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Apply 5 Point Test To Start A Presentation

In my preceding article “9 Secrets To Better Beginnings Of Any Presentation”, I wrote about the importance of presentation beginnings and best ways to capture the audience’s attention, as opening is one of the most crucial elements of a powerful presentation. In this article I would focus on how to practise the openers with a 5 point test that could be applied to get into the actual presentation.

Effective presenters know that the beginning part of a presentation should take between 5 and 10% of the allotted presentation time. For one hour presentation, this is between three and six minutes. It is only 30 to 60 seconds for a 10 minute presentation. Although one should spend not more than 10% of the delivery time on the beginning of presentation, over half of the preparation time may be spent on honing and crafting for opening. The hardest thing a presenter is required to do is to START. When you want to travel, the hardest part is to just go ahead and go. But once you start, everything follows. Once the beginning is set, it becomes easier to jump start the presentation and get audience attention almost immediately.

Test whether your presentation opener has the following statements:

1. Impact Statement

An Impact Statement is a brief narrative summarizing the outcome of your presentation which creates strong support to proceed further. To create an impact with your presentation, the audience have to get the message. That means they have to be able to hear it and understand it. And to do that, first they must listen. So the very first step in this whole process is to gain their attention and then keep it, so that they listen, hear what the presenter say, understand it, and then they can be influenced by it which is, after all, the essence of impact.

2. Statement that arouse curiosity or suspense

Best way to arouse curiosity is by hiding or obscuring or veiling or hinting but never revealing. An example statement: “We are close to being able to file hyper-linked legal documents on CD-Roms. Only one thing stands in the way and that is my topic today.”

3. Statement through Question

If you want to persuade the audience to use Copy right legislation, starting the presentation with a question might do the trick. ” Is there anyone here who has not violated the copyright law ? “. Here you are making a statement that your topic is all about copyright law.

4.Statement about startling statistics

A startling statistic can be great opener. ” According to a national survey reported in the Wall Street Journal 82% of respondents say they access pornography on the Net at work “.

5. Societal norm statement

If your presentation subject is “Helping Children Learn to Work”, your opening statement could be”Are We Losing our Societal Norms About Work ? With children becoming more sedentary due to study routines, entertainment options and the like, it is more important than ever to teach the value of work. We parents face the challenge of needing to create opportunities to work rather than just having them.”

Finally make sure to establish credibility upfront with the following ABCD checklist:

-Attract audience straight away with a statement at the beginning of presentation

-Begin to deal with ingredients of your presentation after your initial statement.

-Come out punching. Get to the point with right statement. Your audience expect nothing less.

-Drive rest of your presentation with sub-statements.

Follow this 5 point test and check list for your next presentation and if none apply then it is better to reschedule that next presentation until you are able to create a dynamic opening.

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Successful Negotiations

Negotiation is finding the best solution to a certain problem or situation. So whether it is in the boardroom or bedroom, courtroom or living room, we all face situations where we have to negotiate about something. Negotiation may involve two or more people. The process entails putting all options on the table and finally coming up with an answer.

What makes negotiations challenging is when the other person or persons have totally opposing views from yours. Another factor that makes negotiations quite difficult is when both or all options are good, but then you have to come up with only one solution.

Success in negotiation is not only getting your “preferred decision” approved but keeping everybody on the negotiation table at peace with your preference.

With these in mind, here now are the steps to successful negotiations. These steps can be applied to personal negotiations (spouse, children, family members, friends), corporate negotiations (board members, staff, leaders, union, congregation), or sales negotiations (whether one-on-one or group).

1. Understand where each person on the negotiation table is coming from.

This can be done by doing your research. Find out everything you can about them and how they feel about certain situations, then, incorporate all these in what you will present during the negotiation.

2. Study and understand what the bottom-line is: What is the main problem? What needs to be achieved?

The success of negotiation lies more in the pre-negotiation phase than the actual negotiation. If you do your homework well, chances are you will have a good presentation. Study all angles and be sure to cover all these.

3. Plan your presentation or talk based on the information you gathered.

The person or persons you are negotiating with should not feel threatened by your preference. Instead, they should see you as an ally more than an opponent.

4. When presenting your side, let everyone know that you are there with everybody’s best interest in mind.

You have to let them know that you did your research and that you know what each one’s concerns are. Tell them that all these concerns are incorporated in what you are going to present.

5. Be ready for feedback, reactions, and oppositions.

Before you present, let the people on the negotiation table know that you will only entertain questions or reactions after you finish presenting your side. Be very objective and avoid being emotional when you are dealing with oppositions. Always let the opposing party know that you understand where she is coming from.

6. Be open for some changes or modifications of your views and preferences.

Be willing to listen to their views and make the necessary adjustments.

7. Find a common ground.

Look for a common denominator that everyone can agree to.

If you are a Christian, be careful not to put yourself in situations where you have to compromise your belief or the Word of God. Don’t even get into any partnerships or business deals with those who are not fellow believers or those who will not use God’s Word as the ultimate standard.

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Bringing Desires to Present Means

The best way to keep anything in framework, no matter who you are, is to pen whatever it is you plan to do on paper. In fact, let me put it this way! All that you wish to ever achieve, which you can consciously envisage at this present moment should be written down on paper, diary or goals’ book. The process should be dynamic and not static, as new wishes develop, add them to your ever soaring dream list. Experts call this list the 101 goals list.

Make frequent visit to your dream list and ensure you’re organising and reorganizing priorities in order to reflect the status quo. The 101 dream list is your desire; and the reason you need to organise and reorganise is to ensure that you do not remain a dreamer, as it’d leave you frustrated as a result of the unrealistic 101 dream list created.

This list as earlier mentioned puts you in a perspective, as it allows one to know just what they are about, and just what they wish and expect to obtain. By understanding this perspective, half of the battle is gained.

You must constantly take inventory of yourself. By understanding and analysing what your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats are (SWOT). Strengths and weaknesses are attributes of an individual; opportunities and threats are attributes of the environment. Hence, you must use your internal strengths to;

1. take advantage of external opportunities
2. to avoid or reduce impact of external threats.
3. turn your weaknesses into strengths
4. to improve your internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities.

Otherwise, lacking this knowledge, you’ll waste energy and effort, and do much that had better be left undone, while leaving undone much that should be done, thus, creating unrealistic and unachievable objectives.

As we leave in a dynamic world, your strength and opportunities will also be forever dynamic, as a result, priorities on the dream list will change. This allows you to follow through what Aristotle once said… “Bring your desires down to your present means; increase them when only your increased means permit.” In this instance, your increased means are your strengths & opportunities and your desires are your wishes or dreams.

Once the above is followed; this gives you an opportunity to knock on the door of success and not to enter!
Following on, on your prioritised wish list, add deadlines to them, by so doing, there is a transition from wishes to goals, as a result of the added deadlines. Success emanates from this act and nothing else. If you have no goals, then you’ll have no success, as Brian Tracy said, “Success equals goals… all else is commentary.”

i) Always begin with the end in mind on the goal you want to attain, as would have been pictured before they became goals through the wish list.

ii) Attack the process in two ways (1) Top Down and (2) Bottom up

Bottom up ensures you have your eyes set on the goal and working towards an envisaged ultimate goal. It also prevents you from becoming overwhelmed by allowing you to take those small steps… remember the saying ‘By the yard it’s hard, but inch by inch it’s a cinch!’ and also Peter Cohen advice that “There is no one giant step that does it. It’s a lot of little steps.”

Please do not go all the way by being lop-sided using this method, as you’d lack clarity and trajectory towards your goal.

Top down ensures you are kept in focus when the tough gets going. You have to ensure that you know and understand the steps just before completion of the goal, and the steps before that, that will ultimately link with the bottom up approach.

Plans always change, so your goals will always be revised accordingly to preserve the link between top down and bottom up.

The ultimate goal is also achieved by the choices we decide to take. Remember the saying “many roads lead to Rome.” So do not hesitate or dither by waiting for conditions to be perfect before you can act. Choices are like branches on trees, one branch splits into another and so on and so forth until the final leaf. So do not fear, begin and bear in mind that you’ll arrive at your desired leaf. Goethe advised that “what you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” Do not fear to begin, fear is removed by action, Napoleon Hill said ‘Fear is the great destroyer. Banish fear from your life. It does not serve you in any way. Go forward in faith; faith that you have destiny to fulfil. Fear not. There is, after all, nothing to fear but fear itself. And it is a mere phantom…a ghost that disappears in the light of awareness.’

Norman Vincent Pearl categorically explained to us how fear could be subjugated and it is up to us to take up his advice. He says ‘Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.’

So go on; Become the Best You Can Be… start acting now and take inventory of yourself, pen down your 101 wish list and put deadlines on them. Follow through your goals!

Nyangu Simpungwe is a professional accountant, a fully qualified chartered certified accountant and holds a Masters Degree from The University of Glamorgan in Wales. He currently is Director of a company called Falcon (GB) Limited based in England United Kingdom, a newly formed company composed wholly of chartered certified accountants. He has tremendous experience in Business Process Improvements and has expertise in life coach and leadership coach.

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