Most of us are experienced at communication through talking. We do it daily.  But  when  faced  with a formal  situation  - whether it be addressing  the Labour  Court,  the  Workplace Relations Commission (W.R.C.), top management, a team briefing or prospective clients, an  in-house  training  course or a staff retirement party  -  many of us freeze up, fumble with our notes and  visual  aids and  ‘pass  the  buck’ to a  colleague! In the process, we are losing another valuable opportunity to sell ourselves and our message.

Whether it be in human resource management activities or elsewhere, the real issue here is that – as businessman Henry Ford explained: ‘The greatest secret of success is how results gravitate toward the person who can communicate ideas persuasively’. It is vitally important therefore that we know how to present ourselves, our material and our case. Ultimately, it may prove the difference between a favourable and unfavourable court judgement or getting staff onside vis-à-vis the organisation’s new rationalisation programme!

It’s true that even the best presenters have to contend with nerves, sweaty palms, ‘dead laptops’, faulty projectors, trailing wires and occasionally, the unreceptive audience.  So why do it?  The answer is simple: the gain is worth the pain.  A good presentation is a very powerful way of persuading, informing and entertaining in a way that no other medium matches. Of course, it may also be an employee consultation\communication legal obligation, arising under redundancy, transfer of undertakings or the 2006 Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act, or simply as part of the ongoing industrial relations process. So it’s important to get it right.

Perfect presentations are based upon three key ingredients:  Preparing Your Material, Yourself and for your Audience.

1. Prepare Your Material

Preparation is the key. One needs plenty of time to prepare properly. Firstly, decide on the objective: What do you want to achieve? Do you want the judge or audience to believe your version of events? Do you want staff to buy into the change plan? That is, consider what it is you want the Court’s chairman or the W.R.C.’s Adjudication Officer or your audience to know or think at the end of your presentation. This end point may well be your crucial starting point.

Now you have to ‘brainstorm’ - that is, consider all the points to include in your presentation or submission. This is made so much easier nowadays via the search facilities on the internet (e.g. Legal Island’s database, the W.R.C.’s inventory of case judgements). The on-line library facilities and texts at most educational and professional institutes also make extensive data blocs immediately accessible. Don’t worry if you have too much material – but don’t try to use it all in the presentation.  What you exclude or keep in reserve now may ‘save your bacon’ at ‘Question Time’, when the judge or sceptical employees go for the jugular, trying to expose the limitations of your case! As four terms American President Franklin D. Roosevelt put it: ‘Be sincere, be brief, be seated’! What’s kept in reserve may eventually make the difference between success and failure.

Having amassed the material it’s time to structure it. List all the main blocks of information on a single sheet, reflect on them and you’ll soon find that a logical structure starts to emerge.

For example, if you’re trying to persuade the Labour Court’s chair to give you a favourable decision or your employee audience to agree to some unwelcome change, it may be appropriate to start by defining the problems faced by the organisation. Then show that the various solutions were evaluated, propose the best solution vis-à-vis case precedent\best practice, anticipate likely objections, take questions and then wait for the response or decision. By having a structure, your presentation is now like a story, with a definite and logically linked BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END.

If you don’t have a structure your audience may agree that: ‘A presenter who is going nowhere normally gets there’! So put the listeners in the picture at the very outset. As the saying goes, you can:

• Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em.
• Tell ‘em,
• Then tell ‘em what you’ve told ‘em!

Depending on the context, the use of audio-visual aids may be appropriate and can boost a presentation’s impact.  But remember, they are a just a means to an end.  Unless your presentation meets its objective, has good strong content and is structured appropriately, no audio-visual aid in the world will help. In fact, if you’re not completely on top of these aids, they may well get on top of you and destroy the presentation! So whether it be visual aids or content, the ‘if in doubt leave it out’ maxim applies.

How will the presentation start? The shuffle of papers, the dried-up marker, the frantic search for the power switch and the nervous giggle as your notes fall to the floor will all be part of the show if you’re not careful. The opening words are the most important. So your first task is to get the audience’s attention with a good catchy opening. That is, hook them in with a bait. Imagine that they’re all holding television remote controls. If you don’t grab their attention from the very beginning you’ve lost them to another channel!  People buy people first. That first impression, as you stand up and present yourself in front of the audience, will be created by your visual appearance, including what you wear. Smart speakers pause, breathe and cast an eye over the audience with a gentle smile before swinging into it.

2. Prepare Yourself

Surveys about human fear reveal that public speaking tops the list. The fear of standing up in front of a group and talking is so great that we fear it even more than death! In the adversarial context of some Human Resource type scenarios, this is most understandable. However, as Nelson Mandela puts it: ‘The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear’.

Confidence is built by good research and preparation, practice, arriving on time and doing a recce on or sorting out the venue. If you feel well prepared and that you look good, confidence in the delivery will be enhanced. Don’t worry about feeling nervous, but - paradoxically - quite the opposite!  You should be worried if you don’t feel nervous.  As Mark Twain put it: ‘There are only two types of speakers in the world: the nervous and the liars’!

Having rigorously prepared and structured the material, it’s now important to ‘rehearse, rehearse, rehearse’. Getting colleagues, family and friends to give feedback on ‘dry-runs’ is an ideal way of mastering the nerves and sorting the gremlins. And if they aren’t available, record yourself on the mobile phone, always asking (during playback): What can I do to make it more effective?

3. Prepare for Your Audience

Presenters are judged by the response of their audience. Yet many presenters fail to ‘connect’ with them. If you do the job well, the judgement, employee engagement or applause and follow-on impact should be generous. So do your homework. Who are your audience?  What positions do they hold? What are their backgrounds?  What influence do they have?  What will influence them?  What do they know about you and your subject - what do they need to know?  What do they expect to get from your presentation?  What has their reaction been to similar scenarios in the past? What threats and opportunities do they face? What is their normal everyday language? How can you help them make the right decision?

Furthermore, peppering the presentation with true stories, case precedents, anecdotes and analogies will help make it persuasive and bring it to life... and help keep the audience awake! Good speakers are genuinely excited and put their message across so well that they really seem to believe in what they are saying. If you’re not all that enthusiastic about what you have to say, why should your audience be? That is, ‘fake it ‘til you make it’!

Watch your body language. For example, speakers who synchronise their hand movements with their words communicate more effectively. Try varying your voice impact, via pace, pitch, emphasis and even the use of silence. Surprisingly ‘silence’ can have a great effect when used properly. So be prepared to ‘pause until it hurts’.  When it precedes or succeeds a key point or a question put to your audience, it will have maximum effect. Experienced presenters often prefer to take questions during their talk.  This maximises audience participation.  But if the presentation is on a controversial issue (e.g. cutbacks) or early days for you, leave them until the end - but let your audience know when they can ask them.

Of course, being a powerful presenter is about being yourself and developing your own personal style. However, these guidelines should serve to embellish that style, helping you to make your point, secure the right outcome or judgement and ultimately do the business!

Effective Presentations Checklist - 10 Key Points

1. Successful presentations are based on you taking control of your: material, self and audience.
2. Prepare … and then rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!
3. Know your objective, brainstorm for ideas (via the internet and relevant databases), devise a structure and get the opening right. Golden Rule: If in doubt, leave it out.
4. Double check the structure to ensure the opening, key areas and conclusion meet the presentation’s objective.
5. Take control of yourself, by keeping the nerves in check, getting feedback on your body language and rehearsing frequently.
6. Consider and prepare for your audience’s expectations and reactions: what do they know already? need to know? want to know?
7. Consider your audience’s backgrounds: what are their interests? common language? Can you ‘grab’ their attention with key precedents, anecdotes, analogies and\or examples?
8. Can your delivery be enhanced by varying your voice’s volume, emphasis, pace or by pausing, projection and\or repetition?
9. See questions as a chance to involve people – not a threat. Decide whether you’ll take them during or at the end of your presentation.
10. Double check the visual aids, which must be big, bold and brilliant!