Intro to Presentation Skills Talk

On the Wednesday during the week everyone was in Berlin, we had the chance to attend a very useful talk, looking to develop our presentation skills, very relative for the current module.

Presenting and pitching are normal parts of life for a creative. The workshop aimed to break down presentations to the basic element. To highlight the pitfalls to avoid, helping us to understand how to prepare, how to better understand and engage with your audience, and how to overcome nerves to ensure that you get the key points across.

The workshop was delivered by Rick Ferguson - a professional actor and NLP practitioner and trainer. 

One of the initial openers to his talk encouraged us to all begin by thinking about how we should NEVER forget all of our own individual creativity and personality. That is a fundamental approach to any presentation! He broke down his talk into 3 bite sized sections for us to take in 

1. Behaviour during your presentation

2. Structure of your presentation

3. Content of your presentation

Different types of thinking

• Intuitive - involuntary, second nature
• Logical - semantic

Why do I want to be good at presenting?

- I want to make my work / projects / concepts / ideas stand out and be easily understandable to a room full of creatives

1. Behaviour

• The way we speak - 38%
• Body Language - 55%
• The actual content - 7%

The percentages show the proven actual impact each element of a presentation has

- Can't neglect how I'm going to approach/communicate my content.

How to engage

• The speed you talk - emphasis w/ pauses
• Volume - use as a focus device
• Pitch - to pose a question or emphasise words

• Avoid 'crutch' words like - 'erms' and 'errs' - pause instead, more dramatic and engaging
• Appropriate eye contact - slightly longer connection, then move on - invokes feeling 
• Beware of unconscious tics/movements - be aware of gestures e.g. leaning, foot positions - don't create something to distract unintentionally 
• Make your movements support what you're saying - in-sync, non distracting

2. Structure

• Bookending - refer to something at the start and use it to summarise on at the end
• Personal annecdotes - gives that more personal feeling, approachable, relatability
• Power of 3 - we tend to forget more than 3, its punchier. - Provides a clarity and structure to what we are communicating.

Overall, I did find this talk very engaging and it really did help me to return to the basics of a presentation and learn how to build it from the ground up, remembering all necessary considerations for myself and the audience.