This document provides tips and guidelines for effective business communications and presentations. It discusses the business communication model, common presentation mistakes to avoid, PowerPoint presentation tips, and feedback. The key points are:
- People retain information best when they see and hear it (50% retention) rather than just reading or hearing it alone.
- When giving a presentation, research the audience in advance, have a clear introduction and conclusion, and be prepared for technical issues.
- PowerPoint presentations should have a simple, consistent design with high contrast, limited use of images and colors, and bullet points with fewer than 24 words each.
2. Today’s Agenda
• Introduction
• Business Communication Model
• Handouts
• 10 Common Presentation Mistakes
• PowerPoint Presentation Tips
• Questions
• Conclusion
3. Generally, people retain
• 10% of what they READ
• 20% of what they HEAR
• 30% of what they SEE
• 50% of what they SEE and HEAR
• 70% of what they SAY
• 90% of what they SAY and DO
5. Business Communication Goals
• Receiver Understanding
• Receiver Response
• Favorable Relationship
• Organizational Goodwill
Sender is responsible for these goals.
6. Say what you are going to say, say it,
then say what you have just said.
Parts of a presentation
• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion
• Questions
7. Guidelines for Effective Introductions
• Always prepare your opening
• Tell people what the presentation is about
• Keep the opening short and simple
• Only use anecdotes that are relevant
• Use caution with personal experiences
• Stay away from inappropriate humor
8. Guidelines for Effective Closings
• Always prepare a closing
• Always restate the main point, and, perhaps,
the key supporting points
• Say clearly what happens next
• If appropriate, make a call to action
• Thank the audience
10. Communication Barriers/Noise
• Word choice
– too difficult, too technical, etc.
– overused words such as, “good”, “excellent
value”, etc.
• Connotations VS Denotations
– Examples sender denotes rec. connotes
– “Cheap” inexpensive poorly made
– “Flexible” offers choice no standard
– “Compromise” adjust give in
11. Communication Barriers/Noise
• Inferences
• Pace of the delivery
– Speaking too fast or too slow
• Poor grammar, spelling, etc.
• Appearance and performance of the presenter
• Use of gender bias terms or stereotypical
terms
• Positive VS Negative terms
– We have a full year warranty. VS Warranty is
only for the first year.
12. Handouts
• When to use and distribute handouts
– @ beginning if audience needs them during
presentation
– during presentation, have someone else hand
them out
– at end if possible
• Running handouts two, three or six to a
page
13. 10 common presentation mistakes
(and suggestions for avoiding them)
• #1 Accepting an inappropriate invitation
– personally decline, retain opportunity for
company
• #2 Neglecting to research the audience
– take the time to find out who you are talking to
14. What you should know about
your audience
• How large is the audience?
• What are the audience members’ relevant
characteristics?
• Why are people attending?
• What are the audience’s specific needs,
interests, and concerns?
• How much do people already know?
• How are people likely to respond to your
message?
15. 10 common presentation mistakes
(and suggestions for avoiding them)
• #3 Procrastinating, then punting.
– Do not try to organize your talk and create your
slides simultaneously.
• #4 Getting a late start.
– Always plan to arrive early for your
presentation.
16. 10 common presentation mistakes
(and suggestions for avoiding them)
• #5 Assuming all projectors are the same.
– Be sure you know the equipment or bring your
own.
• #6 Failing to heed Murphy’s Law
– Always assume the equipment will NOT work.
17. 10 common presentation mistakes
(and suggestions for avoiding them)
• #7 Backing up to the wrong media
– Check your back-up media before leaving for your
presentation.
• #8 Telling tasteless or offensive jokes
– A greater awareness of your audience can determine if
they will find your sense of humor funny or offensive.
18. 10 common presentation mistakes
(and suggestions for avoiding them)
• #9 Relying on the World Wide Web live
Web connection
– Create a copy on your hard drive.
• #10 Having too little to say
– Be prepared!
19. • Always use a title slide. Put it up about five
minutes before your presentation begins.
• The presentation should set the tone of the
message.
– If you are sharing good news, your presentation
can use a lot of fun art, audio and video. If you
have bad news, stick to the points.
Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
20. • Sales are down!
• We are going to have to down size.
Sample Slide
21. Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
• Keep the presentation look simple. You
don’t want to distract from the content of
the slide/presentation.
• Keep a consistent look from slide to slide.
• Create high contrast between the
background and the text.
• Consider creating a company specific
background for sales presentations.
22. Same slide
• Keep it simple. You don’t want to distract
from the content of the slide.
• Be consistent from slide to slide.
• Create high contrast between the
background and the text.
• Consider creating a company specific
background for sales presentations.
23. Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
• Clip art should match your audience.
• Art should match a key word or phase in the
slide.
• When using art, keep the images balanced
on the page. Use the rule of thirds.
• Use art judiciously.
• All of the rules apply to sound (even more
so!).
24. • One of the significant advantages of using
presentation software packages is that you have
access to color. Use it wisely and judiciously.
– Keep it simple and consistent.
– Use no more than five colors for charts or graphs.
– Choose no more than two colors for text.
– Be careful with the use of red because the eye will
naturally go there first.
Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
25. • One of the significant advantages of using
presentation software packages is that you have
access to color. Use it wisely and judiciously.
(cont)
– Use complimentary colors together.
– Never use red and green together unless you want
your audience to think of Christmas!
Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
26. • One of the significant advantages of using
presentation software packages is that you have
access to color. Use it wisely and judiciously.
– Keep it simple and consistent.
– Use no more than five colors for charts or graphs.
– Choose no more than two colors for text.
– Be careful with the use of red because the eye will
naturally go there first.
Same slide
27. • Limit your bullet points to three or four
items.
• Try to have no more than 24 words on any
one slide.
• Be careful when using abbreviations,
acronyms, and special phases on your
slides. Explain them quickly or you lose
your audience.
Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
28. • Fonts are like colors, just because you have
a lot of them to choose from you don’t have
to use them all! No more than two or three
per slide.
• Be consistent from slide to slide.
• Don’t overdo the use of italics, bolding and
shadows and like e-mail, do NOT use all
caps.
Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
29. • Fonts are like colors, just because
you have a lot of them to
choose from you don’t have to
use them all! No more than two or three
per slide.
• Be consistent from slide to slide.
• Don’t overdo the use of italics, bolding and
shadowsshadows and like email, DO NOT USE
ALL CAPS.
Same slide
30. • It is important to explain how to read your
chart or graph as soon as you put it on the
screen.
• Do not say anything important within ten
seconds of putting up a chart. People won’t
be listening, they’re too busy figuring out
the chart.
Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
31. Tips on PowerPoint Presentations
• Have a final slide that lets the audience
know that the presentation is over.
Word Choice - be sure you know who your audience is so that you have appropriate word choice. Words that are too difficult or too technical and you will lose the audience. Avoid over-using too many words like very good, excellent, really, you know, the bottom line.
Avoid phases such as “To tell the truth”
---------
Connotations VS Denotations
Determined Committed - Stubborn
Aggressive Energetic - Pushy
Proposal Suggestion - Decision
Inference - a conclusion that a receiver may draw from the facts contained in a message. It may or may not be true or intended. Can be very difficult in an international environment.
Appearance of the presenter - physical appearance but also things like eye contact, body language, walking around a room while talking, engaging the audience in the discussion, etc.
Gender neutral terms: doctor, nurse, advertising executive, salesperson. NOT lady doctor, male nurse, salesman or saleslady.
Only do handouts if the audience really needs to have them. Resist the urge to give them because they are easy to do with PowerPoint.
When you give handouts at the beginning of the presentation the audience begins to look down at the handout instead of up at the presenter. It is the same with handing out samples during the presentation.
Only if they audience needs to take notes or if the talk is going to be technical or have graphs or charts that will not produce well on the screen should you do handouts before the presentation.
If you are going to handout the presentation after, let the audience know that at the beginning.
#1 Accepting an inappropriate invitation
graciously decline the invitation and pass it on to someone in your organization that is better suited
Chances are they will come back to you again in the future. If you do a poor job they won’t.
#2 Neglecting to research the audience
Even if you know what it is you are talking about, take the time to find out who you are talking to and what they might want to hear from you. David Kohler requested information about each of you.
#3 Procrastinating, then punting.
Do not try to organize your talk and create your slides simultaneously. Decide what you want to say, create an outline and then start building your slides. You can import an outline into PowerPoint.
#4 Getting a late start.
Always plan to arrive early for your presentation. If your presentation is in the morning and you are staying in a hotel, bring your own alarm clock to be sure it works.
May want to drive to the location to determine the actual drive time a day or two early.
#5 Assuming all projectors are the same.
Arrive early enough to familiarize yourself with the equipment, bring your own equipment or be sure someone is there who knows the equipment.
#6 Failing to heed Murphy’s Law
Always assume the equipment will NOT work. Have a back up plan - your own equipment, overhead slides, printed material, etc.
#7 Backing up to the wrong media
Check your back-up media before leaving for your presentation. Call ahead to be sure the facility can accommodate your back up media.
David Kohler had backed up his presentation on a CD however he backed it up from the laptop that had the problem. He failed to check either the laptop or the CD before coming here!
So often what happens is that people make changes to a presentation, hit the automatic save which saves to the hard drive, pop out the floppy and head off to their presentation. They never updated the floppy!
#8 Telling tasteless or offensive jokes
A greater awareness of your audience can determine if they will find your sense of humor funny or offensive. The Internet is not a good place to find an opening joke. Most of them have already made the rounds and this only confirms your credibility as an avid reader of forwarded email jokes. Use real stories where possible.
#9 Relying on the World Wide Web live Web connection
Create a copy of the Web site you want to demonstrate (or the relevant parts of it) on your hard drive. You can do this using Adobe Acrobat OPEN WEB PAGE
#10 Having too little to say
Be prepared! Do a few trial runs to determine the length of the presentation.
Title slide acts as a Welcome for your audience as well as letting them know they are in the right place.
Your presentation also has to match your personality. Make sure if you are doing a group presentation that it matches everyone in the groups personality. If I put a presentation together for the Dean it will look different than one I would do for myself or for Joe T. John Cotton and I do things very differently. We need to work through that when we do presentations together.
Remember that the content of the presentation is still going to be the main thing the faculty will be grading and the main thing the customer will be buying. A lot of sizzle will only go so far.
Keep a consistent background and look from slide to slide. Especially as you will be doing group presentations. Each of you may be doing a part of the presentation. Ultimately the end result has to look like one consistent presentation.
Show Joe T.’s Open house slides.
I wear many Hats!
Video slide. Takes almost 4 minutes to load!
I tend to stay away from clip art because it takes up a lot of space on the disk which can cause problems later. It also takes a lot of time to put in the presentation.
You know what the abbreviations mean but the audience does not. Even if you explained them earlier in the presentation, it is best to use the full words in your discussion.
If you change fonts between slides the audience begins to think about that part of the presentation. They begin to focus on that and stop listening to what you are saying. Be sure to stay consistent.
Make sure that the chart is readable and relevant to the audience.
This slide gives you a chance to summarize what you have been discussing throughout the presentation.
I will email them the list and they can vote for their top ten pet peeves. Give ten points to their top pet peeve and one to their least. I will produce the list and get it to them in two weeks.
