No matter what the profession is, your ability to communicate is the single most important factor which really makes a difference ? it could inspire others and help you get promoted. Good communicators are able to present ideas clearly and convincingly, to lead and excite, to motivate and persuade. Communication becomes an important tool particularly in management where excellence in communication helps to move audiences, win minds and hearts and get people to take action.
This book, written by a professional speaker with the ability to make his presentations and workshops fun and memorable, says that preparation is fundamental for a successful presentation. This entails deciding on your primary and secondary objectives, creating a take-home message and researching about your audience. To be successful, you need to learn practical ways to generate and organise your ideas.
Before making a presentation, the author lists the following questions to help in preparation:
* Why am I speaking?
* Whom am I speaking to?
* What do they need from me?
* What do I say?
* How do I construct my message?
* How do I deliver it?
The author points out that a great deal of planning, research and hard work goes into making a preparation. The fundamental point in preparing your presentation is to have a clear objective before you are able to convey your goal and why you are making the presentation. It is like being a good narrator who is clear about his destination and can more easily identify the route to the presentation. After identifying your objective, the next step is to consider your audience. Here you should put yourself in the shoes of your audience, thinking about why they will come, what they hope to gain, their feelings, concerns, issues and needs. The secondary objective is to inform, entertain, persuade, explore, sell your idea, win support, influence behaviour, communicate an image, incite feelings, motivate, stimulate new ideas and approaches, reassure, challenge and arouse curiosity. Finally you need to create a take-home message which needs to be catchy, easy to remember, compelling and thought-provoking. This should be the essence of your talk in a phrase or a sentence so as to lead an everlasting impact, says the author.
He also suggests that the best way to begin is to write out your presentation, especially if you are inexperienced. It is thus advisable to prepare the full draft of your presentation, including anecdotes, metaphors and anything you intend to use. This ensures your totally familiarity with your topic and with what exactly you are going to say. However, the written word is designed to be read, not spoken! Written language is likely to be more formal and stilted, because the language of writing is different from the language of speaking. Spoken language will help to keep your sentence construction simple.
The author makes a very valid point when he says that a good opening is priceless because it helps to establish a rapport with the listener and develop credibility. You can go prepared for possible questions but remember never to embarrass the questioner. Answer the whole group and not the questioner alone. Develop confidence and keep away from your nerves as they will try to make you nervous.
This book provides easy and quick reading material while sharing secrets that professional speakers use to make a lasting impression and memorable impression on the minds of the audience.
(Macmillan India Ltd, 2/10, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110 002.)
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