PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSIGHT
Presentation skills to engage your peers
Claire Warner MSc FCIPP provides useful tips and advice
D o you dread giving presentations of any sort, or do you thrive on them? For some people it’s a pleasure, but for others a torment. For some it’s easy to present to a room full of strangers but they can’t present to a small group; for others small groups are easier than large groups. My biggest fear is presenting to a group of my peers – people like me, who I know and who know me, who I work with and see on a regular basis. So, how to cope and deal with a ‘normal’ presentation? Attention and engagement How can you get the attention of your audience? Research shows that the first fifteen seconds of a presentation will
make a lasting impression on ninety per cent of attendees, and you have marginally less than fifteen seconds to make a first impression. So be aware of that, and present yourself the way you want to be viewed. How do you engage your audience? Think about using some form of ice breaker; whether it’s something simple or a bit more complex doesn’t matter. The aim is to wake-up and engage the audience, especially those you know will not be paying attention. I also try to scope out where they are in the room, and will try and address them by name if I can thereby making them aware that I know where they are. So, what do I mean by ‘engage your audience’? As a verb, ‘engage’ means to
involve someone, to participate, establish a meaningful connection. So why should we engage people, members of our audience? It’s simple really – if we engage there is higher achievement, greater productivity, more support, higher self- esteem, we learn more and we enjoy it. presentation and how you can get the attention of your colleagues. Think about using pictures, not just words on your slides, as they say a picture paints a 1,000 words. It is well-established that people engage better with visual images than with audio or the written word, but the picture should be relevant (or so obscure that it makes people wonder what its relevance is). Images often make things easier to understand. Consider, for example, a cookery book; a recipe is great and the instructions are helpful, but working through these blind without any idea Content, images and aids Think about the content of your
...wake-up and engage the audience, especially those you know will not be paying attention
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | September 2016 | Issue 23 22
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