LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION

Question 1
“Without effective communication, a leader is not a leader.” Do you agree with this
statement? Explain your argument by describing the relationship between leadership
and communication. Describe types of power that a leader can derive as source of
persuasion in communication. Using example is a good way to show your group
understanding.
Answer :
Communication is the delivery of meaning from one person to another or many
people, both verbally and nonverbally. Communication can occur in a complex and
interactive setting, with the possibility of many different messages and interpretations
obtained by the parties. This happens when something is disturbing when there is a message
to be conveyed, whether triggered by the background, the media, the sender of the message,
or the recipient of the message itself. The context of the information sent, the presence of
obstacles, the choice of delivery media, the words used in the message, and the speaker's
picture can influence the meaning when communication occurs from one person to another.
So, delivering communication effectively will greatly help the recipient of the message
understand the content or context so that they get the same thing as the sender of the message.
As a leader, we are required to be able to communicate efficiently. When asked to
describe leadership, many of the experts used the terms 'influence', 'inspire,' and 'transform,'
essentially relying on verbal and non-verbal communication where their words and actions
could direct. There are two kinds of leadership that we know, first, traditional leaders. This
type of leader concentrates on the characteristics of relationships that individuals have with
others that shape their leadership status. The second type is transformational leaders. This
type of leader has a positive ethos (authority and credibility), inspires a sense of trust and
respect, communicates with others individually and in the community, articulates a strong
and inspiring vision, and skillfully motivates and directs others to action. Transformational
leaders have four main behavioral characteristics: having ideal influence, motivating and
inspiring, having a sufficient intellectual level, and having good individual judgment.
Transformational leaders have good communication skills, such as listening, being reliable in
persuading, and articulating their ideas effectively. Through communication skills and
resources, transformational leaders can communicate positively with their audiences,
eliminate obstacles that exist in the delivery of information, and convey messages that can
guide, direct, empower, or encourage others or listeners. So, leadership communication is the
delivery of organized and purposeful information through individuals who can influence
other people, groups, organizations, or the wider community. As a reference from other book
sources, such as Kinicki and Fugate, it is stated that leadership is a social control mechanism
in which leaders seek voluntary cooperation from subordinates to achieve organizational
goals. In their book, Kinicki and Fugate also mentioned that leaders must have intelligence,
dominance, self-confidence, energy and activity levels, and task-relevant knowledge.
Communication is also influenced by the types of power that leaders have. The power
referred to here is translated as the level of power of one person over another, but rather the
ability of that person to influence others. According to Barret, the first type of power is the
Power of Coercive. This type of power can be scary for some people. This power makes us
fearful of being punished for poor results and makes us arrive early and afraid to be late for
work. People who use this power can influence others' actions through their ability to
intimidate and punish others. These actions include the possibility of demotion, dismissal,
and reprimands, and so on. The level of strength of this power needs to be controlled to make
other people stay in line with leaders.
Second, the Power of Reward, which is a prospective benefit or reward. This power
includes the return of salary increases and incentives, praise given, recognition, and
promotion. This power, if used equally and equally, will be very motivating. The people who
get this return will do more and better things by pursuing that incentive. However, if
incentives are offered unfairly and favoritism, they will become discouraged and
discouraged. Also, if the reward is given unfairly, favoritism can reduce their motivation.
Third, the Power of Legitimate. A power that is given to someone based on their status or
function. Often this is found in the hierarchy of an organization, for example, where junior
managers report to senior managers and senior managers report to directors. As part of the
reciprocity, the only way is by giving promotions. This is done to get more influence.
Fourth, the Power of Referent is a personal attraction or charisma. This power is the
ability to influence others because they respect, admire, or like someone. There are several
ways to get this power, for example, building social capital by saying "yes" when other
people ask to do something for them. Fifth, the Power of Expert. This type of power is
another way of gaining recognition and authority outside the existing hierarchy. With this,
everyone can influence others based on their abilities, skills, and experiences. To get it, one
must know and ascertain what one needs to know to do a job well and build on his skills.
Sixth, Power of Information. This power is short term and does not inherently influence or
create legitimacy. For example, the project manager will have all the information for a
particular project. That will give him "information control" to control the parties involved to
support his plan. This short term means that some information will eventually be published.
The last type of power is the Power of Connection, which is an interpersonal relationship and
relationship. This power generates proxy leverage and a one-person connection to another.
Everyone can acquire this power by becoming a source of knowledge for those with whom he
communicates.
Example
We try to provide some examples to explain better what has been discussed above.
For first example, Josh Lewis is a recent graduate who works at one of the top three
multimedia production and distribution houses in the world, called Rising Entertainment. As
someone who has just finished his studies and belongs to Gen Y, Josh expects plenty of

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excitement and opportunity to work at Rising Entertainment. Whereas in fact, he should face
a generational gap that causes a serious conflict with his own boss, Sarah, classified as Gen
X. The generational differences between Sarah and Josh contribute to the miscommunication
they’re experiencing. Both of them have failed to convey what they expect from one another
clearly, and Sarah hasn’t given Josh the feedback that he, like many Generation Y employees,
needs to stay engaged and perform effectively. Here is right where effective leadership
communication is supposed to be performed by Sarah. As the leader, she should influence her
team as a single person or a group by using the full range of their communication abilities
and resources to connect positively with her team/ subordinates, overcome interferences, and
create and deliver messages that guide, direct, motivate, or inspire others to action in
achieving company’s objectives.
The other example is in this difficult period of PSBB, several companies made salary
cuts or even layoffs of employees. In this case, the leader of a company or even a particular
department leader has an important role in motivating employees. With several approaches
such as Information, Legitimate connection, of course, leaders who have good relationships
must be able to communicate this information on how the background & transparency of the
company carried out the cutting policy during the PSBB period, and still provide direction
and convince subordinates that the policy is only temporary, the leader must provide
company objectives at a certain time will return to normal. There will be no more cuts if
employees can work in a certain job capacity to achieve organizational goals. In this case,
Reward and Coercive can also be done. The Leader motivates his subordinates to do their job
well and get a reward within the predetermined timeline target. On the other hand, if
employees cannot do their work proportion properly, they can experience bankruptcy, which
led to employee layoffs. So in this approach, of course, the Leader must be able to explain
well related to difficult times so that employees can have a positive perception and have a
sense of empathy for the state of the organization. With these approaches, the leader will
have effective communication to encourage employees/ subordinates to achieve their best
performance and achieve organizational goals.
In conclusion, after recognizing the above leadership and communication factors and
sources of influence, we partially agree with the arguments that ‘without effective
communication, a leader is not a leader.’ If we see the type of power in a legitimate aspect,
they are still a leader who has power, because leaders are not the only people who
communicate their message well but also people with certain positions, people with higher
responsibility, or even every one of us can become leaders. But influential leaders
communicate effectively. Mastering leadership communication becomes a priority for
individuals who want to lead others and want their groups, organizations, or the broader
community to follow them, trust them, and consider them leaders.

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Question 2
In preparing a business speech or writing, it is important to fit your message to your
intended audience. Please elaborate further this statement. Three important elements to
be considered are: word choice, you-attitude and reader's benefit. Can you describe
how to implement those elements in a business setting? Please provide examples of
factors to consider for each different type of target audience in strategy planning of
communication. Can you also describe in brief questions to clarify the audience?
Answer :
In preparing a business speech or writing, leaders should consider the impact on their
language and message. There are four main objectives in the speech or writing delivered by
the leader, namely: (1) informing, (2) influencing or persuading, (3) giving instructions, and
(4) to engage. These are some of the characteristics of a transformational leader. Knowledge
of your existing audience can help increase the likelihood of achieving the desired business
speech or writing result. One of the things that must be done in preparing a business speech
and writing is choosing the right words in the drafting so that the audience can benefit from
our speech or writing.
Shortening sentences, clarifying articulation, and choosing the right words can help
writers and speakers appear confident. Delivery that is short, straightforward, unhurried, and
not long-winded in speech and writing is an important factor in communicating effectively.
Leaders must be able to ensure the audience can understand the content and context that is
presented. Therefore, in terms of choosing the right words, try to communicate directly and
forcefully. Choosing active sentences will attract the audience's attention more. Sometimes
the emphasis of the word "I" can be avoided when composing sentences. This serves to
embrace the audience. Often many speakers use the word "we" so that the audience feels
involved. The use of idioms, jargon, proverbs, ambiguous words, and words that are difficult
to understand in general needs special attention to adjust to who our audience is attending our
speeches or reading our writings. Making our audience remember what we can be provided in
several ways. The easiest way is to convey our context in an interesting storyline, use a few
keywords that can be repeated and create a parallel sentence structure, namely by making a
list of words, sentences, and a few key points. The use of repeated words repeatedly should
also be considered in context, but determine whether the repetition of keywords or ideas will
help convey the message to the audience or distract them from absorbing the meaning of the
context. Also, direct delivery can facilitate audience memory and help to be persuasive in
ongoing communication.
In addition to choosing the right sentence, strategies to get the audience's attention can
be achieved by getting to know more about who the audience is attending or reading, what
they know and want to know from our speech or writing delivery, what they feel about it and

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what can influence it. They. This is often known as you-attitude. This you-attitude actually
sees things from the perspective of the existing audience. We may be speech material bearers
or business writers that we will convey, knowing more about what we write. However, we
must respect the readers' knowledge and background so that we can protect their egos and
emphasize what they want to know. To make you-attitude, we must be able to read the
situation in the audience. Avoid discussing feelings subjectively and directions to criticize
readers, use positive messages, and place information that the audience is key or interested in
rather than from our own perspective. We can also use a concise title and table of contents to
help the audience find important points quickly.
The things discussed above actually lead to the reader's benefit or cultivate the
audience's benefits. In the delivery of speeches and writings that we convey, try always to
emphasize 'what's in it for them.' We must be able to do this by identifying facts about our
context, providing analysis from the audience's point of view, and listing what benefits we
convey. Provide tangible benefits for the audience, such as financial benefits, benefits to the
audience's career or work, benefits to increase the audience's self-esteem and personal
achievement, psychological and emotional benefits. As well as being able to use benefits in
providing a wider impact in the organization, team, or existing audience groups.
In practice, we must be able to fit each existing audience. For example, when as the
Head of Public Relations of a company that has just made a corporate action for mergers &
acquisitions (M&A), we can make several points that must be conveyed when meeting each
audience, where:
1. When we are in the investment community audience, which contains “smart” people,
we can use formal meetings where our goal is to convince these investors that the
company has added value and stability to the company's performance. We will invite
the CEO of the company to explain about the strategy for this M&A to make the two
companies stronger in facing competition in the industry.
2. If we find local media for news, then we can convey this during the press release. It
aims to gain positive public opinion on the company's existing M&A by emphasizing
that this activity can help the economy of the community and the surrounding
communities.
3. When we convey it to employees, we can ensure this M&A process will not interfere
with their work. There is no lay-off or change in position so that employees from both
companies can help each other make the company much better. So that our goal in
communicating with employees is to make the best talents not feel threatened and to
be able to contribute better than before. This can be presented in the forum or e-mail
notification.
Apart from the above, when we talk to the audience, there are several things that we
must catch to find out their interests and desires. Few examples to ask the audience a few
questions for the case we mentioned above, such as:
1. Does what we say answer specific questions from investors, local media, and
employees? Such as profitability, sustainability, and return to investors or benefits to

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 develop the communities from local media and the employment strategies within the
M&A processes.
2. Who are the primary audiences (people who can follow up or can make decisions) or
secondary categories (listeners or readers in general)? Has anyone been in the
audience by accident? Since the M & A processes are sensitive to each audience,
investors need to know about either their decision to keep their capital in the company
or not. The media will positively or negatively boost the news, and the best employee
feels threatened or not about this corporate action.
3. What motivates them, and what is the best way to convince them? Is it going to be
profitable for their company with this merger? And is it going to be sustainable with
this merger? So this M&A process can motivate the investor to invest and media to
distribute the information activity.
4. If the audience is not the decision-maker, what is their relationship with the decision-
maker? Let’s say the audience is a secondary audience/or a person who takes note as
an assistant/ messenger to investors to behave and give a proper message to convince
them.
5. How much does your audience know about the subject? Or what do they need to
know more about? The investor or investment community may know about the
subject by their local corporate meeting and our invitation about this M & A subject.
They may have an interest in this M&A, so that’s why they would come. We need to
give the investor information about the advantage and profit if they agreed to this M
& A. The local media and national media might have the same awareness about the
subject. They will come up with knowing about the previous issues about merging
and acquisition. They would ask about things that the media asked in the previous
issues, such as advantages, profitability, or obstacles if the M&A had been done.
6. What do we expect from the audience? From the Investor, we expect them to be
convinced that our ideas about the two companies will be stronger in the industry if
the M&A is done. From the local media, we expect them to bring out the positive
issues of M&A, so the public has a positive opinion about the M&A, and because of
that, the public would get calmed about any fears that may come up. From the
national media, we expect them to bring up a positive issue to reassure potential
investors.
7. What do we expect from investors, local media, and employees’ feelings? Will this
convince investors? Will this give local media clear information? Will the explanation
comfort the employees?
8. What are their advantages if they receive ideas/recommendations from us? We should
know whether we have provided enough explanation to convince the investor that it is
a strategic move designed to make both companies stronger, whether the local media
will generate positive public opinion and allay any fears of changes in their services,
and whether it will keep good employees in place & reassure them that the company
is stable.
9. How does this M&A process affect the organization? We should know if the investor
community really agreed about a company decision? We should clearly inform the
local media that the M & A process is good for the company, and this decision is to

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 develop the company and not because the company has a problem. And for the
employee, this M & A process can explain that the company will continue to grow by
this process?
10. Overall, what do we hope will happen due to our explanation about the M & A
process? For the investor community, they will understand and support the company’s
decision. For local media they provide clear information about the M&A process.

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Question 3
Leaders want their audiences to perceive positive ethos in their tone, to see them as
confident, and to trust and believe them. For transformational leaders, it is crucial to
know how to use the best “Tone and Style” for concise, direct, and memorable impact.
Please give your advices or guidelines on how leaders can achieve this objective. Do not
hesitate to use example if necessary.
Answer :

Delivering tone and confidence when we speak and writing is about expertise in our
knowledge of the subject and our ability to deliver content with the right words used in the
right way. The tone or what the reader receives is perceived as our attitude towards them or
towards the subject. This can influence the success of our message and inspire others to
believe in our message and vision.

We need to have confidence and confidence when we speak and write. This is, of
course, not only in terms of hard skills (our knowledge of a subject) but also about our ability
to elaborate on the right words to use. The words we choose to combine in sentences will
form a pattern as a characteristic or tone and style. Through this, we can influence the
audience about the context of the communication we convey. For transformational leaders,
the use of sentences that positively impact will be crucial in forming a good tone and style. In
the next discussion, we will provide an example like the one below to compare if the word
written or articulated becomes part of our tone and style.

According to Deborah Barrett, here are some guidelines for creating a positive ethos
in writing and speaking to achieve a leader's goals; 1) Pay attention to good leadership
communication models, but be careful in imitating other people's styles. Develop and
maintain your own voice. 2) Read what you write aloud to hear the sound, and if something
is particularly sensitive, ask others what they think before you send it. 3) Never send
anything when you are angry or upset. This guide is especially applicable to instant
communication channels, such as e-mail, text, and tweets. 4) Be careful in using complex
language or "thesaurus" look up the word in the thesaurus and use it because it is a "big"
word, whereas simple is better. 5) At the same time, be careful when using shortened words
and phrases. "LOL" may be understood in general terms today but is not suitable for use in
professional texts or emails. Remember, abbreviations can mean different things to different
people in different cultures or contexts. 6) Use strong verbs and avoid passive voice unless
you have a specific reason for using them. 7) Choose positive constructs over negative
constructs whenever possible. 8) Avoid using too many modifiers or empty words, such as
"sort," "type," "maybe," "thing," or too many "ly" words in particular. 9) Be careful when
using qualifications, such as "in my opinion," "I think," "I believe," "I can," and "I feel." 10)
Remove fillers, such as "like," "you know," "uh," and "um" from your speech. 11) Avoid

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"speaking frankly," making statements sound like questions. 12) Be careful with the use of
jargon. Use it only when it's the best way to say what you want to say, and when you know
for sure, your audience will understand.

As an example, the company decided that there would be a layoff for its employees.
The following online mail or email is a notification for employee layoffs:

The email in the example above looks harsh and very inhuman. Several things can be
improved from the sentence structure, such as:

● Don’t write, “We did everything we could to avoid taking this step,” Such language,
paired with a layoff announcement, can feed employees' angry cynicism and
encourage them to strike back in court.
● Instead, write, “We are sorry to have to inform you that you will be laid off from
your (name of position or title) with (name of department) at (time and date).” Show
empathy without superfluous sugarcoating. Example: “We appreciate the work you’ve
done.”

Apart from the examples above, we actually have the option to express how our own
tone & style is. This can be started by asking ourselves some questions like whatever we
write and talk about should reflect the ethos we will project from ourselves, whether it will
look too formal and stiff, whether it is too passive or too relaxed. Tone & style as a
professional in communicating greatly influences when and where (situational) the speech or
writing is given.

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 In today's professional environment, various communication media make the delivery
of information more complex. For example, emails often appear indirect and disguise our
personalities. The choice of words and sentences will again determine the tone & style of the
message's delivery. This determination will show that the leader has made effective
communication. Also, the media and messages conveyed are closely related, with the media
greatly influencing how our audience perceives the tone and intent of the message to be
conveyed. Before starting a speech and finishing writing, at least we should be able to see and
analyze the drafts we have made. Indeed, more practice and practice will make a big
difference when communicating in communication. Besides that, we need to know how other
people perceive the language we use and the tone of the tone we speak. The more we can
anticipate audience responses and hear how we speak to others, the more able we will control
tone & style and use it to influence our audience. Being aware of our tone & style brings us
one step closer to developing our leadership style and positive ethos.

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Question 4
Leaders need to become comfortable and confident in all kinds of presentation
situations so that they project a positive ethos for themselves and their organizations.
They need to apply a sound strategy and structure communication as well as an
effective language for their presentation. Your group is asked to give some guidelines on
to plan a presentation strategy in terms of context, purpose, audience, timing and
feedback to attain the above objective. (Assuming the presentation is about a Business
Presentation and will be executed by a small group of people between 3 to 5 members
presented to the executive forum in a room with capacity of 150 people.)
Answer :

Just as there are strategies for communication in or drafting the previously discussed
speech and writing materials, we must also deliver a good presentation. This needs to be done
to understand the context and explain our goals to the audience. During the presentation,
several things must be considered. First, the scope of the presentation that we will do. In this
case, it is assumed that there is a business presentation and is conducted by 3 to 5 people, and
the audience is an executive with a room capacity of 150 people. Under these conditions, we
consider that the preferred presentation method is a stand-up presentation with computer
projection. The presentation method has the advantage of being able to provide comfort in
conveying messages; it can also provide visual display support to be able to support the
message and meaning of what is being conveyed and can attract audiences both those who
like oral and visual presentations. However, this method also has drawbacks. It depends on
the technology to be used (computers, presentation tools such as pointers, even the speaker
microphones used). Sometimes, it takes several plans considering the unpredictable
conditions and 150 people in one room. Will make it difficult to maintain the focus of the
audience when delivering the presentation. To make it easier for the examples to be provided,
we decided on the presentation theme, which is about "COVID-19 Impact on Indonesia
Economic Outlook".

The following are some of the arrangements in the planning that will be presented:

Context
We first need to consider the context of our presentation. Because executives will
attend, it is necessary to consider whether the latest things in the stock market, some of the
latest government regulations, economic issues, and the position of the trade balance in
Indonesia. This is an important matter to form a stimulus from our audience so that it is

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interesting to hear. When delivering the main idea, the right discussion is about the risk
forecast for Indonesia's economic performance at the end of 2020 and 2021, which is
supported by how the market will remain stable and the potential for regulation from the
government that will be implemented later. The more we can relate our presentation to what's
on the audience's mind, the easier it will grab their attention and build a relationship with
them.

Purpose
We also need to set clear goals. What is most important for us to achieve in the
presentation? What do we want our audience to do in response to what we say? These
questions will lead us logically into our audience analysis. In the example presentation theme
above, the main objective is to tell executives that the Indonesian economy will remain under
control despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on developing their
businesses amid the pandemic.

Audience
The more we know about our audience, the easier it will be to present it to them. At a
minimum, for any presentation, a presenter should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is my main objective in delivering this presentation to this audience?

With the main aim of convincing these executives to keep operating to move the
wheels of the economy in Indonesia and maintain their health protocols, it would be
perfect for giving some of these key points during the presentation repeatedly.

2. Who is my main audience? Will any secondary audience be affected by what I say?
The executives will certainly not act alone. This secondary audience can also be
anticipated by providing short, straightforward, and clear material. If the audience
gets handouts or insights from what we convey, it can minimize any disinformation
that occurs later.

3. What motivates the audience to attend or participate, and how do I motivate them to
listen to me?
These executives attended the presentation because they expected some inputs to be
applied directly to their current work. Some of the things we emphasize in inserting
leadership in delivering presentation materials in the form of data and facts are as
follows:

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 a. In a pandemic like this too, a company must be able to protect its leaders so
that it can have a positive impact so that it can impact employees as a whole.
Leadership itself is a way for a leader to seek voluntary participation from
those around him through his social influence to achieve the organization's
goals. Companies at critical times like this need effective leaders who have
intelligence (this is usually related to effective communication, smart decision
making, and translating the organization's vision and mission well),
dominance (dominating in terms of being reliable, decision-maker,
responsible, and able to act and direct), self-confident (good self-confidence
will be able to influence other people to act, persuade and persuade others),
level of energy and activity (usual leaders have energy and activity
characteristics which affect not only oneself but also those around him) and
also task-relevant knowledge (an effective leader can be relied on in carrying
out the tasks he assigns well because he has good knowledge of the task).
b. Also, at a time like this pandemic, leaders must be able to adjust themselves
through situational theory, where the effectiveness of a leader's style and
behavior greatly depends on the situation they are facing at this time, which in
essence must be relevant. Leaders must also have control as described by
Fiedler's Contingency Model, namely leader-member relations (the extent to
which the leader has support, loyalty, and trust from the workgroup), task
structure (related to the number of structures contained in the tasks performed
by the group. work) and position power (the extent to which the leader has the
formal power to reward, punish, or get obedience from employees).

So the executives who were present could understand what they had to do in terms of
hard skills (such as efficiency, humanism, and moving the wheels of the economy)
and the soft skills side in dealing with situations like this.

4. What do I expect from the audience after hearing my presentation?

Of course, we will conduct an initial survey (pre-test survey, on what expectations
they want to receive) and at the end (post-test, is it by what they want to receive).

5. What do I expect from their feelings?

Relaxation, enjoyment, and developing themselves as executives can encourage all
sides to encourage their optimism in facing crises like today.

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Time Setting/ Timing
We also need to consider the timing of the presentation. If, for example, we are
presenting right after lunch, we may find it more difficult for our audience to engage. If we're
the first in the morning, we may need to deal with being late. If it's the end of the day, the
audience's attention will probably stop working for the day. For this reason, in delivering
materials such as the examples we provide, we think that morning is the right time. We
recommend a time that is not too early, which is 10 a.m. to 12 p.m or before lunch break.

Feedback
Where possible, we should think about ways to get feedback to measure our success
in reaching our audience with our message and make adjustments in our choice of media,
presentation style, or content if necessary. Therefore, we will do a final survey regarding
measuring the delivery satisfaction level from the material we convey. If we come face to
face with our audience, we should know from their reactions how they received our message,
but getting more structured input may be important.

Tips for Giving Effective Presentations

When it comes time to present, we need to concentrate on our delivery style, focusing
primarily on our eye contact, direct if attitude and body posture, articulation, and overall
appearance. This can be a concern if you want to appear comfortable, confident, enthusiastic,
and professional. Since our presentation's success will largely be determined by how our
audience perceives us from the start, we must be prepared to build our expertise and value to
our audience immediately and maintain that positive ethos as a whole. Here are some tips for
giving an effective presentation:

Control Our Nervousness

Public speaking is often cited as one of humanity's greatest fears, and everyone has
advice on how to deal with nervousness when making presentations, from practicing some
deep breathing yoga exercises to pretending that everyone in the room isn't there. The advice
that is often given to professional athletes before they perform is to visualize their success.
We all have to find what is best for us. The most important method of dealing with our
nervousness is to be well prepared. If we know our subjects, tell our stories, and are prepared
to face whatever situations that might happen to us, we won't be nervous. Sometimes it helps
to take deep breaths and think of something nice. We need to be able to appear naturally

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ourselves, to be ourselves. Most importantly, we need to focus on the audience and not on
ourselves.

Making Eye Contact

When effective leaders deliver live presentations, they connect with everyone present.
If we are in the same room with them, we feel like they are personally talking. They do this
by looking at a different person in the audience for a few seconds and actually making eye
contact with the audience. However, we need to be sensitive to cultural differences since
some cultures consider looking someone directly in the eye to be impolite or offensive. Our
eye contact may be glancing and indirect.

Pay Attention to Posture and Gestures

Our posture reflects our attitude towards our subject and audience and expresses our
confidence. A person lowering their head with their shoulders slumped would seem unsure of
what they were carrying. To project confidence and build a positive ethos, presenters must
stand tall and pay attention to their audience. Usually, live presenters want to take an open
position with their feet shoulder-width apart. It aims to maintain a comfortable and relaxed
attitude. Also, try to position your hands as you would in a casual conversation, although if
we tend to move them too much, we may need to hold back more when giving presentations.
Usually, people look and feel most naturally when they bend their arms, keeping their elbows
at their sides when standing and while sitting, although they usually want to rest their hands
on the table in front of them. We should avoid pointing or gesturing at the projected slide.
Instead, we should use the PowerPoint features to highlight the areas of the slide we want our
audience to focus on. If we find ourselves in a situation that requires a screenshot, we must be
careful not to look away. Instead, we should step back even with the screen, face the
audience, and beckon our side. If delivering a stand-up presentation in person, where possible
and appropriate, it is best to get out from behind the podium, table, or desk. This creates a
barrier between us and our audience, and building a good relationship with them will be
easier if we remove that barrier. Usually, we don't need to stand in one place unless the
room's space is limited, or our movement can make the audience uncomfortable. If the
presentation is taking place in a large room, we may need to walk toward the audience and
perhaps even from one side of the room to the other to connect with the entire audience.
Some gestures to avoid:

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 1. Bending down or engaging in a similar informal posture.
2. Lean to one side, on the arm of our chair, for example, or if you stand, tilt your body
to one side.
3. Too pacing or walking around the room.
4. Grasping hands in front or behind.
5. Stand with your hands on your hips.
6. Grasping the podium or table until our knuckles turn white.
7. Gesturing too much or when it is inappropriate or natural.
8. Fidget with keys, pens, pointers, ties, and the like.
9. Shake or shift in our seats or when standing.
10. Lean on the podium or sit on a table in a live presentation.

Voice and Speech Patterns

The key to changing our speech patterns is knowing what we are doing now, and
recording it ahead of time is the best way to find out. Effective leaders speak clearly so that
their audience can understand them. They control and vary the volume. They pause between
sentences and use little, if any, filler. They sound confident, which comes from making
statements and avoiding "blunt talk," an inflection that occurs when we emphasize the last
word of a sentence, as we do when asking a question. The following are tips for maintaining
the quality of sound and speech patterns in the delivery of our presentations:

1. In person, speak to the last line in the audience, but naturally, turn up the volume. If
we have to strain to be heard, then we need to use a microphone.
2. Articulate clearly, making sure to pronounce very important syllables, especially the
last one.
3. Don't talk too fast. Build breaks between main ideas and be careful not to carry on
ideas together.
4. Vary rhythm and pitch appropriately to avoid sounding monotonous. Our voice
should reflect the enthusiasm we feel for the topic and the energy it generates.
Relaxing facial muscles and smiling will often help.
5. Avoid words that tend to cause pronunciation problems or practice them until you can
pronounce them perfectly 10 times in a row.

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Tips for Delivering Presentations Effectively with Visual Assistance:

1. Maintain eye contact: We should look at our audience or the camera, not at our tablet
or laptop or the projection screen. In most presentations, our delivery should continue
as if nothing was projected beside us, behind us, or in front of us.
2. Sound: We must be careful to maintain the volume. Presenters tend to let their voices
fade as they move to change slides. We have to finish our thinking on this slide and
finish our introduction on the next slide; then, pause talking for a bit and move on to
the slide we just introduced.
3. Transitions: The presenter wants to make the transition from slide to slide as smooth
as possible. One technique is to introduce each slide before presenting it. Most
presenters wait for a slide to appear and then start talking about it as if they didn't
know what was coming until they saw it. We should introduce the topic for a much
more effective transition, which should be "so what?" or the next slide's main message
before it appears.
4. Timing: We have to practice with our slides to ensure we don't have too much for our
allotted time. The rule of thumb is to allow at least two to three minutes per slide. We
must be careful to give our audience time to absorb complex graphic information and
be prepared to guide our audience through that information if necessary.
5. Technology: If possible, we should always check the technology first and make sure
we know how to use it and that everything is working properly.

Handling Q&A
It's not uncommon for presenters to spend more time preparing for the Q&A session
than on the presentation itself. Effective Q&A handling requires careful preparation, careful
listening, and the humility of saying, "I don't know, but I'll find it for you." Leaders organize
Q&A sessions prepared, even too prepared, especially for difficult questions. They anticipate
all questions and prepare answers just in case. They also practice controlling the topic and
themselves. During the team presentation, all participants have to make a plan, determining
who will answer what types of questions. If it is a formal presentation, team members should
position themselves at the end of the presentation to indicate which members are ready to
answer. During the question and answer session, the following tips will help you manage
your audience:

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 1. Determine and announce the timing of the questions before starting the presentation.
If giving a virtual presentation, consider having the moderator collect questions
during the presentation, and use those questions to start a Q&A session.
2. Listen to the questions carefully.
3. Repeat the question or paraphrase to make sure you understand it so your audience
can hear it. This technique also takes time to formulate answers.
4. Keep answers short and simple: Answer specific questions; then stopped. Avoid
talking for too long or intersecting.
5. Don't try to trick your way through an answer. Better to say politely, "I'm not sure I
have an answer to that question at this time, but I'll find out for you."
6. When you're face to face, move away from the questioner who is trying to isolate you
in a two-way conversation, so you break eye contact with him and reconnect with the
rest of the room.
7. Address difficult or multilayer questions by answering them as completely as possible
and in question order, but be prepared to say, "I would love to go into this question in
more detail after the presentation."
8. Remember to repeat the main message after the Q&A so you can control how it ends.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrett, D.J. (2014). Leadership Communication, 4th Edition. McGraw Hill International
Edition.
Munter, Mary. Guide to Managerial Communication, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
Inc.

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