How to Deliver an Effective Presentation?

1
How to Deliver an Effective Presentation?
2
Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

3
Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

4
Overview
An effective presentation is an organized,
audience-centered communication of key insights
derived from highly-focused analysis. It engages
the audience in a dialogue created by a logical
structure, and supported by word choice, the
voice and body, and personal style.
Presenter audience dialogue
Presentation structure
Word choice
Voice
Body
Personal style

• Answer-First/ Pyramid Principle

• Word choice
• Directive language
• Active speech
• Bad habits

• Vocal delivery
• Vocal tics

• Physical delivery
• Presenting slides

• Self-communication
• Credibility
• Overcoming fear
• Handling questions
• Closing

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Dialogue Through Pyramid Structure
The pyramid structure creates an engaging rhythm
of idea? audience question ? answer (idea)?
question ? answer (idea).
Situation Mayflower has 800MM in cash, no
debt, and strong earnings (Yes. So
what?) Complication These attributes often
attract unwanted suitors Question Is Mayflower
vulnerable to a hostile takeover? Answer It is
unlikely that Mayflower will become a target at
todays market price
(Why?)
Mayflower does not fit acquisition profile
Post-acquisition financials look unappealing
Key voting shareholders remain loyal
(In what way?)
(What do they look like?)
(Who?)
Ames family (28)
Omnibank (15)
MF is largest non-oil
MF has highest P/E
Post-acquisition cashflows negative
Negative earnings through 1999
(Why?)
(Why?)
Requires steady capex
Synergies will be minimal
Combined cost structure is high
Market will remain flat

6
Preparation
Ensure that delivery preparation reflects the
same robust attention to objectives, storyline,
and detail you have given to organizing your
slides.

• Master the presentation context and flow
• know your audience
• crystallize your objective
• internalize the road map
• Consider off-slide elements
• craft your opening statement - know it without
  memorizing it
• prepare supporting examples and back-up
• develop the closing, including next steps
• Be absolutely clear on the why and the how of
  each slide
• key insight(s) So what?
• slide orientation how information is organized
  on data slides
• data supporting your insights
• Adopt a transitioning from insight-to-insight
  mindset - as opposed to, slide-to-slide habit

7
Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

8
Word Choice
Supported by Answer-First graphics, use words to
indicate that you are pursuing a strategy of
accumulating support for a particular and
informed interpretation of the data.

• Choose words that will meet audience expectations
• some revelation of your self and point-of-view
• value added by you that would not be gained from
  reading a slide deck or report
• an appearance of spontaneity, but within an
  overall design/structure
• information packaged in small, discrete units
• clear language, well-crafted phrases, and an
  economy of expression
• Bracket your insights
• communicate a definite beginning and an end for
  each insight
• use bracketing to create pauses for your audience
  to process/respond to your insight
• Avoid insider jargon unless each member of the
  audience is fluent in XYZ Speak
• Strictly avoid profanity, ethnic humor, racial
  stereotyping, homophobic references, and sexist
  language
• Use directive language (explanation follows)
• Use the active voice and lean grammar
  (explanation follows)

9
Directive Language
When used in combination with vocal stress and
timing, directive language engages listeners by
helping them focus on your key points.
Enumerate
We identified four sources of capital
hemorrhaging A, B, C and D. The first source,
A, created deficits totaling over
Emphasize
Downtime in the Elk Run facility - the most
critical driver of cost overruns - accounts for
over 17
Repeat
Over 37 of survey respondents targeted
incorrect billing as their primary reason for
switching vendors. Over 37.
Restate
Lets look at the competitor picture another
way.
Focus
While indicating a specific point on graph
Note the spike in fourth quarter earnings. We
attribute that to
Bridge
So far, weve examined the nature of the problem
and isolated the root causes of.Now lets turn
to possible solutions.
Question
What, then, is the best option?
Invite
Put yourselves in your customers position.
Source Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to
Prepare, Stage Deliver Winning Presentations
(New York AMACOM, 1993)
10
Active Speech
Eliminate barriers to audience engagement by
using the active voice, direct speech, and lean
grammatical construction.
Recommendations
Avoid
Use

• Change verbs from the passive to the active voice

The sample was taken from
A team of four assemblers from the Saginaw plant
took samples from

• Replace is with an action verb

We found 3 out of 5 lid assembly lines were
inefficient.
Poor maintenance contributed to 43 of downtime
in 3 out of 5 lid assembly lines.

• Make an is statement more concrete

We believe the decision is a good one.
The decision will save you 214K per month in
purchasing costs.

• Get to the point by saying what you mean

At this point in time, it is our opinion that
you proceed to trim your portfolio of businesses
that siphon off valuable resources from your core
business.
Divest. Now.

• Link assertions to your experience by eliminating
  seem.

The data would seem to indicate that
Our experience in similar situations leads us to
suggest that
Source Adapted from D. David Bourland, Jr. and
Paul Dennithorne Johnston, To Be or Not An
E-Prime Anthology (San Francisco International
Society for General Semantics, 1991)
11
Word Choice Bad Habits (1 of 3)
Some frequently-used words and grammatical
constructions undermine the power of the
presenter audience dialogue.
Weak
Comments
Better

• one criteria
• a rare phenomena

Avoid singular/plural confusion. Criteria and
phenomena are plurals of criterion and
phenomenon, respectively

• one criterion
• a rare phenomenon

• at this point in time

Replace verbose phrase with a simple, direct word

• now

• Obviously, the revenue picture is bleak

The observation may not be obvious to everyone

• As the data here indicate, revenues will drop
  off sharply

• the consensus of opinion

Is there any other form of consensus?

• the consensus

Source Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to
Prepare, Stage Deliver Winning Presentations
(New York AMACOM, 1993) Introduction to XYZ
Presenting (training presentation)
12
Word Choice Bad Habits (2 of 3)
Some frequently-used words and grammatical
constructions undermine the power of the
presenter audience dialogue.
Weak
Comments
Better

• a somewhat unique proposal
• the most unique proposal

Either the proposal is unique or it isnt. If it
is unique, its singularity is implied by its
uniqueness. That is, it cant be most unique,
as if it were one among many other unique
proposals.

• a proposal which may be unique
• the unique proposal

• We sort of did a study
• The situation is kind of serious
• Hopefully, the recommendations will

Avoid verbal filler and empty qualifiers. Get to
the point without clutter or ambiguity.

• We studied x, y and z
• The situation is serious
• We estimate that the recommendations, if
  implemented, will

Source Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to
Prepare, Stage Deliver Winning Presentations
(New York AMACOM, 1993) Introduction to XYZ
Presenting (training presentation)
13
Word Choice Bad Habits (3 of 3)
Some frequently-used words and grammatical
constructions undermine the power of the
presenter audience dialogue.
Weak
Comments
Better

• conduct an analysis of
• take into consideration
• exhibits a tendency to

Use verbs in their simplest form.

• analyze
• consider
• tends to

• To tell the truth, layoffs are inevitable.

To tell the truth implies that you havent been
totally candid up to that point. Just answer the
question.

• Are layoffs inevitable? Yes.

• This slide/bar/data says
• What this slide means is

The slide/bar/data/ isnt saying a thing.
Position yourself as the medium of insights.

• From our analysis, we concluded that

Source Adapted from Thomas Leech, How to
Prepare, Stage Deliver Winning Presentations
(New York AMACOM, 1993) Introduction to XYZ
Presenting (training presentation)
14
Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

15
Vocal Delivery Pace
Use your voice to support the presenter
audience dialogue. Make it easy for the audience
to hear and understand your presentation by using
appropriate pace, pitch, and volume to
communicate the relative importance of elements
in your presentation.

• Vary pace (rate of speech) to sustain audience
  interest and to indicate your point of view
• in general, slow down for more important,
  complex, or controversial points
• speed up for supporting details
• Tell a story - choose a conversational rate of
  delivery
• Use pauses
• to set ideas apart
• to allow audience time to respond to your
  insights and formulate questions
• to indicate transitions to new elements
• Avoid extremes
• motormouth speaking so fast the audience cant
  absorb information
• disinvites audience to participate in the
  dialogue
• leaves audience breathless at best, disengaged at
  worst
• drawling pedant speaking so slowly that
  audience begins to fidget
• encourages audiences collective mind to wander
• promotes fantasizing about cattle prods

16
Vocal Delivery Pitch
Use your voice to support the presenter
audience dialogue. Make it easy for the audience
to hear and understand your presentation by using
appropriate pitch to communicate the relative
importance of elements in your presentation.

• Explore varieties of inflection within your
  normative pitch band
• avoid extremes of high or low pitches that strain
  your voice
• Avoid speaking in a monotone
• monotony precedes hypnosis
• you cant sustain dialogue with a comatose
  partner
• Avoid sing-song patterns
• comes across as talking down to your audience
• promotes instant eye-glazing
• Delete upspeak from your vocal repertoire (see
  next page for explanation)

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Upspeak
Avoid upspeak, which imposes a yes-no question
inflection (pitch rising on last words) on a
declarative sentence.

• Erodes speaker credibility by making you sound
  tentative
• Particularly deadening when repeated sentence (?)
  after sentence (?) after sentence (?)
• Lends an unsophisticated Melrose Place quality
  to your presenting, likeyknow?

Exercise

• Say out loud, Are you talking to me?
• Now, imposing the same vocal inflection on each
  of the following sentences, say, The results are
  quite promising. You will save 4MM in the first
  quarter alone. In the first year, you will save
  over 20MM.
• If you did the exercise correctly, your upspeak
  would most likely convey the notion that you are
  not at all confident about the results
• and it sounds quite annoying, doesnt it?

18
Vocal Delivery Volume
Use your voice to support the presenter
audience dialogue. Make it easy for the audience
to hear and understand your presentation by
appropriately varying volume to communicate the
relative importance of elements in your
presentation.

• Use volume as an interpretive tool to emphasize
  key words and ideas
• in general, loudness indicates an important idea
  and conveys certainty
• Changing the price structure at this time is
  your greatest opportunity.
• however, softness may also indicate importance
• Unless you turn around revenues, what up until
  now has been your greatest asset louder will
  soon become your chief (pause) liability
  softer.
• Use change in volume to indicate transitions
• Dont let sentences trail off in volume
• communicates lack of interest in completing your
  own thought
• leaves audiences free to finish your sentences
  for you - a risky enterprise
• Choose volume limits appropriate to the room,
  audience size, and situation
• for most business presentations, shouting and
  whispering stretch the bounds of standard
  presentation volume

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Vocal Delivery Tone
Develop a pleasant tone, or overall vocal
quality, to promote audience attention and
engagement.

• Audiences react negatively to poor tone
• voices that are dry, raspy, or harsh grind on the
  audiences ears (and nerves)
• on the other hand, audiences may also react
  negatively to voices that are so pear-shaped,
  resonant, and polished, they call attention to
  themselves and sound unnatural
• Regional accents may also impede the presenter
  audience dialogue
• some accents not native to the audiences region
  may be liabilities
• in the US, some audiences regard broad accents
  (e.g., Hahvahd) as affectations
• Misunderstanding and abuse of the vocal mechanism
  cause bad tone
• insufficient breath control
• nervousness aggravates shallow breathing and
  leads to gasping, panting, and short, choppy
  phrasing
• replace shallow upper-chest breathing with
  lower-ribbed abdominal breathing
• tension in the mouth, throat, or jaw
• isolate areas of tension and relax them to
  release the voice freely and naturally
• fatigue
• a history of smoking and excessive alcohol
  consumption

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Vocal Delivery Tics
Avoid vocal tics, which, like their
neuromuscular counterparts, are involuntary,
repetitive, and annoying.
Vocal Tic
Comments

• You knowyou know

Well, if we know so much, why are you telling us?

• ahuhum

Creates the impression that you are nervous,
unprepared, and unconvinced by your own argument.

• okayokay

A filler word, okay comes off as self-directed
pep talk.

• et ceteraet cetera
• ek cetera sic

Should be banned from presentations. Naming the
category, followed by examples (such as x and
y), conveys greater precision. If you must say
et cetera (and the rest), get it right. Ek
cetera is meaningless.

• As you can see...

Why not just show us, without the annoying
introduction?

• Actually...actually
• Basicallybasically

Actually, these are basically filler words and
actually add no value. Really.

• andanda-a-a-nd

Sentences strung together by and should each
stand alone with a definite beginning and ending
(pause).

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Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

22
Physical Delivery Eye Contact
Use disciplined eye contact to help your audience
engage in the dialogue set up by the presentation
structure.

• Communicate your self as competent,
  sympathetic, and candid through eye contact
• Use eye contact to convey your sense of being
  present to and for each audience member
• sustain real eye contact
• engage one person, one phrase or idea at a time
  (roughly for 3-5 seconds)
• longer eye contact (gt5 seconds) makes the
  receiver uncomfortable
• eye contact for less than 2 seconds makes you
  appear fidgety and shifty-eyed
• maintain an unwavering listener focus
• the screen, table, slides, walls, and ceiling
  make poor dialogue partners
• never begin to speak without first engaging eye
  contact
• monitor audience reaction
• Vary focus from one person to another, but dont
  fall into predictable side-to-side sweep or
  circular patterns

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Physical Delivery Gesture
Use economic gestures, to help your audience
engage in the dialogue set up by the presentation
structure.

• Use gestures to emphasize key words, and to
  indicate shape, trajectory, number, and size
• Eliminate gestures that are distracting,
  repetitive, or predictable
• gesture intentionally, not involuntarily
• cultivate an appearance, at least, of spontaneity
• avoid stabbing every accented syllable of each
  word
• be expressive without getting out-of-control
• if you begin to look like a talking mime, youre
  probably overgesturing
• dont punch the screen or use hit-and-run
  gestures
• you dont want to leave the audience hunting for
  the object of your attention
• to be more effective, indicate, linger, release
• When pointing to an element on the screen, zero
  in with precision
• Find a home position that is relaxing and
  natural for you
• when you are not gesturing for a reason, use
  home as a neutral position
• remain poised to communicate with your next
  gesture

24
Physical Delivery Gestures to Avoid
at ease
Freudian Clutch
Penguin
Papal Special
What me? Worry about presenting?
Toscanini
Im a little teapot
the Diva

25
Physical Delivery Gestures to Avoid (1 of 2)
Avoid idiosyncratic gestures which ignore the
hands as a valuable resource for communicating
and reinforcing the presenter? audience dialogue.
Gestures to avoid
Comments

• Freudian Clutch

• Primarily resorted to by men, the clutch
  consists of hands planted firmly over the groin -
  Hockey, anyone?
• In general, use above-the-waist gestures
• Never, ever use the Freudian Clutch as your
  home position

• At ease

• The opposite of the clutch, hands rest firmly
  behind the back - conjures up military images
• Without resting at ease, convey a sense of ease
  through eye contact and confidence
• Never, ever use at ease as your home position

• The Diva

• Hands clasped at navel - For my next aria
• Reads as a profoundly undynamic, tense, defensive
  gesture - dont use as home position
• Replace with more open, asymmetrical gestures

26
Physical Delivery Gestures to Avoid (2 of 2)
Avoid idiosyncratic gestures which ignore the
hands as a valuable resource for communicating
and reinforcing the presenter? audience dialogue.
Gestures to avoid
Comments

• Papal Special

• Hands pressed together at chest - fingers and
  thumbs pointed upward - prior to other mirrored
  gestures
• Great in the pulpit, but the board room?

• Im a little teapot

• Hands planted firmly on both hips - may
  degenerate into side-to-side aerobics
• Can be read as affected, combative, or cocky

• Penguin

• Arms held stiffly at side, hands flapping
  nervously

• Toscanini

• Hands fly, swoop, and swirl with seeming abandon
  - the opposite of the Penguin
• Cultivate economy of gesture

• What, me? Worry about presenting?

• Hands in pockets to affect a studiously casual
  look - may degenerate into jangling keys and
  change

27
Physical Delivery Movement
Use body placement and movement to help your
audience engage in the dialogue set up by the
presentation structure.

• Stand up straight without stiff formality
• Distribute weight evenly on both feet
• avoid shifting weight from one foot to the other
• dont cock your hip, rock back-and-forth, or sway
  from side-to-side
• When presenting slides, integrate your body with
  slide screen image
• dont force the audience to split its attention
  between you and the screen
• point to slide elements on screen with gestures
  that are precise and sustained
• move deliberately with a specific objective and
  destination in mind, e.g., overhead projector
  screen
• write on your slides to highlight a particular
  point, but usually dont exceed four annotations
  per slide
• For most conference and board room presentations,
  move within a triangular performance area
• roughly defined by the screen, the overhead
  projector, and a point approximately 3-6 feet to
  your right of the projector
• Move toward persons asking questions - without
  intimidating them

28
Physical Delivery Movement Debates
XYZ has not yet reached consensus on some of the
finer points of body position and movement while
presenting. Below are highly personal glosses on
three of the issues
Issues
Comments

• PositionPresent from right or left of the
  projector?

• Although awkward for right-handed people, present
  to the right of the projector (the audiences
  left)
• gives you easy access to axes on graphs
• positions you at text slide bullets - people read
  from left to right

• MovementRemain to one side of the screen image
  or move back and forth?

• Do not cross in front of the screen image
• creates significant audience distraction
• if you have been advised to rove about to provide
  visual stimulation, you have more serious
  problems with your presentation than what to do
  with your body
• Avoid tattooing your face with the projected
  image
• to get to those hard-to-reach portions of the
  slide image, point to desired element on slide on
  overhead projector

• Mix and match depending on room configuration,
  audience size, and sightlines
• Always guard against eclipsing the screen image
  with your body

• Relationship to slideStay at screen or
  projector?

29
Presenting Slides HOT
Use slides to support insights through the HOT
process.
H

• Present the HIGHLIGHT, or key insight
• ORIENT the audience to the way information is
  organized on the slide
• TELL how the data support the insight

O
T

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Presenting Slides Highlight
Use slides to support insights through the HOT
process. First, present the highlight, or key
insight.

• Push Answer-First down to the slide level by
  presenting the highlight in your transition
• as with the beginning and close, you should know
  transitions cold to maximize eye contact
• avoid false transitions (see next page)
• In the silence - as you change slides - the
  audience formulates questions in reaction to your
  insight/new idea
• How did s/he arrive at that?
• What impact will that insight have on our
  business? On my career?
• How does that fit with what has gone on before?

H
Present the highlight, or key insight

31
Presenting Slides False Transitions
Learn to craft and deliver transitions that
convey insights. An effective transition
delivered with full eye contact should leave the
audience leaning forward in their chairs. A
false transition will leave them disengaged.
False Transition
Description

• The Absent Transition

• Slide after slide presented with no hint of
  bridging or sequencing to reinforce the logic of
  your argument
• Whats missing from the Absent Transition
• So far, we have looked at.Now we will explore
• While on the one hand factor A, on the other,
  factor B
• Not only insight C which was just introduced
  and supported, but also insight D
• Consequently

• The Slide as Surrogate Transition

• The next slide says
• words that promote the slide as surrogate
  presenter are not - make that never - a
  transition
• Similar to the equally ineffective The next
  piece of analysis we did

• The Uh-oh. Whats Next? Transition

• Uh or ah is not a transition

32
Presenting Slides Orient
Use slides to support insights through the HOT
process. First, present the highlight, or key
insight. Then, orient the audience to the way
information is organized on the slide.
O

• Place the slide on the overhead projector
• Pause, checking image alignment on screen
• Provide verbal and physical slide orientation
• Pointing to Y axis We analyzed revenues
  indicating X axis over five years, beginning
  with pointing to 1992.

Orient the audience to the way information is
organized on the slide

33
Presenting Slides Tell
Use slides to support insights through the HOT
process. First, present the highlight, or key
insight. Then, orient the audience to the way
information is organized on the slide. Finally,
tell how the data support the insight.
T

• Answer anticipated audience questions in response
  to your insight
• Avoid abdicating your communicator role to your
  slide
• Eliminate This slide says, it is a
  meaningless, utterly null and void way of
  communicating
• all claims to the phrases being a figure of
  speech aside, you (expert, confidant, and
  advisor) - and not the slide - are in dialogue
  with your audience
• Extract observations relevant to your objectives
• Monitor audience reaction - agreement,
  enthusiasm, skepticism, confusion, boredom
• Transition to next highlight/insight

Tell how the data support the insight

34
Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

35
Personal Style Self-Communication
Develop a presentation style that promotes the
achievement of your professional objectives and
ultimately a personal comfort level. In addition
to presenting fact-based insights, you are
communicating your self.

• Determine your own core presenting style
• degrees of formality you are comfortable with in
  various business situations
• your placement within the normative band of XYZ
  business etiquette
• casual conversationalist
• storyteller
• salesperson
• teacher/facilitator
• lecturer
• communication of your own self in your own
  voice, with credibility
• your interaction style and comfort level with
  ways of engaging the audience, e.g., detachment
  vs. intimacy
• Express your self - your values, ideas, and
  feelings - with confidence and conviction
• Implement a personal improvement strategy
• practice presenting
• solicit feedback from peers, supervisors, mentors
• observe internal and external experts
• execute, monitor, evaluate

36
Personal Style Credibility
Communicating your own self with credibility is
fundamental to developing a personal style. Key
factors affecting credibility are
Key Creditability Factors
Comments

• Character

• Your perceived fairness and capacity for
  demonstrating ethical behavior

• Competence

• Your demonstrated expertise in a particular area

• Composure

• Your appearance of being at ease with the
  audience

• Affability

• Ease in communicating oneself as a friendly and
  reliable business confidant and advisor

• Moderate extroversion

• A presentation style that avoids extremes of
  being too outgoing on the one hand and reticent
  on the other
• indicates your willingness to be available and
  present to the audience as a thinking, rational
  expert
• demonstrates your appetite for deriving pleasure
  and energy from the interplay of challenging
  issues and ideas

Source Malcolm Kushner, Successful
Presentations for Dummies (Foster City CA IDG
Books Worldwide, 1996)
37
Personal Style Overcoming Fear
The keys to overcoming fear of presenting are
knowing your material cold and recreating the
relaxation, security, and confidence you feel
when you are speaking one-on-one. Fear of
presenting tends to fall into three categories
Fear
Remedy

• Fear of performing poorly

• Understand how your body responds to presentation
  situations, e.g., dry throat, trembling,
  accelerated speech
• Visualize presenting successfully
• Use physical relaxation techniques, such as
  breathing deeply and isolating and relaxing areas
  of muscular tension
• Use the energy that fear produces to trigger
  alert responses and mental engagement with your
  message

• Fear of the audience

• Avoid assuming that the audience is your
  adversary
• Show enthusiasm about sharing your ideas
• Tell yourself I have a right to be here. What
  I have to say is of value to this audience. No
  one else here knows this subject as well as I
  do.

• Fear your message will not stand up to close
  scrutinity

• Do your homework
• Anticipate and be prepared to answer potential
  objections
• Remember that, while practice doesnt make
  perfect, at least it approximates perfection

Sources Roger Ailes, You Are the Message (New
York Doubleday, 1995) Effective Presentations
(XYZ training presentation)
38
Handling Questions
Treat questions as an opportunity for additional
dialogue.

• Anticipate questions and prepare answers in
  advance
• incorporate key issues into your presentation
• produce back-up slides to answer likely questions
• Be clear up front about how you intend to handle
  questions
• Please feel free to stop me at any point
• Actively listen to each question
• content
• intent
• feelings
• position and influence of the questioner
• Before answering, reflect your understanding of
  the question - clarify, as needed
• Answer
• engage through eye contact
• maintain credibility and control
• check for questioners satisfaction
• consider the entire audiences interest in the
  question
• respect time constraints

39
Closing
Use the closing to review insights and preview
next steps - finish high!

• Summarize
• reaffirm key points
• reflect on learnings from audience questions and
  input
• Contract for follow-up to unanswered questions
  and unresolved issues
• Agree on how to proceed - clarify expectations on
  next steps
• deliverables
• timeline
• intermediate communication

40
Agenda

• Presenter audience dialogue Overview
• Word choice
• Vocal delivery
• Physical delivery
• Personal style
• Key takeaways

41
Key Takeaways

• Use words, your voice, body, and personal style
  to sustain the presenter?audience dialogue
  created by the Answer-First pyramid structure
• Choose words that will draw your audience into
  your presentation by engaging their intellect and
  their emotions
• Eliminate barriers to the audiences
  participation in the dialogue by using the active
  voice, direct speech, and lean grammatical
  construction
• Use your voice (pace, pitch, volume, and overall
  tone) as an interpretive tool
• to indicate your point of view
• to communicate the relative importance of
  elements of your presentation
• Know your opening, transitions, and closing cold
• In terms of physical delivery, first and
  foremost, engage your audience with eye contact -
  one person, one idea at a time
• Use gestures to emphasize key words, and to
  indicate shape, trajectory, number, and size
• Eliminate distracting, repetitive, and
  predictable gestures
• Dont wander about aimlessly - move with a
  purpose
• Push Answer-First down to the slide level by
  delivering insight-ful transitions
• Develop a personal style - communicate your own
  self in your own voice with credibility,
  confidence, and conviction