Presentations: Audience and Language

CTL Presentation Skills team

http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/ac

Today’s Agenda

▪ Who is your audience

▪ How to prepare for your presentation

▪ How to connect with your audience

Knowing your audience

Types of Audiences:

▪ EXPERTS

▪ MANAGERIAL/PROFESSIONAL

▪ GENERAL PUBLIC/LAY AUDIENCE

The best presenters will “speak” to their audience, using the right tone and message

▪ What information will they know?

▪ What info do they need explained?

▪ What level of technical detail will they be comfortable with?

▪ What are their needs?

▪ What is their attitude?

▪ What are their expectations?

Let’s start with an illustration…The LANGUAGE of Experts vs. Non-Experts

Presentation / Performance

Objectives

Topic

Audience

Your performance in THREE parts:Audience, Objectives and Topic

Set Goals

What is your objective, and desired outcome for the presentation?▪ To educate and inform

▪ To demonstrate particular knowledge mastery

▪ To influence others

▪ To achieve a particular result

▪ To mislead and confuse

How do you prepare for a presentation?

Helpful Guidelines on Presenting

1. Prepare to speak to a particular audience

2. Show and tell (use charts/visualizations)

3. Plan in advance how you will direct the audience’s attention

4. Don’t lose your basic message by providing either too much or too little information

5. Prepare your slides to function as your notes; don’t rely on your memory

6. Use full range of communication options

7. Build in breaks that allow the audience to “come up for air”

8. Prepare for questions

Kosslyn, S. M. (2007). Clear and to the point: 8 psychological principles for compelling

PowerPoint presentations. Oxford University Press.

How can you connect with your audience?

How do you connect with your audience using your strength ?

▪ Direct References

▪Mutual References

▪ Ask Questions

▪ Contempori

ze

▪ Localize

▪ Provide Data

▪ Customize your first slide

Weissman, J. (2011). Presentations in action: 80

memorable presentation lessons from the masters. Pearson

Education.

THANK-YOU!

CTL Presentation Skills team

http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/ac

Every presentation is a learning opportunity for you and your audience!