Presentations: Handling Questions with Authority

Presentations: Handling Questions with Authority

At some point during your presentation you will be expected to answer questions from your audience. They might have some burning questions that need to be answered before they buy into your message. Handling their questions with authority can make the difference for you between a successful presentation and a waste of time. This is the opportunity for the audience to test your knowledge on the topic and commitment to your message.

1. Explain at which points during the presentation you will take questions and how individuals will be recognized to speak. Point out the microphones they should use. State the rules that must be followed to ask questions.

2. Prepare how you will answer questions - especially the worst questions. Imagine how confident you will look when they hit you with the killer question - the question that is intended to skewer you to the wall. Instead you smile and calmly respond with a positive answer. Craft and rehearse the answers to these difficult questions before the presentation.

3. Maintain control of the questioning. Formally recognize the questioner before they speak and limit the number of questions. Allow only one person to speak at a time.

4. When listening to the question look at the questioner while moving away to include the whole group. Paraphrase the question for the group. State your answer to the group. Beware of answering only to the questioner.

Read the rest of Handling Questions with Authority.


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Presentation blog: Authenticy Rules

Presentation Blog: Authenticity Rules from Rhett Laubach

Followup to my last post, here is another neat blog on presentation skills from professional speaker, Rhett Laubach.

Recent blog posts include an enlightening approach to the use of PowerPoint Slides, a nostalgic connection to the Elvis in you and several helpful links to convincing research. I especially appreciate the explanation along with diagrams of how best to organize the seating of your audience.

Check it out at: http://authenticityrules.blogspot.com/


George Torok


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Presentation Skills - Blogs

Blogs about Presentation Skills

A look around the blogosphere uncovers these blogs on presentation skills:


Blogs About Presentations
A curious collection of WordPress blogs on the topic of Presentation Skills


Presentation Skills - telling people
This is the voice & presentation skills blog of Dr Simon Raybould, the Director of Curved Vision.
Curved Vision is a training and consultancy group, based in Newcastle, in the north of England, but working all over the UK. Essentially, by writing this, I’m hoping that it will become (not only interesting!) but also a useful resource for anyone wanting to develop their own abilities as a public speaker and presenter.


The Extreme Presentation Method
Dr. Andrew V. Abela designed the Extreme Presentation(tm) approach to meet the pressing need for presentation development where failure is not an option. He has been designing and delivering effective presentations to senior executives - and training and coaching others to do so - for over 20 years. He is currently a professor of marketing and market research at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Prior to this he worked as a brand manager with Procter & Gamble, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and he was the founding managing director of the Marketing Leadership Council, a best-practices research organization serving Chief Marketing Officers at hundreds of leading corporations worldwide.


Presentation Zen
This blog from Garr Reynolds seem to have a Zen-like feel to it. It is not easy to understand but we pretend that we do so we don't appear to be unsensitive. Topics covered include condom charts, sleep depravation, Benjamin Zander, George Carlin and an eclectic collection of quotations.


Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog
Patricia Fripp's Weblog Dedicated to Public Speaking, Presentation Skills, and Sales Presentations. Too bad that she stopped contributing to this blog over two years ago. I consider her to be a fabulous presenter and presentation coach. She has at least 100 good articles on her website on presentation skills.


Six Minutes
A mysterious title however Six Minutes is a public speaking and presentation skills blog. It includes tips, analysis, insights, and strategies which help you become a more effective speaker and a more effective communicator.


enjoy

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How to present to teenagers

How to present to teenagers


Question:
I received this question recently, "How should I present to 15-year old girls so they won't get bored and would concentrate for the maxium time possible?"


Answer
I speak to a few groups of teenagers each year. I do it for two reasons:
1. Some of them appreciate my message.
2. It is tough speaking to teenagers so the experience keeps me humble.

Speaking to teenagers seems to be the toughest audience - even tougher than engineers.

Your results on speaking to them depends on why they are there - because they want to be or because they have to be.

Guess which group is more productive?

The main thing that I do differently when speaking to teens is to give them less information and enagage them with dicussion and Q & A much more. They keep interrupping if I try to speak all the time.

Encourage interaction and opinion. Don't punish wrong answers - look for other answers closer to what you are looking for.

Review the concepts that were explained. Ask them to summarize parts of your message.


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Olympic Speakers

Olympic Speakers

Olympic athletes who want to build their career on their Olympic experience need to develop their presentation skills.

Enjoy this report from the Globe and Mail.

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Boardroom Olympians
Gifted athletes aren't necessarily gifted speakers. But with training, a career can blossom after the game ends

DAVE MCGINN
From Monday's Globe and Mail
July 14, 2008 at 9:40 AM EDT

The day after Katie Weatherston arrived back in Ottawa from competing at this year's women's world hockey championship in China, the 26-year-old Olympian began what might prove to be the most important training program of her career.

It had nothing to do with slap shots or stick handling. Instead, Ms. Weatherston found herself surrounded by entrepreneurs and aspiring CEOs, all of whom were looking to punch up their podium skills at a public speaking course offered by Dale Carnegie Training, an international business training company.

...

Canada's national team athletes are expected to inspire both on and off the field, and are often invited to speak to schools and corporations across the country. But just because they are naturally gifted athletes does not mean they are naturally gifted public speakers.

So it is no surprise, says Jasmine Northcott, executive director of AthletesCAN, the association of Canada's national team athletes, that the governing bodies of amateur athletics in Canada place such a high emphasis on providing athletes with public speaking training.

...

When Newfoundland's Brad Gushue won a gold medal in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, he was flooded with public speaking invitations, the majority of them paid engagements. The better a speaker an athlete is, he says, the more likely they are to continue to receive those invitations.

"There's probably about a year-long window after the Olympics where you're going to get speaking opportunities," Mr. Gushue says. "I think having the Dale Carnegie course allows athletes to open that window for a longer period of time."

...

"I do a lot of public speaking and a lot of corporate events, and just wanted to find a way to be a little bit more comfortable when I'm up in front of people and a bit more confident when I speak," he says.

--------------

Read the rest of the story.


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Presentation Skills Question: Memory Loss?

Presentation Skills Question:

How do I recover from a memory lapse?


Presentation Skills Expert Answer:

There are a few techniques you can use to recover from a memory lapse.

The first thing to do is to smile and pause. When your audience sees you smiling they assume that you are in control. The pause gives you time to recover.

Pause to regain your thoughts and the attention of the audience.

Repeat that last thing you said. That might jog your memory and the audience thinks that you do that for effect.

Ask a rhetorical question, "Where do we go from here?" That question might trigger your brain to get on track. Or it might even trigger your audience to throw out some suggestions to help you.

George Torok
The Public Speaking Pro
Public Speaking Success

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Power Presentations Tip 05: Be like a talk show host

Power Presentations Tip 05: Be like a talk show host


Are you ready for a simple and effective method to both write and deliver your presentation?

Interview yourself.

Pick your topic. Decide on your key message. Design the process through which you need to take your listeners. Then frame that thought process with advancing questions.

Advancing questions are opened-ended questions that allow you to answer with an explanation. The questions form a quick transition to your next point.

This is one of the simplest ways to prepare and deliver a presentation. It is also an effective method of delivery. Why? Because it forces you to think like your listener and design your presentation from that perspective. Secondly, the structure and delivery will feel more like a natural conversation than a lecture or sales pitch.


Your questions might look like the following:

Why is this important to you?

What is the current situation?

What are your options?

Why is this option your best choice?

How will this work for you?

What are the next steps?


That set of questions could be the outline for many of your presentations. The questions in the middle can vary. Depending on the complexity of your topic, there might be more "what" and "how" questions. However, the first question should almost always be "Why is this important to you?" and the last question should be "What are the next steps?"

Interview yourself to deliver more powerful presentations.

George Torok

Speech Coach for Executives

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Feedback
"As a Toastmaster (more than 10 years), your message rings true to me. It reminds me to keep my priorities straight. I can only agree with you. Some speakers make it about them, and consequently, the audience responds accordingly, or not. Keep those tips coming."
Claude Desroches
Berlin, Germany
------------------

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Presentation Quotes from Walt Disney

Presentation Quotes from Walt Disney

When delivering your presentation it is always powerful to inject a quote from a powerful leader. Walt Disney certainly was a powerful and inspirational business and community leader.

Enjoy these quotes from Walt Disney.
-------------

"I don't believe there's a challenge anywhere in the world that's more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin... how do we start answering this great challenge? Well, we're convinced we must start answering the public need. And the need is for starting from scratch on virgin land and building a special kind of new community that will always be in a state of becoming. I twill never cease to be a living blueprint of the future, where people actually live a life they can't find anywhere else in the world."


"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."


"We did it (Disneyland), in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within the first year."


"It's no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment."


"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."


"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."
----------------------

Find more Walt Disney quotes

Learn more about Disney


George Torok
Business Speaker


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Presentation: Clarify your expertise

Presentation: Clairify your expertise

When speaking to a group - being clear on what you don't know helps clairify what you do know. Don't pretend to be the all-seeing know-it-all.

This tip from customer service expert, Jeff Mowatt, says it well.

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What I DO know is...

"My ears perked up recently when I heard a politician who, during a radio interview, made a statement that included the phrasing, “I don’t profess to be knowledgeable in all areas of… What I DO know is…” I found myself thinking, Wow – he’s honest and smart. Ironic how admitting up front what you don’t know actually increases your credibility when you make a statement about what you do believe. The technique itself is easy. The challenge is - are we secure enough and humble enough to admit we don’t have all the answers."

Jeff Mowatt
www.jeffmowatt.com
---------------

About award-winning speaker, Jeff Mowatt, BComm., CSP
Jeff Mowatt is the bestselling author of the books, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month (for managers), and Influence with Ease (for professionals who interact with customers). As a customer service strategist, Jeff's Influence with Ease® column has been syndicated and featured in over 200 business publications. To help professionals put ideas into action, Jeff heads his own training company and has produced 4 multimedia training kits. An award winning international speaker, Jeff is among the top 7% of professional speakers in the International Federation for Professional Speakers to achieve their highest designation - Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). For more Influence with Ease® tips, training resources, and information about engaging Jeff for your team, call 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288), or visit www.jeffmowatt.com.

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George Torok
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Presentation: Pecha Kucha

Presentation: Pecha Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 Slides

This Pecha Kucha thing is different and interesting. If you present with PowerPoint - watch this video. If you have suffered through Death by PowerPoint - watch this video and send it to others.

Too many presenters get lost in their PowerPoint presentations. This Pecha Kucha technique can help focus the presentation. It's from Japan. It's new. And it's a good idea.

Imagine delivering a presentatin with only 20 PowerPoint Slides in under seven minutes. Watch this vide on Pecha Kucha to see how it can be done.




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Presentation: Quotes & Insights

Presentation: Quotes & Insights
Compiled for you by George Torok


Enjoy and repeat (with accreditation) these quotes and insights on communication.


Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
Sir Winston Churchill


If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
Doug Larson


He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)


We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818), letter to John Adams, 1774


A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)


Words have a longer life than deeds.
Pindar (522 BC - 443 BC), Nemean Odes


Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.
Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)


No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.
Sam Rayburn (1882 - 1961)


I understand a fury in your words,But not the words.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Othello", Act 4 scene 2


Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)


Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
William Penn (1644 - 1718)


Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)


If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
Benjamin Franklin


Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Benjamin Franklin


Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. Plato


Most speakers are afraid of silence. It is so powerful.
Peter Urs Bender author, Secrets of Power Presentations


When you deliver your speech, the only person who hears every word is you.
George Torok, Executive Speech Coach


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Presentation Resource: This day in history

Presentation Resource: This day in history

Here is a great resource for your presentation. Give your meeting or presentation greater significance by relating your presentation to the significance of this day in history. Most of us love history trivia.

This website is a great resoure to search for what happened on this day in history.

This Day in History


June 6, 1944
D-Day
On this day in 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for largest amphibious military operation in hist...


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Presentation Feedback: Is it all valid?

Presentation Feedback: Is it all valid?

After delivering my “Secrets of Success” presentation at a conference last week I received some unusual feedback. The woman told me that she was offended by me. That is the first time I have heard that feedback so naturally I asked her, “What was it that I did or said that offended you?”

She first remarked that she was surprised at how calmly I took that criticism. However she was unable to pinpoint anything specific about my actions or words.

Her comment was in stark contrast to the comments from several others. They commented on my stories, style and relevance. When people give me a vague compliment I ask them to be specific because I want to know what is working.

Despite the overwhelming positive feedback that one negative comment nagged at me for a few days. I reviewed my presentation to search for what I might have done.

Finally I let it go and decided to ignore the comment. Sometimes you can’t please everybody and it’s not your fault.

I gave it one last mental review before I flushed the comment. My presentation, Secrets of Success, was aimed at business owners – especially entrepreneurs. The audience was ninety percent entrepreneurs. The ones who commented favorably on my presentation were entrepreneurs. The one negative comment came from a person who was a software trainer – an employee – not an entrepreneur.

So if that one person was offended but could not indentify the cause then it didn’t matter because she was not my target audience.

I mentioned this comment to two of my friends who are professional speakers. Both responded, “Don’t worry about it.”

Three lessons relearned:

Not all presentation feedback is valid.

Some audience members are more important than others.

Some one will always dislike you or your presentation.


George Torok
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Don't Assume - Confirm

Don't Assume - confirm

I was the MC at an industry convention this week. I introduced and thanked the speakers. Most of the speakers were industry experts. They were not professional speakers. They were speaking because they represented their company. They were there because either their company designated them as the expert best able to convey the product information or they were the sales person who drew the short straw.

As expected some were better speakers than others.

The best presentation used a professionally produced video. The presenter was clearly relieved that the pressure was off her.

The worst presentation was delivered by a presenter reading the words on the PowerPoint slides. This presenter spoke to me after seeking feedback. He readily admitted that his PowerPoint slides were crap. His slides were crap and so was his presentation. Blaming his slides seemed to relieve him of his responsibility for his presentation. He didn't want to know so I didn't tell him.

The biggest surprise for me was the presenter who remained hidden until minutes before he was to speak. As MC I wanted to meet and speak with every presenter before they went on. You can imagine my angst at not finding this speaker – not even knowing if he was there.

By a strange twist of fate he was sitting near me and introduced himself just a few minutes before he was to present. I confirmed his name and topic title.

I introduced him and he took the stage. He started speaking and then stopped. “Where is my first slide?” he exclaimed.

The AV person at the back of the room replied, “I don’t have a presentation from you.”

The presenter retorted, “But I sent it by email yesterday morning.”

What mistakes did this presenter make?

He sent his PowerPoint slides at the last minute.
He did not check in with the AV and convention organizers when he arrived.
He assumed.
He did not take responsibility for making sure everything was ready for his presentation.

Of course I also made a mistake. I assumed that he had checked in and made everything ready. I just added some more questions to my MC repertoire.

Don’t assume – confirm.


George Torok
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Boardroom Presentations

Boardroom Presentations

For tips on how to better present in the boardroom read my article titled "Battling in the Boardroom" that ran in this recent issue of Executive Travel magazine. This is the magazine for American Express members.

If you are not yet an American Express member then you can read some of that article in the following posts on this blog.

Boardroom Presentations: Sweat like a horse

Donald Trump on Boardroom Presentations

How to beat Donald Trump in the Boardroom



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Power Presentations Tip 04:

Power Presentations Tip 04: Zip it. Zip it good.


What's more powerful than your words?

Your silence.

The well placed pause is the simplest communication tool. The pause conveys your confidence more than your words. The pause engages your listeners because it allows them to think. The pause adds emphasis to your words.

Yet too many presenters don't make effective use of the pause. Why? Some believe that they need to say what they have to say before someone interrupts. If that is your style then be aware that the audience isn't listening. They are listening to their own words inside their head. Just because you didn't allow them to speak out loud doesn't stop them from talking in their head.


When should you pause?

Pause after you have taken your speaking position and before you start speaking. This ensures you have everyone's attention for your first word.

Pause after you said something profound to allow them to digest that nugget.

Pause after saying something funny to give them time to get the humor and enjoy a laugh.

Pause after you pose a rhetorical question to let them think about it.

Pause before you answer a tough question from the audience to emphasize the credibility and importance of your answer.

Pause after you've said what you wanted to say - so you don't dilute your message.


How long should a pause be?

As long as needed. Most of the time three to five seconds are enough. You might need to count the seconds in your head as "one steamboat" or "one Mississippi".

When you master the pause you will be a more powerful presenter. In the words of Dr Evil from the Austin Power Movie - "Zip it. Zip it Good".

George Torok



Feedback

"Love receiving "the TIPS". Modifying my existing presentations as I read each TIPS message. Each one becomes even better with each email. Looking forward to TIPS #4."

Dr. Frank Stechey, Chair
The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario


PS: Tell me how this tip helps you.


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Successful presentation

How do you measure the success of your presentation?

First you need to know the only three reasons for presenting. Then measuring success of your presentation is easy. Discover the three reasons for presenting from George Torok, Toronto presentations skills coach. Listen up.

Toronto Speech Coach

Toronto Speech Coach

George Torok is The Speech Coach for Executives. He works in Toronto. He is based in the Toronto area. He works with corporations in and around Toronto. He worked in downtown Toronto on Bay Street (the financial centre of Toronto) for over a decade.

George Torok has worked with many Toronto based business. He has presented for many Toronto based associations. He has trained and coached hundreds of Toronto executives and managers on presentation skills.

George Torok often appears in the Toronto media as a guest expert on presentation and communication skills.

George Torok is the Toronto Speech Coach.


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Presentation Skills: Zip it, Zip it good

Presentation Skills: Zip it, Zip it good.

Most presenters need to say less. They need to appreciate the power of silence in effective communication. Negotiation experts will tell you that the most powerful negotiation technique is to state your position then shut up.

The best public speakers are those who have mastered the pause. For more on the pause watch for my Power Presentation Tip this week. You can register for Power Presentation Tips here.


In the words of Dr. Evil of the Austin Powers movies - "Zip it. Zip it Good."

Enjoy this lesson from Dr. Evil.






Dr. Evil adapted his line from the song "Whip it" by Devo. If you don't know the band Devo, you might recognize the theme from the Swiffer TV ad.

Here's "Whip it" from Devo.





George Torok
Presentation Skills Success
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Presentation Skills: Body Language & TV

Presentation Skills: Body Language & TV

You can improve your presentation skills by watching TV.

TV is an audio-visual medium with extra emphasis on the video. To improve your presentation skills watch some of your favorite TV programs with the sound off. Of course you will miss the nuances of the words and details. But challenge yourself to watch and while trying to decipher what is going on and what the words might be.

I suggest you do this with a pen and paper to scribble down your thoughts as you experience them.

Don't worry about what you are missing. Write down all the things you notice. Note the emotions conveyed, the energy level, the relationships about the characters.

Then think about how you know those things. Now think about your presentations and what message your audience might receive if they have tuned you out. Is your body language consistent with your words? What do you need to change to convey the right message with your body language.

Turning the sound off works best for action, drama and comedy - but not for sports. Most game shows work well. Some of them are even better with the sound off.

Years ago, I back packed through Europe. While in Greece I attended a movie theatre. I watch a kung fu movie. The audio was in Chinese with Greek subtitles - neither of which I understand. However I enjoyed and understood the movie.


George Torok
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