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Business Communication:

Successful Oral
Presentations

Susan H. Irons
Business Communication
Kenan-Flagler Business School
Your Goal
To develop strategies and skills
for delivering effective and
professional business
presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


For a successful
presentation:
■ Analyze the situation
■ Organize your ideas
■ Develop effective delivery
techniques

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Analyze the Situation
■ Speaker: What is your
relationship to your audience?

■ Purpose: What is your goal? (To


inform? To persuade? To
entertain?)

■ Audience: Who are they? What


do they know? How will they
react? Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations
For a successful
presentation:
 Analyze the situation
■ Organize your ideas
■ Develop effective delivery
techniques

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas
■ Opening
■ Purpose
■ Preview of main ideas
■ Development of main points
■ Review/summary
■ Closing

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas:
Opening
■ Gain attention (unusual fact)
■ Give bottom line
■ Show benefit(s) to listeners
■ Introduce yourself
■ Show your qualifications
■ Clarify topic

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas:
Purpose
■ Develop a purpose slide

■ Explain your purpose orally

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas:
Preview
■ Offer a table of contents, an
agenda, an outline

■ Make this preview slide your


“moving blueprint” for the
presentation

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas: Main
Points
Each point needs an oral signpost

Now that I’ve discussed the salary increase, I


want to move on to health care options.

The last point I want to make involves


implementing the flex-time policy.

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas: Main
Points
Each point needs development
■ Support your generalizations with
specific information

■ Use logically persuasive tools to


shape opinions (such as facts,
history, analogy, appeals to needs
and values)

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas:
Conclusion
Provide an oral signpost

“In conclusion . . .”
“To summarize . . .”

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas:
Conclusion
Review/summarize your main points
Then--
■ Refer to opening

or
■ End with actions steps

or
■ Refer to audience benefits

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas

Why so much repetition?

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas
PowerPoint Presentations
■ Font
■ Design: 6X6 rule

■ Visuals

Handouts

Remember: YOU are the


presentation!
Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations
Organize Your Ideas
■ Use visuals that enhance your
message

■ Visuals should
■ relate to your message
■ help make your point

■ be consistent

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas
Effective PowerPoint slides are
■ simple

■ uncluttered

■ consistent

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Organize Your Ideas

Audiences understand your point an


average of 25% faster when
communicated via a graphic
representation than a text version.

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


For a successful
presentation:
 Analyze the situation
 Organize your ideas

■ Develop effective delivery


techniques

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Develop Effective Delivery
Techniques
■ Eye Contact
■ Non-verbal communication
■ Speaking voice
■ Notes
■ Handling questions
■ Team Presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Eye Contact
Effective eye communication
■ 5 seconds
■ x and z patterns

Avoid:
Eye dart Gazing out the
window
Slow blink Lighthouse scan

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Develop Effective Delivery
Techniques
 Eye Contact
■ Non-verbal communication
■ Speaking voice
■ Notes
■ Handling questions
■ Team Presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Non-verbal
Communication: Posture

Upper body posture

Lower body posture

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Non-verbal
Communication:
Movement
Eliminate barriers

Do the 2-step

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Non-verbal
Communication: Gestures
■ Use appropriate hand and arm
gestures

■ Be natural and open

■ Avoid these pitfalls:


Figleaf Sisters of Mercy
Parade Rest Jangler
Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations
Non-verbal
Communication: Facial
Expressions
■ Look pleasant

■ Smile whenever appropriate

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Non-verbal
Communication: Energy
■ Start strong

■ Show enthusiasm

■ End with high energy

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Develop Effective Delivery
Techniques
 Eye Contact
 Non-verbal communication

■ Speaking voice

■ Notes

■ Handling questions

■ Team Presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Speaking Voice: Inflection
Affects Meaning

Effective communication is
essential to organizational success.

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Speaking Voice: Pace
The most effective rate of speed for
a
presentation is between 175 and
190
words per minute.

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Speaking Voice: Volume
and Clarity
■ Articulate well

■ Don’t swallow ends of sentences

■ Don’t drop voice at end of


presentation

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Speaking Voice: Verbal
Clutter
■ Uh
■ Ummmmmm
■ Er
■ You know
■ Like
■ Okay

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Develop Effective Delivery
Techniques
 Eye Contact
 Non-verbal communication

 Speaking voice

■ Notes

■ Handling questions

■ Team Presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Notes
■ Format

■ Appearance

Do not use the screen as your notes!

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Develop Effective Delivery
Techniques
 Eye Contact
 Non-verbal communication

 Speaking voice

 Notes

■ Handling questions

■ Team Presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Handling questions
■ Acknowledge audience members
explicitly. Why?
■ Repeat the questions. Why?
■ When answering, don’t look just at
questioner.
■ What if you don’t know the
answer?

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Develop Effective Delivery
Techniques
 Eye Contact
 Non-verbal communication

 Speaking voice

 Notes

 Handling questions

■ Team Presentations

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Team Presentations
■ Transitions and cues

■ Handling technology

■ Handling questions

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations


Remember Basic Logistics!
■ Check out your presentation space
■ Confirm the presentation time
length
■ Ask about the size of your
audience
■ Prepare a back-up plan
■ Practice!
■ Arrive early
Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations
For a successful
presentation:
 Analyze the situation
 Organize your ideas

 Develop effective delivery


techniques

Susan H. Irons Successful Oral Presentations

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