Q1

Forecast Presentations

Business speakers don't always have the luxury of complete confidence in the material they have to present. For instance, sales forecasts for new products are notoriously difficult to make because they depend on so many factors in the marketplace. If you were presenting a forecast that was the best available answer but not one that you had much confidence in, should you still follow the guidelines presented in your readings for appearing confident in front of your audience? Explain your answer.

Prepare more material than necessary. Extra knowledge will reduce your anxiety.

_ Practice, practice, practice. The more familiar you are with your material, the less panic you'll feel.

_ Think positively. See yourself as polished and professional, and your audience will, too.

_ Visualize your success. Visualize yourself in front of the audience, feeling confident, prepared, and able to handle any situation that might arise.18

_ Take a few deep breaths. Before you begin to speak, remember that your audience wants you to succeed, too.

_ Be ready. Memorize your first sentence so you can open on a confident note.

_ Be comfortable. Dress appropriately for the situation but as comfortably as possible. Drink plenty of water before your scheduled presentation time to ensure that your voice is well hydrated (bring a bottle of water with you, too).

_ Don't panic. If you sense that you're starting to race, pause and arrange your notes or perform some other small task while taking several deep breaths. Then start again at your normal pace. If you feel that you're losing your audience members, try to pull them back by asking for comments or questions.

Q2

Enhancing Presentations

Advice for giving effective online presentations is given in Chapter 17 of your text. Read the list and determine what would be the hardest to adhere to or control. What would be the easiest? Why is this so? Provide a practical real world example

You should expect to give some presentations online during your career. Depending on the system, you'll communicate through combination of audio, video, and electronic slides. Your audience will view your presentation either on individual computer screens or via a projector in a conference room. Capabilities vary from one system to another, so it's a good idea to make sure you're familiar with the system you'll be using well in advance of your presentation.

Online presentations give you a way to reach more people in less time, but they require special preparation and skills.

The benefits of online presentations (sometimes called webinars, for web seminars) are considerable, including the opportunity to communicate with a geographically dispersed audience at a fraction of the cost of travel and the ability for a project team or an entire organization to meet at a moment's notice. Online presentations can also be less disruptive for the members of your audience, giving them the options of viewing your presentation from their desk and listening to only those parts that apply to them.

Once you master the technology, you can spend less time thinking about it and more time thinking about the most important elements of the presentation: your message and your audience.

However, the challenges for an online presenter can also be considerable, thanks to that layer of technology between you and your audience. Many of those "human moments" that guide and encourage you through an in-person presentation won't travel across the digital divide, particularly if you don't have a live video link. However, online systems continue to improve, and presenters who master this new mode of communication will definitely have an advantage in tomorrow's business environment.

To ensure successful online presentations, keep the following advice in mind:

_ Consider all your alternatives. Microsoft PowerPoint is far and away the dominant presentation software in business, but a growing number of alternatives are now available-including some designed specifically for online presentations.

_ Consider sending preview study materials ahead of time. If your presentation covers complicated or unfamiliar material, consider sending "prestudy" materials ahead of time so audience members can familiarize themselves with any important background information. In addition to preview materials, also consider sending technical "how-to" information to help inexperienced users connect to the system.23 Also, by using a free service such as SlideShare (see page 510), you can distribute your presentation slides to either public or private audiences, and you can record audio narrative to make your presentations function on their own.24

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Highlight nine major issues to consider when you're preparing to give a presentation online

_ Keep your content-and your presentation of it-as simple as possible. Break complicated slides down into multiple slides, if necessary, and keep the direction of your discussion clear so that no one gets lost. Moreover, make sure any streaming video presentations are short; viewers don't like to sit through recorded speeches online.25

_ Ask for feedback frequently. Depending on the video connection, you probably won't have much visual feedback that alerts you when audience members are confused (such as perplexed looks or blank stares), and many online viewers will be reluctant to call attention to themselves by interrupting you to ask for clarification. To make sure you're not losing people, ask for feedback as you go.

_ Consider the viewing experience from the audience's side. Will participants be able to see what you think they can see? For instance, webcast video is typically displayed in a small window on-screen, which can make it difficult to see tiny details.

_ Make sure your audience can receive the sort of content you intend to use. For instance, some corporate firewalls (electronic "safety gates") don't allow streaming media, so your webcast video might not survive the trip.26

_ Allow plenty of time for everyone to get connected and familiar with the screens they're viewing. Also, if people need to download any software to participate, be sure to tell them ahead of time so they don't waste precious meeting time trying to configure their computers.