Too often, business people, pressed for time and stressed by having to stand in front of an audience or a sales prospect, take short cuts or simply "wing it." The "wing it" expression comes from the theater; where it alludes to an actor studying his part in the wings (the areas to either side of the stage) because he has been suddenly called on to replace another. First recorded in 1885, it eventually was extended to other kinds of improvisation based on unpreparedness.
Being prepared for the audience interaction is important. Knowing what action you want them to take based upon this interaction allows the presentor to focus. Having a strategy of what to ask, what to show and what to tell helps to move the audience to taking the desired action. Anticipating obstacles in the form of questions at the end of your presentation will allow you to plan how to handle potential "roadblocks" in accomplishing your presentation objective.
Crafting a presentation is a creative process....to become more than a "data dump." Before you even consider your slides, consider all the ideas you want to discuss, but treat them as words, not images. Start with your ideas and write them on paper, or on a computer screen, white-board or Post-it-notes. Then look at all of the ideas objectively and decide which ones you need and, most important, which ones you don't need. Do the "data dump" in your preparation, not in your presentation.
In Winning Strategies for Power Presentations, corporate presentation coach Jerry Weissman provides 75 succinct coaching tips for time-challenged individuals to create powerful and productive presentations.
For example, effective listening strikes at the essence of two aspects of presentations:
Listen as you are asked questions (during or after your presentation). Make sure that you identify what your audience wants to know before you answer.
Read the reaction of your audience for non-verbal signals---consider it silent listening. See whether your answer is producing head nods. If not, amplify your answer.
In both cases, your goal is to make your audience feel that you are more interested in them than in yourself. Being a good listener is important, but that is only the first step: it is just as important to take a beat before pulling the answer trigger. Pause before you answer a question.
