What are Your Presentation “Pain Points?”
For this newsletter, I am going to shift emphasis a bit. I will tell you what were the three biggest “pain points” I had to overcome when I previously prepared and delivered presentations and how I solved them. I invite you to reply back to info@speakleadandsucceed.com and tell me what your biggest “pain points” are with regard to your presentations.
So here are the three biggest “pain points” I had to overcome:
Pain Point #1 – How Can I Design a Presentation to a Specific Maximum Time?
This used to be a major stumbling block for me. I have been a Toastmaster for a while. In Toastmasters, you are taught that every presentation whether five minutes or an hour in length should contain three main points. This is a good rule of thumb. Less than three points will leave the audience wanting more information. More than three points will be hard for the audience to follow. These three main points are integral to the timing of your presentation.
These three main points plus supporting sub-points are the body of your speech and, coupled with your opening and closing are your complete presentation.
My electronics shop teacher from high school use to say “Divide and Conquer.” Any task, in this case preparing a presentation, can be divided (Opening, body, closing) and developed separately to prepare the speech.
You can separately time the opening, body, and closing to stay within your maximum time of the presentation. Remember though the majority of the time of your presentation should be in the body of the presentation. The opening should introduce your topic and heighten the audience’s anticipation of the speech. The closing should summarize the three main points and leave the audience with a call to action. More on presentation openings and closings in future newsletters.
Pain Point #2 – How Do I Decide What to Include in my Presentation?
This is a perennial challenge for beginning and experienced speakers. I begin by choosing my proposed topic. I say “proposed” topic, because during your presentation preparation you may find the topic morphing a bit.
Next, I write all the things I can think of pertaining to my topic without considering what my three points will be. Brian Tracy, the self-development expert, calls this mind storming which is similar to brainstorming in a group.
Then I arrange all the ideas into three groups. These three groups will become your three main points. You may want to use a method called “Cards on the Wall.” In Cards on the Wall, you put all the things pertaining to my topic on different Post-It notes. Then you would simply put similar ideas in the same group. Voila! You have your three main points with supporting points.
Pain Point #3 – How Can I Get Rid of Verbal Fillers such as “ahs” and “ums?”
When I was in the Air Force, I remember a presentation where the speaker said multiple “ahs” and “ums.” I stopped counting at 98 “ahs” and “ums.” Verbal fillers to include “ahs,” “ums,” repeated words, etc. are caused by our mouth being ahead of our brains thinking what to say next. We say these verbal fillers without knowing we are saying them. An essential skill of any speaker is to stop talking and let the brain catch up with the next logical point to make.
A fun, some would say frightening, way to cure this is to during your delivery preparation, have someone use those New Year’s Eve clickers whenever you say a verbal filler. Almost instantaneously, you will find yourself pausing, thinking, and then saying your next logical point.
So the “pain points” I had to solve were (1) designing a presentation to a maximum time, (2) deciding what to include in my presentation, and (3) use of verbal fillers such as “ah” and “um?”
There are solutions for all your pain points. Let me help you solve them. Please reply back to info@speakleadandsucceed.com and tell me what your biggest “pain points” are with regard to your presentations.
“90% of how well the talk will go is determined before the speaker steps on the platform.”
– Somers White