WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, AND TO WHOM

          The preparation of any presentation should begin as soon as you are asked to make it.

When approached to give a talk, find out as much as you can about the sponsoring organization, the event itself, and the venue. Quite often the first approach to a potential speaker is through a third party; for example it might be someone who knows you personally, but really has nothing to do with the event. If the person who first contacts you isn’t in charge of the program, find out who is running the show and get in touch as soon as possible in order to obtain the information you need to properly prepare.

            Your first order of business is to be sure that you know enough about the suggested topic in order to be able to give an appropriate, informative and effective talk. To make this assessment you have to be absolutely clear on the organization’s expectations. Don’t leave any gray areas. Find out specifically what their expectations are, and be sure you have the necessary knowledge and experience to meet them. Sometimes you’ll be able to suggest a slightly different approach  that will result in a more comfortable talk for you to give and more useful information for the audience to receive. Suppose that you’re an architect and you’ve been asked to make a presentation to a group of design-and-build contractors on the subject, “Why You Should Engage an Architect.” This topic would require you to sound pretty self-serving and could antagonize some members of the audience. But if the topic is changed to “How an Architect Can Help You Please Your Client,” both problems would be solved.

            Get all the details about the venue where the event is being held. You need to find out exactly where you’re going to be giving the talk, which includes not just the location’s address, but which room you’re going to be in. You need to find out how big the room is and how it’s going to be set up. Find out if there will be a lectern, and get details about the sound system and available audio and visual equipment. Ask where you should park and whom you should look for when you arrive. Getting this information will ensure that you arrive in plenty of time and will reduce unpleasant surprises when you get there. I deliberately used the word “reduce” in the previous sentence because there often will be a surprise or two when you arrive to deliver your talk. If there is something wrong, don’t let it throw you; deal with it and get on with the task at hand, which is to give your talk in as effective a manner as possible.

            You should be clear as to the format. You need to know

1. Whether you are the only speaker
2. If there are going to be other speakers, you should find out their names, what their topics are, and how to get in touch with them
3. If it’s a panel discussion, how to get in touch with the moderator
4. Where you fit in the order of speakers
5. The time of day you are scheduled to speak
6. How much time you have been allotted
7. Whether there is going to be a question and answer period and what its format will be
8. Whether there will be media coverage and the format thereof

            Find out exactly what happens immediately before you speak and immediately after you finish. This information may affect your opening and closing remarks. For example, if you’re speaking right after someone who is going to be delivering a talk on a subject related to yours, you should be sure you’re present to hear that speech. This will allow you to ensure your opening provides an appropriate and smooth transition into your topic. If you’re speaking, say, just before a well-known expert on a particular topic, you might want to mention in your closing comments about how much you’re looking forward to hearing the next address.

            If you are going to be a member of a panel it is a good idea to get in touch with the moderator and the other speakers to ensure there isn’t undue duplication in your presentations. It’s worth reminding you here that even if there are three of you dealing with exactly the same topic (which is rare because each speaker on a panel is usually assigned a specific aspect of a broad topic to deal with), you shouldn’t worry. The audience wants to hear your opinions, conclusions, and recommendations resulting from your knowledge and experiences.

            But by far your most important task when asked to give a talk is to learn as much as possible about your audience. Different people have different expectations. They think and react differently. They respond to different “hot buttons”. Sometimes different people respond to the same things in different ways. What worked wonderfully well in one speaking situation may not do so well in the next. A talk on the taxation of capital gains given to a gathering of lawyers can appropriately focus on technical aspects of the law; but if your audience is made up of real estate agents you need to make your points in easily understood layperson’s terms. The real estate agents are not likely to be interested in the technical wording or the numbers of the sections, sub-sections, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs of the legislation. They’ll want to know what transactions are taxed, at what rates, and whether there are ways to eliminate or reduce the tax burden.

            So, how do you gain all this knowledge about your audience? Well, you ask questions and engage in research. You can talk to the organizers and to any members of the organization whom you may know personally. You can check the Internet. You can sometimes get the names of a couple of people who have previously spoken to the organization and chat with them to get a feel for their experiences. You need to find out what the people you’re going to be addressing are talking about these days. What are some of the local issues? All audiences have beliefs, biases, particular interests and views. Find out as much as you can about them.

            Audiences also have particular cultures. Service clubs usually want a fairly short, easy-to-understand luncheon address. Economic think tanks, on the other hand, expect their luncheon speakers to deliver a substantive message with wide and deep implications. “The Ten Most Common Personal Financial Planning Mistakes” might be a perfect topic for a Rotary Club luncheon, but an Economic Club audience would likely be much more interested in the economic growth outlook for the next year. Find out as much as you can about the audience’s culture.

            The size of your audience is important. You need a different approach when speaking to a thousand people than when you’re going to be addressing an audience of fifty. Five or ten is different still. The larger your audience the more structured your speech and the more formal your presentation should be. The smaller the group the less formal and structured you have to be. For example, it would be fine to get into a dialogue with members of an audience of ten; it would be disastrous to do so with an audience of hundreds. For large audiences you will definitely need a lectern and a microphone. For a very small group you could probably get away with sitting on a table holding your notes in your hand.

            You should try to get as much information about the audience as you can before you start to write your speech. If you can’t get everything you need right away, keep asking, right up until you are about to start speaking if necessary. You can usually find out some interesting things about your audience when you arrive at the venue; always arrive early, make yourself available to talk to people, and keep your eyes and ears open for any tidbit that you can use in your talk.

            You should always send the organizers the information you want used in your introduction. Don’t send your life history; they might choose the wrong parts of it  Just tell them what’s needed to show that you are knowledgeable about your subject, plus anything else that might be relevant to the particular audience. I’m a professional accountant. That fact, and my financial experience, would be important to include in my introduction if I was going to give that talk to the Rotary Club mentioned earlier about the ten most common personal financial planning mistakes. But my financial background wouldn’t be relevant if I was speaking on how to give an impromptu speech. In this case it would be my public speaking training, background and experience that should be highlighted in my introduction. As to information relevant to a particular audience, the fact that I have an Honorary Degree from the University of Prince Edward Island would be totally irrelevant to a New York audience, but should be included if I was giving a talk somewhere in Atlantic Canada.

 

TRUTH IS LIKE SURGERY

           People from every walk of life, including a long list of politicians and other public figures, have learned to their dismay that cover-ups are usually more damaging than the original transgressions. It’s always difficult to talk your way out of something that you behaved yourself into, so don’t even try. When caught out, tell the truth: walk in, plant your feet firmly, look the other person in the eye and tell it like it is.

             Truth is like surgery; it hurts at the time, but it cures in the long run. Lies sometimes seem to take care of the present; but it’s been proven time and time again that lies have no future. If you lie, the odds are overwhelming that you will be found out; and, as mentioned, people tend to react more negatively to being lied to than they would have reacted when learning of the original blunder. In addition, the stress of carrying the burden of a serious lie will negatively affect your peace of mind and might even eventually affect your physical well-being.

             Truth and honesty are necessary for any society to survive. If you’re unfailingly honest, at the very least you will know that there is one less deceiver in the world. Truth is never to be feared; in the long run even an embarrassing truth is better for all concerned than a smooth lie.

             Half truths can also be hazardous; there’s always the danger that you may pick the wrong half. For example, don’t fall into the trap of telling people only what they want to hear, tell them what they ought to hear; gently and diplomatically of course, but tell them. By telling them what they ought to hear, not just what will please them, you may save them from making wrong decisions or taking inappropriate actions. In the long run they will also respect you more.

             While I was still in grade school I was first exposed to a very practical reason to avoid lying, a reason that so many people encounter that it has become a bit of a cliché, but it’s a reason that’s still worth a reminder here. I was in class when, for the second time that week, one of my friends gave our teacher an obviously fabricated and very convoluted excuse for not having done his homework. And worse still, his second excuse also contradicted the equally convoluted and transparent one he had given earlier in the week. I was at his house the following Saturday when our teacher arrived to talk to his parents (an event that wasn’t extraordinary in the small village where we lived). I went outside to wait, and when my friend joined me later it was obvious that he had been severely busted. But his logic was, and still is, unassailable. “You know,” he said, “if I’m going to be telling lies I’m going to have to start writing them down.” Most of us simply don’t have good enough memories to rely on lies to get us out of trouble. In the total time spent dealing with the lies my friend could easily have done his homework. He also probably discovered that truth is usually shorter than fiction.

             Another lesson I learned early in my career is that it’s far better to fail with honour than to succeed by fraud. The company where I was working often had what were referred to as “competitions” for certain jobs. These competitions consisted of written tests which were part aptitude and part technical knowledge.

             One night there were a number of us working late, two of whom were going to be writing the test for a particular posting in a couple of days. Someone noticed that our supervisor, who had gone home earlier, had left a copy of the test on his desk and he pointed this out to the two aspiring applicants. One of the two refused to look at it, but the other studied it carefully. Predictably, the chap who studied the test scored very well and got the job. However, he didn’t keep it very long. Not only did it quickly become obvious that he wasn’t really qualified to hold the position, but the gap between how he did on the test and how he performed on the job was so great that his unauthorized preview of the test was eventually discovered and he was fired.

             There’s another important point to be made in this context. In addition to being brutally honest yourself, you should be wary of anyone who is willing to be dishonest on your behalf. I never again completely trusted the employee who pointed out that the test was on the supervisor’s desk. It’s likely that anyone who would cheat for you would cheat on you.

 

DELIVERING YOUR SPEECH

            Your reputation might entice bodies into the seats; but it will take an effective delivery to keep their minds in the room. Even if you’ve written the best speech ever, all can still be lost at the delivery stage.

            There are four forces at work during your delivery: your words, your voice, your face (particularly your eyes), and your body. They must all be consistent. Try looking in the mirror and saying “I love you” with a hateful, angry look on your face and you’ll get an idea of what I mean.

            Tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language are as important as your actual words. Some audiences will react more to your non-verbal signals than to your words. When your words, facial expressions, tone of voice and body language are not consistent, the audience is receiving a confusing and ineffective series of signals. Your believability suffers the most. The words should have been taken care of during the preparation stage, so we’ll deal here with the other three forces: voice, face and body.

            Always use a conversational tone. The secret to looking and sounding natural and confident is to be conversational. This does not mean speaking in a monotone. It does mean speaking with the same pace, timing, pauses, inflection and emphasis that you would use in an animated conversation with a bunch of friends around the dinner table. 

            Never slip into a monotone. Always be sure to emphasize what needs to be emphasized. To understand the importance of this point, repeat the following sentence six times, emphasizing a different word each time: I never said he stole money. The same six words will have six different meanings. If you have a microphone you don’t need to speak more loudly than normal; if you have to speak more loudly than normal then you should have a microphone.

             If you want the audience to enjoy themselves, you have to look like you’re enjoying yourself; and you can’t do that with scowls and frowns. Natural smiles, at the right places, are the smiles that work. Never stifle a smile or a chuckle unless it’s a smile or a chuckle at someone else’s expense. As with your tone of voice, try to use the same facial expressions you would if you were in conversation with a few good friends.

            You’ve got to care about your audience and you have to let them know that you care about them. One of the best ways to do this is with eye. Use your eyes like a rifle, not a shotgun. You should pick out a person and look right at him or her for a couple of seconds and then move on to another person in another part of the room. Be sure to include all areas of the room, but don’t get into a fixed pattern, such as left-front, left-back, right-back, right-front. Keep them guessing as to who will be your next target. This not only makes your eye contact more natural and effective but, because they don’t know who you’re going to look at next, it helps you to keep the entire audience’s attention.

            When it’s your turn to speak, approach the lectern confidently with your head held high and your shoulders back. When you get to the lectern, stand erect. Don’t slump. Don’t tense your shoulders. Don’t sway. Don’t rock. If you have any of these bad habits, work hard to break them.

            Over the many years that I’ve been a student and instructor of public speaking, the subject on which I’ve consistently seen and heard the worst advice given is “gestures” -- what you do with your hands and arms.

            The problem with gestures is not that people don’t know how to effectively use their hands and arms; the problem is that when people get in front of an audience, they tend to do things that prevent them from gesturing spontaneously and naturally.

            Perhaps the most egregious thing that speakers do is putting a hand in a pocket and rattling coins. Do this and in no time the audience will be thinking, “That’s a dime or two, perhaps a nickel, a couple of quarters….” instead of paying attention to what you’re saying.

Another gesture-destroying move is locking your hands behind your back; still another is to grip the lectern as if you, or it, is in danger of flying away.

            Here’s the best way to break these habits. When you’re starting to speak, or if you catch yourself falling into a bad habit during your presentation, rest your fingertips lightly on the lectern and then forget about them. Your natural instincts will take over and your gestures will become natural, spontaneous, and completely appropriate. Nearly everyone gestures naturally while conversing at a party with friends, and it need be no different in front of a group. Just let your arms and hands do what comes naturally.

            Audience participation is always effective, so if there’s an appropriate, non-disruptive way to engage them, do so. Remember you can have audience participation with large groups simply by asking rhetorical questions or by asking for a show of hands. Anything that gets an audience thinking along with you is beneficial in building a rapport with them.

            But never make fools of an audience. I once saw a speaker think he was getting effective audience participation by asking everyone to turn around and shake hands with the person behind them. Of course, this is impossible because everyone is turned around. All he succeeded in doing was to insult the audience.

            A delicate type of audience interaction arises when someone begins to heckle you. It’s difficult to generalize about heckling, but you rarely come out ahead by getting into a mud slinging match with a heckler. The audience will usually start out on your side; but if you begin to argue with the heckler your support will soon start to splinter. Be firm and courteous with hecklers, but keep control of the situation. A good technique is to suggest to the heckler that you’ll be happy to discuss matters one-on-one after your presentation. Then ignore him. If this doesn’t work you may have to resort to asking whoever is in charge of the event to have the person cautioned or, in an extreme case, removed.

            Never hesitate to let your emotions shine through. Good speakers bring personality, excitement and passion to what they’re saying. Audiences are interested in you as a person, so don’t be afraid to show them your heart as well as your face.

            Audiences appreciate and respect speakers who clearly believe in what they are saying. The audience may disagree with you, but they will not become hostile if they believe in your sincerity. If you consistently demonstrate to the audience that you feel strongly about what you’re saying you can pretty well stop worrying about any other speaking technique. Say what you know and show how you feel.

            Pauses are an essential and effective part of any speech. Utilize pauses, timing and pacing to make an impact. In addition to being a strong form of emphasis, pauses allow an audience to catch up with you while you catch your breath. Remember, though, there’s a difference between a pause and a silence. Pauses should never be more than a few seconds.

            Never talk over applause or laughter, always wait them out.

            When time is short, don’t talk faster; talk less. Edit as you go along. End with conviction and never introduce new material near the point where your talk should end.

            Using word whiskers (expressions such as “er”, “um”, “ah”, the ungrammatical use of the phrase “you know” and the word “like” or ending sentences with “OK?”)  sends a message that you either don’t know your material very well or that you are an inarticulate person, neither of which is a very favorable portrayal.

            Trite phrases (overused expressions which, although meaningful at one time, or in a particular context, have, through overuse, become meaningless generalizations) should also be avoided. They tend to be used by speakers who are too lazy to search for an accurate, descriptive word or phrase. Trite phrases are always boring and cheat the audience out of a clear explanation of the message you’re trying to convey.

            Examples of trite phrases currently popular with business executives and professionals who are too lazy to search for and develop the specific meanings they want to convey include

1. At the end of the day
2. Going forward
3. Best practices
4. Value added
5. Ramp up
6. Tone at the top
7. Thinking outside the box
8. Tipping point
9. In terms of
10. Ahead of (or behind) the curve

             If there is a set time for adjournment, end before that time, even if the master of ceremonies has told you that it’s okay to run a bit late.  If by the time you get up to speak there isn’t enough time left to adequately cover your material, make as many points as you can before the time set for adjournment, apologize on the organizer’s behalf for the fact that you don’t have enough time to deliver your whole speech, and sit down.

            Never tell the audience how much longer you’re going to speak or how much material you have left to deliver. You may not be able to live up to the promise, and you can depend that the audience will be holding you to it.

            With one exception which I’ll mention shortly, there are three reasons why you should not hand out copies of your speech beforehand.

1. People can read a lot faster than you can talk. If they have a copy of your presentation you can depend that they will read it, and they will not be reading it in synch with your speaking.
2. If they have copies of your speech you will be disinclined to depart from the written version, thereby eliminating the possibility of spontaneity or instant editing; both of which are potential advantages that you should not relinquish.
3. Your presentation was written to be heard, not read, so the audience can’t get the true meaning of your words simply by reading them. They need to have the advantage of your inflection, timing, emphasis, pauses, facial expressions, body language and gestures.

             There are only two situations in which you should read your speech verbatim. One is when your lawyer insists upon it. The other is when you may be getting TV coverage and the camera and sound crew will have already picked out the part they want to record, so you need to stick to the script. In this latter situation it’s okay to give the production crew a copy of your speech but, even though you’re going to be reading it, you should still not allow the general audience to have copies for the three reasons outlined above.

            When reading a speech it’s important to mark up the script with cues for pauses, pacing, and word emphasis. You need to pause frequently, especially after every sentence and every key point, and use tour pauses to make eye contact with your audience.

            Be well-groomed and dress just a little bit better than the occasion calls for, but always make sure that you feel comfortable (both physically and mentally) in what you’re wearing. If you’re going to err, err on the side of conservatism; but remember that audiences are more apt to accept and like speakers who look and dress much like they expected that they would.

            If you need glasses, wear them; but be sure they fit properly. Constantly having to push up your glasses is annoying and distracting for everybody. Jewelry can be distracting and noisy, often reflects light, and can be cumbersome, such as a bracelet hooking onto your notes and spilling them onto the floor.

            This is probably a good time to mention that you should never take off your watch and place it on the lectern in front of you. Many speakers think this sends a message that they care about finishing on time. The message it actually sends is that the speaker is unprepared, unrehearsed, and has no idea how long the speech is.

            I’m often asked, especially by senior executives and professionals, what their delivery “style” should be. The answer is “just be yourself”. Many executives and professionals are trained to think that they have to conform to an image based on a model of perfection. That’s inconsistent with being a good public speaker. The executives’ and professionals’ idea of perfect public speaking usually results in dull, uninspiring presentations. If they tried as hard to be human and ordinary as they do to be perfect, they’d be much more effective speakers. An audience will always prefer a possibly imperfect but interesting speaker to a technically perfect bore.

            Be consistently yourself, at your very best, in every situation. Be basically the same person whether you’re giving a speech or engaged in a conversation. Of course you may have to be a little more or a little less formal depending on the situation. For example, luncheon presentations tend to be relatively informal, whereas corporate annual meetings are usually highly structured, formal events.

            One “style” every speaker should aspire to is to be likeable. Here are some rules you should never break

1. Don’t whine and complain
2. Don’t dwell on trivialities
3. Don’t be self-centered
4. Don’t talk down to people
5. Don’t try to please everybody; you’ll likely end up pleasing no one.
6. Do become sincerely interested in other people.
7. Do be optimistic.
8. Do laugh easily, especially at yourself. If you goof, own up to it and continue on your      way; the audience will love you for it.

            If the audience likes you they’ll forgive almost anything you do wrong. If they don’t like you, you’ve got a very tough row to hoe no matter how well-prepared and technically perfect you may be.

MANAGING CHANGE

           A few years ago a memorable advertising campaign depicted well-groomed men sporting rather magnificent black eyes. The ads said that these men would “rather fight than switch” their brand of cigarettes. The ads were effective because that’s the way it is in real life. Getting people to change the way they do anything is much like asking them to throw away their favourite slippers for a new pair that you’ve chosen for them. Although you’re not apt to end up in a fist fight, any time you try to introduce change into people’s lives you can usually expect some degree of resistance; quite often you will encounter a great deal of resistance. It’s at this point that you have to remind yourself that evolutions are preferable to revolutions.

             Consider for a moment how difficult it is to change yourself and you’ll better understand how hard it is to get others to change their opinions or their ways of doing things. Yet, we often find ourselves in circumstances where it is necessary to effect changes in the way people think, in the way they do things, or in what they actually do. When you find yourself in the position of having to introduce change into people’s lives you will quickly discover that most folks are more comfortable with old problems than they are with new solutions.

             Because most people feel threatened to at least some degree by change, there is rarely any sure-fire way to make them like it. Usually the best you can hope to accomplish is to help them feel less threatened. One way to do this is to clearly demonstrate the advantages flowing from the change, especially any way in which they will be better off, either as individuals or as a group, as a result of the change. In fact, if you can’t clearly demonstrate the advantage of the change you want made, you should reconsider whether the change should even be suggested.

             People are also less likely to strenuously resist change if they know exactly what lies ahead and what the recognizable value is of each step along the way. So before you introduce a major change in what people do or how they do it, be sure you’ve worked out how to clearly communicate such details to everyone who is affected. Another thing to keep in mind is that big changes are usually better understood, and therefore more readily accepted, when presented in bite-size pieces.

             When introducing change to a group of people you must remember that the group is rarely homogeneous; any group will be made up of individuals who are probably motivated by different factors, so they won’t all be moved by the same arguments and persuasions. You get people to do what you want them to do by understanding what motivates them, not by threatening, bullying or tricking them. You need to find out what’s important to the people affected so that you can craft the change in a way that meets as many of their needs as possible.

             People who don’t care about a problem won’t care about its solution. So always begin by clearly explaining, in terms that are easily understood, the nature of the problem and the negative effects it’s having, or is going to have, on the people involved if changes aren’t made.

             The people who do a job are usually the most knowledgeable about it and are the best source of ideas for improving how it is done, so you should start with them when dealing with workplace change. Wise managers always consult their people about any prospective changes, asking for ideas and assistance. Ideas are like children; a person’s own are special. By incorporating the views of those who will be most affected by the change you will make them feel that at least part of the decision was theirs. As a result they will be more apt to co-operate.

             Anytime you’re trying to change the status quo, remember that somebody is responsible for it; and it might be the person you’re talking to. So try not to be too negative about the status quo, concentrate instead on the advantages of the proposed change.

             A common mistake made when managing change involving a large number of people is putting off executing the change while trying to convince everyone of it merits. As much as it would be nice to get everybody on side, trying to do so is usually futile. Don’t waste too much time working on the ten percent who will never, under any circumstances, accept the changes you’re trying to introduce. Concentrate instead on the ninety percent who can be convinced it’s a good idea.

             Change in response to success is a lot easier to effect than change in response to failure, so don’t wait until something goes drastically wrong before introducing your changes. The ideal scenario would be to plan changes well in advance of the time they need to be implemented and to introduce them gradually while things are still going well.

             You can’t usually improve everything all at once, but often a little change now can pave the way for a great change later on. For example, when personal computers first became readily available and affordable for most businesses, the organizations that experienced the least resistance to their introduction were the ones that introduced them gradually, starting with the departments where their benefits to the individuals using them would be most obvious. In the organizations that took this approach employees in the departments that didn’t yet have their computers were actually looking forward to the change, whereas the organizations that waited too long, and tried to make the change all at once, usually experienced a great deal of resistance and, in some cases, utter chaos.

             The adage that cautions “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is a good one. In your haste to deal with things that might go wrong, be sure you don’t tamper with things that are perfectly fine as they are. Old ways might be old for a very good reason – that they’re actually the best way to do things. Just because something is different doesn’t automatically mean that it’s better. On the other hand, to begin something new you sometimes have to end something old, even if it’s still working fine: replacing typewriters with word processors comes to mind as an example.

             When you are the person on the receiving end of a proposed new way of doing something, instead of thinking about all the reasons why it might not work, look for one good reason why it might. In changing circumstances the phrase “survival of the fittest” should itself be changed to “survival of the most adaptable.”

             Following are two more thoughts on managing change. First, the world needs smart young people with the imagination and the drive to want to turn everything upside down; but the world also needs old fogies to keep the young from turning upside down things that should remain right side up. And, finally, most changes are accomplished by compromise; a “my way or the highway” approach is rarely the best way to efficiently effect change.

 

USING VISUAL AIDS IN A PRESENTATION

            Visual aids available for use in a presentation range from a flip chart costing a few dollars to professional audio-visual productions costing tens of thousands of dollars.

            This article is designed to help you become a more dynamic speaker, not a graphic arts designer or a computer technician, so it will simply deal with some principles to keep in mind when deciding whether to use visual aids, how many to use, and how to use them effectively.

            Unless you’re in a teaching situation, or introducing a new and complex concept, you should eliminate as many visual aids as possible, leaving only those that clearly enhance the presentation without distracting the audience from paying attention to you and to what you are saying.

            Visual aids designed to make the speech more entertaining, such as the occasional cartoon or effective picture, are perfectly fine to use.  Remember, though, that if you’re using someone else’s material, such as a comic strip panel or picture, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder and credit given.

            Backdrop visual aids, such as a company logo or some other image relevant to the occasion, are always appropriate and you should never hesitate to use them.        

            However, you wouldn’t be too thrilled if there was a competing event going on while you were speaking. Over-produced visual aids, and especially sound and light shows, constitute a competing event. They are competition, right there on the same stage with you. You wouldn’t want another speaker on the podium talking at the same time as you, would you? Well, sophisticated audio-visuals can be just about the same thing, or maybe worse.

            Too much light, sound and imagery will reduce you to a faceless and forgettable technician, whereas you should want both you and your message to be memorable. You want the audience to go away talking about you and what you had to say; you don’t want them to be talking only about the great sound and light show.

            The reason you’re there in person, rather than having just sent a letter, memo, voice mail, or email to the attendees, is the inherent value of having the author of a message physically in front of the intended audience. It is your chance to show how well you know your subject. It is your chance to interact with the audience. Your being there gives the audience the opportunity to get a feel for you the person. They get to see the expression on your face, observe your body language and listen to the tone of your voice as your message is being delivered. The overuse of visual aids interferes with all of that. If the audience wanted to watch a video they probably would have done so at home or at the office. They came to see and hear you.

            When you rely too much on visual aids the audience will think that you don’t have the confidence, the ability or the conviction to deliver a powerful speech. The more visual aids you use, the less you come across as a leader, so the more senior and respected you are, the fewer visual aids you should use. The CEO should never use visual aids except as a backdrop, such as the company name and logo, or some other image relevant to the occasion. If there is content in the CEO’s speech that requires visual aids for clarification, someone else should give that part of the presentation. For example, budget details should be presented by the Chief Financial Officer, not by the Chief Executive Officer.

            Another reason to shy away from overly sophisticated audio-visuals is that additional complexity increases the odds of something going wrong. You’ve probably sat uncomfortably in an audience while the speaker fumbled with the “next” and “back” buttons, or continually interrupted the presentation to instruct another person operating the equipment to go to the next image, return to the last one, or skip a couple. It’s disconcerting to the audience, destroys the flow of the presentation, and diminishes the reputation of the speaker.

            Sophisticated, computer-driven technology is extremely useful during the preparation of your speech; but before using it during the delivery of your speech be sure that doing so will enhance your presentation rather than detract from it. Make sure that you clearly know how to operate the equipment or have a competent person assisting you; and always include the assistant and the technology in your rehearsals.

            Visual aids must not be your message; they should just support your message. The criteria visual aids must meet before being used are that they be relevant, informative, necessary, foolproof and worth the trouble and expense.

            Visual aids containing only words, unless they merely summarize what you’re saying in point form, are usually redundant and rarely add anything to a speech. People can read a lot faster than you can talk. If the visual aid just repeats what you’re saying, the audience will read what’s on the screen rather than listen to and look at you, missing your tone of voice, inflection, and body language, all of which may be extremely important to your credibility and to the persuasiveness of your message. Worse still, they will finish the thought before you do; then their minds will wander and you’ll completely lose their attention.

            Whenever possible it’s better to use pictures and graphs rather than words and numbers. An appropriate picture can, indeed, be worth a thousand words. Graphs are much more understandable than tables and rows or columns of numbers. A table with complex data confuses, but a simple graph clarifies.

            Eliminate all clutter. An audience will grasp and remember a clear, graphic presentation but will usually ignore and always quickly forget a complex table.

            Unless it’s a summary of points that you’ve covered, deal with just one main point per visual aid. Be sure the contents of the visual aid can be clearly seen by the entire audience. If you have to read to the audience what’s on a visual aid, then the visual aid is worse than useless.

            When using a visual aid, explain in advance the point that’s going to be illustrated on it, then show the visual aid as evidence to back up, not just repeat, what you said. Talking and showing a visual aid at the same time, unless it’s just a summary or a simple backdrop, is confusing, redundant, or both. Talk, then show, is the way to go.

            If the visual aid is not a summary or backdrop, don’t let the audience see it until you’ve introduced what’s going to be on it, and then get it out of the way as soon as you’ve dealt with it.

            Never use a visual aid solely for dramatic effect, it must also support or enhance your message. If you’re good and if you’ve prepared properly you don’t need gimmicks. People remember two types of speakers: the best they’ve heard and the worst they’ve heard. You’ll never make it into the first category if you overuse visual aids.

            Don’t hand out copies of your visual aids beforehand unless you want them used as a workbook in a teaching situation or when introducing a new and complex subject. As in the case of the audience reading wordy slides, the problem with the audience having copies of your visual aids is that they will start flipping through the deck and examining the copies rather than listening to and watching you. They’ll no longer be paying attention to the pace, tone and continuity of your presentation; you’ll have lost their attention and a lot of the effectiveness of your talk will have evaporated.

            Finally, never speak to the audience while you’ve turned to look at your visual aid. If you have to look at the visual aid for some reason, stop talking. Always talk to the audience, never to the visual aid.