REWARD
Presentation
prep pointers
Whether you’re a seasoned presenter, or have been asked to present for the first time, it’s natural to feel nervous ahead of your slot. Here, Fiona Smith MCIPPdip, payroll training manager, the CIPP, shares some of her top pointers for delivering excellent presentations, every time, to help alleviate those nerves
S o, it’s finally happened. You’ve been asked to present your professionals may take this request in their stride. However, if you're more apprehensive about public speaking, here are some tips to help you prepare a great presentation, even when you're nervous. I understand how nerve-wracking public information in public. Some payroll speaking can be. While I now spend most of my time speaking in public, it may seem strange that when I was at university, I suffered from debilitating stage fright. I studied music as a first subject and although I would be comfortable performing in groups or orchestras, the second I was asked to take centre stage, the nerves would start. Ultimately, I don’t think nerves about presenting ever go away, but there are some things we can do to make the experience less daunting. Here are some of my favourite tips and techniques you can employ to turn those nerves into excited energy and ensure you deliver an excellent presentation. 1. Avoid ‘death by PowerPoint’ Many presentations require a slide deck, but you don’t always need one. If you’re using one, however, it’s very easy to fall into ‘death by PowerPoint’ mode, in which the information on the slides is read word-for-word. Ideally, the slides should be a prompt for your memory and no more. Don’t be
tempted to lean so much on the slides that you read them verbatim. When you create your slide deck, think about what information you actually need to show on the slides. It should be punchy and to the point, and some slides may not even require words – the key numbers, charts or even just a relevant picture may be enough on their own. Once you have designed your presentation aids, spend some time to think about how the narrative of your presentation will move from one topic to another. As the presenter, you’ll be responsible for bringing the audience with you and ‘setting the scene’ for the next piece of information. 2. Let the numbers tell a story Most often in a payroll presentation, you’ll be asked to present information based on numbers – it could be your key performance indicators, budgets or maybe the implications of rate or threshold changes for a new tax year. An important part of doing a presentation versus writing a report is being able to provide the extra context for the information you’re presenting. Humans are hard- wired to respond to stories, so if you can understand where your information fits into a narrative, it will help your audience to better understand and stay engaged with your presentation. For example, if the salary costs have
increased for a department, what’s the root cause of this? Was it due to more overtime or increased base pay rates, or maybe high turnover? What were they before and how much have they changed? Has this department had any previous periods of change that are similar? By answering these questions, you can provide a ‘story’, and the audience is more likely to remember and absorb what you’re telling them. 3. Ensure you know your topic There are few things worse than being ‘in the zone’ when presenting and then having a question you don’t understand blowing you off course because you aren’t sure of the answer. Of course it's okay not to know everything about a subject, but not anticipating common questions can make your presentation a lot more awkward. Being able to explain things simply is an art. They say if you can’t explain your topic in terms a five-year-old can understand then you don’t really know the subject well enough to be teaching it. A good idea is to rehearse your presentation with an audience who aren’t familiar with the topic, as they may be able to spot areas for improvement that you take for granted. 4. Practise, practise, practise This tip likely won’t come as a surprise to anyone; however it’s the one that’s so often overlooked – particularly for those of us with busy workloads and very little
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2023 | Issue 89 38
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