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Tips on making presentations.
Consider the following tips on making presentations, and try to incorporate any that are suitable for your situation.
Prepare Your Speech
Define your purpose | WHY? |
Know your audience | WHO? |
Select content and structure | WHAT? |
Ensure there are a clear introduction, middle and a conclusion.
You need to prepare your presentation thoroughly, and to practice and rehearse this.
Introduction
In planning your presentation remember the importance of body language in impact:
The opening should grab the audience’s attention. The body should provide the substance and facts. Then the conclusion should be powerful and memorable
The Body of the Talk
Conclusion
The strong closing – end with a BANG! Leave a final memorable message.
Answering questions
This is an important part of the presentation. Questions can be used to correct misconceptions and move the audience towards your viewpoint. You can relax and act more informally in question session, developing a rapport with the audience. It helps to consider the audience and anticipate likely questions, and your response.
Where a question is unclear, it helps to repeat your understanding of the question before answering. This ensures the audience is aware of the question, and guards against misunderstandings.
Dress
You should dress smartly and appropriately to give a professional impression.
Managing Nerves
It is normal to be nervous! Here are a few tips to help you to manage your anxiety:
Talk Aids
Audio-visual aids such as videos, slides, overhead projector transparencies and computer projectors (PowerPoint) can all improve a presentation. However, if badly used, they can be distracting and annoying! For example, do not be tempted to include too many words, or to turn your back to the audience to read the screen. Do not use too many audio-visual mediums in complex combinations – this has the potential for disaster!
You need to learn how to use them. You also need to be prepared to manage without them in case there is a technical problem! Always arrive early to check that the venue has the equipment you need (in working order) and that the room will have sufficient blackout.
Also, the use of stories, which are easier to remember than facts, and props, can help to illustrate points effectively.
Recommended
Tips on verbal communication.
Consider the following communication tips for public speaking and negotiation, and try to incorporate any approaches that are suitable for your national situation.
Recommended
Consider the following ‘top tips for lobbyists’, and try to incorporate any approaches that are suitable for your national situation.
Planning and Preparing
Building Relations
Winning and Losing
Source: Adapted from Politico (pp312-316)
Optional
Suggested campaign tactics.
Consider the tactics below for inclusion in your campaign ‘tactics toolkit’.
These are just a few campaigning methods that could be used. There are many others, and it is also good to develop new and creative tactics.
Optional
This is a tool for scheduling and managing complex project activities
Critical Path Analysis (CPA) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) are tools that enable you to schedule and manage complex projects. They were developed in the 1950s to control large defense projects, and have been used widely since.
The benefit of using critical path analysis techniques over Gantt Charts is that critical path analysis formally identifies tasks which must be completed on time for the whole project to be completed on time, and also identifies which tasks can be delayed for a while if resources need to be reallocated to catch up on missed tasks. The disadvantage of critical path analysis is that the relation of tasks to time is not as immediately obvious in complex projects as it is in Gantt Charts. This can make them more difficult to understand.
A further benefit of critical path analysis is that it helps you to identify the minimum length of time needed to complete a project. Where you need to run an accelerated project, it helps you to identify which project steps you should accelerate to complete the project within the available time. This helps you to minimize cost while still achieving your objective.
As with Gantt Charts, critical path analysis helps you to plan all tasks that must be completed as part of a project. They act as the basis both for preparation of a schedule, and of resource planning. During management of a project, they allow you to monitor achievement of project aims. They help you to see where remedial action needs to be taken to get a project back on course.
The critical path represents the sequence of tasks or events that directly affect the completion of a project. Knowing the critical path allows the project manager to shorten or at least control a project's schedule by focusing on those tasks that directly affect the project's completion.
The following is a simple example of critical path analysis:
A = Completion of activities
B = Earliest completion time
Latest completion time
Activities:
Get bread | 5 |
Get butter | 5 |
Get knife | 3 |
Bread in toaster | 2 |
Toasting | 60 |
Butter toast | 8 |
The minimum task period is 75 seconds.
The critical line is the middle one – this has to be well managed to ensure the task is completed in minimum time.
Critical Path Analysis is an effective and powerful method of assessing:
As with Gantt Charts, in practice project managers tend to use software tools like Microsoft Project to create critical path analysis charts. Not only do these make them easier to draw, they also make modification of plans easier and provide facilities for monitoring progress against plans.
PERT is a variation on critical path analysis that takes a slightly more skeptical view of time estimates made for each project stage. To use it, estimate the shortest possible time each activity will take, the most likely length of time, and the longest time that might be taken if the activity takes longer than expected.
Optional
This is a tool for plotting project activities against a ‘Time-Line’.
A Gantt chart is a ‘Time-Line’, which plots project activities against a calendar (as below example). Durations for each task are shown graphically on a timescale ranging from hours to a year. You can adapt the chart to suit your own project and the timescale you need to cover. You can also include views of tasks, resources, or resource usage by task, for example:
Gantt Charts are useful tools for analyzing and planning more complex projects. They:
At the implementation planning stage, Gantt charts can help to identify periods of scare resources, enabling the timing of activities to be changed in order to prevent blockages (and stress!). They are a useful tool to test the feasibility of plans (in terms of time and resource usage).
When a project is underway, Gantt charts are useful for monitoring progress. You can immediately see what should have been achieved at a point in time, and can therefore take remedial action to bring the project back on course. This can be essential for the successful implementation of the project.
Recommended
Advice about media interviews.
Read the following advice, and apply it for media interviews (in so far as it is applicable to your national situation).
DOs
Recommended
Advice about writing successful ‘letters to editors’ and opinion articles.
Read the following advice, and apply it whenever preparing ‘letters to editors’ and opinion articles (in so far as it is applicable to your national situation).
Letters to the editor in newspapers and magazines provide readers with the opportunity to comment on issues covered by the publication. While only a certain limited number of letters are actually selected for publication, letters to the editor provide a simple way to communicate to a wide audience.
Most publications contain specific guidelines for submitting a letter to the editor, including very limited word-counts. Most publications require letters of less than 200 words. This means that letters must be concise. To increase the chances of publication, letters should comply with the publication guidelines, refer to previous articles or current events, and include contact information.
Tips for Editors Letters
In addition to letters to the editor, newspapers also include opinion pieces that are written by members of the community rather than by journalists. Opinion articles provide the opportunity to comment more extensively on an issue of public concern or debate.
Publication of an opinion piece is more difficult than getting a letter to the editor published. To increase the chances of publication, the topic should be related to current issues.
Recommended
Advice about writing successful press releases.
Read the following advice, and apply it whenever preparing press releases (in so far as it is applicable to your national situation).
Issuing a press release is a way to notify the media of a story or development. The release should be no longer than one page, and provide details on the development as well as background information on the larger issues. The release is then sent directly to media outlets. Media outlets that want to cover the story will use the release, either verbatim or as background information.
Effective press releases should have most important information in first paragraph and the rest in descending order of importance
Heading: short, eye catching, includes main points
First paragraph should answer 5W's:
This information should be start with the most important information first followed by less important information.
Body: Give essentials, then ‘background notes’. Include:
The quote should be contained within the first two paragraphs.
Background notes: include contact details and any explanations for clarity but not necessarily for publication. Include an ‘all hours’ contact and phone number and spokesperson details (if you are doing a national release, try to find local people to be available to speak to local media).
Include a release date, which is the date the release can be published. It should be clearly stated on the top of the release. If it can be published immediately, the release should state ‘FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE’.
Send press releases to named journalists, where possible. Follow up with a call afterwards, ostensibly to offer them something further.
Recommended
The following advice is in two sections. The ‘13 Steps to Successful Coverage’ contain advice on obtaining media coverage and the ‘Other Guidance on Contacts with the Media’ contains general advice on your dealings with the media.
Read the following advice, and apply it whenever applicable to your work with the media.