Organising Material

During the course we will do a number of activities which involve re-organising and, in some cases, editing information for presentation in front of an audience.

We will observe and evaluate short presentations and focus on how presenters can structure, sequence and focus material for maximum audience engagement.

Time

Time is a key factor in all presentations. Rarely are you free to speak as long as you like without a time limit. This is often a constraint; but a time limit also concentrates the mind and it is sometimes amazing what you can achieve in a short amount of time.

But it is easy to lose track of time. How can you keep an eye on the time and still give a detailed and interesting presentation?

Know your Time

Before making any presentation you need to be aware of your time allocation and be realistic about how much information you can - or need to - give. Remember that even in a long presentation the main points need to stand out. Choose your examples carefully. Only a small number will be remembered, and you need to ensure that these back up the main points. A handout can be used to reinforce them further or give the audience additional material.

Organise your Material

Write for yourself an overview plan of your presentation, showing at a glance the main sections and how you are going to transition from one section to another. Allocate time to each section and make sure you know roughly the points when the transitions will occur.

For example, in a five minute presentation you might decide to plan your material around four sections. Let's say that after you introduce your topic and get the audience interested, your first section begins at 30 seconds. This is your first transition point. If each section takes one minute, you will have transition points at 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes 30 seconds and so on, with a final 30 seconds to sum up the topic.

If you are using slides, you might decide to use two slides for each section. This way you distribute your material equally through the presentation and focus on the main points in each section.

When you have a plan, try to visualise it and give it a shape that you can easily remember. Don't consult the plan too much during the presentation - unless you really do forget where you are - as this will take away the element of improvisation which is necessary in all public speaking. But have your plan available while you speak - preferably on one page - so that you can restore your confidence and position at a glance if you lose track. 

But Don't Rush!

One problem in presenting is that you can go too fast in an effort to 'say everything' in your time slot. Don't try to say everything. Less is often more in effective presentations. 

Also, audiences need pauses to take in visual material or summaries as well as to follow your delivery. Don't sacrifice effective eye contact and audience engagement to time.

Resist Digressions

It is easy to go off on a tangent during a presentation, especially if someone asks you a good question. It is best to avoid digressions (especially ones which involve history or telling a story) if you have planned information that must be communicated during a presentation. Keep to your plan, and use your transition points as time markers.

Practise!

If you are reading a prepared script, practice is essential so that you get a good feeling for time. You might even mark on your script how much time is elapsing as you speak during your rehearsal, and identify the points where you will pause.

Clock

Avoid looking too much at the clock or your watch. If you do need to look, put your watch on a desk in front of you or ask someone to give you a warning signal when you are approaching the last 30 seconds of your time.

Structure and Signals

Audiences respond to some kind of structure or organisation when ideas or information are being presented to them. At the same time, they also appreciate some freedom from structure - improvisation and smooth transitions between ideas. A too rigid structure can actually work against a presentation.

However you organise your material, remember that there is a limit to how much information people will remember. Watch out for information overload.

A series of three or even four main points may be remembered, but only if they are well connected and key words or images stand out for each point. A list of bullet points may not be effective if there is no over-arching idea or keyword holding them all together. Good presenting should not rely on bullet points alone to tell the story.

Hook

At the start of a presentation it is usually a good idea to 'hook' the audience's interest before you embark on any organised material. This should ideally be a reference to something everyone in the audience knows, remembers or can relate to.

Good 'hook' techniques include:

* questions to the whole audience

* reference to a recent event

* a quotation

* a short anecdote (e.g. about the preparation of the presentation itself)

* a reference to a previous presentation

* a fact or statistic

* an image

* a single word

Overviewing

After you have got an audience's attention, it is usually a good idea of offer an overview of the topic to outline the scope of the presentation. This needs to be short and concise. For example:

In this presentation we will give you a brief introduction to the origins and history of [organisation], outline our key achievements, and then address the challenges we face today. We then look forward to answering your questions.

This gives the audience an orientation to the topic before any substantive information is given. It is useful at this point to have a background visual which will be used again later in the presentation when more detail is given. An overview statement is also a good way to manage audience expectations, and even indicate how long the presentation will take. 

This kind of introductory language is particularly useful when more than one person is presenting. An overview gives an audience a 'map' of what is going to happen.

I will firstly tell you something about the origins of the organisation. My colleague will then give a brief account of the key events in the organisation's history to date.

In a longer presentation you might find a visual preview (e.g. on a slide or flipchart) useful.

Transitions

In all presentation there will be transition points marked by shifts of language (and also eye contact, hand gestures and pauses) which tell listeners that you are moving to another topic or point. Typical words used in transition are:

So, Therefore, But, However, Another, Also, Moreover, In contrast, In conclusion

and phrases such as:

Moving on..., Returning to..., Summarising what I have said so far.....

When planning a presentation pay special attention to 'signpost' words and phrases like these.

Moving from one PowerPoint slide to another is also a transition. But don't let the slides do all the talking.

Always look out for opportunities to link points together in a transition:

This leads me to my next point.

As a consequence of x event, two things happened to change the situation.

Questions can also make good transition signals to an audience:

So what exactly happened as a result of this event? Let's take a closer look at the effect it had on the situation.

Recap and Summary

In all presentations it is useful to tell the audience what you have said in the form of a summary. It is also often a good idea to recap the points you have made at a midway point in your presentation:

Let me just remind you of the three points I have made so far.

Make sure that you slow down when giving any summary, and don't overload the listener with too much additional comment. Visual support is particularly useful at summary points. When summarising make sure that you 'echo' the keywords that you have already used in the presentation and avoid introducing new ideas. This kind of repetition helps to make a presentation memorable.

Audience Involvement

Of course you want your audience involved in your presentation. Eye contact, hand gestures and voice variation all help to bring this about. But you can also try to involve an audience by asking questions.

There are several ways of asking an audience questions, with different kinds of impact.

If you know an audience well and it is a small audience, you might try some targeted questions. These are questions directed at specific people. This technique can be an excellent way of involving an audience, eliciting words and anticipating questions.

This technique can backfire, however. People may not want to say anything. You may get an answer that throws your presentation off course. Or you may make the audience, or specific individuals, nervous or uncomfortable. This approach can come across as too aggressive. 

If you are not 100% sure of your audience, it is better to use rhetorical or open questions instead. These questions are directed at a whole audience, and don't necessarily invite an answer unless the presenter pauses to elicit audience responses. For example:

What can we do to promote climate action in public policy?

Similarly, rhetorical questions can be used to structure a presentation by introducing a topic or signalling a change of topic:

So when did the United Nations begin?

When involving an audience, watch out for 'exclusive statements' which may not get full consent. For example:

I'm sure you all agree with me that the colour red is a wonderful colour.

This would be more effective if phrased as a question and not as a statement. It is assuming too much about the audience. In some situations this could cause hostility or resentment from an audience.

Recognising an audience's experience can also be a way of involving people. For example:

As students of international law, you are probably familiar with the Rome Statute.

This says 'I know my audience'. It can easily be turned into an open question to check on the extent of the audience's knowledge. It also establishes a link or shared reference point between speaker and audience.

Dealing with Questions

In most presentations there will be a moment when a member of the audience asks a question. It may be before, during or after the main body of the presentation.

Question sessions at the end can also be a good way of extending a presentation and often turn out to be the most memorable part of a presentation.

Some tips on answering questions effectively:

* Keep eye contact with the person asking the question. When you give your answer, redirect your eye contact to the audience as a whole. Listen closely and try to avoid interrupting or talking over a question, unless you feel that the questioner is giving a speech rather than asking a question.

* If you have a large audience, repeat the question so that everyone has heard it - this may also give you a few seconds to think about your answer.

* Manage your time well if you take questions at the end. Announce how much time you have for questions and tell the audience that you can take only one more question when you are approaching the end of your time. Use this final question to wrap up your presentation - look for ways to end on a high note or refer your audience to further resources, a web site or your handout.

* If asked during the middle of a presentation, decide if a question can be answered quickly or not. If a long answer is needed, defer the question until the end of the presentation.

* Try to use questions to support your presentation. Look for opportunities to link the question itself, or your answer, to the main points you are making:

That is a good question because it underlines what I said earlier....

Your question highlights one of the main issues in......

Thanks for asking that question. I'm sure it's one that many people have.

Or use the question to anticipate:

I'll be coming to that in just a moment when I look at.....

* Don't lose your thread. Keep to your plan if you get a question mid-way through your presentation and don't allow questions to distract you.
* If you get a difficult question, try one of the following:

- Rephrase the question rather than try to answer it quickly. Avoid getting drawn into a 'yes/no' answer unless you are 100% sure of your answer.

- Recognise the question but say that there are no easy answers. Connect the question to broader issues.

- Partly agree with the questioner or agree 'to a certain extent'.

- Recognise the question, but say that you will get back to the questioner later with an answer (this is useful if you get a very technical question which may not interest the rest of the audience).

- Say that you don't know but you will find out.

- Refer to your handout or a web site for more information.

- Decline to answer, giving a brief reason ('That question falls outside the scope of my presentation today') and then move on to a different question.

- Say that you don't know the answer, but refer the audience back to something else in your earlier presentation, or connect the question to another one which you can answer.

- Refuse to answer if you consider the question to be too personal or sensitive, and then move on, switching your eye contact elsewhere.

If you get a malicious or unpleasant question, remember that you must protect your own position and welfare above all. Refuse to answer ('That question is not relevant to our presentation today') or simply move on ('I'm not going to answer that, but does anyone else have a question relevant to the presentation?'). Don't dwell on malicious questions.

Anticipate

In the preview to your presentation, let the audience know how you are going to manage questions. There is a big difference between:

I am happy to take your questions, please feel free to interrupt me at any time.

and

I will speak for about 15 minutes and then take your questions at the end.

Handouts

A handout can be a useful resource for anticipating questions as well as making sure that people take something away with them from your presentation. Often questions can receive quick answers if you refer to a handout.

Keep your handout to two pages maximum if possible, and include:

* your name and your affiliation (if relevant)

* the title of your presentation

* the date and occasion (if a conference or seminar)

* email address

* web site address and/or links

* books, statutes or other references used in the presentation

* a summary of your main points

* data such as tables, graphs, maps etc.

You might also like to make your slides available as a handout, especially if your presentation includes audience interaction. Alternatively, put your slides on a host such as SlideShare and give people the link.

A Note on Scripting

Using a script in your presentation can be effective, provided that you keep eye contact with your audience, pause regularly and don't speak too fast. The script should not become a comfort zone that prevents you from developing a relationship with your audience.

Sometimes a script can be a great help when you are presenting, especially in situations where you want to stay 'on message'. In a press conference, for example, you might use a script to ensure that a message is presented, word for word, the same as a written press release.

You might also use a script to calm your nerves or to ensure that you keep to time. If you are presenting in a language in which you are not fully confident you might try scripting your introduction and conclusion.

However, even if you tightly script a presentation, you should remain spontaneous in how you relate to the audience. Mark on your script the points where you will pause and look up, ask the audience a question or improvise (e.g. when telling a short story or giving an example).

To see great scripted presenting, see the video of Isabelle Allende under 'Presentation Stories'.