THE ART of PUBLIC SPEAKING

Public speaking is thought to be an art that is intrinsic to the performer, but

contrary to this opinion, public speaking and by far presentation skills are
also learned though generally Cholerics are thought to posses a better verbal
edge than other personality types. After handling successful presentations,
and analyzing what actually goes into the creating and realization of a
moving presentation, I came to the conclusion that a number of aspects
actually influence the presenters’ ability on stage apart from his/her own
personal grooming.

One of the most fundamental aspects of presentation is that it’s synonymous

to marketing. Whether you are presenting a plan, a project proposal or
findings of a study, you need to venture into it with the gist of a marketer!
However, this comes at a cost in that the presenter must be well versed with
the basics of the entire product in such a way that he/she can confidently
answer any queries about the item of presentation and even offer additional
information and insights into the item. As a matter of fact, I have personally
found it difficult to present items that I fail to identify with and therefore,
honesty is a main mover of presentation. You cannot present something that
you think is contrary to your personal integrity and value systems no-matter
the general importance attached to it … the process becomes draining and
in some cases your audience may be able to break through your conscious
and see the struggles underneath.

Equally important, is the need to know your audience. Are they experts in
the field? Are they students? Are they open to challenge or do they prefer
the statusquo? Are they novices in the area covered by the presentation? Are
they community members? Such information helps the presenter to connect
better with his/ her audience. It informs the degree of detail, the use of
acronyms, the mode of presentation to be used (including the level of
technology) etc

Preparation for the presentation is vital. This preparation covers everything

from what to wear, the mode of presentation to be used i.e. charts, power
point or other interactive capabilities like GIS layering. It also covers the
need for backups (in case of system or power failures). This requires a great
deal of proactive thinking capabilities and a unique ability to ask questions
that ordinarily people wont be comfortable asking like What happens in case
a virus corrupts this work in the wake of the presentation? Common answers
are usually, ‘O, don’t think about that!’ but I have had to work overnight
before the day of presentation recompiling crucial elements of the
presentation after an anti-virus software deleted corrupted files from a
storage device thereby taking us weeks back in the report! As will be
appreciated, a good presenter is not the one who waits for the report or the
power point slides to be presented to him/her for presentation – NO – I
believe that a good presenter is a hands on person, who is dynamic and
versatile, he/she is with the various data gathering teams, finds time to work
with the data analysis team, knows a few things about the map generation
process, is well versed with existing policy frameworks and ongoing
initiatives in the field and most importantly has continuous communication
with the report (compiling or editing) group. The wide field of knowledge
including an in-depth understanding of why something was done in a given
manner serves to boost the confidence of the presenter.

Another component of preparation is the presentation aid to be used. i.e. are

you using personal summaries in paper form or compressed on-screen
presenter summaries or will you rely on your comprehension abilities and
faculties? I personally prefer the last approach for being a fluent speaker and
versatile (ability to work with the various teams) attaining a good
comprehension of the processes becomes an easy task. Secondly, the
constant referencing on the speaker summaries tends to distract my mind
loading speeds. However, nothing works for everyone and generally this skill
involves a lot of pro-active thinking and intrinsic abilities. For instance while
all presenters appreciate the mock presentation approach (which is generally
important in enabling the presenter identify overlaps, errors, flaws and
absence of proper integration in the presentation) some also believe that
presenting to either themselves (e.g. in a room all alone) or to a few friends,
goes a long way to improve their comprehension and actually boost
confidence. This may be important to first-timers and people to whom public
speaking, powerful personalities and excellent verbal capabilities (associated
with Cholerics) are not their common fields of personality. I generally uphold
the professional respect accorded the mock presentation notably for its
ability to build team spirit especially where more than one presenter is
involved. However, beyond this I tend to be inclined to use my mind power
for presentation. A night before presentation or even sometime before, I
have a tendency of holding the presentation in a virtual cognitive
environment. I.e. If it is a school, I will be there in my mind and present the
entire piece as I would do in the real life situation. This has a number of
advantages in that you get to internalize the content of the presentation
there being no reference in a mind presentation other than the memory
itself. You get to understand what works and what does not, you get to
rethink the opening and closing statements (which must be emphatic) you
get to appraise the analogies. The process can be re-done and re-done
leading to proper internalization of the content and the development of
mnemonics that facilitate in presentation flow dynamics.

On stage, I prefer having my points and facts at the finger tips. A number of
people advocate for small pieces of paper that have summary points but I
usually find this to be interfering with my idea flow based on the above
ability. Secondly, use the stage fully i.e. do not be stationary, but move
around the stage. This helps you to distribute tension. One may consider
asking probing questions or telling an analogy as way of introduction. This
works best to shift the tension from you to the audience, i.e. unless you
engage their minds, those eyes will all be glaring at you and it will be true
since there is no shift of load to their side! Analogies and the questions help
build rapport and cultivate the vital first Impression that every presenter
badly needs. However, the use of these needs to be kept within a minimum
and may not be ideal for all cases. If in doubt about the message
communicated by the analogy or question(s) then confide with a colleague or
friend to help you appraise the first message communicated across unless
the presentation is about how people can get to mis-understand big time!
Humor also works best to diffuse tension. If you can manage to get
everybody laugh then go for it but within the confines of the presentation
context. The time between the onset of laughter and when it subsidies is
enough to conduct a quick evaluation of how good this far? Or to realign your
strategies and also appraise the audience. It’s also important in that it helps
you look around the room and connect with your audience. However, in
practice whenever I conduct a quick glance around the room I sincerely don’t
remember seeing everybody (sometimes anybody) though the individuals
register that you focused their side! – Strange.

The other point is that you need to have tremendous self esteem, self
confidence and presence. This is important when presenting before an
audience that is not expected to give you approval as fast especially in some
academic environments. One time my presentation team was roundly
criticized by the panel though they latter admitted that we did the best work
ever registered in the department and they went ahead as to use
components of the report to further cooperate initiatives! The lead
presenters’ task comes in vital in assuring the team that all was indeed well
only that … It works. The lead presenter needs to posses this confidence, be
able to build self-esteem of fellow presenters, encourage them, support them
etc I remember one time I was presenting in a team of first timers and they
were all dangerously nervous. Detecting a problem and appreciating that
they were all looking up to me for encouragement and were using me as a
bar of acceptable presentation’ You know you are more accomplished!’ now
that was dangerous – the team should view you as a college not as a high
mark since this creates a confidence crisis and may kill individual creativity
necessary in presentation since its an ART! I decided to throw small trick, in
that I went out of my way began working with the manual teams (sticking
charts and all) and in the process got some dirt. It had also rained and in the
process got modest mud that required a trained eye to recognize but wont
escape the eye of someone to whom its presence, his/her attention had been
purposefully brought. Minutes to the presentation, I assembled the team and
pointed out the dirt that I had gathered – and added that I was presenting
that way anyway, I also pointed out that if I was presenting in that mode
while they were still in pressed suits, that should give them a cutting edge …
though I later brushed the obvious dirt, what the team accomplished on the
stage was a page turner! The team was labeled exceptional – it was!

By Mwalili Samuel Chaku