A Winning Presentation Every Time

Robert Gedaliah and Rande Davis Gedaliah
www.SpeakingForResults.com

What is a winning presentation?  It’s when your listeners benefit and you achieve the results you want. Everything begins and ends with making the needs of your audience more important than your own. You’re either speaking to give information, get information, or inspire your audience to action.

It’s often not what you say, but how you say it that makes a lasting impression. Speak in the audience’s point of view, with energy and enthusiasm. People remember how they felt when hearing you, not the exact words you say.

A presentation could be to 1000, 100, 10 or one-on-one. Everything you say out loud is public speaking.

All communication is divided into three parts:

What do we see (visual)? What do we hear (vocal)? What are the facts, figures and statistics (verbal)?

• Visual: See public speaking as a series of one-on-one heightened conversations. Whether you’re speaking to one or 100, complete a thought with one person at a time. Spoken sentences are usually shorter (about eight-ten words). Each sentence is a complete thought, about four seconds long. Just have a short conversation with your listeners. This technique will also help minimize nervousness.

• Vocal: We speak on exhaled air. People respond to energy and passion. The more air in your lungs, the louder, the stronger your voice will be. Exhale, pause, now allow the breath in. Take some deep, diaphragmatic breaths before you have to speak. Build pauses into your presentation.
  This will give you a chance to take a breath and give your audience an opportunity to absorb what you say.

• Verbal: Do your homework. In advance of your presentation, learn your listeners’ needs, wants and fears. Everyone has a unique story.
  Tell yours, then link it to the point you’re making within your presentation. People will remember your story; they won’t remember a list of bullet points.

Here are two easy ways to organize your next presentation:

• Begin with the end in mind: By the end of your presentation, what will your audience learn? Give them a recipe, a road map they may use
  to summarize and follow what you say.

• P. A. R.: What’s the Problem (challenge, opportunity, issue, situation)? What Action do you recommend to solve this problem? What are the expected Results of implementing your ideas?

Remember, it’s not the exact words you say, but how you make your audience feel by hearing your words. Talk to your audience as if you were
having a conversation. Give them good value for their time and attention. Follow these tips and you’re sure to have a winning presentation every time!

Rande Davis Gedaliah and Robert Gedaliah are speakers, coaches and workshop facilitators. Since 1983, their company, "Speaking for Results"®,
has worked with organizations that want to raise their levels of performance and with people who want to communicate more clearly.