Business Presentation

• Introduction
Chapter Outline • Business Presentation
• Success Factors in Business Presentation
• Structuring of a Presentation –
- Introduction
- Main Body
- Conclusion
• Useful strategies for a presentation
Introduction
• Members of groups, companies, or organizations often have to make speeches to large or
small groups of people.
• We give speeches to explain our ideas or plans, to report on the results of research or
investigations, to convince people of the advantages of a course of action, etc.
• Some typical reasons why it may be in the interests of an organization to have an executive
deliver a speech/talk are as follows:-
- To influence important decisions.
- To attract media and public attention.
- To establish an image.
- To explain the importance of organizational change.
- To dispel rumors.
- To present findings before a committee.
 • Set a limit of 15 slides (max.) and leave the rest for
report
Tips for Effective • Use just one slide for business context and
Presentation methodology
• Make sure you know the business context and
decision to be made, and that you get to the ‘now
what’. (what the client should do)
• Know who the audience is for presentation and how
it will be delivered
• Make sure you have a true insight that connects with
business action of values.
Factors for a Successful Presentation

Occasion Audience Purpose Thesis Material

• Occasion- The circumstances or the occasion will have a great bearing on your
presentation. The factors that contribute to the occasion are-
- Facilities available for your presentation
- Time- both the day of the presentation and duration of the talk
- Context- events surrounding your presentation
• Audience- As a presenter one should know the positions, significant demographic
characteristics, size of the group, aim, knowledge and attitudes of your audience
as it would help you tailor your presentation better.
• Purpose- A statement of purpose is required to describe what you want to
accomplish by the end of the presentation, it can be both general and specific.
• Thesis- the central idea of the presentation is the thesis statement , a single
statement that summaries your message.
• Material- Once you have formulated your thesis, you need to develop the
information that elaborates it. It involves collecting material and ideas for your
presentation and assembling them at one place.
 • Structuring or organizing your material
clearly is vital for an effective
presentation.
• A well organized presentation can make
Structuring of a your messages more comprehensible.
presentation • The presentation should follow the
following format
Introduction

Main Body

Conclusion
• Organizing- Though you need to give an introduction first, it is appropriate to
organize the main text of the speech.
• Patterns- The body of presentation can be organized in six basic patterns. You need
to choose the pattern that suits and develops your topic. The six patterns are:-
1. Chronological:- A chronological pattern is one in which the points are arranged in
the way in which they occurred or observed.
2. Spatial/Directional:- A spatial pattern organizes material according to how it is put
together or where it is located physically.
3. Topical/Categorical:- The most commonly followed pattern is the topical pattern.
Here, you divide the topic into some logical themes or categories.
4. Cause and Effect:- You may like to discuss the cause of conflict escalation in the
organizational team and the resultant effects in your presentation.
5. Problem and Solution:- Divides information into two main sections, one that describes a
problem and one that describes a solution.
6. Climatic:- it is the order of importance, items are arranged from least important to most
important.
• Delivery:- Successful and inspiring speakers are remembered not only because they
were eloquent, humorous, or had a good style, but primarily and principally because
their message and ideas caused a change in their audience’s actions, attitudes, lives
or made the purpose clear to them.
• Types of Delivery:- Business presentations can be delivered in any of the following
four modes:-
- Speaking from notes
- Speaking impromptu
- Reciting from memory
- Reading from a manuscript
• Guidelines for Delivery:- Success of a business presentation also largely depends on
the various elements-verbal, non-verbal, vocal and visual- used during your
presentation.
• Verbal Elements
• Word pictures
• Warm words
• Similes and metaphors
• Impact words
• Smooth flow
• Supporting material:- Definitions, Examples, statistics, analogy, etc.
• Non-verbal Elements
- Appearance
- Posture
- Gestures
- Eye contact
• Vocal Elements:- Your voice can serve as an
important tool to support your verbal
message. Tips to help you use your vocal
elements to enhance the impact of your
presentation:-
- Speak with enthusiasm and sincerity
-Adjust the volume of your voice
-Avoid disfluencies or vocalized pauses
-Avoid fast delivery
- Articulate each word clearly
• Visual Elements
• Your audience will remember facts easily if the ideas are connected to right brain
stimulation.
• Advantages:- People find your message more interesting, grasp it more easily, and
retain it longer when you use visual support along with your words.
• Some of the aids are:-
- Lists and tables
- Charts and graphs
- Objects and models
- Diagrams and photographs
• Guidelines for using Visual Aids:-
1. Selection:- As with any part of your presentation, visual exhibits must be chosen
with care.
2. Appropriateness:- Visual, used for their own sake, will distract your audience from
the point that you are trying to make.
3. Label:- Make sure each exhibit has a descriptive title. Label each axis of a chart, each
part of a diagram, and so on.
4. Using Color:- Color is one of the biggest reasons visual presentation have such
enormous impact.
Introduction to a presentation

• The introduction section gathers ideas together to separate them from the rest of
the information in the world, and it unites those chosen ideas into a thesis .
• An effective introduction serves the main purpose of preparing the audience for
what is coming up, and of establishing the purpose of your talk .
• It should arouse the interest of the audience and lead towards what you are going to
talk about.
 1. Attention getters:-No matters how effective a
presenter you are, or how important your topic is, you
can quickly lose an audience if you do not begin your
Components of an presentation by grabbing their attention. You have to
sound interesting and establish the right tone. Below are
introduction some attention getters:-
• A story
• A question
• A quotation
• A startling statement
• Humor
• Reference to audience
• Reference to occasion
2. Thesis Statement and Preview:- the next element of your introduction reveling and
previewing your topic. This is crucial to communicate your topic and purpose to the
audience. Make sure your statement and preview are clear concise and easy for the
audience to remember.

3. Audience Adaptation:- It is but natural that, as a speaker, you would like to achieve
your desired outcome, but not at the cost of ignoring your audience. You need to think
how could you best act as a catalyst to achieve the desired outcome.

4. Credibility Statement:- If your audience perceives you as a qualified speaker, there is

more possibility that you will be listened to attentively. Credibility is mostly a matter of
being qualified to speak on the specified topic
5. Reference to audience- Opening your presentation by mentioning your audience’s
needs, concerns or interests clarifies the relevance of your topic and shows that you
understand them.

6. Preview- In the preview during the introduction , one should tell the audience what
they should listen the presentation for. It should be delivered quickly and emphatically
in a sentence or two.
 • The message that you impart has to be yours.
Yet, the way you convey it, the way you structure
Main Body your speech can be analyzed and perfected.
• Consider a message-based approach
• Be creative
• Mind map the speech
• Message based approach
- A message-based approach makes facts secondary. Listeners need to be given only
those facts that support the message and necessary to understand the message.
-The facts that you present should prove that your message is sound. A message-based
approach orients itself to delivering the facts related to the point in question.
- One should focus only on that part that is essential for delivering the required
message.
• Creativity in presentation-
• The essence of creativity is to be able to look at familiar objects and situations,
enriched by experience, but not constrained by it. Knowing the four steps in a
creative process may help you understand and implement it better:-
1. Preparation:- know precisely what you want to achieve. Obtain detailed
knowledge about your subject. Converting content skills into process skills may
help you prepare well.
2. Incubation- At this stage, you allow your sub-conscious mind to take over and let
your critical faculty relax. Think over the topic. Make a note of all your thoughts.
Ideas comes into being when thoughts collide, it is necessary to give some time for
this to happen
3. Illumination:- Creative ideas are break-through ideas. Nevertheless, remember to
ensure that such an idea is well connected to your message.
4. Verification:- Here, you need to allow your conscious mind to talk over and evaluate
the suggestions which has to be given by its sub-conscious counter-part. In other
words, you are testing your assumptions to check their validity.
5. Mind mapping your presentation:- A mind map is made up of one central idea or
concept and 5-10 related concepts. You can define the relationships between the
center and the branches. Mind maps become very good techniques for starting to
think in purely associated ways.
 • The conclusion of a presentation is as important
as its introduction, but shorter. It includes the
following main points-
Conclusion - Signaling the end:- In order to indicate to the
audience that you are going to end your speech,
you need to use a verbal or non-verbal cue.
- Verbal cues include sentences like- ‘In the end I
would like to say’; Let me conclude by saying;
Finally, I would like to wind up by saying,
- Non-verbal cues are a change in tone of the
voice, facial expression etc.
- Reviewing:- Your review should contain a re-statement of your thesis and your thesis
and a summary of your main points. You can draw the attention of your audience to
the reference made by you in your introduction.
- Emphatic Closing:- An emphatic closing statement will help you and your talk
favorably. A weak ending can nullify many of your previous gains. Besides creating a
favorable impression, a strong closing statement will give your remarks a sense of
completion.
 • Strategies in advance of a presentation-
- Be well prepared
Strategies for -Anticipate questions
Presentation -Memorise your opening statement
- Organize
- Practice
• Strategies Just before the presentation
- Reach the venue on time
- Concentrate on the ideas
- Concentrate on your audience
- Take deep Breaths

• When the presentation begins

- Use eye contact
- Look at the friendliest faces in the audience
- Do not comment on your nervousness