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4. Creating Technical Presentations

III. Delivery

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The 3 Pillars of Persuasion*

! Ethos
– Why should I listen to you?
! Credibility, integrity, experience, knowledge
! Logos
– How powerful and relevant is your content?
! Structured, logical, cohesive arguments & data
! Pathos
– How would you like people to feel?
! Interested, excited, provoked, worried, encouraged

*Aristotle, 384 – 332 BC

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Delivery – Opening Moments

! The first impression is crucial
! The first few seconds are critical
! During those few seconds, the audience will decide
whether you are worth their focus
! If you succeed at start the audience will root for you
! Screw up in the beginning and you’ll be scratching for
attention and approval

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Opening Moments – How to Succeed

! The key is confidence
! You must believe that the presentation is valuable and that your
ideas are critical
! Audiences sense the lack of confidence
! Humans attend to confident people
! The best slides won’t bail the unconfident out of trouble!
! A good idea is to start with a joke:
– Sense and get the pulse of the audience
– Spontaneous remarks work better than prepared remarks
– Be careful not to offend anyone in the audience

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Delivery – The Art of Being Completely Present

! A good presenter is fully committed to being there
! Your mind should not be filled with random thoughts
! You should not worry, you should just be there
! People that make this look easy practice a lot
! You need technique and form but you must practice to improve
your skill
! The material should grow within you
! Be immersed in the moment while presenting
– You are as interested as your audience in the subject
– You must believe in your message or no one else will
– “Lost in the moment” is true connection
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Delivery – Learning from the Art of Judo

! Consider the following five principles
– Carefully observe oneself and one’s situation, carefully observe others, and
carefully observe one’s environment
– Seize the initiative in whatever you undertake
– Consider fully, act decisively
– Know when to stop
– Keep to the middle
! These are no presentation principles
! These are the Jigoro Kano’s Five Principles of Judo
! Avoid confrontation
– Respond naturally and nonaggressive
– Aggressive listeners are never the enemy
– Showing self-control gains the audience’s respect
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Delivery – Contribution
! It is important to contribute (Benjamin Zander)
! You don’t compare yourself with others
! Right now you are it, you are the message
! There is no better, there is only now
! When you contribute you must give something relevant to
that particular audience
! It is useless to give the “same” presentation not taking
into account who is the audience

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Delivery – Learning from Mistakes

! Instead of avoiding them – embrace them
! When you make a mistake
– Say “how fascinating!”
– You have another opportunity to learn something
– Another unlucky break – no problem, carry on
! Use the energy, passion and commitment to convey
your message
! Don’t play it safe – it will not be as effective
! You might make mistakes – but it is worth it!

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Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously!

! Lighten up and those around you will too
! You should take your work seriously
! You should anyway get over yourself…
– The easiest way is the use of humor
! The “calculating self” worries about losing what it
has – it is natural for humans
! The goal is to move toward a healthier attitude of
sufficiency, wholeness and possibilities
! When you realize you can’t control the world or rule
people’s hearts, you begin to get over yourself…
! You must join the flow not resist it
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Delivery – Connecting with an Audience

! Good presentations are about connecting intellectually and
emotionally in an honest way
! It’s all about bridging distances between presenter and
audience to make a real connection
! If there is no connection – there is no conversation
! A presentation is never about the presenter, it is about the
audience and the message

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Introductory Slides: The Traditional Approach

! The opening moments are critical
– The introductory slides should be good
! You must tell the audience what are you going to show them
– The audience will know how it is going to end just from watching
the first few minutes
! You don’t want your opening slides to be marketing slides
– The kiss-of-death for technical audiences

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Introductory Slides: An Alternate Approach

! Tease the audience with what you will tell them – the
“mystery style”
! Interest can be raised by promising surprise and layering
clues as you proceed
! This appeals to scientist since they are used to solving
mysteries
! The secret must be nurtured while you gradually uncover
clues
! Always remind the audience of the ultimate goal

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Body Slides – Pace and Variety

! Modern audiences have extremely short attention spans –
less than 20 minutes
– Many attendees will wander around over just 5-10 minutes
! To hold the attention for more than 1h try to
– Switch the focus every 10-15 minutes
– Ask a question
– Do an informal survey
– Challenge the audience to solve a problem or brainstorm on ideas
– Mix the length & content of your slides

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Mechanics – Fonts and Backgrounds

! Don’t waste time worrying about fonts
– Use san-serif fonts for presentations
– Use serif fonts for handouts
! Many companies provide compulsory backgrounds
! If you can choose – take one appropriate for your audience
– Muted colors for conservative audiences
– Vibrant colors for a younger audience
! Try to color-code categories in the presentation
! For multi-unit presentations consider choosing a single background
for each unit

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Body Slides – Effective Lists

! Use all general recommendations on lists in the
appropriate chapter
! Additional suggestions for slideware
– Place rules before examples
– Ensure that the second-level bulleted items follow naturally from
their first-level superiors
– Minimize the number of list items at the third level
– Keep each element fairly short

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Delivery – Why Length Matters

! It is not enough that you are calm and present
! At least some of your audience is not
! It is virtually impossible for the audience to concentrate
completely on you even in short presentations
! After 15-20 minutes concentration takes a hit
! Shorter is always better
! We have unfortunately grown with the opposite – “more is
better” – which is wrong!

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Delivery – Why Length Matters (2)

! Japanese proverb “eat until 80% full”
– Excellent advice!
– It doesn’t mean leave food on the plate
– It means prepare & eat less…
! Never ever go over the allotted time…
– Plan to shoot for 90-95%
– Nobody will complain if you finish early!
– The problem is too long, never too short
! End on a high note and leave the audience yearning for just a bit
more from you
! Give them the best you have but not so much quantity that their
heads spin and guts ache…
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Audience – The Theory of Relativity

! Content and tone should depend on your position w.r.t. the
people in the audience
– Audience is above your level
! They loose technical knowledge quite rapidly – avoid it
! Focus on the money – revenue, costs, saved money
! Focus on the schedules
– Audience is at your level
! Should focus on technical details – the “good stuff”
! Ignore financial considerations
– Audience is below level
! Assure the audience that “all is well”
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Question & Answer Sessions

! In a good presentation the audience will ask lots of questions –
this shows interest
– If the audience is small: invite them to ask questions during the
presentation
– If the audience is large: ask them to put questions during the Q&A session
at the end of the presentation
! Prepare for the Q&A session exactly as for the actual presentation
– Prepare for the worst case scenario
– Keep you responses short and focused – avoid rambling
– If you don’t know the answer just say so – don’t make it up
– Ask the audience questions

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Speech – The Basics

! Practicing what one will say is not a custom for many speakers
! The basics in speech preparation:
– Speak loudly enough to be heard
– Speak clearly
– Make eye contact with different people in different parts of the room
– Stand up right
– Drink something warm (not hot) just before speaking
– Never drink ice water

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Speech – The Basics (2)

! Listeners have a very short attention span
! You are at war to keep their focus
– Remember to change topics every 10-15 minutes
! Avoid entrancing your audience by altering
– The speed of your delivery
! Slow down and speed-up once in a while
– The volume of your delivery
! Emphasize points by raising or lowering your voice
– The body motions of your delivery
! Never use rhythmical motions
! Feel free to move around

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Lessons from the Pros

Once you know the audience you will know to choose from
the following advices:
1. Provide a Pre-Show
– An email to your audience
– Handouts can suggest something intriguing
2. Deliver a Grand Finale
– Try to pull off a surprise near the end
– You can also promise something exciting but don’t deliver it
until the end
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Lessons from the Pros (2)

3. Study the Body Language
– Watch a tape of yourself – amazing discoveries await
– Compare your body to the following ideals:
! Stand up straight but not too stiffly
! Lean forward slightly: project energy and enthusiasm
! Project confidence by being expansive & open
! Project optimism by moving your hands upward
! Move around a little
! Move your hands a bit
– Some people will try to detect whether you tell the truth or believe in
what you are saying – therefore do so
– Use the “mute button” instruction technique
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Lessons from the Pros (3)

4. Costuming
– Consider what you would wear
– Some people in the audience do attend to what you wear
– Most engineers and scientists pride in their blindness of
these aspects
– For those that consider these, you might try to figure out
which clothes will help your cause

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Overcoming Fear
! Most people are afraid of speaking before an audience
– Most are afraid of fear itself…
– Others are afraid that the audience will detect that fear and think
less of them
! Facts
– Even professional performers experience stage fright
– A certain amount of fear actually helps a presentation
! Fighting fear
– Practice over and over again – shower, car, train, etc.
– Practice relaxing
! Write “deep breath” in key points on slide notes: script breaths

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Removing Communication Barriers

! A podium / lectern can be a (high) wall
! You don’t want to be in charge, you want to connect
! You want to be front and center where people focus their attention
! If you must stand behind a lectern – you’ve got to do whatever you
can to remove all walls between you and the audience
– It’s scary, it’s difficult
– It takes practice
– It’s worth it…

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Keep the Lights On & Remote Simplicity

! Common all over the world: “Get the lights please!”
– For effective presentations keep the lights on
– You want to connect and tell a story
– If the audience can’t see you: it is difficult to connect
– You influence people verbally, visually, and vocally
! Use a small remote to advance slides
– Most presenters stay with the computer to advance slides
– Presenters are cheap and they are a must
– Without them a presentation is like a cheap slide show
– Looking at your laptop / screen / keyboard is not good
– Use a small & basic remote: all you ever need is to advance / go back and
blank the screen
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Summary of Delivery
! Presentations requires full presence in time and place
! Be in the moment without thinking of winning / losing
! Mistakes may happen – don’t dwell on them
! You’ll make it look easy by preparing and practicing
! Being in the moment means remaining flexible, aware and open
to new possibilities as they arise
! You need solid content and logical structure
! You must connect to the audience: logical / emotional
! Bring energy and passion to your delivery
! Don’t hold back & remove barriers
! Leave the audience hungry for more
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Summary of Presentations
! Before giving your presentation ponder over:
– Have you rehearsed the entire presentation multiple times?
– Is your opening strong? Interesting / a (good) joke?
– If the presentation is longer than 15-20 mins is the division in sections
appropriate?
– Are slides transitioning appropriately?
– Are bulleted lists items run-ons? Are they too long?
– Do text & graphics on the slide make sense?
– Are there spelling errors or typos in the presentation?
– Is the presentation appropriate for the audience?
– Do graphics require more than 1 min of explanation?
– Can graphics be seen on the screen from everywhere?
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Summary of Presentations (2)

! Before giving your presentation ponder over:
– Do you have a convincing conclusion?
– Are you usually nervous? If so – do you have a scheme for fending of fear
and panic?
! Also consider some practical matters:
– Where is the printed material: notes/slides/handouts?
– Does the microphone work?
– Do you know how to work the projector/presenter?
– What will you wear?
– Don’t forget to be fully rested before completing a talk!

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What Next?
! Many look for the short-road and the quick-fix to
achieve presentation excellence
– This does not exist!
– Learning to become a great presenter is a journey
! No matter where you start – you can improve
! The remarkable writer/presenter is in you already
! You must grow confident with time & practice
! You must open your eyes, heart and mind

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How to (constantly) Improve?

! Read and study – self-study
– Books, DVDs, online resources
! Just do it
– Try it out as often as possible – volunteer
! Exercise your “right-brain”
– Climb a mountain, play music, write a novel…
! Get out
– Don’t stay in your comfort zone – always challenge yourself
! It’s within you already! Inbox Zero & My Declaration
of Independence Presentation
Examples available

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Words of Wisdom…
! "The mind is not a vessel that needs filling but wood that
needs igniting." – Plutarch
– So keep your mind and heart open
! "College is a place where professor's lecture notes go
straight to the student's lecture notes, without passing
through the brains of either." – Mark Twain
– Please help us prove Mark Twain wrong by doing better next
time you write and present your work!

Thank you!
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