Presentation Training Skills

Presentations Skills Training

Presentations Skills Training Seminars are provided across the United States & Canada via public open enrollment seminars in most major metropolitan areas and can also be delivered on-site via private presentation workshops. Our presentation skills training courses can be provided as off-the-shelf presentations seminars, workshops, or classes. The classes are ready to be delivered to a diverse audience or can be customized to provide a tailored presentations and personalized approach based on client needs. All presentations skills classes are limited to a maximum of twelve participants so as to increase seminar effectiveness and provide the individual level of presentations coaching and interaction that is associated with the Presentations Skills Training Workshops Center.

For more information on our presentations skills training workshops please contact us.

Creative Presentations Training - Using Timing, Content and Style

Creative presentations require attention to three main elements: timing, content and style. Proper timing allows the audience to assimilate the information quickly provided the content is delivered clearly. Content should have a rhythm and flow like a story without distraction. Developing strong presentation designs requires the subtle use of styling and visuals to reinforce the message. When using a PowerPoint design template or other software layouts, focus on these primary principles is key to a successful development of the slide show.

Presentation Timing

The ability to hold people's attention is a skill and an art developed over time. Therefore, it is important for any presentation outline to consider the timing of the information to be delivered.

Organize each slide to cover around 1 or 2 minutes of information. Use a simple timer to practice the delivery time. A presentation that provides a brief break after 20 min and incorporates a storytelling approach with visuals, demonstrations and audience participation will allow for an extended delivery time for the message.

The mind can only process 5 to 7 pieces of information before having to re-read or take time to write down the points for later review. The presentation should never lose the flow of attention so limit the content to 3 or 5 points per slide and avoid a long and cluttered delivery. This is one way to hold an audience's attention.

Presentation Content

Another way to capture the audiences attention is to present the content with a clearly defined path and pattern. Defining a clear objective with supporting points that lead to a resolution can greatly enhance the retention of the message to be delivered.

It is important in any presentation to begin with the knowledge of the present situation. Opening with the problem to be resolved or the current state of affairs provides the audience with a reason for their attention. This should be quickly followed by a clearly defined objective and message to be defined in the time allotted. By presenting the problem to resolve and the objective of the presentation in the first few slides, the audience's commitment for learning more is increased.

The story of "how we got here", "where we are going" and "when we will arrive" can be presented next and should build on each point by making reference to the stated objective and problem resolution. Stopping to restate key points gives the listener a chance to process the information before moving on to the next slide.

Presentation Style

Most presentations are created on a small screen and delivered on a large screen. For this reason, careful attention should be given to the styling of the information on screen.

Font sizes should be at least 18pt for general text, a bit larger for headings and still larger for titles. The font should be sans-serif, a font style that does not have the small features called "serifs" at the end of the letter's stroke. Arial is a sans-serif font and Times New Roman is a serif font. These font features keep eye strain to a minimum and allows the brain to connect with the information more easily.

Additional styling elements will include choice of background, font color and text attributes such as bolding and bullet points. These features should only be used to emphasis content rather than to create variety. The change in these elements cause eye strain rather than interesting visuals to hold attention.

Avoid harsh color contrasts and to reduce glare, use light fonts on dark backgrounds for screen presentations. Use colors that are complementary, or opposite on the color wheel, to prevent eye strain. Yellow fonts read clearer on purple, blue and black than on red, green or orange.

Keep the background clean and clear of distracting logos, page numbers, or bold, stylish graphics. And use photos and clip art to improve the look of the slides only if they represent, reinforce or develop the content. These things only serve to distract and clutter the presentation if not used properly.

Limit the use of screen shots, full documents and web-links. Screen shots are better represented in a demo that can be provided for the audience for later review and the same is true for documents that will be tough to read at a distance on a large screen. Providing web-links is pointless on a presentation where the audience cannot click to follow the hyper-link and using the link for the presenter is inappropriate. Leaving the presentation to review a website is a distraction for the audience and introduces a new, uncontrolled and cluttered visual that cannot be clearly seen in a presentation environment.

Creative presentations provide appropriate visual communication along with clearly spoken words. A slide-show should guide the listener, not the presenter. Use of complete sentences and multiple lines of text is not appropriate for the screen. Titles should be short, headings should be one or two words and bullet points should each be one line of text. If additional text is required, consider using a handout for reference.

When presenting, don't read the slides and only refer to hand held notes to stay on track if needed. It is more important to make eye contact with the audience than to read to them. The listener can see and comprehend faster than anyone can read and explain it to them.

When people think of "creative presentations", they believe that all of the features available in PowerPoint or similar software products must be used to their fullest capacity. Colors, fonts and animations should only be used to enhance the content and make for a clearer message. Use of these features to impress the audience or jazz up the presentation, is counter productive.

Remember the slide-show is not the whole story. The listener is able to assimilate information best when it is delivered properly using clear speech and visual content. Delivering the message in an acceptable time frame with concise content and uncluttered styling, will help all creative presentations to be a huge success.

Source: Joseph E. Cromwell link

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