Presentation Skills Tip

When Presenting, Do Big Words Make You Sound Smarter?

US President Obama once talked about  'funds for infrastructure'. He doesn't say 'infrastructure' anymore. He stands under a bridge and says, 'If we can fix the bridge, then . . . '

Standing before the Key Bridge connecting Washington DC with Virginia, the President urged Congress to invest in rebuilding roads and bridges. And instead of saying 'it will boost employment', he describes the thousands of construction workers who will be put back to work.

What's the lesson here?

If you desire to influence, don't use big words or abstract concepts. Use concrete examples people can visualise and connect with emotionally.

Have your say - leave a comment

Question: What big word do presenters often use that might be better translated in concrete terms? Email me your comment and I'll add it to this blog.

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Comments

•  Australians tend to 'utilise' everything, they never seem to 'use' anything. You can use a pencil, you can use promotional material, you can use almost anything. It is very rare that utilise would be the correct form, so don't use utilise.                                                                             Gerard Butlin

• The word is “Facilitator” – what’s wrong with the good ol’ fashioned  “Trainer”.                                                                          Brian Taylor

• I agree about using simple words. One word I hate is “utilise”. When people use it they just mean “use”, so why not just say “use”, much quicker for our brains to make sense of what is being said.                              John Girardi
  
  

How to open a presentation so your audience immediately sits up wanting to know more.

by Nina Sunday

"Do you know what’s really scary about India?
The population is 1.2 billion people, yet 35% are under 15 years of age."

this question and answer is dramatic and has impact.
 
What if I’d opened instead with…
"Today I’m going to talk about the population growth in India."

If you were in the audience, your response would probably be
…ho hum!
 
= = =
 
There are many ways to open a presentation,
but my personal favourite is to ask a provocative question
relevant to the topic.
 
Four simple adjectives evoke a basic emotional response.
Those four words are: weird – scary – hard – stupid.
 
Put one of those words in a question, pause,
then state an amazing fact, and you’ve got an opening
that’s dramatic and has impact.
 
For example:
 
"Do you know what’s really stupid about distributing our
product catalogue to letterboxes in December?
(pause)
16 million catalogues are distributed in the first two weeks
of December."
 
Here's the construction:
- question
- pause
- statement
 
For example:
"Do you know what’s really scary about Customer Service?
(pause)
The more you raise the bar, the more customers expect!"
 
This formula doesn't work with all of your material all of the time,
but it may work with some material, some of the time.
 
How to make it work

1.  Avoid a single statement that both asks and answers the question.
 
For example:
"Did you know it’s scary our website attracts 3 million visitors every year
but only 3% make a transaction?"
 
That construction is weak.
 
Remember, it’s question – pause – statement.
 
Here's the same idea again, but using the construction
question - pause - statement:
 
"Do you know what’s really scary about our website?
(pause)
It attracts 3 million visitors a year, yet only 3% make a transaction."
 
2.  Avoid drawing attention to itself with a lead-in statement such as,
"I’d like to ask you a question".

Go straight in; ask the question. Be dramatic.
 
3. Avoid the temptation to use a quality other than weird, scary, hard or stupid.
 
"Do you know what’s really amazing about…"
Isn’t as effective as,
"Do you know what’s really stupid about . . . "
 
These four words have attitude!
 
And once you’ve asked your question, paused, and answered it,
then relax, drop the dramatics and perhaps go straight into,
 
"Hi, my name is < name >, and today we’re going to explore …"
 
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Do you know what’s really weird about asking a question
using weird or scary or hard or stupid to open a presentation?
 
The more you take a risk with a provocative question,
the more impact you have with your audience!

Here are some suggestions for how to use this principle:

1. Instead of going straight in with, 'John P Kotter says about
Change Management …' preface your statement with a leading
question such as, 'What do the experts say?'

Rather than: 'The Australian Bureau of Statistics report on …'
you can pose, 'Where can we find evidence for this?'

2.  Instead of assuming: 'I'm sure you read the article this week about …'
ask, 'Did you see the article this week about …?'

3.  Rather the assumption, 'You all know Amazon dot com.'
query, 'Who is familiar with Amazon dot com?'

(Would you be surprised to learn that not too long ago, of a group of 16 software
application engineers, one had not heard of amazon.com? Never assume.)

4.  Instead of telling, 'Here's what you can do.' ask, 'How can you make
a difference?'

How to start a question

Are you familiar with Rudyard Kipling's poem? It opens with:

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

These six questions are known as the 'journalist's credo'. In journalism
the five Ws (and one H) are regarded as essential to information-gathering. 

Use these six words to spice up your presentation with more questions.

Open with a question

You can capture your audience's attention by opening with a dramatic question:
- Do you know what's really scary about . . .?
- Have you ever wondered why …?

Segue questions

Questions are useful segues (pronounced 'seg-way') - devices
to move a speaker smoothly to the next section or theme of a presentation.

For example:
Now that I've . . . [explained how Customer Relationship Management works] . . .
the question remains, [what frequency is just right for staying in touch with clients?]

Rhetorical questions

A rhetorical question is asked for effect; an answer is not expected.

When Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar asked,
'Was this ambition?', he meant it as a rhetorical question.

Bob Dylan's song 'Blowin' in the Wind' is full of rhetorical questions:
'How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?'

In a presentation, you might use rhetorical questions.

Thought-provoking questions

You can conclude your talk with a startling question to get people
thinking and talking.

For example:
'Suppose you were given the opportunity to send three small items and a
short message in a deep-space probe that might be found by aliens . . .
What would you send? What would your message be?'

A question like that will send your listeners on a mental journey seeking the answer.

Action Summary

1. For many of the statements in your presentation, ask yourself, 'How can I restate this as a question?'
2. Identify segue transition points in your presentation and lead into the next section with a question.
3. Is there a question that would make a dramatic conclusion?

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For Presentation Skills training for your group of 10-16 staff in your organisation's training room or for a speaker at your conference, visit our Presentation Skills training web page

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Presentation Skills Tip

Does your internal conversation sabotage your confidence just before you present?

Let me tell you a story. I was once a contestant on a well-known TV Quiz show.

New contestants entered the set through sliding doors. A female contestant was accompanied by a male model in a tuxedo. As he and I stood waiting for the sliding doors to open, he asked, 'Are you nervous?'

Perhaps he could have asked, ‘How are you feeling?’ or even, ‘Do you feel confident?’ (emphasising confidence rather than nerves).  But no, he chose to ask, ‘Are you nervous?’.

My answer was the positive affirmation I’d been saying to myself over and over. I looked up at him and with a big smile said, ‘I feel supremely calm and confident.’ (It may sound a little strange out loud, but quietly spoken to myself, it had been comforting and reassuring.)

What do you say to yourself before you present? I suggest you find a phrase that resonates with you.

My phrase is 'I feel supremely calm and confident'. What's yours?

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For Presentation skills training for your group of 10-16 staff in your organisation's training room, visit our Presentation Skills training web page
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Presentation Skills Tip
When You Present, Do You Have a 'Call to Action'?
by Nina Sunday

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Whenever you present, even if your purpose is to inform rather than persuade or sell, you’ll most likely want to connect with your audience.  One way to connect, and perhaps gauge how well your presentation was received, is to have a ‘Call to Action’.

A simple Call to Action is to offer something free – for example a free report or white paper - to anyone who gives you their business card at the end.

What if they don’t have their business card with them?

Perhaps add a post-it note to every handout and ask them to write their name and email address on the post-it to give to you at the end.
You might even be a little creative.

We were consulting with a retail chain prior to their annual conference with franchisees.The goal of the Marketing Manager’s presentation was to persuade franchisees to choose one of 3 opportunities to improve their store and benefit their customers.

We devised a fun way to encourage people to make a commitment. 

The presenter ended her talk with,

‘Ladies and gentleman.

Under your chair you will find 3 cards, green, purple and orange.

The green card corresponds to Opportunity 1,

purple card corresponds to Opportunity 2,

orange card corresponds to Opportunity 3.

Select the colour card which corresponds to the opportunity you’d like to participate.

Please take it to my assistant, who will exchange it for a sample bag you can take away, filled with all the instructions you need to get started tomorrow.’

People are often persuaded by the actions of others.  A tactic like this can create positive momentum. 

Measuring Effectiveness

You can use a Call to Action to measure effectiveness.  If 20 out of 100 attendees give you their business card, that’s a 20% response rate.

If you give the same talk at different locations, you can compare your results over time.

Action Summary

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For Presentation Skills training for your group of 10 staff in your organisation's training room, visit our Presentation Skills training web page
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