Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen a trend in the building service industry whereby the three finalists on a bid are asked to make a formal presentation to “sell “ their company to the client. A good, concise presentation with a polished speaker often makes one company stand out over another, and leaves a lasting impression as to the overall professionalism of the building service contractor.

It’s only natural to have the jitters before making a speech or presentation, but with these tips, you can learn the tricks of professional speakers and become more at ease the next time you make a speech.

Remember that this particular audience holds your future contract in their hands, so you owe them more than a superficial attempt to gain their business. If you are passionate about your company, and you can convince them of that fact, they will pay attention.

And, also remember that even the most poised public speaker is somewhat nervous at the beginning of a presentation. Channel your nervousness into positive energy. Use that energy to add excitement to your talk so the audience will catch your enthusiasm and be receptive to you. Never announce or apologize for the fact you are jittery.

Attention, please!
Getting your audience’s attention and holding it is mandatory. When your prospects are entering the room for the talk, have music integrated in your presentation that’s suitable for the occasion. This sets the tone that the meeting will be interesting.

Once you have the attention of the buyers, your next step is to generate interest in the service you are selling, and it begins with considering what motivates the buyer. Your audience is not concerned about you or your service as much as they are interested in what your service can do for them.

Start off with a dynamic attention getter and create vivid pictures in the minds of your audience as well as those images they see on the screen. Presentations that contain pictures and graphics are pleasing to the eye, and varying slide transitions keep the presentation appealing. Your audience already knows how to read, so avoid reading the words on the screen.

Good speakers use words and body language together to convey a message. A mistake novices make is to hold their hands in front of their body while making their speech.

Open palms indicate honesty and poise, while clenched fists generally show power or hostility. It’s better to have your hands relaxed to the sides of the body and to use your hands to gesture at appropriate times When gesturing, pointing a finger at the audience to emphasis a point often comes across as an aggressive gesture, so if you must point, use two fingers together.

Avoid distractions such as figeting withglasses, or worse, jiggling pocket change. You want the audience to be totally focused on you and the topic.

Eye contact is especially important during a presentation. Have you ever spoken with someone who avoided looking at you directly? Did that make you doubt their honesty, interest or sincerity? When you look directly at people, they believe you care about them. Make sure you give approximately the same eye contact time to each person in the room.

Facial expressions also are important. People watch a speaker’s face during a talk and take many cues. All components of your face from your eyes, eye movement, eyebrows and mouth play a crucial role when showing happiness, interest, aggressiveness or confidence. Facial expressions should always match the emotion being conveyed at the time.

Vocal variety
A good presentation voice is clear, pleasant, natural, and has depth that reflects the sincerity of the speaker. Most people tend to speak quietly and it takes special effort on their part to be more assertive in their volume. Practice speaking so that you are clearly and distinctly heard across a room without having to shout or sound unnatural.

Avoid a high pitch because it signals nervousness. Try to vary the pitch of your voice to express different ideas such as a higher pitch to show excitement and energy, and a lower pitch to convey sincerity and honesty. The objective is to have varied, conversational vocal pitch. Practice varying your speaking rate to reflect different points you wish to emphasize such as speaking slighter faster when delivering an exciting idea or concept, and slower speech to emphasize your most significant points.

Working with words
Some people think they impress others with long words or meaningless jargon. Unless you are presenting a technical paper or speaking at a medical convention, the most effective presentation uses short, descriptive words that fall easy on the listening ear – usually one or two syllables.

Likewise, long sentences are more difficult for your audience to comprehend. Often, by the time you’ve completed a long sentence, the beginning of the sentence has been forgotten.

In addition, most people don’t realize how many times they use “um”, “you know” or “and ah” during the course of normal conversation. These are called “bridge words” and attempt to fill the gap in time when we are formulating our next thought. Bridge words are very distracting to hear during a presentation and are a hazardous habit even to the most intelligent, articulate person.

As you practice your presentation, it’s helpful to either record yourself, or have someone count the number of times you use bridge words. As you become aware of this habit, it is possible to catch the bridge words before they are out.

Emotional appeal
An effective presentation builds momentum and shows passion for the product or service being sold. Don’t forget the value of emotional appeal at the end of the presentation. A powerful ending can be as simple as asking outright for the customer’s business or leaving them with the thought no other vendor could possibly serve them better. Touch your audience by focusing on what appeals to them — a clean building provided only by your firm.

To teach yourself how to become a poised, confident speaker, it’s important to practice your presentation. Rehearse your talk several times so that the flow of words, key points, and gestures, appear to come naturally.

Good selling presentations are an art form designed to move an idea from one person’s head (your company’s) into the head of another (your client’s). Your goal is to strive for qualities of sincerity, and to speak convincingly and knowledgeably about the value of your service. Try these hints at your next presentation, and watch your success rate climb!

Dannette Young Heeth of Heeth & Associates, Inc., is an Advanced Toastmaster, level “Silver” (ATM-S) and has earned her Toastmasters “Competent Leader” designation. Between 2002 and 2004, she has won over 35 blue ribbons for “Best Speech” and placed first in the 2002 Area 55 Divisional Humorous Speech contest. She has also served as a club president, and as Area 55 Governor.




POSTED ON: 1/1/2005