Most people aren’t crazy about it, but making presentations is an unavoidable part of corporate life, so why not make the best of it? The following may help you prepare a more interesting, informative, and persuasive talk the next time you’re asked.

How long should your presentation run? Experience shows that 20 minutes is good. Less seems insubstantial; more is boring. An hour is the maximum. If you’re asked to speak for a longer time, stop after an hour and give your audience a break. Since the average person speaks at a rate of about 100 words a minute, a 20-minute talk is 2000 words long. This translates into eight pages of double-spaced typewritten copy (on the basis of 250 words per page).

A good pace for matching visuals with your narration is one visual for every minute you’re speaking. It is important to know your audience, since different people are interested in different aspects of a subject for different reasons.

Let’s say, for example, that the subject of your presentation is interactive videotext. Engineers would be interested primarily in the technical aspects of how the system operates, while bank executives would want to learn more about the possibilities of banking via home computer or cable television. Advertising executives, on the other hand, would be interested in interactive television as a potential advertising medium.

Are Technical Talks Boring?

Many engineers, when faced with giving a talk, do so with a minimum of preparation,perhaps because they feel that the topic is so cut and dried that a straightforward recitation of the facts is sufficient. But it isn’t. If your voice drones in a monotone, or your talk is dry, or the content lacks excitement or news or useful information, your audience will be bored. And you will lose them early on in the speech.

Technical topics are not dry and dull in themselves; rather, whether a subject makes for an interesting talk or a boring one depends on the style of the speaker and the content of the lecture. Make your topic fascinating by digging for useful applications, immediate benefits, new developments, or little-known facts. Read popular science magazines, the better trade journals, and science stories in newspapers to see how skilled writers turn highly technical material into interesting reading. Use these same techniques to spice up your talk.

Preparation

How much time goes into researching, writing, and preparing for a speech? According to a religous magazine, it takes clergymen about seven hours to prepare a 20-minute sermon. One presentations expert recently told me that to give his best effort requires one hour of preparation for every minute he will talk.

Of course, the time you must spend to prepare your talk depends on several factors: your experience and skill in public speaking, your technical knowledge of the topic, whether the assistance of a company technical writer is available, and the importance of the talk. Also, it takes considerably less time to brush up an old presentation than to create a new one. The point, however, is that preparing a memorable address requires many hours,much more time than inexperienced speakers ever dream would be required. Plan your schedule accordingly so you can give your talk the attention it deserves.

In a 20-minute, 2000-word presentation, there are limits to the amount of information that can be transmitted. To ensure a meaningful, informative talk, focus on a narrow, specific subject rather than a broad-based area.

For example, “Chemical Process Equipment” is too broad a topic for a presentation. But 20 minutes is just the right amount of time for giving a useful lecture on “Seven Ways to Size and Select Static Mixers.”

A speech is just that,speech. And writing a speech is not the same as writing for the printed page. Words intended to be spoken must sound like conversation, or else the talk will seem stiff and stilted..

To ensure a good talk, read your rough draft aloud,first to your- self, and then to others. Rewrite any sentences that sound awkward or unnatural until they roll off the tongue (and into the ear) smoothly and naturally.

A little humor can help lighten a heavy technical talk and prevent your audience from drifting off. But overdoing the humor can ruin an otherwise fine presentation and erode the speaker’s credibility.

The best way to handle this is to pepper your talk with tidbits of warm, gentle, good-natured humor but to avoid jokes,unless you are a natural-born comedian. Do not use off-color humor at any time, because what is funny to one person is offensive to another. Never lead off with a prepared joke. If it fails, it turns off the audience, and you look like a clown.

Research

You are probably knowledgeable in the topic of the presentation, otherwise, you wouldn’t have been asked to talk. But this doesn’t mean you know everything about it,or even enough to put together an engaging lecture.

Good speakers supplement their own knowledge and experience with outside research and examples. The library is an excellent place to start: books, magazines, newspapers, and trade publications can provide a wealth of data, ideas, advice, and anecdotes. Interviews, informal chats, and letters exchanged with colleagues and experts in the field can further add to this information.

Gather about twice as much material as you need. Then, when drawing on these data, you can be choosy, selecting only the best stuff. The process of doing research will also act to permanently increase your own knowledge. And this is a real confidence-builder to the speaker.

Organizing Your Material

The best way is to take notes on index cards. Jot down one idea or one piece of information per card. You may also want to make a rough outline of your talk, then arrange the cards according to the topics on the outline. This helps you organize the material in logical sequence, and also reveals which areas require further research.

Every talk has three parts: beginning, middle and end.

In the beginning, you state your purpose, and provide a preview of what will be covered. This preview is a quick summary of the out- line of your talk.

In the middle, you go through the outline point by point. Be sure to cover every topic promised in the preview.

In the end, sum up your talk and ask for any appropriate action. A scientist might ask top management for funds to pursue a particular avenue of research. A salesperson might ask a group of prospects for an order.

Visual aids have become a standard in business and technical presentations. And with good reason: visuals reinforce the presentation and help the audience remember your talk after it’s over. Visuals also serve to focus audience attention on the speaker.

There are other benefits. According to a study by the Wharton School, the use of visuals results in a greater percentage of the audience agreeing with the speaker’s point of view. When visuals are used, participants come to a decision faster. And they perceive the speaker as more professional, more credible, more interesting, and better prepared than speakers who use no visuals.

With today’s modern computer graphics, visuals are affordable to firms of every size. A professionally produced color slide now costs anywhere from $10 to $35, compared with $50 to $125 just a few years ago. Slides are the most popular type of visual, followed by overhead transparencies and flip charts.

The key to creating successful visuals is not to cram too much onto a single side. Each slide should contain no more than one simple graph or chart, or five short lines of copy.

A good test of legibility is to hold the slide at arm’s length and read it. If you can’t make out the words, chances are the people in the back of the room won’t be able to read the slide when it is projected.

Arrive early to check out the room and equipment. Anyone who doesn’t think this is important hasn’t heard those words, “But no one said you wanted a slide projector!” If possible, run through the talk in the conference room before the audience arrives.

Psychologists estimate that 80 percent of the population suffers from stage fright. What can you do to overcome butterflies? Practice helps. The more speaking experience you gain, the less frightening it seems. There are also seminars that teach stress- relaxation training and confidence-building techniques designed to reduce nervous tension.

However, many professional speakers would advise you not to eliminate stage fright. A little anxiety, they say, is a good thing. It pumps you up, keeps you sharp and alert, and helps you “get psyched” so you can do the best job possible.

Tips on Delivering Your Presentation

F When talking, make eye contact with individuals in the audience. Look at a person, and act as if you are speaking directly to him or her. After a minute, pick someone else. This helps you communicate with the audience rather than just read to them.

F Speak loudly enough so that people in the back can hear you. If people are too far away, ask them to move closer before you start.

F Use gestures and tone and volume of voice to emphasize key points.

F Stick to your main points as outlined in the visuals and your notes. Don’t go off on tangents.

F Leave time for a question-and-answer period. Take all questions after the talk, rather than allowing interruptions.

F At the conclusion, summarize your main points and tell the audience what action they should take (or at least what you expect them to have learned, or want them to believe).

Leave-Behinds

A leave-behind is a document you distribute to your audience as a permanent reminder of your talk. The leave-behind is usually a bound booklet containing copies of the visuals or a reprint of the speech.

If you intend to distribute a leave-behind, say so before you begin your talk. That way, the audience knows they don’t have to take notes and they can sit back, relax, and enjoy the speech. But don’t hand out the leave-behind until after the presentation. If you distribute it before or during the talk, people will read the leave-behind and ignore the speaker,you.

Michael Head is an independent business consultant based in Los Angeles.