Crystal's Notes 13 April

If the idea of giving presentations is giving you the jitters because what you say can’t seem to land, here are some tips from your work bestie to help you lead and present better.

Have Variety

Vary your voice, pace and tone according to the energy that is required of the presentation. Go from being a fast-paced energizer bunny to mellow radio deejay depending on the context, audience and even timing. While a soothing voice may work to ground your audience for mindfulness practices, they may put people to sleep if the presentation is after lunch.

Having variety also means varying the style of how you ask questions. If the regular question and answer style is generating long, uncomfortable silences and starting to feel quite repetitive, change it up! Ask people to use their fingers to indicate their opinions, or set up a poll.

Be Granular Yet Succinct

When giving examples, give specific ones to land your point effectively. For example, instead of saying, “Due to a lapse, a company in Singapore suffered serious consequences”, you can say, “Due to an information breach at the ABC bank last week, 50 people lost their jobs”.  

This should also be the case when you are asking questions. Instead of asking general questions like, “Why is psychological safety important at the workplace?”, reframe the question to something more specific like, “Think about a time last week when you felt it was unsafe for you to share your opinion at work.” This will help to direct your listeners to exactly what you hope for them to learn and know by the end of your presentation.

However, this does not mean you overload your presentation with lengthy data and questions. In your communications especially with management, remember to always be succinct. Remember that senior stakeholders have collective ADHD!

Avoid Jargon

When you are dealing with a mixed group, avoid using terms that will fly over the participants’ heads, or alienate them. Always explain your concepts in a way that even a 12 year old would understand. The aim is for clean, clear prose – this means simplifying, polishing and tightening what you say, and how you say it.

Some people over explain and over justify because they fear rejection. But this makes them sound unconvinced in their own argument. Cut out all the filler words, fluff and overly-technical terms, and make each word matter.

 Preparation Is Key

The best thing you can do to become more eloquent is to record yourself and watch and hear yourself speak. Remember to look at people in the eye and smile. Share your intentions before you launch into the content of what you want to say. Think about all the technical difficulties that may happen and have a plan to resolve them, or adapt quickly to what pops up. Do a breathing exercise to ground yourself before you start. If you’re feeling butterflies, tell yourself, “I am excited! It is my body activating itself, and I’ve got this!”

Remember that your audience wants you to succeed, as do I! For those who have to facilitate meetings, trainings or lead discussions, our upcoming facilitation training, The Art & Science of Facilitation will give you the technical know-how to create and lead powerful, meaningful and engaging workshops and group experiences. Limited seats left, so check out the link here!

Much love,

Crystal