On Friday, August 21^st I got the pleasure of attending the SD Ad Club’s seminar on the “Art of Powerful Presentations” led by Nancy Stern. Nancy is an educator and communications consultant. She has worked with companies like General Dynamics, Sony, and Tiffany & Co, and is known for her quote “How you say what you say matters.” The goal of the seminar was to help us develop strategies that would enable us to be better communicators; whether it be in front of a crowd of hundreds, or one on one. Nancy kept us engaged by getting us involved. In between topics Nancy would pose questions and have us brainstorm possible answers at our tables. Then she would call on us to read our answers aloud so we could discuss as a group.

The three main takeaways from the seminar are:

PowerPoint is NOT a teleprompter

The slides in your presentation are there to support your topic. A rule of thumb is not to overload your presentation with bullets. You want to keep the text to a minimum and add imagery to help support your point. Also you want to speak to the slides rather than read from them. A good presentation blends technology, visuals, and human connections.

Always have a plan B

What would you do if your computer or the projector dies? You should be able to give an engaging presentation with or without the slides. Nancy explained that technology doesn’t kill a presentation, bullet points and bad delivery does. If you do not have access to your presentation make use of any other elements you have around. Make notes on a whiteboard, or a large piece of paper. You can make up for not having slides by using visual words like “Imagine a…” or “Picture this…” Nancy said that taking an improv class will help you think on your feet and prepare for the unexpected.

Start strong
You only get 35-40 seconds to capture the audience’s attention. Nancy advised us against giving our bio at the beginning of our presentation; they should already know who we are. Starting your presentation with a story or example is a good attention grabber. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Nancy started her presentation by presenting the wrong way. She had her back to the audience, she was mumbling, and her slides were hard to read. After doing this for two minutes she stopped and asked us to list all the things that she did wrong. This got our attention because it threw us off guard.

Nancy mentioned a number of books throughout the seminar such as:

Presentation Zen By: Garr Reynolds

Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Brain Rules by John Medina

What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter

Related posts:

1. An Evening With Dan Wieden Recap