Power speaking: tips and tricks for presenting with confidence and style.

You can't hide forever.

Everyone must address a group at some point. Whether you are speaking to prospects, customers, co-workers, family members or friends, your presentation skills can greatly impact your business, career, reputation and relationships.

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Your debut as a public speaker may be reserved for some distant date, or it may be coming up soon. Either way, there are steps you can take to improve your effectiveness as a presenter and reduce the stress and fear associated with speaking to a group.

The three keys to any presentation are objective, topic and content. The more time you spend planning and organizing these three elements and practicing your presentation, the more effective--and confident--you'll be.

THE OBJECTIVE

Many presenters overlook identifying their objective, but this should be the starting point of any presentation. Start by asking yourself: What do I hope to accomplish by giving this particular presentation? A clear objective sets the focus of your planning and presentation, and also should be the deciding factor in determining what presentations suit you best.

Your objective may be to change the audience's attitude or opinion; to convince your audience to take a specific action; or to make a favorable impression about someone or something. Your objective also should be the primary consideration when identifying your presentation topic.

THE TOPIC

In addition to helping you accomplish your objective, your topic should establish your credibility and have a favorable effect on the audience. Understanding your audience will allow you to pick a topic that will deliver insight and knowledge, while keeping their interest.

The person who asked you to speak, as well as the website and publications of any organization that represents the audience, can provide you with information that will help you choose an appropriate topic. Try to identify the age, gender, education, challenges, trends and news affecting the audience. If you are one of a series of speakers at an event, consider conflicts and similarities between your topic and the topics of the other speakers.

THE CONTENT AND DELIVERY

Once your objective and topic are identified, you can start putting together the content for your presentation. Content involves both information and delivery.

Information can come from research, surveys, interviews and your experience and knowledge about the topic. With your objective in mind, label the information you accumulate as good (could know), better (should know), or best (must know). Aim to use all of your best and some of your better information in the presentation.

Your delivery should focus on keeping the audience engaged and involved. Get their attention from the outset by starting with a story, preferably one that will evoke an emotion that emphasizes the benefits of your presentation.

Arrange your content so that, like the chapters of a good book, each point creates a desire in the audience to hear more. Phrases such as "So you can see ..." and "With that in mind ..." will help transition each point, reinforce your message and achieve your objective. Whenever possible, use exercises, discussion breaks and question-and-answer sessions throughout your presentation.

Always tell the audience in advance when they can ask questions, but avoid leaving questions for the end of your presentation. Your objective can be sabotaged if there is not enough time left to adequately address a question, especially if it involves a controversial or conflicting issue.

Astonishing facts or statistics to convey key points during your presentation will help keep the audience's attention. Try to avoid a heavy reliance on PowerPoint unless it is needed to visually or audibly reinforce a point or communicate a point that cannot be made with words. Showing continuous slides of bulleted words throughout a presentation can misdirect the audience's attention away from more effective visual reinforcement of the message by the speaker.

Your conclusion should summarize key information, emphasize the value the audience received from your presentation, and reinforce a call to action. Numbered note cards with an outline of your presentation will help you to stay on track.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

There's truth to the adage, "It is not what you say, but how you say it." Allow for plenty of time to practice. Practice will help you improve how you speak as well as your use of non-verbal communication. According to Albert Mehrabian, a professor emeritus of psychology at UCLA and communications research pioneer, 93 percent of the meaning of a message is conveyed through non-verbal communication.

It is best to use a video camera, tape recorder, or practice in front of a friend or colleague. Look for problems such as repeating "ums," "uhs," and words that diminish your presentation's effectiveness. Listen for ways to improve the volume, pitch and tone of your voice.

Practice also will help you identify mistakes such as slouching, tilting your head, shifting from side to side, not making eye contact with the audience and improper use of hand movement that can contradict your message and diminish your credibility with the audience.

Remember to time your practice presentations and to leave time to spare. This will allow you to add material needed to respond to unanticipated audience reactions. Also, deleting information on the fly is not as easy as adding it, especially if you have some "should know" information on reserve. Make sure you allow enough time for any exercises, discussions and questions. You'll also need to build in time to explain any visual aids if you choose to include them.

THEN PRACTICE SOME MORE

Speaking abilities are learned, not innate. So take advantage of the many opportunities to practice speaking to groups. Local chambers of commerce, business roundtables and community outreach groups frequently are looking for speakers, and CPAs are often in demand.

CalCPA also offers many opportunities to make presentations. The student outreach program that generates opportunities for CPAs to talk about the profession with area students is a great place to start. CalCPA has a bevy of presentation materials for you and it's a great opportunity to practice your presentation skills in a low-pressure environment while shoring up the future pool of CPAs.

Once you get a few presentations under your belt, you'll start looking forward to presentation opportunities, knowing that they are not only personally and professionally rewarding, but also a lot of fun.

BY PAMELA THOMPSON, CPA 

Pamela Thompson, CPA is founder of San Dimas-based Show Your Stuff, a strategic planning firm for CPAs. She can be reached at [e-mail].