Using Relevant Presentation Methods
Using Relevant Presentation Methods
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
– Albert Einstein
Introduction
When deciding on an appropriate presentation method, there are numerous factors to consider. Assuming that you have already prepared your presentation, or at the very least determined the key messages that you wish to convey to your audience, and that you have given at least some consideration to how you will organise your material, you can proceed.
In this chapter, we will discuss the mechanics of your presentation method, such as how you will deliver your speech.
The use of sound systems, the management of visual aids, the manner in which you stand, and the amount of interaction you want with your audience are all covered.
When making a decision about your presentation method, you must consider a number of important factors to be successful. These are some examples:
Available resources
Visual aids, sound systems, and lighting are some of the resources that are available to you during your presentation. It goes without saying that you cannot make use of facilities that are not available. If you are told that you will be required to present without the use of a projector, you will need to devise a presentation method that is effective without the use of slides.
The occasion
While making a presentation to your six-person team will be very different from making a formal conference presentation to 200 people, both are important. A wedding speech, on the other hand, is a completely different context. Consider the customs and traditions of the situation. Using visual aids such as slides or other visual aids is not expected at a wedding, for example.
Brief check
Stage fright is both natural and controllable.
The audience
You will have to consider the audience, both in terms of size and familiarity with you, as well as the subject matter.Using a less formal method will be possible if the event is small and unstructured, as described above. For example, you might choose to hand out a one-page handout to your audience, perhaps an infographic that summarises your key points, and walk them through it. Slides are likely to be required for a more formal event.
Use of notes and other aids
More experienced presenters will be more aware of their own weak points and will be able to tailor their preparation and presentation style to compensate for these weaknesses. Few people, on the other hand, are capable of delivering a presentation without the use of notes. Even the most seasoned public speakers will almost always have some form of notes to help them jog their memory and aid them in their presentations.
The subject matter
Your familiarity with the subject matter is an important factor in considering your presentation method. The more you know about a subject, the less you will need to prepare in detail. You can simply have an outline of what you want to say, along with some brief reminders, as a general rule; thus not requiring too many visual aids.
Your personal preferences
Some people prefer to ‘busk it’ (or ‘wing it’) and make up their presentation on the spot, whereas others prefer detailed notes and outlines in advance of their presentation date. You will need to be aware of your own abilities and determine the most effective way to deliver the presentation. When you first start giving presentations, you may find that having more detailed notes helps you feel more confident. As you gain more experience, you may find that you can deliver more effectively with less resources available to you.
Brief check
The best method for delivering your presentation is speaking from carefully prepared note cards.
Some other methods you will use to deliver yourpresentation especially if you are using presentations to teach and or inform. We will be beginning by covering basic delivery methods. Once we have a good foundation and grasp on the basic methods we will delve into more advanced methods.
Basic Methods
Lecture: If you must lecture occasionally, use strategies to make the delivery more interactive.
Discussion:A discussion facilitated by the presenter can be rich in interactivity.
Small Group learning experiences: A small group experience provides direction toward specific learning goals, and provides a high degree of participant involvement.
- Dyads (Groups of 2). Using pairs provides unlimited options for simple interactive experiences. You can say, “Turn to the person on your right and…” Using dyads manages the attention span, the extent of influence, and the focus of the goal. The learning experience is relatively intimate.
- Triads (Groups of 3). Trios expand the focus and experience opportunities. A measure of intimacy is still retained, but multiple viewpoints can be contributed. Triads are useful for producing definitions, establishing priorities, or providing an ongoing support system.
Case Study: The case study method is the presentation of detailed information about a particular situation, often problem solving. Case studies can be very creative exercises, and they are well-suited for small groups. Here are six guidelines for developing a case study:
- Determine the principle you wish to have the case emphasize
- Establish a situation that demonstrates the principle
- Develop appropriate symptoms
- Develop the characters
- Write the case
- Provide questions to guide the learners as they process the case study to solve a problem.
Advanced Methods
After you feel comfortable with basic delivery methods, you can begin to explore some of the more challenging ways to present and facilitate learning experiences.
Role Play: Role playing allows participants to act out a behavioural role.This exercise — done with small groups or the large group– allows members to expand their awareness of varying points of view, and provides an experiential learning opportunity.
A role-play can be used in several ways; to solve a participant problem, clarify or sharpen an issue, or demonstrate a skill approach to a task. Importantly, it gives people an opportunity to practice a skill or approach in a safe environment and use the experience later on the job.
Here are several tips for managing a role play exercises:
- Obtain volunteers, rather than making assignments
- Use role play later in the training session, when participants know each other better
- Select low-threat situations, such as a work group holding a staff meeting.
Problem solving: Problem-solving experiences are increasingly popular in training presentations because they allow participants to gain “real world” experience that often provides direct transfer back to the job.
There are three phases to a problem solving exercise:
- Defining the problem and generating data about it
- Generating potential solutions
- Selecting an implementing a solution.
Below are several of the many proven methods that are available to help participants with each phase.
| Phase | Method | Description |
| Defining the problem and generating data about it | Pareto Analysis | Vilfredo Pareto, a mathematician and economist coined the “80/20” rule. A Pareto Analysis allows you to group and analyze data for a problem such as defects in a model of kitchen faucet. |
| Force Field Analysis | Kurt Lewin defined driving forces and restraining forces that influence the solution to a problem. | |
| Generating potential solutions | Brainstorming | Brainstorming allows a group to generate a large volume of ideas about a problem, or potential solutions. Later, the results must be condensed to a workable number of ideas, typically through grouping, and then voted on. |
| The Delphi Technique | Originally used by the RAND corporation, the Delphi technique allows the anonymous generating of ideas which are then filtered. | |
| Selecting and implementing a solution | Ranking | Participants rank options on a given scale, with or without criteria. |
| The Journalist’s Six Questions | Use “who, what, when, where, why and how” questions to generate data. |
Basic Criteria to Consider
A training presentation may use any combination of delivery methods as long as the net result is to achieve learning outcomes — and consider organizational requirements and constraints. The four-step process below will help you select the best training delivery options to meet your training needs.
- Listall possible learning methodologies that could be used to achieve the session objectives
- Identify possible delivery options for the learning methodologies
- Identify the organizational, presenter, facility, and resource parameters and their impact on the delivery options.
- Recommend your delivery strategies.
At a bank, the outcome of the process might look like this:
| Objective | Delivery Strategy | Expansion/Notes |
| List the five key customer support principles at the bank | Lecture only the principles, using the flip chart or PowerPoint for emphasis, and then add interactivity | Find a lead-off story
Develop a group problem-solving exercise to provide follow-up practice |
| Demonstrate a performance problem with a customer support team in a bank | Role play | Use triads
Find extra space |
| Generate ideas for improving customer support service | Brainstorming | Procure additional flip charts for groups |
Some Other Methods of Presentation
What method you use is mostly determined by the occasion and its formality: particularly formal tends to go with a wider audience, the members of which you are unfamiliar. Your role is going to be considerably more about presenting information and much less about debating the information.
Function comes before form.
It is not possible, for example, to present to 200 people from a chair as part of the group, because the majority of your audience will not be able to see or hear you. You must use common sense while selecting a presentation method.
Participation of the Audience
While the event will influence most of your presentation technique, there is one area where you have a lot of leeway: audience engagement with you and with one other.
Even in a large conference, it is entirely possible to get your audience talking to each other and then feeding back to you.
In reality, this can work really effectively, especially in a low-energy session like the one right after lunch, because it gets everyone talking and awakens them. It works especially well in a ‘café-style’ area with circular tables, but it can equally work in a conference hall.
The idea is to choose one or two essential questions on which you’d like to hear from the audience, or on which audience feedback could improve your session. These questions will vary depending on your session, but it’s always more beneficial to solicit feedback on: something you haven’t yet decided on; or something that the audience will accomplish themselves.
For example, you could urge people to converse with their neighbours and identify one thing they could do to put your lecture into action when they return to work and/or home. You can next ask four or five others to share their action points with you.
Brief check
You can't present to 200 people from a chair, for example, since most of them won't see or hear you. Choosing a presenting style requires common sense.
The Importance of Iteration
You will most likely discover that selecting on a presentation method necessitates changing or amending your presentation. If you wish to include audience participation, for example, you must include it in your slides; otherwise, you may forget in the excitement of the moment.
Fortunately, revising your presentation in light of your decision on how you will present is generally a good idea in any case. It will provide you the assurance that it will work in practice.
Presentation methods vary from the very formal to the very informal. When deciding on an appropriate presentation method, you should also consider delivery techniques to reduce stage fright.
| Very formal | Formal | Informal | Very informal | |
| Suitable occasion | Large conference | Smaller conference or group where you don’t know the audience | Smallish group, probably internal, but not all known to you | Small team meeting where you know the other participants |
| Purpose | Provide information to a large number of people | Provide information, but also get reaction | Provide information, hear reaction, respond; possibly discuss | Provide information, or generate discussion |
| Stand or sit? | Stand | Stand | Stand or sit | Probably sit |
| Present from where? | A lectern | The front of the room. | Either within the group or from the front | Your place at a table, or within the group |
| Visual aids | Yes, slides controlled from the lectern. Can also use video or other multimedia. | Yes, slides, but kept fairly simple | Yes, but keep them to a minimum | Perhaps a one-page summary of your key points |
| Sound systems/ microphone | Yes | Yes | Probably not | No |
| Type of room | Large conference hall | Conference room or meeting room | Meeting room or office | Meeting room or office |
| What will you have to provide in advance? | Copy of your slides | Copy of your slides | Handout of some sort | Nothing expected |
| Audience interaction | A formal question session afterwards is usual | Formal questions, but you may get interruptions during your presentation | Fairly interactive; up to you to handle questions or discussion during the session | Likely to be very interactive if you allow |
Practical Application
Jenny had completed the first hour and a half of her talk when she had to let the participants take a break. When the training was interrupted for a brief fifteen minutes, she took some time to think. Her observations of some of the participants throughout the training had led her to believe that they were slow and inattentive.
Jenny decided to try out small Group learning experiences as her presentation delivery method so that there could be a higher degree of participant involvement. When everyone had returned to their seats, Jenny addressed the audience with a renewed sense of energy. “We will cover the infamous issue of customer complaints in our upcoming section,” she said. I’m well aware that there’s a plethora of knowledge and expertise already here in this room. As a result, I’d want you to turn to the person next to you and tell them about a time when you had a customer complaint and how you responded to it.
Jenny sat back and observed as the participants became more engaged as they participated with the person next to them in their talks. The atmosphere in the room was re-energized, and the training became more participatory and effective as a result.
