PRESENTATION SKILLS
THAT KNOCK ’EM DEAD
Addressing prospective clients doesn’t have to be a frightening affair, especially
if you take heed of some basic principles for making confident, successful pitches.
By Carolyn Heinze • Illustration by Paul Vismara
HOEVER DECLARED
THAT TALK IS CHEAP
probably wasn’t referring to the speeches
given during business
presentations. Whether you
are informing your peers about
a new technological development or selling your
products and services to a prospective client,
how you deliver your message has a direct impact on your bottom line.
Ken Thoreson, president of sales management consulting firm Acumen Management
Group Ltd. in Vonore, Tenn., says that all good
presentations start with clear goals—the things
you want people to take away at the end of your
talk. To set objectives, he emphasizes, it’s necessary for presenters to have a full understanding of their audience.
“If a technical person is speaking to a technical group, or whether they are speaking to a client
who is nontechnical, they have to make sure that
they clearly articulate what they do,” says Thoreson. And don’t assume that your audience understands technical jargon or acronyms. “A lot of
times, technical people get up and give the same
briefing they have always used without tailoring
it to a specific audience,” he says.
Stephan Schiffman, president of New York-based D.E.I. Management Group Inc., suggests
that presenters speak one technical level lower
than the perceived knowledge level of the audience. “There’s a common denominator, and
you can always make time for questions that
may be more technical,” he says. “If you’re be-
ing asked a technical question and you think
that the audience may not get it, explain what
the question is about so the audience is engaged in the conversation.”
BODY LANGUAGE COUNTS
While the focal point of your presentation is your
words, nonverbal communication is crucial for
connecting with the audience. Thoreson notes
that lifting one’s hands—and voice—keeps the
audience’s eyes moving. Depending on the size
of the presentation space, you can move around
a bit as well, although too much pacing can become a distraction. And, instead of focusing on
the back wall or the tops of people’s heads,
make eye contact to keep your audience focused on what you’re saying.
Rehearsing your presentation several times is
the best way to develop not only what you are
going to say, but also how you will present yourself. In addition, it enables you to work on your
own natural nonverbal tendencies. “You’ve got
to prepare yourself, but not to the point where
you’re a robot,” Schiffman says. If possible,
videotape yourself to gain insight on how you
come across to people. “You want to use the
way you look and sound to your advantage,” he
says. “You want to accept that premise and then
play to your strengths.”
Experts agree that people learn in three main
ways: seeing, listening, and doing. Good speakers recognize this, and incorporate all of these
elements when addressing a group. “To do an
effective presentation, a lot of speakers will use
a workbook, or they will have their audience
take notes,” says Thoreson. Some presenters
also give the audience an opportunity to ask
questions, and may even pose a number of
questions themselves.
One of the biggest mistakes presenters make
is placing too much emphasis on graphs and
PowerPoint presentations, according to Cynthia
Lett, director and CEO of The Lett Group, a
protocol and business etiquette training firm for
executives in Silver Spring, Md. While these can
be useful tools to underline the points you are
making, simply reading them in front of your
