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Make Your Technical Presentation Dynamic!The very nature of credit unions requires delivering information that contains charts and graphs interpreting statistical data. Often you report to your boards or committees on such matters and this can be pretty tedious to listen to. As a result, often audiences listening to a technical presentation appear as though they’ve been given a sleeping pill. But a technical presentation does not have to be boring, tedious, and dull. This kind of presentation can be dynamic! Here are some keys to help you make that next data filled presentation vibrant and engaging. Tell stories. Technical information is logical; stories are emotional. Combine logic and emotion and audiences are hooked. Give a piece of data and then illustrate with a story. In his recent autobiography, Jack Welch makes the point that one of the keys to his success in pushing his employees to innovate and to move ahead with their ideas what would grow the business, was to take case studies of successes in one part of the organization and in the form of stories share these in his presentations to other parts of the organization throughout the world. Stories he said were essential to his success as the CEO of General Electric for 20 years! This is not new. Skillful, and influential leaders throughout history have been those who are great storytellers in their messages to their constituency. Jesus Christ was a masterful storyteller. Abraham Lincoln helped crystallize the issues separating our country before the Civil War and later as President through the use of stories. In recent times, Ronald Reagan with his experience in the media before entering politics used his narrative skills in telling stories that touched the emotions of people to advocate his views on issues. Perhaps to show the significance of a piece of data you might share a success story of how a particular service offered by the credit union increased assets or made the members use the credit union more. The story would draw the attention of the audience and help them connect to the data presented. Give a comparison. In one sentence you can take a piece of data or an abstract concept and make it instantly clear to an audience by using a comparison. A comparison simply shows how the unfamiliar is like the familiar. I remember a race driver telling that driving around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track is like driving down the hallway in your house at 230 miles an hour and turning left into your closet. That made instantly clear the dangers of driving a racecar. Use echo words. An echo word incorporates some version of a word twice in the same sentence. Franklin Roosevelt stated one of the most famous uses of echo words in history: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Anytime you want the audience to remember a specific concept, use an echo word. Perhaps you want to stress the importance of sharing benefits of the credit union with other employees to encourage them to use the services. You might say, “Show benefits to your fellow workers in order to benefit both the credit union and you.” This is a way to repeat key concepts creatively and provide more meaning as well. Deliver a quotation the audience can’t forget. Find a quotation that makes the dull come alive. Mark Twain said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” Look for language used by another person that says your point in a more dramatic or memorable way. Use statistics that pull an audience into your speech rather than putting them to sleep. Incorporate statistics sparingly. Don’t bunch lots of numbers together. This is a chronic problem when listening to a weather forecast. All you want to know is how hot or cold the day is going to be and usually you will get the high temperature yesterday, the low last night, temperature predictions for the rest of the week, and numbers indicating wind velocity. This can be confusing, to say the least. When possible, use only one statistic and build up to it by qualifying its meaning to your point and the legitimacy of the source. At the most, never use more than three statistics at a time. On any matter there are usually multiple statistics a speaker can find; don’t succumb to the temptation that more is better. For example, in the use of seatbelts, you can find statistics of all kinds with all ages of people and in all kinds of situations. In choosing which ones to use, look for a single statistic or two that make your point in a powerful way. According to a report from the Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky, using seat belts has increased from 9 percent in 1985 to 62% in 2001. That would be effective to show how awareness of safety in driving has increased over the past two decades. Contrast use of services in your credit union from five years ago to now, for example, as a major piece of information. Leave out the incremental increases unless they are in some way significant. Use statistics for a specific purpose; don’t use them just to impress an audience. Generally the three purposes for which statistics should be used are: 1) to point to a problem you want to solve, 2) to prove how your solution will work, or 3) to stress how well a plan of action or process is working. Another way statistics can be used effectively is at the beginning of the speech to get the attention of the audience in regard to your topic. Pick a significant statistic about your credit union that will reinforce the theme of your talk as a way to grab and hold attention. Use only recent statistics. If someone in the audience knows a more recent statistic on the topic than the one you use in your presentation, your credibility suffers and your message will have little impact. Since you are probably the expert on the topic or you would not be presenting, this should not be a problem; however, there may be times when you want to consult with other members of the credit union staff to make sure you have the most recent information. Finally, in regard to statistics, always include the source for the statistics. Never say, “Research shows…” or “In an article I read…” or “Most credit unions…” Give the specific source and the date. If you can’t find the source, don’t use the statistic. Not including the source destroys your credibility and weakens your position. Seek to have one or more “wow” factors in your presentation. A “wow” factor is simply something in your presentation that makes an audience want to say, “Wow!” A startling statement is one way to incorporate a “wow factor.” Two startling statements I have read recently are, “The most common reason Americans are arrested is for drunken driving,” and “Only one percent of the world’s water is drinkable.” Both made me stop and say, “Wow!” A “wow factor” could be a slide that dramatizes a point with a picture or clip art. Your personal experience related to the point could be a “wow factor.” An audience is always impacted when I tell the story of our daughter at age 18 meeting her birth parents. The number of “wow factors” in your presentation will contribute to the power of your technical material. Let the audience fill in the blank. Use the pause before you get to a key idea or statistic. Often, the audience will silently seek to fill in the blank. We like to fill in the blanks. Why do televisions quiz game shows last for a long time? Because people like to fill in the blanks. Audiences love to participate with the speaker and anticipating what a speaker might say by filling in the blanks is an effective way to accomplish that. Move with purpose. There is a tendency with technical information to speak in a monotone and to stay behind the lectern with little movement to illustrate your points. Purposeful movements attracts attention and causes a person to listen better. Taking a step toward your audience to accent a point can add emotional impact to your presentation. You appear more dynamic when you gesture to reinforce a point or describe an action. Make big gestures, not little ones such as those you initiate from the wrist. The bigger the audience the bigger the gestures should be to stress the content of your presentation. Just pointing to the screen as you make a point from your chart can make your content more dynamic. Avoid reading your presentation to your audience. Certainly there may be times when you have to look directly at your notes in imparting technical information, but seek to have places where you can look up as you speak. You will lose your audience if you read to them. When possible, use key words or “trigger” words to give you the next point or idea. Avoid writing out your presentation word for word so you won’t be tempted to read it. We often assume that when a speaker is delivering a technical presentation, it is time for the eyes of the audience to glaze over, but it should not be that way. Following the guidelines in this article, data-filled presentations can be memorable and understandable and hold the attention of the audience. Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is a professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky. He works with organizations that want to speak and listen more effectively to increase personal and professional performance. He can be reached at 800-727-6520 or visit http://www.sboyd.com for free articles and resources to improve your communication skills.
2 Pieces To The Puzzle Of Organizational Change Kurt Lewin, the consummate applied social scientist, is responsible for giving us three of the ten concepts that support effective OC practice: Forcefield Analysis, The Three-Stage Model of Change, and the Action Research Model. I will cover the first two concepts in this article Lewin's first concept, and practice tool, is called Forcefield Analysis. Lewin believed every organizational situat. . .
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