation. Clarity of visual

00:08:25 aids means getting rid of the non-essentials. But how far should you go? If you eliminate

00:08:32 too much, the visual will be confusing. For example, a list of key words is generally

00:08:38 too simple. It might help you remember what topics to cover, but it will not have a lot

00:08:43 of meaning to the audience. Use sentence fragments, nouns, and verbs to help the audience follow

00:08:49 your presentation. Another criterion for developing visual aids is to keep them simple. Limit

00:08:56 each visual aid to one idea or concept. Tables of information and numerical data are fine

00:09:03 in a textbook or magazine article, but avoid them in your oral presentation. Take the important

00:09:10 data from the table and arrange it in an easy to read and understand format. Always remember

00:09:16 to consider your audience when designing your visual aids. What can they absorb? What do

00:09:22 you want them to retain from your talk? The last criterion for visual aids is controllability

00:09:28 by the speaker. Visual aids should be organized and easy to handle. And all presentation equipment

00:09:35 should be properly set up, tested, and convenient to operate. Although many speakers prefer

00:09:41 to have a helper work with their visual aids, there are risks to surrendering the control

00:09:46 of your slides or transparencies to someone else. The next slide please. The next slide

00:09:54 please. There are several advantages to controlling your own visual aids. For example, you can

00:10:02 rearrange your talk as you go if it becomes necessary, or you can use optional visuals

00:10:07 as required to answer questions or clarify points. When you control the visuals, they

00:10:13 become more flexible and more reliable. As you can see from the transparency, you can

00:10:24 see. Well, maybe we should go on to the next one. Can I control the focus? Maybe we ought

00:10:31 to just refer to the handouts. When you think of visual aids, you probably think of slides

00:10:39 and transparencies. There are, however, many other types of visual aids, and each type

00:10:47 has its own advantages and disadvantages. A blackboard or dry, erasable marker board

00:10:54 makes a fine, informal visual aid. If your handwriting is easy to read, it can be difficult

00:11:01 to read. A blackboard or dry, erasable marker board makes a fine, informal visual aid. If

00:11:09 your handwriting is easy to read, it can be difficult to read. A blackboard or dry, erasable

00:11:16 marker board makes a fine, informal visual aid. If your handwriting is easy to read,

00:11:21 you can use the board in a number of ways to support your presentation. Disadvantages,

00:11:27 however, include having to turn your back on the audience in order to write on the board.

00:11:34 These disadvantages are important and are particularly useful during informal discussions

00:11:39 with small audiences. Their disadvantages include being unwieldy, hard to store, and

00:11:46 too fragile to use many times. Movies and television are greatly underused forms of

00:11:53 visual aids. Although expensive in relation to other visual aids, movies and TV are unsurpassed

00:12:00 anything with motion or flow. Through regular motion or special effects, such as high speed

00:12:06 or time lapse photography, movies and television can present events that are separated by time

00:12:11 or space. For example, a process that occurs in three different geographic locations over

00:12:18 a period of time can be videotaped and edited to support your presentation on that process.

00:12:24 Movies and television share several disadvantages, however. Aside from their cost, they require

00:12:30 specific hardware that could misfunction at a very inopportune moment. And remember, when

00:12:37 you dim the lights to show a movie or videotape, you lose control of your audience. It's important

00:12:43 to introduce the program by describing its relevance to the audience and plan a retention

00:12:48 reinforcing activity for after it is viewed. When demonstrating a three-dimensional concept

00:12:54 or object, models can be very effective. The critical question with a model, however, is the size

00:13:00 of your audience and the size of the room. With large groups, you can use slides of the model

00:13:06 taken from different angles and offer the audience a look at the actual model after your talk.

00:13:12 Whatever you do, avoid the temptation to pass the model around a large audience. It's very

00:13:18 distracting and will cause your audience to miss important portions of your presentation.

00:13:24 Overhead transparencies are very popular for several reasons. They are relatively inexpensive to

00:13:30 make. Simple transparencies can be made by running a black and white print original through a

00:13:36 copier onto transparent plastic film. And transparencies can be used with the lights on,

00:13:42 allowing your audience to take notes during your presentation. Putting them in plastic or

00:13:48 cardboard frames makes transparencies very easy to handle. And you can write notes to yourself

00:13:54 on the frames of each transparency. The disadvantages of this visual aid include being limited by

00:14:00 the choice of originals. That is, the vast majority of transparencies are made from eight and

00:14:06 one-half by eleven black and white print originals. Also, transparency quality varies greatly

00:14:12 from copier to copier. Some speakers have the budget, equipment, and the time to make

00:14:18 color transparencies, but the choice of colors is relatively limited. If you have the capability

00:14:24 to develop and use color transparencies, you can add extra emphasis and interest for your

00:14:30 audience. Projecting transparencies can be a bit awkward, however. Never stand between

00:14:36 the audience and the screen. Find a position for the projector, the screen, and yourself

00:14:42 that allows the audience a clear view of your visual aids. Slides are still the favorite

00:14:48 visual aid of many speakers. Their advantages are pretty straightforward. The quality is

00:14:54 less dependent on available equipment. For example, assuming decent photography and

00:15:00 developing, the original determines how a picture slide will look. And with word slides,

00:15:06 the whole process can be computerized with a wide choice of colors and lettering. In fact,

00:15:12 the choice of slide colors and subjects is unlimited. If you can see it, you can photograph

00:15:18 it. Slides are fairly easy to use and easy to transport. Even preloaded in a carousel,

00:15:24 they are probably less bulky than a similar set of transparencies. Slides do have their

00:15:30 disadvantages, however. Ironically, the unlimited choice of subject matter sometimes

00:15:36 causes problems. It tempts speakers to use slides that are pretty or eye-catching whether

00:15:42 or not they have anything to do with a presentation. Slides often take more preparation time

00:15:48 and are more expensive to make than some other visual aids. However, professional color

00:15:54 slides are effective and create a formal atmosphere. The biggest potential disadvantage

00:16:00 of slides is the need to have the room lights off or very dim in order to project

00:16:06 a good color reproduction. With the lights on, you lose the image. With the lights off,

00:16:12 you lose contact with your audience. So experiment with dimming the lights until you find a level

00:16:18 that allows the audience to see you and the slides. Remember, increased audience retention

00:16:24 is the goal for the use of all visual aids.

00:16:28 I thought I'd kick off my presentation with a little humor.

00:16:36 There were these two lab mice, see, and they were talking. And one says to the other one,

00:16:42 or were they rats? Yeah, there were these two lab rats.

00:16:48 You've prepared your text, designed and practiced your visual aids.

00:16:56 Now it's time for your presentation. What will your audience get from your talk

00:17:02 that they couldn't get from a written report? You. A presentation adds personality

00:17:08 to the facts and gives your audience a chance to see and interact with you.

00:17:14 Giving a presentation, technical or otherwise, is a lot like being on stage. Your audience

00:17:20 their opinion of you on what you say and how you say it. The key is to sell your topic,

00:17:26 not yourself. As the speaker, you become another visual aid which can support

00:17:32 or detract from the content of your talk. So it's important to understand the physical

00:17:38 aspects of speaking. Several personal details to practice include be comfortable

00:17:44 in your dress and mannerisms. Avoid distracting movements. Be aware of your position

00:17:50 and actions and maintain eye contact with your audience. Everybody is nervous

00:17:56 in front of a group, but good speakers learn to hide their nervousness from their audience.

00:18:02 Nervousness is contagious. Your audience can't relax if you're not relaxed.

00:18:08 Comfort. Wearing comfortable clothes and shoes can help a speaker relax. If you have

00:18:14 specific physical mannerisms, such as using your hands when you talk, don't suppress them.

00:18:20 You'll feel uncomfortable and look unnatural. It's much better to use your hands naturally

00:18:26 unless, and this takes us to the second point, it becomes distracting. You have to find a compromise

00:18:32 between feeling comfortable as you present your talk and moving in a distracting way.

00:18:38 Any repetitive movement, rocking back and forth or jingling keys in your pocket is distracting

00:18:44 and will be interpreted as nervousness by your audience. The third point to be aware of is your

00:18:50 position and actions, especially when using visual aids. As I mentioned earlier,

00:18:56 stand between your audience and the information you're showing them. Get into the habit

00:19:02 of standing near the screen, for example. Don't make your audience select you or your visual aid.

00:19:08 Let them see both at once. You'll keep them interested longer and they won't get as fatigued watching you.

00:19:14 Use your hands to point to the parts of the projected image, either from the right or the left

00:19:20 side of the screen, whichever is most comfortable for you. Pointers provide some of the best

00:19:26 possibilities for distracting movements. Even light pointers can steal attention away from your talk.

00:19:32 So my suggestion is no pointers, no temptation. You can learn to point with your voice

00:19:38 by quoting a phrase on the screen with additional volume or precision,

00:19:44 which is especially practical for very tall or high screens. The fourth point to keep

00:19:50 in mind is eye contact. Maintaining eye contact with your audience is the single most important

00:19:56 thing you can do to communicate effectively. The audience will know if you try to avoid their eyes by

00:20:02 looking over their heads or at your notes. Think of your presentation as a group of one-on-one

00:20:08 conversations. When you keep eye contact with the audience, you create the illusion that you're talking to

00:20:14 each person as an individual. Scan the audience during the presentation. Zero in on

00:20:20 someone for a few seconds. Look them in the eye and then move on. If you do that

00:20:26 continually throughout your talk, you'll be able to judge the mood of your audience and react to it.

00:20:32 Your audience has at least one person who will smile and nod in agreement as you speak.

00:20:38 When you're practicing these four presentation techniques, locate the smiler and nodders in your audience.

00:20:44 They will give you a real boost.

00:20:50 Use this as a list of what would happen if we changed structure of an enzyme substrate by replacing the methyl group of the fluorine atom.

00:20:56 It's no longer necessary.

00:21:02 Now that you've practiced your body language, it's time to concentrate on your voice and diction.

00:21:08 It's a key area you can work on in advance of your presentation. First, use simple words and sentences.

00:21:14 Using your normal speaking vocabulary will make your talk more memorable and convincing.

00:21:20 Speak slowly and clearly. I know this is hard to do if you're nervous, but there are two mechanical

00:21:26 tricks you can use to learn to pace your words. First, practice enunciating

00:21:32 every word carefully and completely. When you speak rapidly, you drop the consonants.

00:21:38 Enunciating your words will force you to slow down to an easily understandable speed.

00:21:44 The second trick is to speak from your diaphragm.

00:21:50 These results led us to wonder what would happen if we changed the structure of the enzyme substrate.

00:21:56 When you stand up in front of an audience, you might be tempted to hold in your stomach to look good, but this will make you breathe with your rib cage.

00:22:02 This panting style of breathing can actually increase your natural nervousness.

00:22:08 Breathing deeply with the stomach, not the ribs, is naturally relaxing.

00:22:14 Whenever you reach the end of a sentence, take a breath. It will force you to speak more slowly.

00:22:20 Proper breathing is one of the most important things you can practice as a speaker.

00:22:26 It can even help you project your voice. So remember, breathe from the diaphragm.

00:22:32 Another aspect of voice and diction is voice placement. The mechanically correct way to speak

00:22:38 puts your voice vibrations right at the top of your throat. If the vibrations are up behind your nose,

00:22:44 like this, you can't speak loudly or project no matter how much air you push through your throat.

00:22:50 If you force the vibrations deep into your chest to produce a deeper, more resonant sound like this,

00:22:56 you create a muddy, unclear sound. Practice your vocal skills by audio or videotaping yourself.

00:23:02 Breathe aloud, trying to move the vibrations of your voice from your chest to your nose.

00:23:08 You'll see what a difference it makes in the way you sound.

00:23:12 There are several conditions to watch out for in public speaking.

00:23:16 The first is looking bored and subdued, the hanging lip condition.

00:23:20 These results led us to wonder what would happen if we changed the structure of the enzyme and substrate

00:23:26 by replacing the methyl group with a fluorine.

00:23:29 Look at your face in the mirror while you talk to see if your upper lip is clear of your teeth.

00:23:34 And try smiling while you talk, not a wide smile, just enough to keep your lip from hanging.

00:23:41 The next condition I call the sigh of boredom. Right in the middle of a sentence,

00:23:46 some speakers will give you a big sigh.

00:23:49 These results led us to wonder what would happen if we changed the structure of the enzyme and substrate

00:23:57 by replacing the methyl group with a fluorine.

00:24:00 It makes the speaker sound tired and uninterested.

00:24:03 It's often an unconscious habit. The speaker isn't even aware he's doing it.

00:24:08 Again, practicing your presentation aloud and recording it can help you recognize and eliminate bad vocal habits.

00:24:16 Also, practicing will increase your vocal endurance for long presentations,

00:24:21 not to mention those question and answer periods.

00:24:24 Finally, incorporate these voice and diction pointers into your daily life.

00:24:29 This is the best way to practice speaking and breathing properly until it comes naturally.

00:24:35 In your day-to-day conversations, learn to leave empty space empty.

00:24:40 Pause when a thought is complete.

00:24:43 In your presentations, this will give your audience time to absorb the information.

00:24:48 These results led us to wonder what would happen if we changed the structure of the enzyme substrate.

00:24:59 One reason people tend to say nonsense syllables is that they're afraid of silence.

00:25:04 But the audience appreciates the silence. It's a chance to catch up if they're taking notes.

00:25:10 Another trick to practice is accenting key words.

00:25:13 Some are obvious, critical results and money figures, for example, but some are less apparent.

00:25:20 In thinking ahead to catch and emphasize those key words, try not to let your sentences trail off like this.

00:25:27 Remember, key words often hide in the end of sentences.

00:25:31 Some speakers have the bad habit of muttering transition sentences.

00:25:36 These results suggest that if we eliminate the methyl group, these experiments are shown in the next slide.

00:25:41 As if they were talking to themselves rather than to their audience.

00:25:45 It's important for your audience to understand how you got from A to B,

00:25:49 or from the material on one visual to the material on another.

00:25:53 Practicing these vocal suggestions will make you feel comfortable using them in your next presentation.

00:25:59 And as we mentioned earlier, appearing comfortable is the first step towards winning over your audience.

00:26:07 The relationship of these three molecules can be found in our compound in nature looking something like this.

00:26:33 Speakers often feel the need to perform for their audience.

00:26:37 They're concerned that their material and visuals won't be enough to keep the audience's interest.

00:26:42 Remember, your enthusiasm is contagious.

00:26:46 If you're excited by the topic, your audience will be excited as well.

00:26:50 But what if you need to use notes?

00:26:53 Don't be afraid to speak from an outline or a list of key words.

00:26:56 And don't try to hide the fact from your audience.

00:26:59 None of them would speak without notes, and they won't expect you to either.

00:27:04 But use notes to prompt you.

00:27:06 Don't try to read from or recite a script.

00:27:09 It's the fastest way I know to put an audience to sleep.

00:27:13 What happens if you make a mistake?

00:27:15 Say the wrong figure or get your material mixed up?

00:27:18 Did I say that was ethylcyclohexane?

00:27:23 I meant methylcyclohexane.

00:27:28 First, stay calm and think.

00:27:31 Is the mistake worth correcting?

00:27:33 If the answer is yes, correct it.

00:27:36 But don't fall apart apologizing.

00:27:38 If you are calm and casual, your audience will accept the error as a normal human failing.

00:27:44 No big deal.

00:27:45 My last suggestion concerns handling questions.

00:27:48 You either know the answer off the top of your head,

00:27:51 know the answer but have to think a minute,

00:27:54 or don't know the answer.

00:27:56 If you can't answer the question right away,

00:27:58 you can give yourself time to think by restating the question

00:28:02 or by asking for a clarification of the question.

00:28:06 I really don't think we have time for me to answer that question at this time.

00:28:11 Next question.

00:28:13 If you don't know the answer, admit to it

00:28:15 and offer to call in or send them information.

00:28:19 If someone in the audience is deliberately asking an unreasonable or difficult question,

00:28:24 never react negatively.

00:28:26 Smile and acknowledge the worth of the insight

00:28:29 and your audience will be impressed.

00:28:31 Keep in mind the four biggest barriers to communication.

00:28:35 One, the speaker who shows no emotion or enthusiasm.

00:28:39 Two, the speaker who reads from a script and doesn't get personally involved.

00:28:45 Three, the speaker who doesn't talk to or look at the audience.

00:28:49 And four, the speaker who's concerned for image interferes with communication.

00:28:55 When you're talking to your audience, you've got to forget about yourself.

00:28:59 You have to concentrate totally on the audience,

00:29:02 on getting your message across.

00:29:05 Text preparation, visual aid development,

00:29:08 personal preparation and practice,

00:29:10 guarantee that your presentation will be interesting, memorable,

00:29:14 and therefore effective.

00:29:20 This presentation ought to be better than the last one.

00:29:28 And so the recommendations of the three independent studies

00:29:31 clearly support our request for $33 million in funding for new staff,

00:29:36 new equipment, and a new facility for our expanded department.

00:29:40 Thank you.

00:30:06 Thank you.

00:30:36 Thank you.