Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals DRAFT-DRAFT-DRAFT 9/29/09-1 - Avoid Presentation Annoyances Naomi Karten, naomi@nkarten.com, www.nkarten.com Here is a grab bag of annoyances. Some of these annoyances may irritate only certain audience members. Others will aggravate the entire audience. Which are you guilty of? The starting point is to become aware of them. Physical mannerisms We all have mannerisms, things we say or do that are harmless but that can annoy an audience. The trouble with mannerisms is that we may not know we have them until someone gives us feedback (hopefully gently). Not everyone is fortunate enough to get that feedback. For example, some people sway back and forth as they speak, as if they re on a boat being rocked by the waves. I was in the audience for one such presentation, and after a while, I could swear we were all swaying side to side in sync with the presenter. It s not that often that an audience becomes seasick while listening! Examples of other physical mannerisms are twisting your hair, rubbing your hands together, gesticulating wildly as if your hair is on fire, twirling a pencil, pushing your glasses up, scratching your nose, tapping on a table, staring at the floor, jiggling coins in your pocket, walking to and fro, waving a handout around, and chewing gum. Yes, chewing gum! I wouldn t have believed it s possible to chew gum while presenting, but my colleague, Kim Laursen, has witnessed gum-chewing presenters. Fortunately, not every listener is sensitive to every physical mannerism. A presenter who wanders around as he speaks might drive you crazy, while I might be oblivious. I might find the tappety-tap-tap tapping of a presenter annoying, while you barely even notice it. But when you re the presenter, why not just avoid these annoying habits? Some presentation coaches suggest that you practice presenting in front of a mirror to identify your own annoying mannerisms. It s worth a try, but seeing yourself in a mirror is so unlike an actual presentation experience that you may not behave as you would in front of an audience. Far better is to videotaped giving an actual presentation. Or get feedback from a presentation coach or a colleague after you ve delivered a presentation to an actual audience. Vocal mannerisms A presenter named Max, OK? had the bad habit, OK? of interspersing every few words or phrases, OK? with an irrelevant word, OK?, till after a while, OK? all I heard, OK? was his repeated OKs, OK? Max was a technical genius, a real software guru, but would you have enjoyed listening to him for an hour? OK, as Max used it, was a pause filler, a category that includes such favorites as ya know and like, as well as the ever popular um and its close cousin uh. Those who study such things
Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals DRAFT-DRAFT-DRAFT 9/29/09-2 - (yes, um is the subject of research) point out that pause fillers of one sort or another exist in every language. Presentation coaches view pause fillers as a crutch, something to fill the time and space till you summon forth the next thought. Interestingly, in the book, Um: Simple Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What they Mean, Michael Erard describes research that shows that we each having our own particular pattern of um frequency and usage. Some people um within a sentence, some um between sentences, some um a little, some just a lot. If you um as often as Max repeated OK, you ll sound uneducated, unprepared, and unprofessional, a triple whammy. But don t make yourself crazy trying to avoid pause fillers altogether. These mannerisms are part of everyday conversation, and they sometimes seep into a presentation. Just keep them to a minimum. Actually, in some storytelling groups, an occasional um is seen as making a story sound spontaneous and authentic, rather than overly rehearsed. If your presentations are um-free, all the better. Normally, I don t um unless I m reminded that I don t um. A fellow s well-intended compliment about how I d given an entire presentation without a single um led me to um repeatedly in my second presentation at the same event. I didn t want to, but my inner um took control. If you habitually um in your presentations, practice will help you break the habit. So will slowing down so you can think a little ahead. And so will using short sentences. Complex sentences lead to the need to pause periodically to figure out where you re going next and those pauses often fill with um. Whatever you do, don t let um be the first word out of your mouth when you open your presentation. Use of clichés Clichés, of course, are phrases that are overused, such as: busier than a one-armed paper-hanger old as dirt big as life cute as a button to go through the roof at the end of the day the low-hanging fruit like shooting fish in a barrel You may find some of these examples unfamiliar; some clichés are universal, others are location-specific or industry-specific. Using an occasional cliché isn t a presentation-buster in fact, hardly anyone will notice but a cliché-riddled presentation will peg you as unoriginal and lacking in creativity. Aim to come up with imaginative way to make your points. Can you come up with three original variations of old as dirt?
Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals DRAFT-DRAFT-DRAFT 9/29/09-3 - If you do a Web search on clichés, you ll find numerous websites that offer lists of clichés. If you re unsure if a phrase you want to use is a cliché, check out some of the Web sites. Of course, if you re giving a presentation on the use of clichés, these sites are a goldmine (to use a cliché). Speaking too fast Some people speak faster in a presentation than in everyday conversation or in a practice session. Speaking fast isn t a serious problem if it s just a little fast. But too fast is a major annoyance One presenter in the much-too-fast category spoke so quickly that my brain hurt trying to keep up with him. At the coffee break (this was a 2.5 hour presentation, mind you), the meeting sponsor approached him privately and asked if he d slow down so we could benefit from his material. After the break, he joked about his speaking pace and promised he d slow down. And he did. For about three minutes. Then he resumed galloping through his presentation. He had excellent material, but was a serious disappointment as a presenter. Why do some people turn speaking into a speedathon? It might be due to the fear of not getting through all the material in the time allotted or indeed having too much material for the time available. More often, I think it s just a lifelong bad habit. If you re a fast-talker, imagine that you re presenting to a group for whom English is a second language. Pause periodically for a few moments to give listeners a chance to absorb your message. Record yourself and monitor your pace. Get feedback from colleagues or a coach. If you get feedback that you re presenting too quickly or too slowly, take it seriously. Excessive apologies I once attended a conference presentation given by Alfred, a fellow whose luggage had gone to a different destination than he did and had not yet returned. At the start of his presentation, he apologized for his inappropriate attire and explained its cause. And then as he gave his talk, he apologized again and again. The first apology was appropriate; it let the audience know that he knew he wasn t in professional garb. After that, his apologies became annoying. Clearly, Alfred s plight was uncomfortable for him. But to the audience, there was no plight. His luggage had gone astray. It s a situation everyone can relate to. No one thought less of him because he d become the victim of circumstances over which he had no control. By repeatedly calling attention to the situation, he risked ruining an otherwise good presentation. If you face a situation like Alfred s, in which a situation is other than you would have liked, do as he should have done. Mention it once, apologize, provide an explanation so the audience doesn t think you re oblivious, and then get on with it. Don t belabor the point. Treating the audience with disrespect Magicians have a saying, If your act is mediocre and they love you, you are a good magician. If your act is fabulous and the audience doesn t care about you, you are a poor magician. This
Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals DRAFT-DRAFT-DRAFT 9/29/09-4 - quote is from my friend and fellow presenter, Payson Hall, a consulting project manager and amateur magician who enjoys baffling me with his magic tricks. Payson once attended the performance of a world-famous magician who forgot his responsibility to his audience. The magician s performance was flawless. But when his attempt at involving the audience in a particular trick didn t go as he had planned, he became mean, impatient, and arrogant. In so doing, he lost the affection of the audience. His skill no longer mattered. The same is true in presenting. If you offend the audience, or treat them unkindly, or display a lack of respect for their concerns, even a flawless presentation won t keep them from viewing you as a failure. Succeeding as a presenter requires attention both to what you present and how you present it. Therefore, take care not to humiliate or embarrass audience members. If there s the slightest chance that something you say might backfire, don t say it. In addition, don t speak to the audience in a way that they might misinterpret as a command. For example, a presenter at a software conference who wanted listeners to close their eyes so he could demonstrate a certain technique said, Now close your eyes. Not would you please? or would you mind? but just do it because I said so. Instead, try saying I invite you to close your eyes or If you re willing, would you please close your eyes for a few moments. People who might otherwise resist will go along willingly because the decision to do so is theirs. Tentativity This is a minor matter that can turn into a major annoyance. Tentativity refers to softening your word usage to such an extent that you sound unsure of yourself and lacking the confidence to say what you really mean. A common case of presentation tentativity is the pattern of prefacing opinions and recommendations with I think, such as I think she didn t know how to prepare an estimate and I think the project needed more time. Another sign of tentativity is saying a bit or sort of or kind of as in His test plan was a bit lacking in details. Was it lacking or not? Or fairly obvious instead of obvious. These weasel words (also known as waffle words) water down the impact of the statement. Don t worry; an occasional I think won t make you out to be a softie. And sometimes, softening a suggestion is appropriate, such as You might want to consider or Perhaps you should consider so it s clear you re making a recommendation and not playing drill sergeant. Just guard against sounding as if you re afraid to state your views. Mumbling Will listeners hear sit when you say set? Or obvious when you say ominous? Recording your presentations and listening to them is an excellent way to find out. Feedback from others is also valuable. Notice when other people muffle words, whether in presentations, casual conversations, or phone messages, and make a point of not doing the same. For an example of a muffled phone message, see my article at www.nkarten.com/foragoodtimecall333.pdf.
Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals DRAFT-DRAFT-DRAFT 9/29/09-5 - Why do people speak so indistinctly? My guess is that they just don t realize that s what they re doing. Be alert to how you sound when you speak. To sound intelligent and professional, be particularly careful with words that we often get lazy about in everyday conversation: To, pronounced like two, not tuh Want to, not wanna Going to, not gonna Doing, not doin (distinctly enunciate those final g s) You, not ya (as in ya know ) If you use any words in a presentation that listeners might be unfamiliar with, spell them out (or use them in a slide so they re visible). For example, in my presentation on managing change, I talk about meta-change, a term that many people haven t heard before. So I say it, and then spell M-E-T-A-change before I explain it. As you practice your presentations, notice words or word combinations that listeners particularly non-native speakers of English might misinterpret, such as optional vs. optimal, or a pathetic person vs. an apathetic person (these are actual examples of misinterpretations I ve encountered). Whenever someone asks you to repeat yourself because they didn t hear you clearly, whether in a presentation, on the phone, or in person, take note. Do a Web search on enunciation exercises for numerous websites that provide phrases and tongue twisters that you can use to practice your enunciation.