how to be a good presenter

FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND MULTIMEDIA

COMMUNICATION

OUMH1303

ENGLISH FOR ORAL PRESENTATION

HOW TO BECOME A GOOD PRESENTER

NAME : ANISAH _A_A.

SEPTEMBER 2013 SEMESTER

OUMH1303 ENGLISH FOR ORAL COMMUNICATION 2013

CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 BENEFITS OF BEING A GOOD PRESENTER

2.1 PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

2.2 CONVINCE YOUR LISTENERS

2.3 LOOK PRESENTABLE

2.4 BE A GOOD LISTENER

2.5 ATTEND COMMUNICATION TRAINING PROGRAM

2.6 KEEP EYE CONTACT

2.7 SPEAK CLEARLY

2.8 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCES

3.0 CONCLUSION

4.0 REFERENCES

5.0 APPENDIX

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Good Morning to ladies and gentlemen,

Let me start by introducing myself. I am the vice consultant of a BisstechSdn Bhd. I

assumed that you know that this company is an IT company which we are supplying the services

of building websites and softwares to the customers. This morning, I feel very lucky and proudly

wish to share this precious knowledge of a good presenter with all of you here. At the end of

this speech, you will be able to present with great communication skills. I am sure that all the

information that I will present to you for today will help to improve your level understanding on

how to be a good presenter. As the Sales and Marketing staffs, it is crucial to have a good

presentation skill in promoting this company to the customers. One of our services to offer is

sales something. What people will expect from us? Simply, we are doing things like plans and

implements sales, marketing and product development programs, both short and long range,

targeted toward existing and new markets by performing the following duties personally or

through subordinates.

With this opportunity you will be able to raise the sales, incomes, profits and customers

for the company. Together we do our own roles. There is an opportunity for everyone!There was

an obstruction blocking his door! What we as sales and marketing staff expect next? Why we

always think that we are not good to present something? Indeed, lack of knowledge in lack of

knowledge in high communication skills has led to the some trouble to impart a strong

commitment to be a professional in communications. In this speech I will be talking to you about

the necessity and importance of a good presenter. Before I begin my speech I would like to

respect, thank and acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet.

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2.0 BENEFITS OF BEING A GOOD PRESENTER

Right, lets’s start with first point which I will move to the benefits of being a good

presenter. These elements are related to each other. When you have a good communication

skills during your public speaking or presentation, you will gain these benefits and these also

helps your career. For example, good network connection will attract clients or customer to

know more about our company products and services. I consider that you already know that

our company is an IT company, which we are supplying the services of creating softwares

and websites. A good network connection will manage to attract a large group of people.

Furthermore, you will get loyal customer and gain a practice team sales when you are

managing to have better interaction with your audiences and , your great ideas will win.

2.1 PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Good morning ladies and gentlemen,

Number one, there are several ways to improve your presentation skills and the most

important is practice. Based on my researches on the article “How to Improve Your Clarity of

Speech” written by Sunanda Sharma, Wes Platt, Lisa Brooks, Ben Rubensteinand 31 other

authors (n.d), they claimed that;

“Having a conversation with yourself in front of the mirror will be helpful. It may sound

silly, but it does help.”

Sunanda Sharma, Wes Platt, Lisa Brooks, Ben Rubenstein and 31 other authors (n.d).

In my opinion, they were actually giving tips that will be very helpful and due to this,

they (authors) were proposed that self-teaching was one of the best material to be very skillful in

presenting something.Besides, its state that exaggerates your words as you speak. This is the best

tip for beginners. At home try to practice by yourself in front of the mirror.

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http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Clarity-of-Speech

http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Clarity-of-Speech


Imagine like you are managing an important meeting and you have to presents the

spontaneous presentation at that time, and then you start to think.A spontaneous presentation?

Then, you’re starting to shiver. I know this will be a big challenge if you are not familiar with the

strange audiences or listeners. Therefore, to avoid this kind of situation, please practice as much

as you can. Here, you will gain high confidence in yourself and you will speak confidently. You

might think that you are still not a professional presenter but,by the way it's not a big problem.

You must have the guts to face your fear. For a good starter, challenge yourself, by practicing

your speaking skills with your family, friends and colleagues to see how well you can speak for

each day. Again, I want to stress here that practice makes perfect.

2.2 CONVINCE YOUR LISTENERS

Number two, the next point I’d like to make is saying that it is vital to convince your

listeners to listen to you without the existence of boring judgments towards yourself. Keeping

this point in mind, there are several purposes of communication. First one is to inquire, to

inform, to persuade and to develop goodwill. As someone who works in the marketing and sales

staffs you must have highly skilled in communication, this is very important in convincing the

customers. The customer is king in the business world.

The first purpose is to inquire, in this process you will learn to obtain information in a variety

ways, for examples, by giving a question and see their responds or trough giving questionnaires.

The second is to inform, moving right along you will have entailed the information in various

mediums.

The third purpose is to persuade, particularly to persuade them you must aim to influence

customers and bring them round to your way of thinking. Don’t just simply drag your mind to

only influence your customers. You are supposed to use these skills to people around you. We all

know that customers have a different attitude, and this is a good opportunity for you to give a

good response. You must convince them about what you want to say.

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The fourth one is to develop goodwill, as manifest this purpose will involve maintaining and

forming the resilient relationship with people that you're communicating with. Assure that your

ideas can become reality and something that is not impossible to happen. Try to speak along with

your body language casually and everyone is able to attract and you customers will give very

positive impact. I want to stress once again that in order to become a great presenter. You must

be careful to give the entire information you know. Based on my researches on an article

“Actions Do Speak Louder Than Words” (n.d) Carmine Gallo claimed that ;

“Great presenters have animated body movement. Standing absolutely still makes you

appear rigid, boring, and disengaged”

Carmine Gallo (2005, line 36-36)

To enable readers to understand by he was trying to claim in his article, Carmine (2005) has

claimed that to be a good presenter you must have good posture and this will lead your audiences

to listen to you with intentively. Since, not all customers may receive your information without

feeling that they should know about it. For example, you see them as a client and you try to tell a

story about the power of a product. In that case, you do not have to tell who is the creator of the

product or matters related to the financial troubles faced by the supplier of the product. This will

be something annoying. I'm sure your customers will go to a better salesman.

2.3 LOOK PRESENTABLE

Ladies and gentlemen,

Number three, it is crucial to look presentable while you want to present something. To

make yourself look presentable you must dress well for the presentation, usually a formal outfit

is preferred to show the level of professionalism. Well said, appearance says a lot about

someone’s personality and confidence.When we talk about professionalism, what we can

imagine is a person that's willing to do their job with proper manners.

Therefore, professionalism in work place play the main role as a convincing marketing

staff, you need to have a very good integrity to your customers.Among the most significant of all

is how the customers evaluate yourself in the way you dress.Appearance says a lot about

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someone’s personality and confidence. Clothes neat and symbolizes the company's image in a

matter of subjective showed yourself as a person can be trusted. What I want to say here is,

customers will feel safe and trust you.

Consequently, everything can be drawn based on this phrase "People judge you by your

cover".As usual salesman you do not have to curse coat but you just have to dress simple and

neat.Not only facing you’re the customers but if you are developing an oral presentation you

need the skills to be a good presenter.In that process it would require good preparations.If you

wish to present an effective oral presentation you are advised to see how presentable you are.

Why you should dress to impress?Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but people judge you

based off of the clothes you wear.

Based on my researches on www.searchquotes.com (n.d), Maya Angelou said that;

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a

heart of gold but, so does a hard-boiled egg”.

Maya Angelou (n.d)

In my opinion, she tries to enable her followers to view ideas globally and think in

different ways, Maya Angelou (2003) suggests that a great presenter must have good actions by

his or her appearance.This claimed that people will make judgments based on what you wear

during you want to demonstrate your presentation to people. It is true that people will never

know your true intention but, they will hear your ideas if they think you are an interesting

presenter.

Next, you must train yourself to confront all kinds of situation that will disturb you.You

don’t have any idea what type of situation that you will encounter during your presentation is

taking place. I have an interesting story to tell all of here about just a normal guy. He still

remembers his first interview, when he first started out seeking for a job he didn’t have much

money. So whenever he went out to networking events he either wore baggy jeans that makes him

looked like a stranger on the street which his dressing that typically didn’t match. As you can

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probably already guess, half the issue was that he had no sense of style and the other half was that he

didn’t want to spend too much money.

Whenever he walked into meetings or went to a conference people wouldn’t actually give

him the time of the day until they got to know him.Once they noticed that he was somewhat smart

they were willing to listen to me and potentially work with me.The issue was, it took people a while

to warm up to him because no one wanted to waste their time talking with someone who looked

like a beggar.After a few years of going through this, a friend of his kindly suggested that

heshould spend a bit more money on my wardrobe, pay more than 10 bucks for a haircut, and get

a decent pair of shoes.

Although, he can’t decide what kind of dressing is suited for me. Hestarts to think that I

should fit to office code dressing. Due to this, he invested some of my pocket money in making

himself over.As you can conceive that he makeover himself to gain more confidence about his

appearance and ability and guess what, he made a huge difference from that day.

2.4 BE A GOOD LISTENER


Number four, be a good listener to your customers. Apart from listening to what they

have to say about their opinion. Give positive comments relevant to the topic. To be a good

listener you must have eye contact will help you make eye contact as many people as you're free.

This is very helpful if you are confronted with a great deal of customer groups. Let the listener

hear your smile and be friendly with your audience. You have to listen to your listeners or

audiences with mindful attention. It was a big surprise that listening is the skill that is the least

taught formally. According to my researches on an article “Business leaders : Do you people

want to listen to you?”(September 30, 2013) by Jeffrey Gitomer claimed that listener will have

doubt to listen to the presenter.If we desire to be a good presenter we must have simple questions

to think of. In lines 31 to 41, he wrote some questions in the article;

“Reality question 1: How’s your leader? How are his or her presentation skills?

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Reality question 2: How good of a presenter you are?

Reality question 3:Do your people, your audience, and your customers want to listen to

you?”

Jeffrey Gitomer (2013 , line 31-41)

Until now, people always make wrong assumptions as listening and hearing are different

sets of skills. They might think that these two skills are same. Frankly, they were too different. In

fact, effective listening requires you to listen intently and pay close attention to the

speaker.When you listen you will start to receiving, while you start to receiving you will

concentrate on the verbal as well as non-verbal. This also involves reading gestures, body

movements and facial expressions. In active listening has several benefits, it enables people to

listen attentively to others. It prevents misunderstanding as people have to confirm that they

actually understand what the speaker has said and it encourages the speaker to explain more

because he or she feels that you are truly attuned to his or her concerns and wants to listen more

effectively.

Indeed, you should focus on the message, anticipate in what the speaker wants to say,

identify primary and supporting points, check or bias, listen between the lines and finally

minimize the distractions.A good listening skill is important to interpret facts and

opinions.Although we entitled to our opinions, this does not mean that all beliefs are

true.However, opinions are different unlikefacts, it can be very subjective for particular time.

Besides, they are based on nothing more than prejudice or wishful thinking. You have to know

what your engagement aims. Besides that, what you want the audiences to feel? Learn how to

effectively utilize this skill. Tell a story that relates to you and them.This will create a better

connection with your audiences. You want the audiences to react and respond due to this you

have to please your audiences. You should customize based on their own world.

Please organize your topic.Organize the main points in the most appropriate order for the

topic you’re presenting. Avoid writing complete sentences or paragraphs and make note cards to

help you elaborate on the information presented.Besides that, speak clearly.

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2.5 ATTEND COMMUNICATION TRAINING PROGRAM


Number five, try to participate in your community’s communication skills programs, if

one is available in your area. There are many steps that we can take to get involved actively in

any course that provide good training of communication. It was a big surprise that many of us

think that this kind of training program doesn’t give pay benefits. Badly, some of us believe that

it is not important at all.They are totally wrong about this. For a start, you can surf online to find

the training program that suits for you.

Believe it or not? You may get shockedat how much you can improve your level skills of

communication in your life. In this procedure, you will find yourself getting connected with

other people who have intention of improving their level communication too. Your community

group will help you to practice together and discussing the events that should be managed

successfully. This will help you not just in order to be a good presenter but you will have

knowledge on how to be a good leader. What I can say here is, a good presenter will receive lots

of opportunity to be noticed and remembered by people.

Of course, when you start to get involved with a new community, you will be able to

change the way your mind’s thinking.Feeling anxious about public speaking? You’re Not

Alone.As you can see from these steps, make sure you know your content front to back. So even

if you’re nervous, you can be sure of your ability to get the job done. Furthermore, try tovisualize

the presentation you’re going to give for instance, you may practice in the area you’ll be giving it

if you can. This will help you to feel comfortable. Meanwhile, just because you feel nervous,

doesn’t mean you should show it.Study your speech and body language and get rid of any

nervous habits.Otherwise, they're just faking it.Act confidently, and not only will your audience

have no idea that you were nervous, you’ll soon relax and start to truly feel confident.

2.6 KEEP EYE CONTACT

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Number six, as you can see from the information that I have been discussing. One thing that

needs to certify is eye contact. In non-verbal communication, there are no words to use. Here,

feelings are expressed and it’s been testified that it must get through along with facial

expressions, gestures and also your body movement.Also, gender plays the main role in

attracting the listeners to listen to you. Based on my researches on a journal“The Effects of

Speaker Eye Contact and Gender on Receiver's Assessments of the Speaker and Speech.”By

Thomas R. Wagner (2013), he claimed that ;

“In the public speaking context the belief exists that more eye contact is better. Eye

contact was manipulated across four levels from 0 to 94% with a one male and one

female speaker. One hundred and fifty-one participants assessed the speakers’

competence, trust, attractiveness, likability, and information processing. Comparing the

two speakers, significant differences as a function of gender were only found in the 41%

female and the 39% male condition where the female speaker was perceived as

significantly more competent, attractive, reliable, and intelligent.”

Thomas R. Wagner (2012,OKTOBER, p.1-9)

Of course in your communication, you will have face-to-face interactions. In brief, eye

contact is part of everyday communication and an audience can feel uncomfortable with the

speaker. The benefits of making eye contact with audiences and individuals will give them a

feeling of getting involved in your conversation or presentation.

Besides, it helps to convey your engagement goals on a personal level. In the same room,

you share eye contact with all members of a small audience and all areas of a large audience.It

just doesn't matter at all. Make sure you do this often, shift your focus around the room when

you start to feel nervous, this will help involve as many people as possible in your talk. Have

some faith in me.Now that we have established, that an effective eye contact will lead people to

think that you are confident, truthful, the existence of feeling comfortable in yourself, you

believe in what you are saying and you are also respecting them.

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To better at this, you can practice by to look at your listeners when you are

communicating with them. There is one way to doing it better, first thing is you must have

healthy eye contact skills. If you want your audience to have trust in you and think that you are

an interesting presenter that mustn’t be missed try to look at them in the eye. Thus, this will help

you to achieve your goal to be an effective and efficient listener.

2.7 SPEAK CLEARLY


Number seven, speak clearly. Speak in a loud and clear voice to get your presentation

through to the audience even the ones sitting further away. Based on my researches on an article

“OBAMA –MASTER SPEECH – ARISE ROBY” (7 July 2013), he claimed thatthe speaker should

givea clear and inspiring message to the listeners. One of his speeches he said;

"We're not just going to win the election, we're going to transform the country. But

I can't do this on my own. Know that every one of you can make a tremendous

impact as individuals."

Barrack Obama (2011, p 56)

To enable the readers to view ideas globally and think in different ideas, Barrack Obama

(2011) proposes that a great presenter should understand the message that he or she want to

present to the audiences. He also claimed that a great presentation will give big impact to

everyone.

2.8 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCES

Lastly, know your audiences. Various people come from different background. We can

relate this to the level of their knowledge. I want to tell you one example that regarding to this.

Let say, you are going to meet a tailor which his job is sewing clothes. But, al f sudden you were

asking him bout things that out of his job line already. You’re telling him about Linux which, it

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is an open source of a computer system. In my opinion, this conversation doesn’t make sense at

all. So, ladies and gentlemen..you must know your audiences.

3.0 CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, practicemakesperfect,be yourself. All things that I’ve just said just now are

important and you are must be very adept at it. In order to become a good presenter in your

workplace, you must try to be better at it from now on. From this moment, I hope that you will

feel better about your presentation skills and please challenge yourself to improve. You won’t

regret it and it is worth it. Be yourself.

The need to understand the reasons why you must have good presentation skills because

only then you will be able to utilize the skills, develop your mind, improve your confidence

level, gain professionalism, getting better about yourself and the most important thing that I will

expect from all of you here is, be brave to give talks to yourfellow audiences. Good presenter

will give big impact and you will feel that you must go beyond to be what you want to be when

you want to give a presentation. The illegibility in your talk is crucial therefore, people will

never forget yourself.Just like magnetic energy, you will be able to attract people and this is

beneficial for better connection in the business world.

Never be afraid of your mistakes, you just have to improve yourself. You will improve

yourself slowly and you will turn from a good presenter to a great presenter. And that, ladies and

gentlemen is the end of my talk. Now, let me open the floor for any questions and comments.

Thank you for listening.

(3839 Words)

4.0 REFERENCES.

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Humor: Way to Presentation Skill for Beginners. 5 (1), 31-37.In E-journal (OUM

Digital Library).

Starks, Cynthia.J. (2010).How to write a speech.How to Write a Speech. 76(4), 153-156.In

E-Journal (OUM Digital Collection).

Gittomer, J. (2013,OKTOBER 14).Do your people want to listen to you?,10 (12), 8-8.In E-

Journal (OUM Digital Collection).

Preparing and Preparing Public Speeches.(n.d). [Online].Available :

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Angelou, M. (n.d). Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You

may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg. [Online].Available :

http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Remember,_people_will_judge_you_by_your_actio

ns,_not_your_intentions._You_may_have_a_heart_of_gold_-/2318/

Waters, S.(2013).Benefits of Product Knowledge :Knowing Your Products Can Mean More

Sales. [Online]. Available:

http://retail.about.com/od/marketingsalespromotion/qt/product_knowldg.htm

Atkins, R. (2011). Know Your Audience. [Online].Available :

file:///C:/Users/seven/Desktop/Know%20Your%20Audience.htm

Mahmoud, A., Dserbia., & 16 others.(n.d). How to Become a Good Presenter.[Online].

Available :http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Good-Presenter

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http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Good-Presenter

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Good-Presenter

http://retail.about.com/od/marketingsalespromotion/qt/product_knowldg.htm

http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Remember,_people_will_judge_you_by_your_actio%09ns,_not_your_intentions._You_may_have_a_heart_of_gold_-/2318/

http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Remember,_people_will_judge_you_by_your_actio%09ns,_not_your_intentions._You_may_have_a_heart_of_gold_-/2318/

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Namhata, R. (2008 ).Smooth Talk, Smart Attire, Efficient Practice and a Tinge of Humor: Way to Presentation Skill for Beginners.5(1), In E-Journal (OUM DIGITAL LIBRARY).

Carmine, G. (2005,NOVEMBER 17).Actions Do Speak Louder Than Words. In Article (OUM

DIGITAL LIBRARY).

SITI, Syakilah., NUSYAFIYAH., MUHD,Izham,Anuar., NURUL, Farhana.,

(2012, DECEMBER).HOW TO BE A GOOD PRESENTER2.[Online] Available

:.,http://www.slideshare.net/syakilahnorazmi/bm-111-5b-how-to-be-a-good-p resenter-2

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