2. Designing and Delivering Oral and Online Presentations
Chapter 14
Designing and Delivering Oral and Online Presentations
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3. Learning Objectives
Highlight the importance of presentations in your business career and explain how to adapt the planning step of the three-step process to presentations
Describe the tasks involved in developing a presentation after completing the planning step
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:
Highlight the importance of presentations in your business career and explain how to adapt the planning step of the three-step process to presentations
Describe the tasks involved in developing a presentation after completing the planning step
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4. Learning Objectives
Describe the six major design and writing tasks required to enhance your presentation with effective visuals
Outline four major tasks involved in completing a presentation
Describe four important aspects of delivering a presentation in today’s social media environment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:
3. Describe the six major design and writing tasks required to enhance your presentation with effective visuals
4. Outline four major tasks involved in completing a presentation
5. Describe four important aspects of delivering a presentation in today’s social media environment
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5. Building Your Career with Oral Presentations
Presentations also let you demonstrate your ability to think on your feet, grasp complex business issues, and handle challenging situations—all attributes that executives look for when searching for talented employees to promote.
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6. Applying the Three-Step Writing Process to Presentations
Figure 14.1 The Three-Step Process for Developing Oral and Online Presentations
Although you rarely “write” a presentation or speech in the sense of composing every word ahead of time, the
tasks in the three-step writing process adapt quite well to the challenge of planning, creating, and delivering
oral and online presentations.
Although you develop presentations more than write them word for word, the three-step writing process works quite well for oral presentations, with some modifications.
In the planning step, you analyze the situation by defining your purpose and developing a profile of your audience. Then, determine the audience’s needs and gather information. Choose the best medium for delivering your presentation, including handouts and other support materials. Finally, organize the information by defining your main idea, limiting your scope, verifying timing, selecting the best approach, and outlining your content.
In the writing step, adapt your content, presentation style, and room set-up according to the audience and situation. Be sensitive to the needs and expectations of your audience with the “you” attitude, politeness, positive emphasis, and bias-free language, and plan to establish your credibility as needed. When you compose the presentation, outline an attention-getting introduction, body, and close, and then prepare supporting visuals and speaking notes.
During the completing step, revise your message by evaluating the content and your speaking notes. Choose your delivery mode and practice your presentation. In order to prepare to speak, verify that the facilities and equipment are in good order, and hire an interpreter, if needed. Finally, taking positive steps to feel and appear more confident will help you to overcome anxiety.
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7. Planning a Presentation
Planning oral presentations is much like planning any other business message: (1) analyze the situation, (2) gather information, (3) select the right medium, and (4) organize the information. Gathering information for oral presentations is essentially the same as for written communication projects. When planning oral presentations, however, the other three planning tasks have some special applications, which are covered in the following slides.
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8. Analyzing the Situation
Audience
Organizing Presentation
Size and composition
Probably reaction
Background
Anticipate objections
Subject knowledge
Expectations
Narrow main idea
Convince management that reorganizing the technical support department will improve customer service and reduce employee turnover.
Limit scope
Prepare outline
Organize message
Foundation for speech
As with written communications, analyzing the situation involves defining your purpose and
developing an audience profile (see Table 14.1 on the next page). The purpose of most of your
presentations will be to inform or to persuade, although you may occasionally need to make a collaborative
presentation, such as when you’re leading a problem-solving or brainstorming session.
Defining Your Main Idea
If you’ve ever heard a speaker struggle to get his or her main point across (“What I really
mean to say is . . .”), you know how frustrating such an experience can be for an audience.
To avoid that struggle, figure out the one key message you want audience members to walk
away with. Then compose a one-sentence summary that links your subject and purpose to
your audience’s frame of reference.
Limiting Your Scope
Limiting your scope is important with any message, but it’s particularly vital with presentations,
for two reasons. First, for most presentations, you must work within strict time limits.
Second, the longer you speak, the more difficult it is to hold the audience’s attention levels,
and the more difficult it is for your listeners to retain your key points.4 Even if you are not
given a time limit, keep your presentation as short as possible, taking only as much of the
audience’s time as you need in order to accomplish your purpose.
Preparing Your Outline
A presentation outline helps you organize your message and serves as the foundation for
delivering your speech. Prepare your outline in several stages:7
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9. Preparing Your Outline
State purpose and main idea
Organize major points and sub-points
Identify major points for each section
Identify transitions
Prepare bibliography of sources
Choose a compelling title
A presentation outline will help you organize the message in a way that maximizes its impact on your audience. Moreover, a presentation outline can serve as the foundation of your speaking notes. To ensure that your presentation is organized effectively, prepare your outline in several stages:
State your purpose and main idea and use these to guide the rest of your planning.
Organize your major points and sub-points in logical order, expressing each major point as a single, complete sentence.
Identify major points in the body first and then outline the introduction and close.
Identify transitions between major points or sections and then write these transitions in complete sentences.
Prepare your bibliography or source notes; be prepared to mention key sources during your talk.
Choose a compelling title; even if it will not be published, the title will help you focus on your main idea.
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10. Developing a Speaking Outline
Presentation
Cues
Reminders
Arrange Your Notes
Add Delivery Cues
Select Key Words
Follow Planning Outline
Many speakers like to prepare both a detailed planning outline and a simpler speaking outline that provides all the cues and reminders they need to present their material. Here are some guidelines for preparing an effective speaking outline:
Start with the planning outline and condense points and transitions to key words or phrases that will jog your memory.
Add delivery cues, such as places in your outline where you plan to pause for emphasis or use a visual.
Arrange your notes on numbered cards or use the “notes” field in your presentation software.
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11. Adapting to Your Audience
Small Groups
Large Groups
Casual Style
Promote Participation
Simple Visuals
Formal Style
Control Participation
Multimedia
Your audience’s size, your subject, your purpose, your budget, and the time available for preparation all influence the style of your presentation. If you are speaking to a small group, particularly people you already know, you can use a casual style that encourages audience participation. A small conference room, with your audience seated around a table, may be appropriate. Use simple visuals and invite your audience to interject comments. Deliver your remarks in a conversational tone, using notes to jog your memory.
If you are addressing a large audience or if the event is important, establish a more formal atmosphere. During formal presentations, speakers are often on a stage or platform, standing behind a lectern and using a microphone so that their remarks can be heard throughout the room or captured for broadcasting or webcasting.
Whether your presentation is formal or informal, keep things simple. Moreover, take public speaking etiquette into account. Plan to show consideration for your audience by making good use of their time, addressing them respectfully, and maintaining a professional demeanor during your speech.
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12. Composing Your Presentation
Like written documents, oral presentations are composed of distinct elements: the introduction, the body, and the close. A good introduction arouses the audience’s interest in your topic, establishes your credibility, and prepares the audience for what will follow.
Arousing Audience Interest. If your audience members are not already interested in your subject, your introduction needs to grab their attention. You can use a number of techniques; for example, uniting around a common goal, telling a story, passing around a sample, asking questions, sharing a startling statistic, and using humor. Whatever technique you may use, give the audience members a reason to care about your message.
Building Your Credibility. Audiences tend to decide within a few minutes whether you are worth listening to, so establishing your credibility quickly is vital. Techniques for building credibility will vary depending on whether you will be introducing yourself or having someone else introduce you. If a master of ceremonies, conference chair, or other person will introduce you, he or she can present your credentials so that you will not appear boastful. If you will be introducing yourself, keep your comments simple. At the same time, do not be afraid to mention your accomplishments. Let the audience know who you are and why you are the right person to be giving this presentation.
Previewing Your Message. A good introduction gives your listeners a preview of what is ahead. Summarize the main idea of your presentation, identify major supporting points, and indicate the order in which you will develop those points.
The bulk of your presentation is devoted to a discussion of the three or four main points in your outline. Make sure the organization is clear and holds the audience’s attention.
In written documents, you can show how ideas are connected with a variety of design clues: headings, paragraph indentions, white space, and lists. However, with oral communication (particularly when you are not using visuals for support) you have to rely primarily on spoken words to link various parts and ideas. For the links between sentences and paragraphs, use one or two transitional words. To link major sections of a presentation, use sentences or short paragraphs. Every time you shift topics, stress the connection between ideas by summarizing what has been said and previewing what is to come.
A successful introduction will have grabbed your audience’s attention. The body of your presentation needs to hold that attention. Here are a few helpful tips for keeping the audience tuned in to your message:
Relate your subject to your audience’s needs.
Anticipate and answer your audience’s questions.
Use clear, vivid language.
Explain the relationship between your subject and familiar ideas.
Ask for opinions or pause occasionally for questions or comments.
Illustrate your ideas with visuals.
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13. Composing Your Presentation
The close of a speech or presentation is critical for two reasons: first, audience members’ attention tends to peak at this point because they anticipate moving on to the next activity in their busy day; and second, audience members will leave with your final words ringing in their ears. Before closing your presentation, tell listeners that you are about to finish so that they will make one final effort to listen intently.
Restating Your Main Points. After announcing the close, repeat your main idea, emphasizing what you want your audience to do or to think, and stress the key motivating factor that will encourage them to respond that way. Reinforce your theme by restating your main supporting points.
Describing the Next Steps. Some presentations require the audience to reach a decision or an agreement. If you are not sure how your audience will respond, prepare two closes—one that acknowledges the agreement reached and one that accommodates the fact that the audience did not reach an agreement. If you expect any action to occur, be sure to explain who will be responsible.
Ending with Clarity and Confidence If you’ve been successful with the introduction and body of your presentation, your listeners now have the information they need, and they’re in the right frame of mind to put that information to good use. Now you’re ready to end on a strong note that confirms expectations about any actions or decisions that will follow the presentation—and to bolster the audience’s confidence in you and your message one final time.
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14. Enhancing Presentations
Visuals can improve the quality and impact of your oral presentation by creating interest, illustrating points that are difficult to explain in words alone, adding variety, and increasing the audience’s ability to learn and remember information.
You can select from a variety of visuals to enhance oral presentations, including old-school technologies such as overhead transparencies, chalkboards, whiteboards, and flipcharts—all of which have value in the right circumstances. However, the medium of choice for business is an electronic presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, or similar software.
When designing presentation slides, let accuracy and simplicity guide you. Doing so has several advantages. First, simple materials take less time to create than complex materials. Second, simple visuals reduce the chances of distraction and misinterpretation. Third, the more “bells and whistles” you have in your presentation, the more likely something will go wrong. In addition, make sure your visual style is appropriate for the subject and the setting.
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15. Choosing Slide Style Elements of Design Amount of Content
Number of Slides
Structured
Slides
Free-Form
Perhaps the most important design choice you face when creating slides is whether to use conventional structured slides or the looser, free-form slides that many presentation specialists now advocate. However, do not think that free-form designs are just random from one slide to the next. Effectively designed slides will always be unified by design elements such as color and font selections. Moreover, the complementary approach of pictures and words is a highlight of free-form design.
Because the amount of content varies so dramatically between the two design approaches, the number of slides in a presentation also varies dramatically. For instance, someone using structured slides might have 5 or 6 slides for a 20-minute presentation and spend 3 or 4 minutes on each one. In contrast, someone using free-form slides for the same presentation might have 60 or 80 slides or more and spend only 15 or 20 seconds on each one.
In the final analysis, both design strategies have advantages and disadvantages, and one or the other can be a better choice for specific situations.
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16. Structured Versus Free-Form Slides
Process
Memorable
Figure 14.5 Structured Versus Free-Form Slide Design
Compare the rigid, predictable design of the two slides in the top row with the more dynamic free-form
designs in the bottom row. Although the two free-form slides don’t follow the same design structure, they
are visually linked by color and font choices. (Note that Figure 14.5d is a humorous way of conveying the first
bullet point in Figure 14.5b.)
Project Updates
Routine Information
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17. Designing Effective Slides
Design around a key visual
Write readable content
Create charts and tables for slides
Select design elements
Add animation and multimedia
Despite complaints about “death by PowerPoint,” the problem is not with software itself (or with Apple Keynote or any other presentation program). It is just a tool and, like other tools, can be used well or used poorly. Unfortunately, lack of design awareness, inadequate training, schedule pressures, and the instinctive response of doing things the way they’ve always been done can lead to ineffective slides and lost opportunities to really connect with audiences.
With both structured and free-form design strategies, it is often helpful to structure specific slides around a key visual that helps organize and explain the points you are trying to make. For example, a pyramid suggests a hierarchical relationship, and a circular flow diagram emphasizes that the final stage in a process loops back to the beginning of the process. Figure 14.6 shows six of the many types of visual designs you can use to organize information on a slide. When designing your slides around a key visual, consider the following:
Group related points
Illustrate
Components of a whole
Linear process
Circular process
Hierarchy
Matrix
Effective text slides supplement your words and help the audience follow the flow of ideas. Use them to highlight key points, summarize and preview your message, signal major shifts in thought, illustrate concepts, or create interest in your spoken message. Additionally, charts and tables for presentations need to be simpler than visuals for printed documents. Detailed images that look fine on the printed page can be too dense and too complicated for presentations. Consider design elements, as you create slides, pay close attention to the interaction of color, background design, artwork, fonts, and type styles. Finally, when designing effective slides choose from the following categories for adding animation or multimedia: functional animation, transitions and builds, hyperlinks, and multimedia.
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18. Designing Effective Slides
Figure 14.6 Using a Key Visual to Organize Points on a Slide
Simple graphical elements such as these “SmartArt” images in Microsoft PowerPoint make it easy to organize
slide content using a key visual. Whether you’re trying to convey the relationship of ideas in a hierarchy, a
linear process, a circular process, or just about any other configuration, a key visual can work in tandem with
your written and spoken messages to help audiences get your message.
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19. Writing Readable Content
Figure 14.7 Writing Text for Slides
Effective text slides are clear, simple guides that help the audience understand and remember the speaker’s
message. Notice the progression toward simplicity in these slides: Figure 14.7a is a paragraph that would
distract the audience for an extended period of time. Figure 14.7b offers concise, readable bullets, although
too many slides in a row in this structured design would become tedious. Figure 14.7c distills the message
down to a single thought that is complete on its own but doesn’t convey all the information from the original
and would need embellishment from the speaker. Figure 14.7d pushes this to the extreme, with only the
core piece of the message to serve as an “exclamation point” for the spoken message. Figure 14.7c, and
especially Figure 14.7d, could be made even more powerful with a well-chosen visual that illustrates the idea
of following the flow.
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20. Completing Your Presentation
Complete your production efforts by finalizing your slides, creating handouts, choosing your presentation method, and practicing your delivery.
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21. Finalizing Your Slides
Electronic presentation software can help you throughout the editing and revision process. The slide sorter view lets you see some or all of the slides in your presentation on a single screen. Use this view to add and delete slides, reposition slides, and check slides for design consistency.
At this point, you have created the slides that will deliver the content of your presentation. You can enhance your presentation with a few additional slides that add “finish” and provide additional information to benefit your audience.
Title slides. Make a good first impression on your audience with one or two title slides, the equivalent of a report’s cover and title page.
Agenda and program details. These slides communicate both the agenda for your presentation and any additional information that your audience might need.
Navigation slides. To tell your audience where you’re going and where you’ve been, you can use a series of navigation slides based on your outline or agenda. As you complete each section, repeat the agenda slide but indicate which material has been covered and which section you are about to begin (see Figure 14.10). This sort of slide is sometimes referred to as a moving blueprint. As an alternative to the repeating agenda slide, you can insert a simple bumper slide at each major section break, announcing the title of the section you’re about to begin. Jerry Weissman, Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006), 162–163.
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22. Finalizing Your Slides
Figure 14.8 Navigation and Support Slides
You can use a variety of navigation and support slides to introduce yourself and your presentation, to let the
audience know what your presentation will cover, and to provide essential details.
Figure 14.9 Blueprint Slides
Here are two of the ways you can use a blueprint slide as a navigational aid to help your audience stay on
track with the presentation. Figure 14.9a visually “mutes” and checks off the sections of the presentation that
have already been covered. In contrast, Figure 14.8b uses a sliding highlight box to indicate the next section
to be covered.
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23. Designing Effective Visuals
Figure Designing Effective Visuals: Selected Slides
These slides, from a presentation that addresses a company’s high employee turnover rate, illustrate the wide
variety of design options you have for creating effective, appealing slides. (All the slides were created using
features in PowerPoint.)
Figure 14.9 Blueprint Slides
Here are two of the ways you can use a blueprint slide as a navigational aid to help your audience stay on
track with the presentation. Figure 14.9a visually “mutes” and checks off the sections of the presentation that
have already been covered. In contrast, Figure 14.8b uses a sliding highlight box to indicate the next section
to be covered.
Left: This stylized bar graph sends a
stark visual message about how bad
the company’s turnover really is.
Right: This simple visual highlights
the presenter’s spoken message about being careful to choose the right tasks to focus on and then
completing them quickly.
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24. Creating Effective Handouts
Handouts, any printed materials you give the audience to supplement your talk, should be considered an integral part of your presentation strategy. Handouts can include detailed charts and tables, case studies, research results, magazine articles, and anything else that supports the main idea of your presentation.
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25. Choosing Your Presentation Method
Memorizing
Impromptu
Speaking
Reading
From Notes
Subject Matter
Speaking Occasion
Purpose
Audience
Once you have written your presentation and created visuals, you are ready to begin practicing your delivery. You have a variety of delivery methods from which to choose:
Memorizing. Unless you are a trained actor, avoid memorizing your speech. In the best of circumstances you will probably sound stilted; in the worst, you might forget your lines. Besides, you will often need to address audience questions during your speech, so you must be flexible. However, memorizing a quotation, an opening paragraph, or a few concluding remarks can bolster your confidence and strengthen your delivery.
Reading. If you are delivering a technical or complex presentation, you may want to read it. However, unless you are required or expected to read your presentation verbatim, think twice. If all you are doing is reading, why not just write a report and let your audience read it themselves?
Speaking from notes. Making a presentation with the help of an outline, note cards, or visual aids is usually the most effective delivery mode. This approach gives you something to refer to and still allows for plenty of eye contact, interaction with the audience, and improvisation in response to audience feedback.
Impromptu speaking. From time to time, you may be called upon to give an impromptu, or unrehearsed, speech. Take five or ten seconds to identify the one key idea you want to share with the audience. If you absolutely cannot say something intelligent and effective on the subject at hand, it is usually better to explain that you cannot speak at the present time and ask for an opportunity to prepare some remarks for a later time or date.
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26. Practicing Your Delivery
Practice without slides
Present naturally
Track your time
Check equipment
Speak clearly
Anticipate questions
In addition to rehearsing your speaking material, you should practice all aspects of your presentation, from the way you plan to introduce important slides to handling product demonstrations and other activities. Many things can go wrong in a major presentation, including equipment glitches, confusing slides, and the unpleasant discovery that you are out of time but only halfway through your material. These are some of the reasons why experienced speakers always practice important presentations. A day or two before you are ready to step on stage for an important talk, make sure you can give a positive response to the following questions:
Can you present your material naturally, without reading your slides word for word?
Is the equipment working—and do you know how to work it?
Is your timing on track?
Can you easily pronounce all the words you plan to use?
Have you decided how you are going to introduce your slides?
Have you anticipated likely questions and objections?
Practicing will help to keep you on track during your presentation, while maintaining a conversational tone, and remaining confident and composed. With experience, you will get a feel for how much practice is enough in a given situation.
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27. Overcoming Anxiety Practice for success Know your subject
Avoid perfection focus
Visualize success
Remember to breathe
Take 3-second break
Do not panic
Be comfortable
Focus on the message
Focus on the audience
Maintain eye contact
Keep on going
Even polished speakers with years of experience feel some anxiety about getting up in front of an audience. The difference is that they know how to use this stage fright to their advantage. Here are some ways to control your nervous energy to become a more confident speaker:
Stop worrying about being perfect. Successful speakers focus on making an authentic
connection with their listeners, rather than on trying to deliver a note-perfect
presentation.
Practice. The more familiar you are with your material, the less panic you will feel. Whenever you can, record your presentations (both practice sessions and actual presentations), then listen and watch yourself in action.
Take a three-second break. If you sense that you’re starting to race, pause and arrange your notes or perform some other small task while taking several deep breaths. Then start again at your normal pace.
Visualize your success. Use the few minutes before you actually begin speaking to tell yourself that you are on and you are ready. Visualize mental images of yourself in front of the audience, feeling confident and prepared to handle any situation.
Remember to breathe. Tension can lead people to breathe in a rapid and shallow fashion, which can create a lightheaded feeling. Breathe slowly and deeply to maintain a sense of calm and confidence.
Be ready. Have your first sentence memorized and on the tip of your tongue.
Do not panic. If you sense that you are starting to race through your presentation—a natural response when you are nervous—stop for a second and arrange your notes or perform some other small task while taking several deep breaths. Then, start again at your normal pace.
Be comfortable. Dress appropriately for the situation but as comfortably as possible. Drink plenty of water before your presentation to ensure that your voice is well hydrated (bring a bottle of water with you, too).
Concentrate on your message and your audience, not on yourself. When you are busy thinking about your subject and observing your audience’s response, you tend to forget your fears.
Maintain eye contact with friendly audience members. Once your presentation is under way, maintain eye contact with your audience, shifting your gaze periodically around the room. Be sure to connect with individual audience members.
Keep going. Things usually get better as you move along, with each successful minute giving you more and more confidence.
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28. Responding to Questions
The question-and-answer period is one of the most important parts of an oral presentation. During this time, do the following:
Whether or not you can establish ground rules for the question-and-answer period depends on the audience and the situation. If you are presenting to a small group of upper managers or potential investors, for example, you will probably have no say in the matter. If you are presenting to your peers or a large public audience, establish some guidelines.
Do not assume that you can handle whatever comes up without some preparation. Learn about your audience and think through tough questions.
When people ask questions, pay attention to nonverbal signals to help determine what each person really means. Repeat the question to confirm your understanding, or ask for clarification. Then offer a simple, direct answer.
If you are asked a difficult or complex question, avoid the temptation to sidestep it without answering. If you do not know the answer, do not pretend that you do. Instead, offer to get a complete answer as soon as possible.
Be on guard for audience members who use questions to make impromptu speeches or to take control of your presentation. If a question ever puts you on the hot seat, respond honestly but keep your emotions under control.
When the time allotted for your presentation is up, prepare the audience for the end by saying, “Our time is almost up. Let’s have one more question.” After you have made your reply, summarize the main idea of the presentation and thank people for their attention. Conclude the way you opened: by looking around the room and making eye contact. Then, gather your notes and leave the podium, maintaining the same confident demeanor you have had from the beginning.
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29. Embracing the Backchannel
Many business presentations these days involve more than just the spoken conversation between the speaker and his or her audience. Using Twitter and other electronic media, audience members often carry on their own parallel communication during a presentation via the backchannel, which presentation expert Cliff Atkinson defines as “a line of communication created by people in an audience to connect with others inside or outside the room, with or without the knowledge of the speaker.” Cliff Atkinson, The Backchannel (Berkeley, Calif.: New Riders, 2010), 17.
Follow these tips to make the backchannel work for you:
Integrate social media into the presentation process. For example, you can set up a formal backchannel yourself using tools such as BackNoise ( create a website for the presentation so that people can access relevant resources during or after the presentation, create a Twitter hashtag that everyone can use when sending tweets, or display the Twitterstream during Q&A so that everyone can see the questions and comments on the backchannel.
Monitor and ask for feedback. Using a free service such as Tweetdeck, you can monitor in real time what the people in the audience are writing about.
Review comments to improve your presentation. After a presentation is over, review comments on audience members’ Twitter accounts and blogs to see how you can improve your content or your presentation habits.
Automatically tweet key points from your presentation while you speak. Add-ons for presentation software can send out prewritten tweets as you show specific slides during a presentation.
Establish expectations with the audience. Explain that you welcome audience participation, but to ensure a positive experience for everyone, ask that comments be civil, relevant, and productive.
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30. Presenting Online
In some companies, online presentations have already become a routine matter. In most cases, you will communicate through some combination of audio, video, and data presentations (for instance, PowerPoint slides). Your audience members will view your presentation either on their individual computer screens or via a projector in a conference room.
To ensure successful online presentations, regardless of the system you may be using, keep the following advice in mind:
Consider sending preview materials ahead of time. If your presentation covers complicated or unfamiliar material, consider sending a brief message ahead of time so that your audience can familiarize themselves with any important background information.
Keep your content—and your presentation of it—as simple as possible. Break complicated slides down into multiple slides if necessary and keep the direction of your discussion clear so that no one gets lost.
Ask for feedback frequently. You will not have as much of the visual feedback that alerts you when audience members are confused, so you will have to draw out feedback as you go.
Consider the viewing experience from the audience’s side. Will they be able to see what you think they can see?
Make sure your audience can receive the sort of content you intend to use. For instance, some corporate “firewalls” do not allow streaming media, so your intended audience may not be able to view your webcast.
Allow plenty of time for everyone to get connected and familiar with the screens they are viewing. If people need to download any software to participate, tell them ahead of time. That way, they will not waste precious meeting time trying to configure their computers.
Last but not least, do not get lost in the technology. Use these tools whenever they will help, but remember that the most important aspect of any presentation is getting the audience to receive, understand, and embrace your message.
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31. Summary of Objectives
This concludes the PowerPoint presentation on Chapter 14, “Designing and Delivering Oral and Online Presentations.“ During this presentation, we have accomplished the following learning objectives:
Highlighted the importance of presentations in your business career and explained how to adapt the planning step of the three-step process to presentations
Described the tasks involved in developing a presentation after completing the planning step
Described the six major design and writing tasks required to enhance your presentation with effective visuals
Outlined four major tasks involved in completing a presentation
Described four important aspects of delivering a presentation in today’s social media environment
For more information about these topics, refer to Chapter 14 in Excellence In Business Communication.
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32. Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall