Importance of Presentation Skills - Essay Example

Presentation Skills Table of Contents Presentation Skills 1 Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 2 Importance of oral presentation skills 2 Video yourself theory 3 Think before you speak theory 4 Body language 5 Finding opportunities outside work 6 Accent softening 7 How I tried to improve my presentation skills 8 References 12 Executive Summary In a global environment it is important to have presentation skills that can be understood by all. The reason why you are making a presentation is also important because you should know what the outcome of your presentation should be. Is it a presentation to inform, to sell an idea or product, to inform only or to motivate your team? You should be able to achieve the outcome. In order to achieve my goal in bringing out my presentation skills I have to learn certain presentation techniques that revolve around certain theories that I have studied and practiced. A lot of continued practice is required because nobody can have excellent presentation skills at the first instance. Without practice it will not be possible for me to have a good level of presentation skills. I have put into practice five theories I have selected and I have improved in certain areas. Importance of oral presentation skills Presentation skills are an important tool for communication and the more effective communication skills the more effective will be the outcome of the communication. Unless the oral presentation skills are well developed in managers it could lead to miscommunication and to chaos in the office. Any innovative ideas that you might have for the oragnisation need to be expressed in a way that is convincing and thought provoking. Communication is an active and conscious function used for communicating in a group and to a group in a dynamic and interactive way. Oral communication is a unique and learned skill that requires understanding of what to say and how to say it as “there are linguistic variations associated with social situations with some requiring a higher degree of language formality than others” (Hargie, 1997, p 44). Video yourself theory According to M.D Storms (1984, p233) when subjects see themselves on videotape, information about themselves becomes more salient and they are more likely to attribute certain characteristics to themselves. There is no better valuable experience than the video as the video will allow you to view and to listen to yourself. On analysis of your strengths and weaknesses you will be able to do a better job by build on strengths and improving weaknesses. It is always best to view the video as soon as possible so that things remain fresh in your mind. In the first viewing you might feel “video induced despair” (Krupnick 1987) as people are sometimes surprised at the image of themselves and tend to be more critical. They wonder if they really sound that bad or if their appearance is as sloppy. They wonder if they really make certain gestures. They are also embarrassed at the number of times they might have used “you know” or “eh”. A good appearance, positive gestures and clarity while speaking go a long way in delivering your message with more impact. Ask your friends to critique your video and get them to specifically point out exactly they liked and what they didn’t. Also you must take the feedback as a constructive exercise so that will help you to improve. The more feedback you have from different sources the better it is and will allow for getting over any blind spots that you might have and don’t want to acknowledge. Think before you speak theory Think before you speak actually means to prepare well in advance. First you must know your audience, who are the people you are going to speak to. Is the audience composed of scientists, or business managers or students or colleagues? What is the purpose of your speech? Is it to inform, persuade or convince. Your choice of words will all depend on what your goal is and so you have to select the words accordingly. “Different people speak in different ways in different languages and different conventions depending on to whom, where, when and why they are speaking. All of these questions are, of course, vital to take into consideration during the preparation” (Storz, 2002, p1). Preparing before speaking is very important for the correct message to be received and understood. If you have a global audience with different cultural backgrounds then you must be able to convey the right meaning to each cultural subgroup especially as now business organizations are multicultural. “To understand the audience, to select the right medium, and to craft clear messages that allow the meaning to reach the specific receiver as intended is the foundation of effective business communication” (Barrett, 2006, p388). Plan out your presentation as no communication can be effective unless you are well prepared. Technical terms cannot be used if the audience does not understand. Organize your thoughts well and follow a structure that unfolds as you proceed. You should also try to understand what will work and what will not work while addressing the audience. Before preparing to speak ask yourself what is my aim? Who am I going to talk to? What is the title what are the main points? What should the audience do when my speech is over? make notes and sub-notes to prepare the speech. Body language “You have to not only think of what you are presenting but also the manner and mannerisms of presentation” (Lepard & Foster 2003, 131). Body language lets people know what is going on inside of us. You might be trying to convince the audience but your body language tells them that you are not quite speaking the truth. Alternatively body language also lets you know the reaction of the audience to your communication. Are they bored, interested, are they convinced? This is a natural non-verbal communication that is visible and includes body movement, gestures, posture, facial expressions; muscle tension, eye contact; skin colouring and even the breathing rate and perspiration are all part of body language. Eye contact is an important part of body language to engage the audience and the gaze should be friendly and the expression smiling. Raised eyebrows show surprise and so do wide eyes. Knitted eyebrows show puzzlement or consternation. The posture should be straight but relaxed and leaning and slouching should be avoided as it gives a negative message. Up and down movements of the head show that what you are saying is important. Using a pen or pointer indicates that you wish to show something visually. Forward movement is used to emphasize something and side movement that there is going to be a change. There are also some gestures that a person should avoid as they convey a negative message like looking at the notes, looking at the screen, at the board or on the floor. At no time must you lose eye contact with your audience but must not stare or look blank. Do not swing back and forth on your feet or turn your back to the audience and hands must not be placed in the pocket and it is best to try to avoid any nervous tics that you might have like running your hand through your hair (Strorz et al, 2002, p17). Body language may vary between different cultures and nationalities so it better to confirm if something might offend someone. “The only way you can concentrate on your voice, your facial expressions and have eye contact with the audience is to have a free mind to concentrate on those items. The only way you can have a free mind is to know in advance what you are going to say and only way you can do that is to rehearse” (Peoples 1992, p172). Also it allows us to dispel nervousness. The golden rule is to “be natural and relaxed” Finding opportunities outside work “Given the role of marketing as a science of products and ideas the ability to communicate clearly to groups of people represents a basic competency” (Wolfe, p1). Therefore a person can learn by trying to sell something to his fellow students, by explaining the product that he wishes to sell. He should get his friends to see how well he has been able to persuade his audience to buy his product, it could be an idea that he is selling. Making social arrangement with friends, greet them, make introductions, give explanations, describe the scene, give your opinion on current topics and get feedback from them immediately. “Leadership communication consists of layered expanding skills from core strategy development, effective writing and speaking, to the use of these skills in more complex organizational situations” (Barrett, 2006, p 389). There are always ways to improve the communication skills outside the work as in a coffee shop. You could try to get into a conversation with people to ask them for instructions to go to a particular location. In a store you could describe to the saleslady exactly what you are looking for and see if she is able to understand what you want. A group of friends could get together and select a topic to discuss and video record it to go over the discussion later. A role play is also an effective way to learn communication. Communicating with people of different nationalities allows you to prepare for working in a multicultural environment Accent softening “Certainly, the study of language alternation has been fruitful over the past several decades. The identification of various constraints, though sometimes controversial, has inspired a great deal of work in syntax, morphology, and phonology” (Nilep 2006, p2). Enunciation is the act of making each word sound as clear as possible and as concise if one is to be understood exactly. If the listener cannot understand the accent then communication cannot be effective. If words are mispronounced all the time then the listener will never get the message of the speech correctly and communication will not go as intended for the hard work of preparing the presentation will have been in vain. Learn to enunciate each word and vary the pitch and tone for “vowels make your voice musical, consonants crisp, plosives (p,b,t,d,k,g) make your voice carry ( Siddons, 2008, p 97). How I tried to improve my presentation skills I have been working hard with my presentation skills. In week 3 I have video recorded myself and after seeing the recording at home I have come to the conclusion that I need to improve particularly in my language skills. Sometimes my language is not grammatically correct and if I don’t improve in that area I will have a problem as there could be misunderstanding or I could be ridiculed and that would be very embarrassing. I have presently done only a few videos but I need to show them to someone else also who can give me a balanced critique so that I can improve my skills but presently I am hesitant. I have shown them to my family and they feel I am doing a good job but families are not the best people as they will say anything to encourage me. After I have gained some more experience then I will show them to an adult who can tell me where my accent is wrong. If I am pronouncing the words right or wrong and if the volume of my speech is correct. I am planning to put my video on Youtube by speaking out the review for a product like a new Nintendo game or some toy and I will see how many people pass a comment on it. I have heard that many people are doing this to improve their communication skills in selling products. However I worry if I am forming correct sentences. In week 4 and 5 I started with my Think before you Speak theory and I would give my self a topic to write a speech on like ‘what are the good points of your college, where can it show improvement. I made notes and practiced the speech before a mirror. I also went into the empty classroom where I was to speak and practiced it there. I also do role-play with my friends. We make a plan that one of us is a CEO, another is a manager and there are other departments like HR and we have to discuss our successes and failures. This is a bit tough as we really don’t know much about the problems and successes and about the real corporate world but we gain confidence by speaking out something. But it helps me to prepare notes on my role before hand so I have to research and collect some information. This will get me into the habit of preparing notes and knowing my facts before speaking. I took a survey in class on 25 August, 2011 and this was in week 4 and 13 people were able to give me a feedback on general topics. The survey had a rating from 1-10 with I being poor and 10 being excellent. There were four areas that they rated me on or I asked them to rate me on and these were nerves, confidence control, body language and eye contact. I added up all the marks I got and divided them by 13 and the results I got were not very satisfactory. For nerves I got 6.0, confidence was rated 5.4, body language result was 4.8 and eye contact was 4.1. This survey showed me that I need to really improve on my eye contact. I feel that eye contact was poor because I was not very confident of how I was speaking and so was looking here and there. Also I was not standing properly. I was a little sloppy. I should have practiced to stand with one leg a little forward to give a better look to my body. I have again started to take videos at home in week 6 and 7 and I am watching my self carefully to see if there is any improvement in the way I stand and if any nervousness is showing. I must prepare a proper speech and speak in front of my friends more often to develop a better accent and proper words. One more problem is that I do not have a good vocabulary so I search for the right words to say and if I am prepared before time I will perform better as was seen in the presentation that I gave in the class. In week 8 I had done some outside practice at the grocery store. I spoke with an accent and then without an accent to see which of the two accents the salesman understood and also practiced some gestures like raising my eyebrows when he brought me something I did not ask for. Then on another day I went to the mall and asked for a bright red track pants for myself. The lady was startled but I insisted I wanted them. She got impatient when I told her I wanted one right then even though she said they were not in stock. I then asked her for a green one and she thought I was crazy so I explained to her that I was practicing language skills outside work. She pointed out that I spoke too fast. I should slow down and not race. That feed back was good as I didn’t know I speak fast especially when excited. Then the other day there was a discussion going on in the college canteen and everyone was discussing the Rugby matches going on in New Zealand. I didn’t know anything but still I said I loved the Haka dancing. Everyone stared at me because they were discussing why England lost. I realised I had no preparation and no knowledge and I jumped into the debate. I felt foolish. One day I did a prepared presentation in class which I told my friends to evaluate. I got the result of 7 surveys and I was happy to see that I had made an improvement. This time I got 8.1 for nerves control and for confidence level I got 8. Body language I got 7.7 and for eye contact I got 7.8. Through this I got to know that if I am well prepared I can do better and though I had a presentation I was able to keep the eye contact level. If I keep my weaknesses in mind I will be able to perform better and will one day gain confidence about my language skills also and my lack of knowledge. I am trying to improve my presentation skills by asking my friends to point out my mistakes and tell me the correct way to pronounce words. I also listen to people who speak well like Barack Obama on TV. I have also started listening attentively to newsreaders to help me with pronunciation. My friends and I have also been doing some role play like imagine you are a President now address the people of the country. I have also done one at home where I pretended to be the principal of a school and spoke to children about an event that was taking place in the school. I am doing some reading also so that I can become better at English. Someone told me to go to a training school for accent improvement but I feel I will improve just by conversing with my friends. I have also seen on one site that tongue twisters help in speech for actors and I have learnt up one common tongue twister “she sells sea shells on the sea shore.” Using this, I speak slowly, medium and then very fast. Naturally I do not pronounce all the words properly but I am doing the practice even though it is difficult and it is bringing clarity to my speech. My continued efforts in practicing my presentation skills will surely help to improve my management skills. Already I have shown improvement in the accent theory and in the body language theory. I am not so nervous and I am also now speaking more slowly as I enunciate each word clearly. References Barrett DJ (2006) Leadership Communication: A Communication Approach for Senior Level Managers. Handbook of Business Strategy Emerald Group Publishing, 2006. Pages 385-390 Hargie O, Editor (1997), The handbook of communication skills. Routledge, 2nd edition. Krupnick, C. G. (1987) The Uses of Videotape Replay, In C. R. Christensen with A. J. Hansen (eds.), Teaching and the Case Method. Boston: Harvard Business School, 1987. Lepard DH & Foster AG (2003) Powerful Leadership development: bridging theory and practice, using peers and technology. Corwin Press. Nilep C 2006 “Code Switching” in Sociocultural Linguistics Colorado Research in Linguistics. June 2006. Vol. 19. Boulder: University of Colorado, retrieved from http://nhlrc.ucla.edu/events/institute/2011/readings/He%20-%20Nilep.pdf Peoples. D (1992) Presentation Plus: David People’s proven techniques. Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons. Siddons Suzy (2008) The Complete Presentation Skills Handbook: How to understand and reach your audience for maximum impact and success. Kogan Page Limited. Storms M D. (1984) Videotape and the attribution process: reversing actors’ and observers’ points of view. May 28, 1984. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 27:165-75, 1973. CC Number 22[Department of Psychology,Yale University, New Haven, CT retrieved from http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1984/A1984SR69700001.pdf Storz C (2002) Oral presentation skills, retrieved from http://people.engr.ncsu.edu/txie/publications/oral_presentation_skills.pdf Wolfe A.M (n.d ) Oral Presentations in Marketing Courses: Student attitudes and self assessment, retrieved from http://alisonwolfe.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Student_Attitudes_Oral_Presentations.pdf Read More