Engineering Inc - May/June 2018 - 60

WAYS TO MAKE YOUR PRESENTATIONS SING

1. Understand the audience. It's simple: If you don't know your audience, you
will almost certainly fail. No two groups are the same. Spend time researching
what is important to the audience and tailor your presentation and messaging
accordingly.
2. Know your message, and keep it simple. A successful presentation nearly
always comes down to communicating a few crucial points. Every fact, figure and
shred of evidence should be organized accordingly. Otherwise, your audience will
drift and detach.

3. Offer compelling information and evidence. Business decision-makers won't pull
the trigger on a project or initiative without key facts. However, the information
must be tailored to their specific needs. When you get it right, you may achieve
buy-in almost instantly.
4. Establish an emotional connection. Facts and logic are useful, but humans are
both left brain and right brain creatures. "An emotional connection is powerful
and gives you credibility," says Rose Venditto at Beyond Words Consulting. "You
can have the greatest presentation, with the most interesting facts and logic, but
how you deliver your message is critically important to being heard and getting
buy-in from your audience."
5. Practice. Great speakers and persuasive presenters are rarely born. They work

6. Stay composed. If you stumble, dust yourself off and continue. Toss out a
self-deprecating joke, which may help the audience connect with you. Don't let
contentious audience members get the best of you. Stay in control, and pull the
conversation back on your grounds.

20 pictures. Keep it simple because the average person doesn't
understand technical diagrams, squiggly lines and data-laden
tables. Anything more than a simple illustration or graphic
becomes noise."
THE FINAL WORD

A winning approach to communication ultimately comes down
to balancing three primary factors, Stone says.
The first is ethos, which deals with establishing authority
and honesty. "If you can convince your audience that you are
qualified or authorized to address the topic, they'll give you the
benefit of the doubt. That trustworthiness can be achieved with
recognized credentials, a vested interest or particular knowledge
about the topic or an ability to speak with obvious authority on
the subject."
The second factor is pathos, which translates into a need to
appeal to the emotions of the audience. "A touching story, a passionate delivery or showing that you're aligned with an underlying audience value will get them to invest emotionally with your
topic," Stone explains. "Pathos can appeal in a positive way with
excitement and hope, or it can induce fear by painting a decidedly unpleasant picture." Too much pathos can undermine tech60

ENGINEERING INC.

MAY / JUNE 2018

KLAUS VEDFELT/GETTY IMAGES

on their delivery, including their inflection and body language. When you know
your stuff and you are confident, you also settle the jitters associated with
public speaking.

nical presentations, but it's still essential. "Without it, you'll be
dull, flat and unappealing," Stone says.
Finally, there's logos, which incorporates reason, backed up
by facts and figures. "This is especially important when you are
trying to explain a technical issue to an audience. A purely emotional argument is going to make you look like you don't know
what you're talking about, you're trying to bamboozle us, or
both," says Stone. He adds that too many technical professionals, including engineers, rely too heavily on logic. "But it can
only take you part way."
Developing a strong emotional intelligence is vital, Stone
says. When a presenter can tie together self-awareness, social
awareness and self-management techniques that guide thinking,
responses and interactions, it's possible to take pitches, presentations and speaking engagements to the next level.
"When you are in tune with your audience and have a very
clear idea how to communicate a message to them, you are in a
position to win them over and achieve your goals. Public speaking and presentations are skills that can be mastered with work
and practice," says Hickey. ■
Samuel Greengard is a technology writer based in West Linn, Oregon.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc - May/June 2018