Business Communication: Successful Oral Presentations

Business Communication: Successful Oral Presentations Susan H. Irons Business Communication Kenan-Flagler Business School

Your Goal To develop strategies and skills for delivering effective and professional business presentations Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

For a successful presentation: • Analyze the situation • Organize your ideas • Develop effective delivery techniques Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Analyze the Situation • Speaker: What is your relationship to your audience? • Purpose: What is your goal? (To inform? To persuade? To entertain?) • Audience: Who are they? What do they know? How will they react? Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas • Opening • Purpose • Preview of main ideas • Development of main points • Review/summary • Closing Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Opening • Gain attention (unusual fact) • Give bottom line • Show benefit(s) to listeners • Introduce yourself • Show your qualifications • Clarify topic Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Purpose • Develop a purpose slide • Explain your purpose orally Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Preview • Offer a table of contents, an agenda, an outline • Make this preview slide your “moving blueprint” for the presentation Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Main Points Each point needs an oral signpost Now that I’ve discussed the salary increase, I want to move on to health care options. The last point I want to make involves implementing the flex-time policy. Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Main Points Each point needs development • Support your generalizations with specific information • Use logically persuasive tools to shape opinions (such as facts, history, analogy, appeals to needs and values) Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Conclusion Provide an oral signpost “In conclusion . . .” “To summarize . . .” Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas: Conclusion Review/summarize your main points Then-- • Refer to opening or • End with actions steps or • Refer to audience benefits Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas Why so much repetition? Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas PowerPoint Presentations • Font • Design: 6X6 rule • Visuals Handouts Remember: YOU are the presentation! Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas • Use visuals that enhance your message • Visuals should • relate to your message • help make your point • be consistent Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas Effective PowerPoint slides are • simple • uncluttered • consistent Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Organize Your Ideas Audiences understand your point an average of 25% faster when communicated via a graphic representation than a text version. Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Develop Effective Delivery Techniques • Eye Contact • Non-verbal communication • Speaking voice • Notes • Handling questions • Team Presentations Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Eye Contact Effective eye communication • 5 seconds • x and z patterns Avoid: Eye dart Gazing out the window Slow blink Lighthouse scan Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Non-verbal Communication: Posture Upper body posture Lower body posture Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Non-verbal Communication: Movement Eliminate barriers Do the 2-step Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Non-verbal Communication: Gestures • Use appropriate hand and arm gestures • Be natural and open • Avoid these pitfalls: Figleaf Sisters of Mercy Parade Rest Jangler Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Non-verbal Communication: Facial Expressions • Look pleasant • Smile whenever appropriate Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Non-verbal Communication: Energy • Start strong • Show enthusiasm • End with high energy Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Speaking Voice: Inflection Affects Meaning Effective communication is essential to organizational success. Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Speaking Voice: Pace The most effective rate of speed for a presentation is between 175 and 190 words per minute. Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Speaking Voice: Volume and Clarity • Articulate well • Don’t swallow ends of sentences • Don’t drop voice at end of presentation Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Speaking Voice: Verbal Clutter • Uh • Ummmmmm • Er • You know • Like • Okay Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Notes • Format • Appearance Do not use the screen as your notes! Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Handling questions • Acknowledge audience members explicitly. Why? • Repeat the questions. Why? • When answering, don’t look just at questioner. • What if you don’t know the answer? Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Team Presentations • Transitions and cues • Handling technology • Handling questions Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Remember Basic Logistics! • Check out your presentation space • Confirm the presentation time length • Ask about the size of your audience • Prepare a back-up plan • Practice! • Arrive early Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

Business Communication: Successful Oral Presentations