Wired Presentations

I am not going to cover all of Mehrabian’s Rule here. If you want to read about it Wikipedia has a great page on it. I will cover some misconceptions.

The rule only applies to communication regarding feelings and attitudes.

The research only covers words (7%), tone of voice (38%) and body language (55%). That’s right, body language is the only visual component studied.

You will hear people say, “words only count for 7% of the information delivered during a presentation.” Unfortunately, these folks don’t know what they are talking about. You see, the percentages only come into play when words, voice or body language don’t pass along the same message. They are incongruent.

For example:

If I scream “I love you” at the top of my lungs and hit my wife chances are she won’t believe what I say. She will, because she is smart, choose to believe the non-verbal message.

If I am slumped in a chair in front of an audience and mumble “I am so excited to be here…” then chances are they won’t believe me either. Like my wife, they aren’t stupid. They will believe what they see and the tone I use.

You get the idea. Dr. Mehrabian’s research is applied, incorrectly, to the use of slides as well. One day you will hear someone say, “it doesn’t matter what you say — it is the slides that are important.

When that happens just back away and please don’t believe them!

I must admit that I love whiteboards (aka. dry erase boards). They are useful for many different things: planning presentations, designing presentations, outlining, Mind Mapping, brainstorming and — wait for it — delivering presentations. This past week I delivered a lot of presentations. There were no whiteboards for us to use so I brought one with me. It is small and fits in my computer bag.

One-on-one discussions after your presentation: At 11 x 14 inches my whiteboard looks too small for any presentation application but it is not. After presenting our paper at a conference we had some folks follow us out in to the hall. One of the gentlemen asked us a fairly complicated question. Out came the whiteboard. I hadn’t planned to use it for this but as I said, “I love whiteboards.” It turns out that the small whiteboard was perfect for this. Using the whiteboard for diagrams helped us to effectively answer the question. We all know that diagrams really make getting your point across much easier.

Presentations on the demo floor: I spent a great deal of time doing software demonstrations on the demo floor at the conference. The “little whiteboard that could” was very useful for this. If you ask me a question that calls for a diagram I am going to whip out the whiteboard. Using it saves you time and helps you get the point across. Don’t forget that in the one-on-one environment you can let anyone draw the diagram;)

I am sure that there are other applications for the tiny whiteboard. The only thing limiting you is your imagination. I would love to hear your ideas. Be sure to add them to the comments.

We have all been there. You join a Web cast (aka webinar) to hear that the organizer is frantically trying to get something to work. They may not be panicking but it is getting close. You start to feel sorry for them.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it shouldn’t be this way. The problem is that the presenters try to be efficient. They want to maximize their time by arriving at the last minute. The excuse that you normally hear is “I had meeting xxxx that ran over.” 

Here are some tips on how to get your next web cast off to a great start:

Get there early

You should be the first one who joins the web cast. No exceptions. You need to be there to create a relaxed, yet energetic, experience. Talk to people as they join the conference. How early should you be. If it is an important meeting or presentation then you should be ready to talk to early arrivers 15 minutes prior to the start. This means that you have your technical glitches fixed as well.

Arrange your schedule so that there is no chance that you will join your own meeting at the last minute or late.

Announce the topic of the presentation

When people join a web cast they want to know two things. The first is always “Am I in the right place?” Help them out by periodically stating the meeting topic. Here is how we did it when I was teaching, “welcome to the <course title> class … thank you for joining!”

If you are presenting to hundreds of people it is impossible to great everyone one. Periodically state the webinar title so they know they are in the right place.

Load your slides before anyone arrives

The second question your audience will have is “Can I see the slides?” Having a scrolling slide show is a great way to let them know that they are seeing the correct slides.

Always load your slides into the web presentation system. Don’t just share PowerPoint. I It makes for a more professional presentation. Plus, you can use the presentation tools to point and highlight things on the slides. Think of it as gesturing.