eBook Guide Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next ......presenter. It’s about your audience. That’s why we don’t just show you how to do it or what to do. We tell you WHY

Presto eBook Guide

Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next Presentation

With: Jason Teteak

This book is copyright 2015 with all rights reserved. It is illegal to copy, distribute, or create derivative works from this book in whole or in part or to contribute to the copying, distribution, or creating of derivative works of this book. You understand that the information contained on this page and in this book is an opinion. You

are responsible for your own behavior, and none of this book is to be considered legal advice.”

©2015 All rights reserved. – Presto “Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next Presentation”

0•2 Presto: Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next Presentation

Presto eBook Guide Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next Presentation

Presto eBook Guide 4

What Is Rule the Room Public Speaking? 4

Why Rule the Room Public Speaking? 6

How Is Presto Different? 7

What Will You Get with Presto? 10

By the End of This Program, You Will Be Able to… 11

Chapter 1: Introduction 13

What Makes a Great Presentation 13

Presentation Essentials 14

The Nuts and Bolts of a Presentation 16

Chapter 2: Prepare Well 17

Use Hooks 17

Practice for “Ninety-Ten” 18

Chapter 3: Open Convincingly 19

The Classic Rule of Presenting 19

Build Credibility 20

Chapter 4: Speak Effectively 21

Be Careful with Language 21

Don’t Sadden and Don’t Offend 22

Master Your Tone 23

Chapter 5: Make It Enjoyable 24

Use Humor 24

Tell a Story 25

Answer Questions 26

Chapter 6: Add Visual Variety 28

Use Slides that Focus on Them 29 ©2015 All rights reserved. – Presto “Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next Presentation


Demo Effectively 29

Chapter 7: Present With Your Body 31

Facial Expressions 31

Body Language 32

Chapter 8: Close To Applause 33

End on Time 33

Answer Questions During Closing 34

Afterword 36

About Rule the Room Public Speaking 37

©2015 All rights reserved. – Presto “Get the Instant Wow-Factor for your Next Presentation”


Presto eBook Guide This ebook and video program will show you immediate techniques you can use to nail your next big presentation. In this ebook, along with the one hour video, you will learn how to get the instant "Wow!" factor for YOUR next presentation - and you don't need any special talent to do it.

What Is Rule the Room Public Speaking?

Rule the Room Public Speaking is a leading provider of communication solutions to people and organizations everywhere. In every enterprise and all walks of life, communication skills are critical. Your success depends on your ability to persuade, inspire, teach, and motivate others.

Our belief is that good communicators are not born; they’re made. Everyone has the capacity to be a great public speaker when taught the necessary skills. Rule the Room can teach you those skills, which can be applied in every situation, from giving presentations to running a meeting, handling confrontation, and networking with clients.

We offer four categories of services: tailored on-site training for corporate and academic clients, licensed online video training, public workshops, and executive coaching. Our company works with everyone from novices to seasoned presenters. We provide the gold standard of communication curriculum for elite companies and institutions worldwide, and we specialize in developing appropriate mentoring training for the current and future leaders at your organization to prepare them to Rule the Room.

Create is one of over two dozen programs that will help you take your presentation skills to the next level. A partial list of our programs is below. For a complete list and more information, visit www.ruletheroom.com.

Foundation Presentation Programs

• eBook: A Unique, Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Making a Successful Presentation

• Presto: Public Speaking and Presentations Pro 101: For Beginners Only! • Archetype: Discover Your Presentation Personality • Calm: Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking • Create: Presentation Creation Bootcamp: Hands-On Presentation Content

Creation Skills • Convey: Presentation Deliver Bootcamp: Handle-On Presentation

Delivery Skills

©2015 All rights reserved. – Presto “Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next Presentation


• Captain: Presentation Management Bootcamp: Hands-On Presentation Audience Management

Money Making Presentations and Pitches

• Advantage: Deliver Money-Making Presentations: Put Power in Your Pitch

• Captivate: Create a Money-Making Presentation: The Secret Pitch • Webcast: Deliver Money-Making Webinars: Perfect Your Online Pitch • Entrepreneur: How to Connect with Your Customers • Pitch: How to Perfect Your Pitch • Video: Record a Money-Making Video • Opener: Deliver a Killer Presentation Opener • Five: Give a Killer Five Minute Presentation • Demo: Entice Your Audience with Your Demo • Network: Use Small Talk to Get Connected • Interview: Ace Your Job Interview

Professional Development Presentation Programs

• Administrator: Give a Seamless Administrative Presentation • Conference Call: Conduct Business Over the Phone • Dazzle: Public Speaking and Presentations Pro: No Beginners Allowed! • Meeting: The Art and Science of Meeting that Motivate • Eloquence: Convince with Your Voice • Serenity: Handle Challenging People: Stay in Control with No Fear! • Boomerang: Answer Questions with Ease • Validate: Deliver Not So Great News • Maintain: Keep the Attention of Your Audience • Clone: Learn to Facilitate Presentation Bootcamp at Your Site • Expression: The Art of Body Language • Respect: Become a True Leader


http://ruletheroom.com/program/coliseum/


Why Rule the Room Public Speaking?

Too many presentations are boring, with very little retention, and too many presenters either don’t know it or don’t know how to fix it. Their audience knows it and is suffering because of it, sitting through presentations that don’t engage, challenge or take them to the next level. Our mission is to change that. Rule the Room Public Speaking helps you increase retention, decrease presentation creation, delivery and management headaches and have more fun doing it. There are three key reasons why Rule the Room Public Speaking is different:

1. You’ll learn WHY it works. Speaking is not just about you, the presenter. It’s about your audience. That’s why we don’t just show you how to do it or what to do. We tell you WHY it works so you can learn to “fish” on your own and help your audience do the same.

2. You’ll learn in YOUR unique presentation style: Too many presenters are being fake and un-genuine in front of their audience. You need to be you in front of your audience, not somebody else.

a. Presentation personality assessment. We all communicate differently. That’s why every lesson is taught with four unique presentation styles (fascinator, performer, inspirer, and energizer) to help you know exactly how to present to your audience by being yourself.

b. Learning style analysis. We all learn differently. That’s why every lesson is taught with four unique learning styles (step, research, create, talk) you can use to get your message across to every type of learner in the room.

3. You’ll be able to APPLY practical techniques right away. Information is not instruction. This training actually makes sense. World-renowned presenter and trainer, Jason Teteak, is able to decode the magic that happens when top communicators are presenting to their audience. He then bottles up the secret sauce and presents it to you so you can easily understand how to use it in your own style and apply it to any situation.



How Is Presto Different?

In more than twenty years of working with people in the corporate and academic worlds, I have seen them struggle with many types of presentation issues. If you are taking this program, you can probably relate to problems such as the following.

I have a deep-seated fear of being in front of a large group of people and being publicly humiliated. And I don’t know how to deal with issues that aren’t conscious. My heart starts beating rapidly, my voice quivers, my palms sweat, and I forget what I’m going to say.

I need to make a good impression quickly, impress the audience, and lay a foundation for them to look at me as a leader. I want them to feel engaged, not steamrollered.

Being able to sell someone on my ideas is a huge challenge. My company has great potential, but I’m having trouble creating a presentation that makes people clearly understand how it will benefit them.

The major driver for me is respect. I want to know how to use communication skills to generate a sense of authority, help me lead a company, and teach my employees the right principles.

I feel so nervous about losing credibility or failing to get my audience to understand me. I worry I won’t know the answers; that I’ll look foolish, awkward, or uncomfortable; and, yes, that no one will like me.

Though I’ve given several hundred presentations to prospective customers and I know they need my services, many times they don’t pull the trigger. How can I get them to act?

Keeping some topics interesting is a real challenge. In other cases, the discussions often become heated and difficult to control. I want advice for dealing with the spectrum—how to fire up an audience that isn’t engaged and how to cool them down when they’re squabbling.

I want to build a brand by speaking at webinars. How can I use just my voice to get people to buy in to what I’m saying?

I love to teach. I would love to travel and motivate large audiences to respond to what I’m telling them. I don’t know how.

I am always impressed when presenters come into the room and project confidence from the moment they appear. If it’s possible, I want to learn how to look confident.



Our team needs to get better at proving we’re a credible and reliable resource that others should partner with. What can we do that will create this impression?

I worry about looking like a deer in the headlights when I get questions that I can’t answer or must deflect because they‘re preventing me from putting across my message.

My problem: coming into a classroom where scores of students are surfing their laptops and cell phones, calling for their attention, and then keeping it while I have to deliver a fire hose of information for a solid hour. Help!

I have responded to countless requests like these. Many of them have come from individuals who have achieved tremendous success yet still had problems getting in front of a group of people and persuading, motivating, teaching, or inspiring so effectively that they would actually change behavior.

I developed Rule the Room Public Speaking to solve their problems. I can solve yours, too.

The immediately actionable advice I give you will help you not only in giving presentations but also in your everyday life. The inner confidence you develop when you become a successful presenter, when you know you can stand up in front of any number of people and hold their attention, gain their respect, earn their applause, and get a response, will be something you carry with you everywhere.

I have given thousands of presentations and appeared before more than one hundred thousand people. I have also worked with hundreds of private clients, observing them, writing up to five thousand words of notes, and giving them detailed analyses and specific advice. And I have studied the presentations of the world’s best speakers—including politicians, executives, business leaders, and teachers—to see what I could learn from them. The product of all this observation and experience is contained in this book.

Originally, I was trained to be a teacher. I was taught calculus so I could teach math and guided through Shakespeare so I could teach English. But nobody ever taught me presentation skills—the qualities that make the difference between merely speaking to an audience and actually being able to reach that audience.

After a nightmare teaching experience early in my career, I realized that I wouldn’t be successful unless I worked on my presentation and communication skills. I vowed to do that, no matter how much effort it took.

I can’t tell you how much I underestimated the work and resources I would need. I spent hours attending workshops, reading books, and even looking back through all of the materials I studied to get my education degrees. But the theories and



information I found didn’t give me the useful, specific advice I wanted. I decided to change my approach, to go out into the “real world” to see what I could learn. I joined a large software company and I began training trainers, the people who would work with our customers to show them how to use the software we sold.

I soon realized the trainers needed help in the very same areas that had been missing from my studies as a teacher. To get results from your audience—to actually change their behavior—you need to learn such things as how to make your material enticing, overcome your nervousness, inspire confidence and credibility, and even make your presentation entertaining.

I continued to try to seek help in books, but did not get the solutions I wanted. Even if their suggestions were sensible, none told me how to implement them: What I found was only theoretical fluff. I began to work on coming up with my own ideas for meeting the challenges of presenting and how to transfer those skills. My goal was to give people practical and actionable suggestions.

When I began to teach my ideas in my sessions, I started to get fantastic evaluations. So I proposed that the company put into effect a Trainer Education Plan I developed that I thought would help all its trainers get good evaluations. It became one of the company’s most successful internal training procedures.

Eventually people wanted to use a similar procedure for other departments. I myself used it to work with many different kinds of employees and even end users, and I varied it to suit people with many different kinds of needs: HR people, technical professionals, project managers, executives, department chairs, financial professionals, sales professionals, physicians, nurses, therapists, pharmacists, and academic faculty. All of them were tremendously enthusiastic about what they learned from my training.

In response to many requests, I became a communications consultant to other companies, educational institutions, and private clients. I developed many programs to deal with specific presentation issues. This comprehensive manual contains key material from all of them.

I have helped thousands of business and academic leaders improve their skills and techniques with great success. This program is a distillation of what I teach them. I am certain that what worked for them will work for you, too.



What Will You Get with Presto?

You’re about to learn how to create and deliver an amazing presentation capable of actually changing people’s behavior. I spent several years of my life learning the

things that I teach in this book, and I have personally tested and implemented all of the techniques in my own presentations hundreds of times.

This book is designed to give the “feel” of a live presentation, because I strongly believe in modeling. It’s not enough to just tell you what to do, so no matter what I teach, I always model EVERYTHING that I suggest you do. This entire book is the written likeness of a presentation that I have given countless times.

To get the most out of this book, be sure to mark the areas that provide the techniques that you need to improve the most during your presentations. You can practice them and then implement them as you learn them and master them.

Many presenters read this book and assume they already do all of these techniques because they say they’ve “seen it all before”.

Make sure you don’t fall victim to that way of thinking.

You can only master them by DOING them yourself. Continue to read and practice these methods until you feel comfortable enough to perform them flawlessly. Once you think you have them mastered, make a video recording of yourself delivering your presentation. You may be surprised how much you can learn by watching yourself and then applying what you’ve learned.

This program offers specific tools and practical guidance, not theoretical fluff. Among the unique concepts in this program are:

• The circle of knowledge, an exercise that will guarantee you’re telling your students exactly what they want to know.

• Agree and see if you’re right, a never-fail technique to repeatedly engage and re-engage your students.

• The blueprint, a tool to make sure you’ll deliver a flawless training without relying on the script.

• Presentation personality style assessment, an analysis to help you know exactly how to capture your students by being yourself.

• Learning style analysis, insights that you can use to get your message across to every type of learner in the room.

Presto is a powerful and easy method to learn how to get the wow factor for your next presentation You’ll learn how to give an amazing presentation including exactly how to do each of the following:



1. Prepare for your presentation and confidently go on stage

2. Captivate your audience from the moment you start speaking

3. Master your tone of voice to keep your audience engaged

4. Use visuals to make complex ideas clearer and more memorable

5. Motivate, teach and inspire action with your message

6. Use body language and facial expressions to influence and persuade your audience

7. Close your session so everyone feels like they got exactly what they wanted

By the End of This Program, You Will Be Able to…

Prepare

Create a snapshot script

Focus on the audience

Handle your nerves

Open Well

Hook your audience

Deliver what they want

Get them to trust you

Speak Well

Be careful with language

Find your voice

Master your tone ©2015 All rights reserved. – Presto “Get the Instant Wow-Factor for your Next Presentation”


Maximize Media Impact

Show the big picture

Focus them on you

Keep it simple

Demo Effectively

Solve their pain

Take it easy

Get real

Present with Your Body

Find the sweet spot

Harness facial expressions

Use Targeted movements

Close Well

Be sensitive to time

Show you delivered

Handle questions



Chapter 1: Introduction

Get the instant wow factor for your next presentation

What Makes a Great Presentation

I’m going to teach you how to give a presentation that will always have your audience saying “thank you” as they leave. To start with, I’d like to ask you a question. What do you want to learn as a result of reading this?

Take out a piece of paper and write down all of the things you want to learn from this ‘Presto E-book Guide’. Before you start, here’s the catch. Picture yourself in the following scenario: Imagine you’ve just given a presentation masterpiece, and you overhear a group of people talking who just heard it. One of them says to the others “That was absolutely amazing! That presentation just blew me away!”

Why was it so amazing? Take a couple of minutes to write down everything you can think of about why they would feel it was so amazing. Go.



Now ask a few people you know. Ask them to come up with some additional things they can think of that make a presentation good, and make sure everyone agrees on them. If you’re like most people, you may be asking yourself why I am having you do this. I’m modeling something for you. I promise you. There is a reason for it. Ok, go ahead.

So, what do you think? What makes a great presentation? Whenever I teach this as a live presentation, I always ask that question. In a moment, I will give you the answers I received from the audience at one of my recent presentations, and I will make reference to that presentation throughout this book, but first I need to let you in on the secret to getting a good response from your audience.

When you ask a focus question like this, you should break the room up into smaller discussion groups of 2 to 4 people, and assign one person in each group to be what I call the “re-layer.” The re-layer is the person who will tell the rest of the room the answers from the group.

You should assign the other members of the group to be one or more of the following:

1. Writer – documents the important points of the discussion for the re-layer

2. Timekeeper – keeps the discussion from exceeding the allotted time

3. Facilitator – keeps all group members involved in the discussion

Now lets get back to your answers about what makes a great presentation. These answers are powerful because everything that you (and the people I asked in my presentation) came up with is what your peers think makes a great presentation. Get ready, because I’m going to break them down, and show you how to make them all happen.

What I will do as you read this, is to teach you how to do the very things you came up with, and I will do it in what would last about 54 minutes as a live presentation.

Presentation Essentials

I have been asking my audiences what makes a great presentation repeatedly for years, and I have found that the answers are always the same. The following is a list of some of the things my audience came up with, but the beauty here is that your audience will want the same things:

1. Proves that you’re trustworthy (I call this credibility)



2. Makes the audience laugh.

3. Meets the audiences’ needs and shows them that you care (I call this rapport)

4. Keeps them engaged

5. Makes sure people follow along

6. Gets them to understand

7. Uses multiple methods to reach every audience member

8. Tells the audience why they need to know about the content

To simplify things, this list can be reduced to just five items that will cover every aspect of what my audience came up with. Whether it is to deliver a sales pitch, show off your development and design, lead a staff, convey information, train adults, or teach students in a classroom, you will need to do the following 5 things to give the ultimate presentation:

1. Show credibility

2. Build rapport

3. Engage the listeners

4. Present (or teach) to all styles of learning and listening

5. Effectively answer questions

In a nutshell, that’s it. So lets look again at my presentation, and I will teach you how to do all of these things!

Many presenters ask a focus question like mine and then they find themselves staring at a silent room, but when I asked my audience what makes a great presentation, the answers came quickly and easily.

Why do you suppose that happened?

As I said earlier, I had broken the room down into groups and assigned a re-layer to each group. That is the first key to an interactive presentation, because the number one fear of adults in large groups is looking foolish in front of their peers.

What have I done by assigning a re-layer?



I have removed all of the individual responsibility for whatever they say! The re-layers are thinking, “They’re not my thoughts, this is just what the group came up with” and that’s exactly what the audience wants. They want to feel safe to speak in front of their peers.

The Nuts and Bolts of a Presentation

Now it’s time to get into the agenda of your presentation. There are three things you need to do:

1. Tell your audience WHAT you will present

2. Tell them HOW you will do it

3. Tell them WHY they NEED it

You will get only five to fifteen minutes to do this before people will want to leave. Most people will leave within that time period if they haven’t been told exactly WHY they need to know what you are telling them. I call this “hooking” the audience. The secret to hooking them is to meet my two fundamental principles of adult learning:

1. They need to know WHY they should learn your information

2. They need to know that it is of immediate value to them

In order to practice what I preach, let me tell you the “what” I’m using in this presentation. Here it is: “I’m going to tell you everything you need to know before, during, and after a presentation to make sure the audience walks away from it saying ‘Wow, that was an amazing presentation! Thank you!’”

And here is the “how.” I will model it for you. Whenever I give a presentation I model everything I suggest you do, including the visual aids, what to say, how to say it, and the body language to use.

How about the “why”? The “why” is the easiest to answer. You got this book because you wanted to learn how to give the ultimate presentation to any audience.



Chapter 2: Prepare Well

Be certain your audience will crave everything you have to say

Use Hooks

The only reason why someone would want to leave your presentation before you are finished is because you didn’t deliver what you said you would within the first five to fifteen minutes. That’s called the “main hook.”

It’s the one you use to convince your audience that they want to stay for the rest of your presentation. You can also use secondary hooks in order to capture them all the rest of the way. I will give you the specifics on how to create your hook right after we talk a little bit about preparation.

To get prepared for your presentation you will definitely need to have notes. Your notes can be on PowerPoint slides or on notecards you can keep at your hip. Everything you will talk about should be on them. This information could be memorized, but I recommend just having notes and keeping them big so you can read them easily.



It doesn’t matter what method you use for your notes as long as during your presentation you keep your hands at your sides, which is the most confident and seemingly comfortable stance you can have as a presenter.

Practice for “Ninety-Ten”

After your notes are ready, you need to practice. My suggestion is to practice your presentation three times in real time with what I call “Ninety-Ten.” “Ninety-Ten” is the term I use to describe one of the best rules of presenting. It says that 90% of your brain’s focus during a presentation should be on the audience, and only 10% focused on the content. That means you know your content lights out. You know it so well you only need 10% of your concentration focused on it. How do you get there? You present it three times in real time… to your dog (I find them to be easily captivated).

You may be saying to yourself, “This presentation would only last about an hour. I have to give an eight hour presentation and I don’t have twenty-four hours to get ready”. In that case I suggest you practice the introduction and the first hour. Get that first hour down because that’s when your build initial credibility and rapport.

That first hour is crucial. That’s when your audience makes their first impression of you, and they will judge you based on that. It is much easier to recover from a mistake you make late in your presentation or a mistake made on day two than it is in that first hour.

I’ll say it again. You need to practice three times in real time. That’s how you know you’re prepared. I’m not talking about just reading your notes in real time. I’m saying you need to actually get up in the front of a room, position yourself in the sweet spot (the front and center position in the room), and talk to your dog for an hour.



Chapter 3: Open Convincingly

Grab the attention of your audience within the first minute

When you open, you need to start with your hook. To create the hook you want to use, you must first determine what types of tasks your audience members perform on a daily basis. You can then use those tasks to tell them why it’s important and helpful for them to know your content. Tell them why it’s cool and why you’re glad to be there. Remember, adults learn best when they know why.

The Classic Rule of Presenting

You may have heard of the classic rules of presenting:

1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them.

2. Tell them.

3. Tell them what you told them



Build Credibility

These are what I like to call “elusive obvious” or “elegantly simples.” These things are elusive because they are so obvious to us that we don’t stop to analyze them. But if you think about it, you can use them in any presentation. Telling them what you’re going to tell them is the hook. Then, you tell them, so you teach them for a while, and when you’re all done, you tell them what you told them. This builds your credibility.

My audiences usually describe credibility as “being trustworthy and knowing what you’re talking about.” But, if you want to show credibility, it’s not that you know what you’re talking about, it’s that they THINK you do. You can get them to think you’re an expert while you’re following those classic rules, by pointing out to your audience that they are remembering. When you do this you can actually tell them, “Hey, you’re understanding this.”

Let’s review for a moment. There are three things you have to do when you display your agenda for the first time to hook your audience. Tell them WHAT you will present, tell them HOW you will do it, and tell them WHY they need to know.

You can do this in a few sentences in about one minute. Do you remember my hook? Here it is again. “I’m going to tell you everything you need to know before, during, and after a presentation to make sure the audience walks away from the presentation saying, ‘Wow, that was an amazing presentation! Thank you!’”

That’s it. Done. You don’t need some elaborate twenty minute hook. One minute is fine.



Chapter 4: Speak Effectively

Persuade your audience with your words and tone of voice

Be Careful with Language

I need to take a moment to define something. From now on when I talk about terminology it will be referred to as a convention. I tell you this because there are three types of objectives that you will need to give to people when you present. This is always true. They are:

1. Conventions (tell what)

2. Concepts (tell why)

3. Algorithms (tell how)

Conventions are definitions, and you will need to teach some definitions. You may be tempted to just allude to some definitions rather than teach them because you assume that your audiences already knows these. Be careful with that because I can assure you that not everyone will know them.



When you do a presentation, I suggest you always define the terms you will use. You should know there are three kinds of terms you need to define because you can’t assume your audience defines them the way you do. They are:

1. Industry terms (terms related to the industry you work in that your audience may not be familiar with)

2. Technical terms (terms your audience may not be familiar with because they haven’t kept up with current technologies)

3. Company terms (terms that have been redefined by, or are only familiar to the employees of your company)

Here is a quick credibility tip. If you have people in the audience who know the definition of one of your terms, you know who they are, and you know what role they have, you can call them out. You can say, “Hey, Mrs. Jones, what is a convention?”

She can say, “Conventions are definitions,” and she gets a chance to shine in front of her peers.

That situation builds credibility for her and then builds credibility for you. When she gets to say the answer in front of everybody, and your audience saw you ask her to do that, they know that you know what you’re talking about. You also get a rapport boost because you are showing you care. You wouldn’t do that for someone if you didn’t want to meet his or her needs.

Don’t Sadden and Don’t Offend

There are two things you have to avoid throughout every aspect of your presentation. Don’t sadden, and don’t offend. Whenever we ask things of people we should avoid saying negatives, and if you are familiar with dealing with children you already know this.

If you are trying to prevent a toddler from doing something, and you tell him or her not to do it, it will inevitably be the first thing they do. I will replace “don’t sadden and don’t offend” with “be very conservative.”

It’s amazing how many times I have seen someone tell a joke or even a story during a presentation that they thought would be just fine, but it either saddened or offended someone in the audience.



Master Your Tone

To achieve credibility, here is what I recommend for tone:

You can start by talk with a deep and resonating tone. Your tone should come from the diaphragm. This will project confidence, knowledge, and credibility. (James Earl Jones has figured this out.)

You also want to use a thick even tone with good articulation and straightforward delivery. This is what is recommended in the sales industry, and it can be very useful when dealing with a crowd of executives.

Alternatively, you can use the upbeat, happy, and “figuratively hear a smile” approach. If you are upbeat, happy, and you can figuratively hear that smile, it conveys energy, excitement, and affability. You know which one of these approaches is more natural for you.

I recommend that you work on the other one, because when you are presenting at three o’clock in the afternoon, and people are naturally ready to fall asleep, it will be difficult to keep your audience’s attention if you use the straightforward delivery.



Chapter 5: Make It Enjoyable

Entertain your audience using your own unique style

Use Humor

If you really want to “wow” your audience then you’ve got to make sure your presentations are enjoyable, so I will spend the next few sections talking about how to make that happen. When people think about enjoying themselves, the first thing that comes to mind for many of them is humor.

Humor is a difficult thing to present, so here are some things to keep in mind. I recently went to a presentation that talked about the idea that there are four different generation types, and that the differences in humor between those generations is astounding. There are the traditionalists, the baby boomers, the generation X’s, and the millennials.



Remember that if you are presenting to an audience with mostly members of the baby boomer generation you won’t be able to use humor that the millennials (their kids) think is funny.

Maybe the most powerful thing I have learned about humor is that people don’t laugh just because they think things are funny. They laugh because they feel good. This should change your entire way of thinking about what to do with humor in your presentations.

I used to think I needed to have the best jokes in my presentations, and be so dynamic that the audience would be entertained. Now I know it doesn’t matter unless my audience is feeling good. I can simply say that if things aren’t going well, and you try to incorporate humor, it is almost sure to bomb. You need to wait for a “feel good” time for humor.

When is a feel good time? A feel good time is when the audience is engaged, following along, and understanding. In other words, things are going well, and the audience is learning. This is when you can hit them with a joke because it’s so natural for them to laugh when they’re feeling good.

Tell a Story

In addition to humor, I also highly recommend that you tell stories. Presentations don’t always have to be funny, but you do want to make sure your audience enjoys themselves. You can do that by telling stories, and your stories don’t even have to relate to the content in your presentation. You can get your audience to enjoy themselves by telling a story.

This concept is very important for building rapport. Many people think building rapport is simply about being humorous, but don’t forget it is also about showing you care, meeting the audience’s needs, and making the presentation enjoyable. For many presenters it can be very calming to know they don’t have to be funny to build rapport. I’m one of those people because I could never be a comedian, but I CAN make it enjoyable.

What do you think you should do to make your presentations enjoyable? My advice is to do what you find most natural or comfortable. If you tell personal, inspiring stories well, do that. If you like to tell stories with jokes, do that. If you like to incorporate trivia or pep talks into your stories, do that. Find your style and work it to make your presentation enjoyable.



Answer Questions

It’s time to talk about effectively answering questions. You can only do this when your audience asks you a question to begin with. One thing I am notorious for when I present and teach is asking the audience “What questions do you have?” Alternatively, I could ask, “Do you have any questions?”

What is the assumption if I do this? It assumes that “no” is a possibility. Let’s say I am presenting to a group of physicians and I ask, “Do you have any questions?” When one of them raises their hand they are basically admitting to the entire room that they don’t understand. A group of professionals (particularly physicians) will almost never want to admit they don’t understand something, especially in front of their peers.

However if I ask, “What questions do you have?” the assumption is that there will be questions.

Whenever you do this, you will need to wait for responses before moving on. How long should you wait? I have found that seven seconds is the best rule of thumb, and I can tell you right now you will need to practice this.

It’s going to feel uncomfortable for you to pause for that long, but don’t worry. Your audience won’t feel uncomfortable. Why? Their minds are busy thinking about what they want to ask, and they need that time to process and form their questions.

Additionally, waiting too long for a question can appear uncomfortable, so use seven seconds as your guideline.

Here’s another trick. It’s a credibility trick that makes you look like you always have the answers. You can actually steer your audience to ask questions about topics you are ready to talk about.

As you know, I always suggest that you say, “What questions do you have?” But it is even better to add a task to your question. Instead you could ask, “What questions do you have about being careful with language?”

When you do this you will avoid being asked questions that don’t pertain to your subject matter. It’s difficult to answer questions about things you haven’t researched, and it’s a waste of their time for the audience to listen to answers to off topic questions. You can also re-word these types of questions to mix it up once in a while.



Examples are: “What things did I not clearly explain?” and “What things did you not follow along with?” etc.

I used to tell people that you ask your audience questions to keep them active and engaged. That’s true, but questions can really accomplish three things for you.

1. Engage the audience

2. Get the audience to follow along

3. Get people to understand

Here are some examples:

If I want to get you to follow along with something I have written on the board, I might ask, “Hey, what do you notice about the top left corner of that board over there?”

If I want to make sure that you understand and are following along I could ask, “What are some ways we can ask questions during a presentation?”

Make sure you have a good reason whenever you ask a question. Asking questions is an effective tool that can accomplish a number of important things, but asking too often or making them too easy can be patronizing.



Chapter 6: Add Visual Variety

Make your visuals clearer and more memorable

There are several ways you can build variety into your presentations. Here is a list of powerful ways to do it.

1. A lecture. (This is similar to what I’m doing in this book.)

2. A circle of knowledge. (Similar to the beginning of this book, a circle of knowledge is when you give your audience a focus question and then you ask them to brainstorm for a while.)

3. Visual aids. These include PowerPoint slides, and possibly a workbook

4. A demo.

I will cover numbers 3 and number 4 since I have already covered the first two.



Use Slides that Focus on Them

Lets talk about using visual aid media for presentation. When you are giving a presentation, you will nearly always use PowerPoint slides. When I do this as a live presentation, I use an example where I read every bullet on a particular PowerPoint slide aloud to my audience. It is always the first (and only) time that I read a slide aloud.

It’s a chance for me to set a bad example for the audience. Why is it bad? It’s bad because what is written on the slides is for the audience, not for me. They are all adults. They can read. When you are presenting, what’s coming out of your mouth should be what you want to talk about, not what is written on your slides.

Always remember that the presentation is for them, not for you. What goes on that PowerPoint is for them, not for you. Your stuff is what’s written on your notecards and what’s on the notes about the slides. The purpose of the slide is just to help you keep track.

Here are some guidelines to follow for PowerPoint slides:

1. The background should be sparse. (If the background of your slide has a picture of a tropical beach your audience won’t want to listen to you, they will want to go there.)

2. Only use slides that pertain to your topic

3. Use a big font that everyone will be able to read

4. Don’t read the slide aloud.

5. Don’t pack too much on to the slide. The slide should have brief notes to remind you what you want to say

Demo Effectively

When it comes to demos it is important to distinguish between doing a demo and training. A demo can give someone the big picture of a product, but training is getting that person to actually be able to do something. That is called a learning objective, and only training has learning objectives.

I call demos the ‘wow” objective or the “cool” objective. Demos usually get people to say, “wow that’s cool”, but they haven’t necessarily learned it yet. This has implications for your presentation. It’s fine if you’re going to do a demo in



your presentation, in fact I highly recommend it, but know what it is. It’s not learning, and it’s ok that it’s not learning. It has its place.

Context is the key when doing a demo. Context isn’t just why you’re doing something. It’s giving your audience a scenario. Remember, in order not to offend or sadden you will need to pick a scenario that’s appropriate.

Here is a four-step method for doing demos:

1. Give a quick run through up front

2. Show how easy it is to do the quick run through

3. Show the power of the product by diving into the details

4. Summarize the demo (tell them what you told them)



Chapter 7: Present With Your Body

Use your face and body language with dynamic effect

Body language and facial expressions are some of the most powerful tools of a presenter, and I spend a great deal of time teaching them. It’s difficult to convey the power of body language and facial expressions in a book.

However, you should keep in mind that only 7% of your communication to your audience is what you say. Of what’s left, 55% is your body language and facial expressions, and 38% is tone.

Facial Expressions

Did you know that the only universal form of language in the world is facial expressions? If you show a picture of someone who is surprised to any culture or person in the world, they will all agree that the person is surprised. But, if you are doing something as simple as nodding or shaking your head, that could be interpreted differently by different cultures. This can be very useful to us as presenters.



Body Language

Many presenters will wave their hands vigorously, or they will pace continuously during their presentation. These things can be very distracting, and your audience can actually become used to them to the point where they ignore them. When that happens you won’t have the chance to actually harness them.

So what do you do? You need to stand mostly still with your hands at your sides. This is said to be the most calm, comfortable, and confident stance you can have. Presenting in that stance can be very difficult to get used to. But, even though it may not be comfortable for you, it IS comfortable for your audience. Overuse of your hands will prevent your audience from noticing them when you really want them to.

The same can be said for tone. If you talk at the same volume much of the time, your audience will really take notice when you talk a little more softly from time to time. In fact, when you substantially reduce your voice volume your audience will find it more important. It comes across as though you’re telling a secret.

Here are my key recommendations for body language:

1. Keep your feet still and pointed out towards the whole audience. (Do this even when answering a question for an individual. If you turn your feet towards the person asking the question it implies that the answer is only for them)

2. Keep your hands at your sides

3. When you smile, always do it sincerely to project enthusiasm

4. Make eye contact.

a. 70% of the time is optimal with an individual.

b. In a room of 5 to 30 people, have your eyes (not your feet) roam around the room. Look at everyone about every 5 to 10 minutes.

c. If you are presenting to large group of hundreds or thousands of people, just move from section to section.



Chapter 8: Close To Applause

Move your audience to respond with enthusiasm

When you close you will need to make sure you finish by the time you promised. So, I recommend you look at the clock relatively often to ensure your presentation reaches the closing within your time limit.

End on Time

When you get towards the end and it’s time to close, which is about 5 minutes before finishing, it is easy to leave a bad impression by rushing your way through the closing. In fact, I have actually heard a presenter once who said, “We’re running out of time so I’ll have to rush through the rest.” I heard another say, “I’ll have to not cover this piece.”

Some of your audience has literally been waiting the entire time just to hear the closing, and even if your presentation was solid and enjoyable, if you fail to deliver at the closing, you won’t give them the “wow” and they will leave with a bad impression.



Answer Questions During Closing

Here are the things I recommend for handling questions during your closing:

First, leave time for questions. How much time should you leave for questions during your closing? I recommend five minutes for a sixty-minute presentation and multiples thereof. In other words, ten minutes for a two-hour presentation, fifteen minutes for three hours, etc.

Second, if you get a question that makes you wonder whether you will be able get done, you need to punt it. How do you punt it? Tell them when and where you will answer the question, and use a sincere tone to let them know that you care about that question.

For example, let’s say you get a question about body language. You could say: “Thanks for that question. Go ahead and write down that question about body language. I will answer it at four o’clock, and I’ll talk about that for anyone else that wants to discuss it too.”

Remember that it’s ok to punt questions. When someone asks you a question during your closing, it doesn’t matter whether it is relevant or not because it’s not as important as what you wanted to cover. You determined what was important enough to cover, so make sure you accomplish that.

Third, tell the audience the cutoff time, but offer to stay to answer questions afterwards for those who wish to stay longer.

Finally, don’t forget the last classic rule for closing. Tell them what you told them.

Here is what I might say if this book was a live presentation: “What we’ve just done is we have learned how to prepare, open well, be careful with language, use media, use PowerPoint, demo, train with your body, and close well for ANY presentation. What questions do you have about giving an effective presentation?”

If you are like most people you probably have questions. You can get the answers by visiting my website at http://ruletheroompublicspeaking.com where you can check out my completely comprehensive list of presentation program including Dazzle and Presentation Bootcamp.

There you will also have access to everything I have discovered as a professional presenter, teacher, and trainer of trainers for 20 years, and you will be able to watch me model every method I suggest you use. These are just some of the things you will learn:


http://ruletheroompublicspeaking.com/


1. Learn how to give a presentation that will always have your audience saying Thank You as they leave.

2. Learn how to handle every type of disruption caused by challenging trainees with specifics on exactly what to do, including how to deal with gripers, complainers, know-it-alls, talk hogs, resenters, hecklers, experts, quiet types, and the distracted inefficients.

3. Learn how to answer questions like a pro so that you always look like you know the answer even when you don’t.

4. Learn how to hit every learning style simultaneously to teach large audiences at once without leaving anyone behind.

5. Learn how to overcome your fear of public speaking.

6. Learn how to engage any audience and get them in palm of your hand with the secrets to building rapport.

7. Learn fail-safe ways to make sure your class has “got it” that never cause resentment.

Browse the website, and watch the video samples to get a look at the powerful tools Rule The Room Public Speaking has to offer. Your audience will thank you.

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Afterword This program offers you the principles and tools that can help you do many things before, during, and after a presentation to make sure the audience walks away from the presentation saying, ‘Wow, that was an amazing presentation! Thank you!’”

To get results, you have to act on that advice.

Take a few minutes to think about where you would like to make changes. Write down the top three areas in which this program has shown you ways to improve your presentation content creation. Since research and my own experiences indicate that people can focus only three goals at a time, I suggest you choose the three you want to incorporate in your life first. Start working on those, and once you have achieved them, work on the next three. Continue until you have achieved them all.

Begin by going over the relevant chapters and taking notes. Remember, presenters aren’t born; they’re made. You have all the tools at your disposal with a unique set of practical examples to make them happen for you. I have seen these efforts pay off for thousands of people with whom I’ve worked, and you will have that same experience.

You can Rule the Room.



About Rule the Room Public Speaking Rule the Room Public Speaking is a leading provider of communication solutions to people and organizations everywhere and is led by Jason Teteak, the visionary founder and CEO. The mission of Rule the Room Public Speaking is to help public speakers shine in front of their audience. Rule the Room Public Speaking has a variety of products available to enhance your public speaking and presentation skills. A partial list of our programs is below. For a complete list and more information, visit www.ruletheroompublicspeaking.com.

Foundation Presentation Programs

• eBook: A Unique, Practical and Comprehensive Guide to Making a Successful Presentation

• Presto: Public Speaking and Presentations Pro 101: For Beginners Only! • Archetype: Discover Your Presentation Personality • Calm: Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking • Create: Presentation Creation Bootcamp: Hands-On Presentation Content

Creation Skills • Convey: Presentation Deliver Bootcamp: Handle-On Presentation

Delivery Skills • Captain: Presentation Management Bootcamp: Hands-On Presentation

Audience Management Money Making Presentations and Pitches

• Advantage: Deliver Money-Making Presentations: Put Power in Your Pitch

• Captivate: Create a Money-Making Presentation: The Secret Pitch • Webcast: Deliver Money-Making Webinars: Perfect Your Online Pitch • Entrepreneur: How to Connect with Your Customers • Pitch: How to Perfect Your Pitch • Video: Record a Money-Making Video • Opener: Deliver a Killer Presentation Opener • Five: Give a Killer Five Minute Presentation • Demo: Entice Your Audience with Your Demo • Network: Use Small Talk to Get Connected • Interview: Ace Your Job Interview

Professional Development Presentation Programs


http://ruletheroom.com/program/coliseum/


• Administrator: Give a Seamless Administrative Presentation • Conference Call: Conduct Business Over the Phone • Dazzle: Public Speaking and Presentations Pro: No Beginners Allowed! • Meeting: The Art and Science of Meeting that Motivate • Eloquence: Convince with Your Voice • Serenity: Handle Challenging People: Stay in Control with No Fear! • Boomerang: Answer Questions with Ease • Validate: Deliver Not So Great News • Maintain: Keep the Attention of Your Audience • Clone: Learn to Facilitate Presentation Bootcamp at Your Site • Expression: The Art of Body Language • Respect: Become a True Leader


eBook Guide Get the Instant Wow Factor for Your Next ......presenter. It’s about your audience. That’s why we don’t just show you how to do it or what to do. We tell you WHY

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