Category: Leadership Development

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Hints & Tips Leadership Development Professional & Management

How to land a great presentation from an idea

In this piece, Professional Development Trainer Karen tells us how to make sure Presentations hit the mark. From preparation to delivery, there are six crucial elements to consider. Karen shares them with us here.

In conversation with Karen from our learning solutions delivery team

Karen, we were talking about the welcome growing levels of face-to-face training we are experiencing (something we here at STL have maintained and supported throughout the last 2 years). We got onto considering that there are going to be plenty of us who may have to give our first in person presentation for quite some time and it’s only natural to feel some nerves!

What suggestions would you recommend to someone preparing for a presentation?

Preparation:  vital for great presentations

It’s important to remember that there is more to a successful presentation than simply standing in front of an audience and doing your thing. Preparation is vital and the more time and effort your commit to this, the better your chances of being successful.

What are you trying to achieve?

As a result of your presentation do you want the audience to:

      • Know something
      • Decide something
      • Do something

It could be just one of the above, a combination of or all three but it’s important to recognise exactly what you want from your audience before you begin to prepare. Turn your idea into a deeper thought.

If it’s a business presentation you should also consider if, by delivering it, you will be helping to improve:

      • Productivity
      • Efficiency
      • Profitability

If the presentation doesn’t help increase any of these things, then ask yourself whether it’s worth doing at all? If it does, then make sure the audience knows that as well.

Do your audience research.

The more you know about who your audience are, the easier it becomes to tailor your presentation to ensure it meets their needs. Ask these questions to build a profile of your audience prior to delivering your presentation to help you to frame your story. 

      • What are their roles?
      • How will your presentation benefit them?
      • What relevant knowledge/experience do they already have?
      • Is there anything in your presentation that might cause concern?
      • What are their communication preferences?

Clarity. Beginning, middle and end.

Use the beginning of your presentation to explain the purpose and context. For example, you might want to pose a question. On the other hand, you might want to make a statement or use some statistics and/or a picture that ‘hooks’ the audience. As a result, they will be eager to hear more.

The middle of your presentation is all about making sure you provide the right level of detail, delivered in the right way. Making certain your audience have understood what you want from them as a result of your delivery.

We use the end of the presentation to confirm the important points you have made, to remind the audience of what you now want them to know, decide or do.

Logistics

Don’t make the mistake of preparing a beautiful presentation on PowerPoint and then finding that there is no projector available in the room. Equally important, make sure you know many people are likely to turn up. By knowing this, you can ensure adequate space and availability of refreshments. Details like these are often overlooked when we focus solely on the presentation itself. Here is a quick checklist of things to make sure meet your needs:

      • Venue/Room – is it big enough to fit people in, and do you have space to walk around?
      • Audience invites – Are all attendees aware of the time and place of the presentation?
      • Technology – do you have a projector available? Can you connect it to your laptop?
      • Flip charts/pens – if your presentation is interactive, make sure activities have the necessary equipment.
      • Refreshments – this helps attendees feel relaxed, knowing that they have water, or tea and coffee available (and appropriate snacks! Don’t provide crisps!)

Ready yourself.

You know yourself better than anyone so make sure you prepare yourself to be successful.

      • Practice the presentation beforehand and get some feedback.
      • Get a good night’s sleep beforehand.
      • Make sure you have water available as even the most confident of presenters can get a dry mouth.
      • Visualise a successful presentation. This really works, try it!

Conclusion

In order to ensure a great presentation, start with solid preparation. As Alexander Graham Bell wisely said “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success”

Thank you, Karen for sharing these tips!

Further Reading

For even more top tips for great presentations Presentation Skills Training London Course (stl-training.co.uk)

 

 

 

Categories
Leadership Development Professional Development Soft Skills

Emotional Intelligence: Improving Efficiency and Engagement

Successful businesses know the value of Emotional Intelligence (E.I). Here we share with you what the four key components of E.I are. Followed by three key wins that can drive productivity and engagement with your people.

E.I can be learnt and developed by most people. By working on E.I, businesses can improve communication and gain a genuine sense of engagement. In turn, efficiency will inevitably improve. But what is E.I?

Daniel Goleman Ph.D. is considered one of the leading experts in the field and author of the best-selling book ‘Emotional Intelligence.’ defines it as: “the capacity for recognising your own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships.” 

The Four Key Components of E.I:

    1. Self-Awareness – The ability to recognise your own emotions, and how they affect your thoughts and behaviour. This involves having a genuine knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses and an appropriate level of self-belief.
    2. Self-Management – This domain is about choosing how to respond to your own emotions. It is about taking control and being responsible for yourself, your emotions and how they impact yourself and others. It also involves ability to be flexible, and to adapt to change.
    3. Social Awareness – In this domain you are able to tune into others, their emotions, needs and perspectives. Consequently, you can pick up on subtle emotional cues and have the ability to empathise. Above all, you will gain stronger interpersonal skills.
    4. Relationship Management – You know how to combine points one to three to develop and maintain good relationships. This helps you to communicate clearly, inspire and influence others. It also helps you to work well in a team and manage conflict.

Unlike your Intelligence Quotient level (I.Q.) which is said to be fixed from the age of 20, your Emotional Quotient or E.Q. (The measure of Emotional Intelligence) can be developed. How then can developing your E.I. be useful in business?

Three Measures of Success

    1. Performance
      Your decision making and problem solving skills will improve. As a result, you can harness employee potential and increase performance by working on E.Q. Leading to people feeling empowered, which ensures high morale.
    2. Communication
      Those who have developed or have naturally high E.Q. will take feedback well. Therefore, they are able to deliver it in a way that will be productive. Therefore, they can improve ability to empathise, and recognise their own and other’s emotions. Allowing them to adjust their own communication methods to best effect.
    3. Efficiency
      With greater E.I. comes motivation and awareness and therefore success. Notably emotionally intelligent people are more optimistic. Increasing ability to rise to challenges and remain positive in challenging times, essential qualities for all staff but fundamentally important for leaders and managers. But those who lack it may find their staff increasingly dissatisfied at work. As the saying goes – people do not leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers.

 

                           

Closing Thoughts

There are plenty of studies and research which say that developing Emotional Intelligence in the workplace is certainly a wise choice for most organisations who want to be productive and efficient. Supported by Daniel Goleman when he says: “By teaching people to tune in to their emotions with intelligence and to expand their circles of caring, we can transform organisations from the inside out and make a positive difference in our world.”

Further Reading

Have a look at how to increase your own Emotional Intelligence here: How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence at Work (stl-training.co.uk)