As everyone who follows me on Twitter, this past Wendesday, I had the pleasure on attending the HSMAI Luncheon with Guest Speaker, Renee Walkup. Renee is national recognized as "an expert in phone sales, consultative selling, and persuasive presentation skills. Using her skills from 17 years of corporate experience in sales, management, and training, allows her to assist clients in building their businesses through the implementation of methods that have proven successful time and again."
With this in mind, I able to pick up a helpful flyer that I thought my audience might be interested in:
Top 10 Hints and Tips for PEAK Presentations
By Renee Walkup
1. Plan with your audience in mind. Think of your group before you plan your content and delivery. Who will be there, how interested are they in your service, what are the demographics of the group, etc.
2. Get there early, set up, and greet your audience members. Make sure you are prepared to warmly engage each and every audience member that you can. With small groups, that's easy. For larger groups of over 50, make as many connections as possible.
3. Include your audience in your delivery. Ask questions. Use people's names and examples. Make effective eye contact with each audience member through a thought.
4. Respect your group. If someone has a question or needs clarification, pay attention by listening and responding accordingly. Even if the question is out of context with your agenda, make sure you handle the exchange with professionalism and tact (or humor if you are comfortable with that).
5. Avoid "mood lighting". You're not on a date! If using PowerPoint, make sure your lights are on full. The newer LCD projectors are fine with it's light and the audience can see YOU! Remember, it only takes the brain about 3 seconds to read and digest a slide. No need to speak in the dark.
6. Move around. When you move, not only do your audience's eyes move with you, this is more engaging. Your audience will hear you differently as you walkaround and that helps to keep their interest, as well.
7. Leave your stuff in the hall. Take your phone off your hip when you are presenting. The reason is, the phone's non-verbal message is, "this thing is more important than YOU". Even if you have the phone turned off, seeing the phone IS a turn off to your presentation and reminds everyone watching you that the,too have calls they need to make.
8. Don't compete with food. If there is pizza and lasagna sitting around, it's impossible to keep your audiences' attention while their stomach's are growling. Let them eat, first. Then present. Believe me, it's far better to have an audience within a normal blood sugar range than people wondering when you're going to shut up so they can eat.
9. Get creative. Bring in some props, a sample, colored paper, a "costume", music, video, or develop an interactive exrcise. Shake up the presentation and you'll remain memorable.
10. Remember to close with PUNCH. If it's a sales presentation, get a commitment at the end or create a plan for next steps in the process. With an internal audience, make sure everyone knows the deadline and expectation. Everyone leaving your presenation should feel like, "Yeah. THAT was good."
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Sue has recently joined Speedpro Imaging of Greater Atlanta as an Account Executive. With over 16 years of experience in large format digital imaging creation and production, she sought an opportunity to utilize her knowledge and expertise by applying it in a direct customer relationship role. 
