How to Present

It surprised me when I received before the Summer an email from our HR Academy requesting which date was suitable for me to attend this one day course  ‘Presentation Skills’. The reason for my astonishment was mainly because I am already attending this (international) networking club* for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. Thus, why would I need this simple one day course while I was already going to this club bi weekly?

After being told by my colleagues that this course will bring new insights, I replied back to our HR Academy with a preferred date. On the day itself I told myself; different angle, different (new) insights…

I have to admit the training was good. Well organized, very professional trainer and comfortable setting. The training started with a kick-off by telling who you are, what you do and what you are expecting from this training. After each short presentation, the trainer would give his feedback and you could watch yourself on the video. I’d never watched myself back on the video after presenting, thus this exercise felt scary but also exciting. While I thought the presentation couldn’t go any worse than this, after I watched myself, I reconsidered my negative opinion. It wasn’t that bad after all. Immediately, after the kick off, I picked up some improvement points such as:

“Speak louder, speak slower, and breathe!“

All those points, I KNEW from the club. It wasn’t something new, but after the kick-off, and having watched the video, this time it struck me; these are really the points I need to focus on.

The second exercise was to present a convincing/persuasive story to the audience. I chose to persuasive the audience to watch this incredible good American TV-series. I’d outlined the points I wanted to emphasis on, how to catch their attention and make my point why they should watch (or at least watch the trailer) as well. Voice was loud, talking slower than the kick off, and was breathing normally. The improvement points after this presentation was: look at the audience and take pauses.  Looking at the audience can be quite challenging, therefore the tip: use the letter M and try to have eye contact with each person in the audience for max 2.5 seconds. With the letter M the idea is as following; while you are presenting try to start from either left or right side of the room and move with your eyes as drawing the letter M. Try not to literally draw with your eyes letter M, you might look funny.

The final exercise of the day was to make your point during the presentation, such as presenting in front of management, but in an effective and efficient way. Goal of my presentation was to tell the audience why my job responsibilities are important for every employee at our organization. During my presentation I gave clear examples and expressed the willingness to help them with any uncertainties they may have. The take away from this presentation was: examples can be helpful and try to ask yourself whether the message you want to bring over; do you just want to tell and ‘move on’ or do you want to get it ‘stick’, which will allow to accomplish the goal of effectiveness.

As summary of the one day Presentation Skills training:

• Breathe and Pause
• Letter M
• 5 Sec
• Voice
• Examples