7 Aspects Of a Dynamic Presentation – Lenny Laskowski

7 Aspects Of a Dynamic Presentation

 Lenny Laskowski

There are 7 aspects people must deal with when preparing and delivering presentations. An effective speaker learns to deal with all 7 aspects at the same time. Failure to pay attention to all of these aspects can result in an ineffective presentation. Failure to pay attention to too many of these can result in disaster.

1. Speaker
2. Message
3. Audience
4. Channel
5. Feedback
6. Noise
7. Setting

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ASPECT #1 – The Speaker
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One of the major components of any speech or presentation is the speaker themselves (the source of the message). Many people forget they THEY are the presentation and NOT the visual aids. Many presenters today put so much effort into the visual aids and they forget that those are just aids to the speaker.

There are three factors we need to consider about any speaker:

a. His / Her motivation in giving the presentation
b. His / Her credibility as a speaker
c. His / Her delivery or speaking style

a. A Speaker’s motivation can be approached in terms of two considerations:

==> Whether direct personal reward (e.g. $$$) or indirect rewards (feeling good about helping others) are involved.
==> Whether immediate rewards ($$ today) or delayed rewards (getting a college degree after 4 years of college play a part.

In essence, a speaker may be motivated by one or BOTH of these factors. Before speaking you should consider what YOUR motivations are.

b. Speaker’s credibility

A speaker’s ideas are accepted as believable only to the degree that the speaker is perceived to be credible. The speaker’s credibility depends on his or her trustworthiness, competence, and good will. The speaker who is well organized will usually be considered competent. The speaker who is attractive and dynamic will be seen as more credible than one who is not.

The most fundamental factor a speaker projects is the attitude they have toward himself.

c. Speaker’s delivery

The delivery, the way the message is presented, should compliment the speech’s objective. A well written speech delivered poorly can quickly lose effectiveness.

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ASPECT #2 – The Message
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The message refers to EVERYTHING a speaker does or says, both verbally and non-verbally. The verbal component may be analyzed in terms of 3 basic elements:

• Content
• Style
• Structure

Let’s look at each of these elements.

a. Content – is what you say about your topic. The content is the MEAT of your speech or presentation. Research your topic thoroughly. Decide on how much to say about each subject. Then decide on the actual sequence you will use. It is important that you consider the audience’s needs, time factors, and other items as the content of your speech or presentation is prepared and presented.

b. Style – The manner in which you present the content of your speech is your style. Styles can vary from very formal to the very informal. Most presentations fall between these two extremes and in EVERY case, the style should be determined by what is appropriate to the speaker, the audience, as well as the occasion and setting.

c. Structure – The structure of a message is its organization. There are many organizational variations, but in each case, the structure should include:

• An Introduction
• A Body
• A Conclusion

The introduction should include:

- an opening grabber such as a quote or shocking statistic.
- an agenda
- the purpose or main message of your presentation.

The body should include:

- your main points or ideas.
- points which support your main message.

The conclusion should include:

- a summary of your main points.
- a closing grabber.
- time for questions & answers, if appropriate.

When speeches and presentations are poorly organized, the impact of the message is reduced and the audience is less likely to accept the speaker or the speaker’s ideas.

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ASPECT #3 – The Audience
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As a speaker you should analyze your listeners and then decide how to present your ideas. This analysis might include considerations related to:

- Age
- Sex
- Marital Status
- Race
- Geographic location
- Group membership
- Education
- Career

For example, if you are making a presentation on “Future Careers”, knowing your audience’s average age is vital. A well prepared speech that is ill-suited to the audience can have the same effect as a poorly prepared speech delivered to the correct audience. Both speeches will fail terribly.

Proper audience analysis will assure that you give the right speech to the right audience. To properly customize the speech, most professional speakers send their clients a multi-page questionnaire in order to gather information about them and their speaking event. I will usually call some of the members who can find out what the current trends are in their industry and ask what people are looking for.

Using the word “A-U-D-I-E-N-C-E” as an acronym, I have defined some general audience analysis categories that your surveys should include:

A_udience – Who are the members? How many will be at the event?
U_nderstanding – What is their knowledge about the topic you will be addressing?
D_emographics – What is their age, sex, educational background, etc.?
I_nterest – Why will they be at this event? Who asked them to be there?
E_nvironment – Where will I stand when I speak? Will everyone be able to see me?
N_eeds – What are the listener’s needs? What are your needs as a speaker? What are the needs of the person who hired you?
C_ustomized – How can I custom fit my message to this audience?
E_xpectations – What do the listeners expect to learn from me?

NOTE: See my article on Audience Analysis for a more detailed discussion on this topic. Also, my new book, “No Sweat Presentations – The Painless Way to Successful Speaking” provides some specific questions you could ask along with a sample questionnaire you can use.

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ASPECT #4 – The Channel
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When we communicate with our audiences, we use many channels of communication. This includes non-verbal, pictorial and aural channels.

It is very important that you use as many channels as you can to communicate with your audience. The more channels of communication you can use at the same time, the better. I have provided a brief list of examples for each of these types:

A. Nonverbal

1. gestures
2. facial expressions
3. body movement
4. posture

B. Pictorial

1. diagrams
2. charts
3. graphs
4. pictures
5. objects

C. Aural

1. tone of your voice
2. variations in pitch and volume
3. other vocal variety

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ASPECT #5 – The Feedback
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By “feedback” I mean the process through which the speaker receives information about how his or her message has been received by the listeners and, in turn, responds to those cues.

The feedback process is not complete until the speaker has responded to the listener. This process includes the listener’s reactions to the speaker’s response and so forth.

You can ask your audience questions and even ask them what their understanding is of the point you have just made. Watch for non-verbal clues from your audience and be prepared to respond to the reactions of your audience throughout your presentation.

It is your responsibility to provide the information your audience needs to hear. Many times, you may be asked by management to provide a specific message to their employees that they may not want to hear. Remember, it is the management that is paying your fee and you are responsible to deliver the message they hired you to deliver. At the same time, it is important that you are sensitive to the audience and try to establish a relationship with them through the use of your surveys, conversations during the social hour, and even discussions following your presentation.

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ASPECT #6 – The Noise
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There are two types of noise a speaker must contend with:

a. External Noise
b. Internal Noise

Let’s look at each of these.

External Noise - consists of sounds, people talking, coughing, shifting patterns, poor acoustics, temperature (too warm, too cold), poor ventilation, and visual interference such as poor lighting, or an obstructed view.

Internal Noise - if a speaker is confused or unclear about what he or she wants to express, this is due to internal noise. Internal noise can also arise if the speaker does not know or misanalyzes the audience.

The role of the audience and the speaker is to simultaneously communicate with each other. It is this transactional nature of speech that makes feedback, and attempts to eliminate noise, so important.

The most specific way a speaker can use to combat noise are:

a. Use more than one channel of communication at the same time (verbal & non-verbal)
b. Use repetition and restatement.

The speaker can help combat this noise by making an extra effort to use as many channels of communications at the same time. It is important to include both verbal and non-verbal means of communication.

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ASPECT #7 – The Setting
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The place in which you deliver your presentation may be one that enhances or interferes with the effectiveness of your presentation. Determine ahead of time what the facilities are like before you speak. This way you can properly plan your delivery or make adjustments, if necessary.

I recommend, when practical, that you make a trip to the location where your speech will take place. I even go so far as to ask the exact room I will be presenting in and ask the hotel conference coordinator to let me visit the room and check things out.

On one particular occasion, several years ago, I had visited a room about 1 month before I was to speak at a large association meeting and noticed the room WAS NOT equipped for a microphone. This was a problem since the attendance was expected to be about 800 to 1000 people. I checked with the hotel if there were any other rooms available that same day of the event and I contacted the client and informed them about the situation. The client contacted the hotel and was able to change the room for their event. It was my planning that saved both myself and my client some embarrassment had we not changed the room. I have since spoken for this same client every year for the past 4 years because of the attention to detail I provided as part of my planning when I first spoke for them. This little “extra” effort on my part made me memorable to the client.

Look at speaking engagements as opportunities to practice your speaking skills.

To be truly prepared and effective as a presenter, you must pay attention to all 7 of these aspects discussed above. This will take practice. The time you spend remembering these aspects will be worth the effort.

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Task-induced Involvement and Incidental Vocabulary Learning: The Case of Elementary Language Learners

Zabih Ollah Javanbakht

Natasha Pourdana

‘How to Deliver a Speech with Power: 10 Tips’ by Christopher Witt

Neha Joshi

How you deliver a speech — how you use your voice, gestures, and entire body — can add power to what you say. Or it can weaken your message and its impact.

1. Prepare a Powerful Speech

Delivery only gets you so far. What matters most is your content: the idea you’re advocating, its clarity, its supporting evidence and reasoning, its emotional appeal, its stories and images. Write out or, at the very least, prepare a detailed outline of what you want to say.

2. Rehearse

Never get up in front of an audience without having practiced what you want to say and how you want to say it. Stand up while you’re practicing and, if possible, walk around. Speak it out loud. Practice it at least three times.

3. Breathe

Taking slow, deep breaths immediately before you stand to speak is the best way to calm your jitters at the time most people get most nervous. Being conscious of your breathing is a great way to keep you grounded in the present moment.

4. Move with Purpose

You don’t have to stand firmly rooted in one place. Just be sure that you move with a purpose. Don’t pace around, as if you’re nervous, or walk from one side of the state to the other and back again as if you don’t have anything better to do. Change direction when you change directions in your speech.

5. Stand Still

Standing still, with your sides at your hand, is your “default position” while giving a speech. It’s the physical equivalent of pausing while you’re speaking. Standing still — and being confident in your standing — conveys a great deal of power.

6. Hold Your Eye Contact

Don’t let your eyes roam aimlessly over your audience. Don’t try to look at everyone at the same time in some generalized gaze. (It can’t be done.) Instead, look at one person at a time. Establish eye contact with that one person and hold it for five to eight seconds while you complete a sentence. Then look at someone else, preferably someone in another part of the room.

7. Use Bigger Gestures

Generally speaking, it’s best not to rehearse the gestures you want to use. You’ll come off looking staged or stilted. Use the gestures you naturally use in conversation, only make them larger, more expansive.

8. Speak Louder

Even if you’re using a microphone, raise your volume. It will add energy and vitality to your voice. (You cannot shout in a monotone.)

9. Pause

Unleashing a steady flow of words doesn’t make you sound like smooth and polished. It makes you sound rushed and nervous. So pause every so often. Pause right before making a bold assertion. And pause again after you’ve made it.

10. Smile

When you smile, you make people feel more at ease. They sense that you like them. (You do, don’t you?) It also sets you at ease.

Delivering a speech in this way will add power to your message. And it will establish you as someone worth listening to.

ده اشتباه متداول ديكته در انگليسي

همانطور كه مي دانيد زبان انگليسي، به دليل كاربردي بودن، اولين زباني مي باشد كه مردم سراسر دنيا براي يادگيري انتخاب مي كنند. با اين حال جالب است بدانيد با اينكه زبان آموزان از كشورهاي مختلفي مي باشند، اما اشتاباهات انگليسي آنها همه مشابه مي باشد.

در اينجا به 10 مورد از متداول ترين اشتباهات مي پردازيم

(1

 Mixing up “in” and “on” with modes of transportation

You get in a car.  You get on everything else. (I got on the plane/bus/train/motorcycle/boat.) 

Remember, a taxi is a kind of car, so you get in a taxi

 (2

 Confusing “in time” with “on time”

“On time” = punctually

Example:  I get to work on time.  I am never late.

“In time” = before a deadline or a time limit expires

Example: I got to the bus stop in time.  The bus was just about to leave

(3

Ending a sentence with a contraction

INCORRECT: A: Are you happy? B: Yes, I’m

CORRECT: A: Are you happy?  B: Yes, I am

While it is normally fine to contract “I” and “am”, you cannot do it at the end of a sentence.  This holds true for all pronouns contracted with verbs.

(4

 Confusing “would like” with “like”

Compare these two examples

I would like to go swimming.  <–This is something that you want to do at some point in the future.

I like to go swimming.  <–This is something that you enjoy and do on a regular basis

 (5

Forgetting to use a determiner in front of a singular count noun

MOST singular count nouns must be preceded by some kind of determiner.  Some types of determiners are articles (a, an, the), possessive adjectives (my, your, his), and demonstratives (this, that, these, those).

Here’s a quick determiner test.  Let’s look at the noun “dog”.  Is it singular?  (Yes, there is only one.)  Is it countable?  (Yes – one dog, two dogs, three dogs…)  Then it MUST have a determiner.  Don’t let your singular count nouns go naked!

INCORRECT: I saw dog outside

CORRECT: I saw a dog outside.  I saw your dog outside.  I saw that dog outside

(6

 Using “the” in front of indefinite plural nouns

INCORRECT: I went to the mall to buy the clothes.

CORRECT: I went to the mall to buy clothes.   OR  I went to the mall to buy some clothes.  (“Some” simply means an unspecified amount.)

We don’t use “the” because we are talking about clothes in general.

If you were to add some information to specify what clothes, then you could use “the”.

Example: I went to the mall to buy the clothes that my mother had picked out for me earlier

(7

Counting noncount nouns

Noncount nouns can only be measured in units.  Some common noncount nouns involve categories, fluids, solids, gases, particles, and abstractions.  For this type of noun, you count the unit, not the noun.

INCORRECT: I bought three breads

CORRECT: I bought three loaves of bread

(8

 Making a noun plural when using it as an adjective

INCORRECT: I had vegetables soup for dinner

CORRECT: I had vegetable soup for dinner

While the soup may have a lot of vegetables in it, when you use a noun as an adjective, it must always be singular

(9

 Using “for” and “since” interchangeably

“Since” is used with a point in time. Example: I have been here since 9:00 a.m.

“For” is used with duration of time. Example: I have been here for five hours.

(10

 Mixing up “I used to” with “I am used to”

I used to = I did something in the past, but I don’t anymore

Example: I used to climb trees when I was a kid.  (I no longer climb trees.)

I am used to = I am accustomed to

Example: I am used to living in the desert.  The heat doesn’t bother me.

How to become a better listener

How to become a better listener

1. Stop Thinking- Be in the moment and hear what the person is saying.

2. Mirror Body Language- We do this subconsciously a lot of times but you start to do it more when you are aware of it. Don’t mock the person just match them with at least a 3 second delay.

3. Scanning Eye Method- Keep eye contact by looking at the forehead, noise and chin of the person talking. This is good if you are uncomfortable with direct eye contact.

4. Repeat what they say in a question form to clarify you are listening.

5.Compliment the person on the thought or subject even if you object to their point. There is always something you can say nice