How to effectively communicate your ideas in a public forum

Target audience: Nonprofits, social change organizations, public speakers, educators.

We’re a month away from the 5th Annual SNCR Research Symposium, Awards & Anniversary Gala, which will take place Nov. 4-5 at Stanford University.

The nonprofit Society for New Communication Research holds annual conferences in Boston and Northern California to advance social media research and training. Over the years, the organization’s members have developed a series of best practices for media professionals.

Short but sweet: Here are SNCR’s best practices for giving a public presentation (including PowerPoint and Keynote slide shows):

Tips for public presentations

• Keep the background simple to enhance readability
• Always include at least one slide on your research methodology, i.e., quantitative or qualitative, sample size, error ratio, etc.
• Be clear about your sample and whether or not the results are able to be generalized
• Clearly title slides on methodology, sample, findings and conclusion

General purpose

• Slides should not serve as note cards you read
• Slides should show highlights of your presentation with you filling in the rest

Bullets and numbers

• Keep bullets simple and avoid too many on one slide
• Do not use more than one additional set of indented bullets
• When conveying rank or order, use numbers instead of bullets

Fonts, colors and graphics

• Use easy-to-read and professional fonts like Helvetica or Times New Roman
• Do not use all caps or all bold
• Using italics or underlining may cut off letters or be hard to read
• Use a strong contrast between slide background and font color
• Individual words can be emphasized in a contrasting color
• Try to limit your color palette to two to three colors

Final tips

• Use a variety of figures, charts, photographs throughout your presentation
• Try to have a visual break with a change in format at least every sixth slide
• Limit your graphics to one per slide whenever possible

Disclosure: I’m a senior fellow with SNCR.

The post Best practices for public presentations appeared first on Socialbrite.

Improving your presentation skills from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

If you give presentations or speeches in public — ranging from a nonprofit workshop panel to a keynote about a social cause — chances are that you could benefit from sharpening your presentation skills.

I met Danielle Daly, co-founder of Rexi Media, at Blogworld Expo last month and was immediately impressed with how she and the Rexi Media team are helping to enhance the communication and presentation skills of executives and managers at major businesses and smaller organizations. In this 6-minute video interview, Danielle discusses 5 ways to make your presentation skills more effective.

A couple of days ago Rexi Media released an update to its already popular iPhone app, Presenter Pro, which lets you bone up on your presentation skills during your spare time (cost: $1.99). Presenter Pro focuses on 5 areas for enhancing presentation skills:

1) Body language: This covers areas such as effective gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, cultural gestures, use of passion, visualization, descriptive gestures, and others.

2) Vocal variety: How to add interest to your speaking style, how to sound more confident, how to add ingredients such as articulation, inflection, rate, pauses, changes in inflection and volume, and so on.

3) Structure: How to plan and structure your talk, how to hook listeners with an effective opening, how to manage time and enlist participation, how to end on a high note.

4) Visuals: How to think in pictures, how to marshal facts visually, how to use visual aids, use of color, balance and contrast, use of repetition, and so on.

5) The words you use: Think carefully about the contents of your talk — be human and accessible, know your stuff, relate real experiences, be persuasive, be economical and descriptive, avoid condescension and apologies.

Danielle emphasizes the importance of a strong beginning. “In the first 30 seconds of any presentation, people decide whether they’re going to tune you out,” she says. “It’s not about you, it’s about the audience,” and all too often presenters start out weakly by talking about themselves.

Watch, embed or download the video on Vimeo

Rexi Media coaches on the delivery of presentations but also coaches on how to make the content of your presentation more effective. The Bay Area-based firm typically works with large companies, helping managers in large sales and service business divisions with an on-site visit followed by coaching them on virtual presentations and finally offering guidance through its mobile app, Presenter Pro.

Related

• Presentation Secrets for Social Communicators (chrisbrogan.com)

• Own the Crowd With Better Speaking (chrisbrogan.com)

• A Guide to Public Speaking (ismckenzie.com)

• Two important speaking tips (chrisbrogan.com)

• The 3 Keys to Good Public Speaking (CenterNetworks)

• How to Give a Great Speech, Part 1: Preparation (lifehack.org)

• More effective presentations (Ontech)

Cross-posted to Socialmedia.biz.

The post How to turbo-charge your presentation appeared first on Socialbrite.