The New Rules for Technical Presentations

Overview

The ability of technical presenters — engineers, programmers, and scientists — to communicate what they know to a wide variety of audiences is essential for their company’s success.

Program Objectives

In this program participants will learn

1. WHY giving presentations is an essential element of their jobs

2. HOW to use skills they already possess to give an effective presentation

3. WHY a presentation in NOT about saying everything they know about a subject but IS about helping the audience learn what the audience wants and needs to know

4. WHAT the key elements of an effective presentation are

5. HOW to avoid the pitfalls of PowerPoint

Program Outline

• New Rule #1: Achieve a business goal.
  Presentations — even highly technical ones — have a business goal: to promote the company’s visibility/credibility, to further the development of a product, procedure, or service, to support the sales process, or to satisfy a customer.

• New Rule #2: Be audience-centric.
  Don’t focus on your expertise. Instead, use your expertise to help your audience solve a problem, achieve a goal, or satisfy a need that is important to them.

• New Rule #3: Be clear.
  No matter how smart you are or who well you know your material, if you confuse your audience — by speaking over their heads or by presenting too much information — your presentation is a failure.

• New Rule #4: Provide a practical application.
  Plan every presentation knowing what you want the audience to do with the material you’re presenting. How do you want them to implement it? (Know, also, why they would want to do what you want them to.)

• New Rule #5: Actively solicit questions.
  Q&A, which technical experts usually dread and/or avoid, are the best part of any presentation — for the audience and, with experience and the right attitude, for the presenter.
  

Program Format

• Keynote Speech (45 Minutes to 1 Hour) covers these topics, giving illustrations and how-tos.

• Workshop (Half Day to Two Days) goes into each topic in more depth and coaches participants through exercises designed to increase their “influence factor.”

Questions?

For more information about how this presentation might benefit your organization, please call us (toll free) at 866-268-3084 or email us.