Presentation Skills
Knowing how to deliver a presentation is as important as knowing the facts
about the landmines issue. Good speakers know how to share their information
effectively!
Effective Presenters
While every presenter has their own unique style, in general, all effective
presenters:
- Encourage participants to present their own ideas;
- Recognize that people need time to think before speaking;
- Maintain a comfortable pace so that participants do not feel too rushed;
- Reserve their own ideas and opinions until others have had time to
respond;
- Accept each contribution with a positive comment;
- Encourage everyone to contribute, but keep the session focused;
- Are sensitive to cultural and value differences within the audience; and,
- Set aside any personal biases.
Speak or Engage?
Is it possible to stand in front of an audience and just speak to them about
the landmines issue? Certainly. Is this the most effective way to engage your
audience? Probably not. Effective presenters do more than just rattle off the
facts. They spark discussion, include interactive exercises, appeal to a variety
of learning styles, and are creative and dynamic!
Different people have distinct ways of learning and absorbing information.
Some people learn better by seeing things visually, other by hearing
information, and still others by doing things. As a presenter your job is to try
to appeal to all these types of learners -to talk, to use visual aids, and to
have exercises that allow participants to experience in some way what you are
discussing.
Most times your audience will know something about global issues or the
landmines issue. Instead of just presenting information, ask the audience
questions and allow time for questions and discussions. If you pose questions to
the audience towards the beginning of the presentation it will help you to gauge
the participants knowledge and feelings about the issue. Allow participants to
share their knowledge and experiences as well. Presenting is not a one way
learning process. It is a dialogue between you and your audience.
One way to increase audience participation is to make a question out of the
information you would like to convey. Instead of explaining how many countries
in the world are affected by landmines, ask the audience how many countries they
think are affected by landmines? Interactive exercises will help to create
a positive dialogue with participants where they have opportunities to share
their own knowledge.
The more senses you appeal to in your presentation the more likely your
audience is to retain the information and take action!
We retain:
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we hear and
see
70% of what we hear, see and talk
90% of what we hear, see, talk and
do!
Know your Audience
You should give a different presentation to each different audience. A
presentation for a church youth group will be very different from a presentation
to a group of military veterans. Adapting your presentation to each audience may
mean small changes to the introduction or big changes to the order of the
presentation. Knowing your audience is crucial so you can tailor your
presentation to suit the participants.
Whenever possible get background information on your audience.
- Who are they?
- What is the age group?
- Do they know much about global issues?
- Do they know a great deal about the landmines issue or very little?
- Do they know about the global landmines situa-tion, your local landmine
situation, neither or both?
- Are participants from war-affected communities?
- Have any participants been personally affected by landmines?
- Have participants taken action on the landminesissue or other social
justice issues before?
- How many participants will attend the presentation?
- Do any of the participants have any special needs? (i.e. require sign
language interpretation, wheel-chair
accessible facility)
- Do the participants have specific issues they would like you to focus on?
The more you know about your audience the more you will be able to prepare in
advance and adapt your presentation to meet their expectations. This ensures the
presentation will meet their needs and goals as well as your own.
Being Flexible
Flexibility is crucial to delivering a landmines presentation. While you
always want to cover the basic information about the landmines issue, depending
on your audience you may wish to focus more on particular aspects of the issue.
For example, you may want to focus on the landmines situation in a particular
country, or you may want to focus on a theme such as survivor assistance.
Regardless of what you plan to include in your presentation you must always
be prepared for change. Perhaps more time is spent on discussion and you do not
have time for a planned activity. Maybe during the presentation you realize that
a planned exercise is not appropriate for the audience, or maybe a pieceof
needed audio-visual equipment is not available or not working.
Remain calm, have back-up activities planned, and don’t get flustered if your
presentation doesn’t go according to schedule. Remember only you will know if
the presentation is different from the one you had planned beforehand!
Handling Difficult Situations
Regardless of how much you prepare for a presentation, sometimes challenging
situations arise. It is best to think through beforehand how you would handle
different situations. Then if any difficulties do arise, try and remain relaxed
and handle the situation as best you can. Following are some challenges that may
arise and some possible responses. Remember that the appropriate response will
vary for each audience, so adapt accordingly.
1. Participant is dominating the discussion
- Summarize the participant’s viewpoint and then move on.
- Ask others in the group for their input.
- If you wish to discuss the issue further with the participant, ask to wait
to continue the discussion until a break.
2. Participant is moving off topic
- Summarize the participant’s viewpoint and move on.
- Ask the participant to wait until later in the presentation to discuss the
issue.
- Address the fact that a different topic has been raised - “This seems to
be a different issue,” - and restate the purpose of the dis-cussion, asking
others for input.
3. Private Conversations
- Use nonverbal methods to regain the participant’s attention (make eye
contact, move closer).
- Ask one of them a question (making sure to say the participant’s name
first).
- Ask them to refrain from talking (privately, if possible).
4. Jokes
- Privately ask the participants to minimize jokes.
- Resume the session after the humorous in-terjections (be as serious as
possible).
5. Disagreeing
- Summarize the participants’ viewpoint; ask others for their opinions.
- Agree to disagree.
- Agree in part, then state how you differ and why.
6. Distractions
- Use nonverbal means to get the participants’ attention (like eye contact).
- Ignore if the behavior is not detracting from the session.
- Privately ask the participant to stop.
7. Lateness
- Ignore the behavior.
- Adhere to time schedules; do not let every-one suffer for one person’s
lateness.
- Remind participants of time frames.
- Privately request promptness (as a courtesy to the rest of the group, not
just to you).
8. Participant is not actively involved
- Use nonverbal means to draw the person into the discussion.
- Ask direct but non-threatening questions.
- Leave such participants alone (just because they are not participating
does not mean that they are not learning).
9. Difficult Questions
- If you are not able to answer a question then it is fine to say so!
- Ask if anyone else in the group knows the answer.
- Let the participant know that you will get back to them at a later date
with the answer - and make sure you get back to them!
You do not have to intervene every time a problem arises during your
presentation. In fact, if you are not comfortable you do not have to intervene
at all. Often in a classroom situation the teacher will intervene and assist in
solving any problem situations. If a participant is seriously disrupting your
presentation and you feel comfortable then you may wish to intervene if you do
not think the individual will change the behavior on their own. Use the
suggestions above or use actions more appropriate in your community for dealing
with such situations.
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