a few, well chosen words can evoke amazing images.

there’s been some recent comment in the blogosphere on this. for instance CreativityWorks’ post citing Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’ speech.

here in australia, an equally evocative phrase, ‘stolen generation’, conjures up plenty of desperate and emotional images.

 in this context, the link between words and images is summed up in one word itself: emotion. photos, paintings, pictures – phrases, poetry, prose are all at their best when they convey emotion.

 I don’t know, but emotion, to me, in both words and pictures means an ability to suggest. Stimulating the audience to conjure up the texture and dimension of the story themselves produces the strongest reaction. it’s the classic – tell me you’re funny, or tell me a joke – maxim. the inclusion of involvement is the imperative. without it, life is a lecture, with it, it is an adventure.

 the images we create from certain words are individual, private even; but often, when the suggestion, the emotion, is extremely powerful, the images have the commonality of an ‘archetype’. and as such can be immensely powerful, binding us all together, collectively, in the human condition. producing the equivalent of a profound, ‘we understand’.

 even words that don’t on the face of it ‘paint pictures’, can, used in the right way, in the right context, be dramatic and a driving force. think about Obama’s ‘yes we can’.

 but all too often words are trotted out ad infinitum, machine-gun style. too many words, or the same words delivering, basically, the same information, in the same way. a lazy, fearful, vacuous soup where all too many business presentations, unfortunately, reside.

 words are about communication. if we are to communicate well, we need to pay words more respect. the famous line ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’, is perhaps the most disrespectful and inaccurate use of words, in history. words cause all wars.

 but, equally, words also deliver hope. and without them and the connection they provide, we wouldn’t even be here.

 words to me exist to paint pictures. so I think we should all learn to paint with them. some days we will use words to create modern art, some days to paint impressionist landscapes, other days to measure out exact technical drawings or precise diagrams. but never to create grey, fuzzy photocopies.

 in business, this means don’t tap out PowerPoint slides full of words. use words carefully. parsimoniously. try alternatives for words that are overused, words that have lost their shine from the battering of the bandwagon they’ve been on.

 imagine, for a moment, being the word ‘agenda’. your very soul would be so dull these days, you’ve been ‘photocopied’ so many times; used to the point of becoming almost invisible. the same, it’s a pity to say, goes if you were any one of the words: ‘objective’,  ‘leverage’ or ‘strategy’. you just don’t evoke the same passion, imagery or meaning that you once did.

 so here’s some practical food for thought. say, for example, you’re in Sony’s digital camera sales division and you’re at some swanky, exotic location for your annual sales conference. the first slide in the presentation on screen reads ‘objective 2010 – increase sales by 15%’. you’re in the audience. I’m guessing here…but I don’t think I hear your adrenaline pumping in your eagerness to hit that mark’?

 so, instead, what if the first slide had read ‘what are we gonna do this year – make 9 million more people say ‘cheese’ with a Sony’. now there’s an evocative image! doesn’t that involve and inspire you a bit more. and what about the ‘agenda’ slide. how about ‘a million smiles in the making…’

 understand? get…the picture?

 words. they are at their best when they paint pictures. so learn to paint with them.

Set the scene and take control 

PURPOSE

The first thing to do is provide your audience with a clearly defined PURPOSE for the presentation.  It’s like telling your car passengers where you’re going.  But make it about them, not you!  So include a WIFT i.e. What’s In It For Them, so they’ll be eager and engaged from the start.

The next 3 scene setting components are optional, so only put in what you need.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION, E.g.

• Introducing yourself and/or the team.
• Providing context to the presentation e.g. the background situation, recapping on the brief, reminding the audience of any prior meetings or discussions etc.
• This is also a great time to build rapport with your audience.  Can you:
  -       Acknowledge the challenges or successes in their world
  -       Pre-empt any concerns they might have about the content within your presentation
  -       Proactively manage their expectations

HOUSEKEEPING

I’m sure you’re familiar with the sorts of things housekeeping can include, but just in case here are some examples:

-       Saying thank you to the audience
-       Letting them know how long you’ll be talking for
-       Stating when you want the audience to ask you questions
-       Letting them know if you’re going to be asking them questions
-       Advising if there will be any interruptions or breaks during the presentation
-       Letting them know catering arrangements
-       Telling them if there will be handouts during, or leave behinds after, the presentation.

Then there are the presentation ‘rules’ regarding things like mobiles, blackberries, laptops etc as well toilet location and emergency procedures.

THE ATTENTION GRAB

As the name suggests, this is a great tool to get the attention of the audience, to set the mood of the presentation, and to reduce your nerves.

Don’t worry, your attention grab doesn’t have to be wildly creative.  What it must do however is support your message in some way.  Otherwise there’s a danger that the only thing people will remember will be your attention grab and not the point of your presentation! 

There are loads of great sources for attention grabs.

Ok, having decided what you’re going to say to set the scene and take control of your presentation, you now need to determine in which order it makes sense to say them.  There’s no right or wrong – just whatever order seems to flow right for you.

Great, so now we have some relevant scene setting information to ease you and your audience into the presentation, plus they all now know why they are there listening to you.  I’d say you’re ready for lift off!

p.s. remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.

So, firstly there’s the script. A crafted set of words, meticulously selected to convey precisely what the speaker wants to say. Nice and easy from the presenter’s view point. But to the audience, someone that reads from a script usually sounds scripted(!), stiff, formal and unnatural. Sure, when every word matters, and there is no other visual support, a script might be necessity. A good example of such a case was Jacob Zuma giving his acceptance speech earlier this month. But on the whole if you want to engage your audience and appear relaxed and confident, leave the script to Hollywood actors.

What about memorising the script? Well unless you’re a trained actor (back to Hollywood again!) this is possibly your worst option. It’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll be able to remember 3 minutes of a script, let alone 30 minutes; and the stress of just thinking about all that stuff to remember is likely to send you into a tail spin before you’ve even got to the agenda. My advice – rehearse and memorise your first 60-90 seconds, not word for word, just the key points, then acknowledge you’re human and that you’re going to need more than your memory to get you through the gig.

Which leads us to notes. Notes aren’t bad but they have 3 distinct drawbacks. Firstly you need to remember where you are within your notes, at any given time, if they’re going to be of any use. It’s no good rattling through the first 9 slides notes-free and then realising you need their help on slide 10. Unless you can go directly to that spot in your notes, you’ll be stuffed. So let’s assume you use your notes all the way through. Well, the second problem occurs if you happen to be someone that gestures a lot and is pretty animated as a presenter. In this case your notes, waving all over the place, can be a serious distraction to the audience. And finally, every time you read from your notes, you’re cutting eye contact, and therefore engagement with the audience.
So notes too can be a serious hinderance to successful presenting.

Having said that, if properly prepared (large, easy to read, bullet points only) notes can be vital when you are presenting with minimalist slides a la Garr Reynolds, so I won’t be completely black and white about their use.

A close relative to hand-held notes are the computer/laptop notes function that comes with packages like Microsoft PowerPoint®. I personally never recommend people use this option as to be honest I think it’s pretty rude, especially during a business presentation (vs a conference presentation). That’s because every time you look down at your computer notes you draw the curtains shut between you and your audience, which completely disengages them. In fact the disengagement is so strong that you almost have to re-engage them from scratch again when you look back up. I’m afraid using the notes function is a big pet hate of mine.

So that leaves us with looking at our slides. Now I need to stress that I am talking about business presentations – millions of which are probably taking place in meeting and board rooms around the planet as I write this. So, let’s be clear, I am NOT talking about large scale conferences and the like.

What I want to advocate is that your slides should be there to support you, as well as to add clarity and interest to your content. So your slides should act as your guide. But to use them effectively, I encourage people to ‘slide surf’.

For those of you not familiar with surfing – a quick intro. Once surfers are past the breakers, in the ‘take-off zone’ as they call it, they glance every now and again behind them to see what waves are coming. Once they see the wave they want to catch, they face forward and focus on catching and riding that wave.

This is what I recommend as a presenter. Every now and again, to remind yourself of the point you need to deliver, glance at your slide. Now of course I’m not suggesting that you stand with your back to the audience and read continuously from your slides. That would clearly be ridiculous.

What I recommend is a look that only needs a second. If you are using bullet points (and I’m not saying I’m a bullet point fan – in fact the opposite is true, but I acknowledge they are a major factor in business presentations today) and follow the 5×5 rule (No more than about 5 bullet points on a slide. No more than about 5 words per bullet point) a second is all you need.

There are 3 distinct advantages to ‘slide surfing’:

1. You don’t need to hold any notes, leaving your hands free to add animation, dimension, energy, passion etc to your delivery which keeps the audience involved and interested.

2. Glancing quickly at your slide actually adds to audience engagement because looking at your slide acts as a non-verbal signpost; indicating where you are and the direction you are going, which in turn adds clarity and comprehension.

3. For the second that you glance at your slide, you become briefly one of them – a member of the audience, all looking at the slide together. This is a great technique for creating synergy between you, your slides and your audience and therefore for building rapport

And the downside – well I seriously can’t think of any.

So, leave scripts and memorising scripts to Hollywood actors. Only use notes if your slides are minimalist. And never use the computer/laptop notes function unless you want to shut the curtains on your audience. Instead, slide surf! Work with your slides to keep your audiences involved, to signpost the journey, and to create synergy.

One final thing. Don’t forget that YOU are the presentation and YOU are the deliverer of your information.

Above all, remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.