Humor in Business Presentations PDF

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Summary

various tools to use in the presentation:
• Ideas and themes
• Games
• Use of breaks
• Engagement of the audience
• Paraphrasing
• Cultural expectations - international audiences
• Listening
• Humor
• The power of why...

Description

PART 1: Watch the following video: “Think Fast, Talk Smart Communication Techniques” Presenter: Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business Length 58 minutes, 19 seconds; You will need a partner for some of the activities; this can be anyone youtube.com/watch?v=HAnw168huqA PART 2: The speaker covers many key points and uses various tools in his presentation: • Ideas and themes • Games • Use of breaks • Engagement of the audience • Paraphrasing • Cultural expectations - international audiences • Listening • Humor • The power of why 1. Which of these 10 key points are you currently using? Explain in detail situations where you are using them. What success have you had using them? I have used asking a question, listening, humor and problem-solution-benefit methods in presentations and meetings. Listen: As a Data management analyst I usually get opportunities to meet with different clients to discuss their data needs. One of the most usable and required skill is to listen and process the client’s requirements. In some cases, it is hard to focus when clients are not very adept at explaining the problem. In those cases, it is even more apparent to actively listen and direct the conversation to the subject at hand. Asking a question to engage the audience: There are a few instances where our team had to prepare power point presentations to submit a project plan or a data analytics about a problem. In those cases, I have used about asking a question and getting the audience to vote or take a survey helped the audience to engage in the topic at hand Humor: I have tried using humor at meetings or presentations but with mixed results. So, I can’t say I was successful in this. We usually have monthly team lunches where one of us have to organize the event and try to engage the team in various activities. So, I have tried a joke here and there when explaining an activity but it didn’t work, probably more because I was nervous.

Problem-solution-benefit: In our team meetings or debates I use the approach to state the problem and the solution or tools I propose and the benefits of using the solution. It helps me to convey my thoughts in a more structured manner during these brainstorming sessions with my colleagues.

2. Which of these 10 key points that you are not currently using will you add to your communication skills? Explain why you plan to use them. One of the key points Matt Abrahams discussed was to get out of your own way. It is a huge issue with me. I always want to think ahead and be prepared that most often I miss the present. The exercises and ideas he suggested in the speech looked to be working. Maybe with practice I can focus just on the present. The second point is to manage your anxiety. I face this at every interview or public speaking moment in my professional life. Some of the ideas Matt explained to confront the anxiety, and to treat public speaking as a conversation and use conversational language rather than a performance sounds good. I would like to remember these points and practice them in my work presentations for client’s and upper management. Paraphrasing is another technique I would like to use. Especially during our brain storming sessions in general we are supposed to critique solutions from teammates to make them better. There were situations when someone might get defensive based on the tone or pitch of voice. Paraphrasing a challenge issued as an opportunity to explain your thoughts might be worth practicing. Matt’s advice to ask for advice on how to react to a certain situation is useful when asking questions to upper management where in general you might not get straight answers. Matt’s games of Using tongue twister’s and, shout the wrong name looks helpful and at the least could warm my voice. So, I am hoping to add these to my preparation to minimize anxiety and stay in the moment. Cultural expectation’s is definitely useful as we have a very diverse population in the USA and I come across client’s with different cultural backgrounds. Understanding the expectations of the audience and listening are two tips from Matt I hope to incorporate in my client meetings.

3. Provide, in detail, one workplace or personal example (it can be hypothetical) to show how you will use some of the “new” key points from question 2 to improve your communication skills. Explain as a case study. I have an upcoming presentation to present my research on the best cloud analytics tool our team should pick to my team mates, director and CTO of our organization. The presentation is a formal speaking event not an impromptu event. I have my research completed and have a PowerPoint slide deck with our current setup, all the cloud analytics tools available and the pros and cons of each and the tool I would recommend. In all my previous presentations when I have a formal presentation I tend to recheck and edit the slides and my presentation so much and try to read aloud the slides but never actually practice the presentation or the speaking part of it. I am planning to give my presentation to an empty conference room a couple of times. And this time I also plan to structure the slide deck with problem-solution and benefits order. I plan to practice the vocal games to warm up my voice and to stay in the moment and not think on how my presentation will be received and liked. I plan to talk in more conversational tone rather than reading the points from the slide deck. In past instances in trying to answer the questions at the end of a presentation I usually rush to answer or explain before I completely processed the question as my brain tries to come up with the best way to answer instead of actively listening to the complete question. For this presentation I plan to listen to the questions actively and completely and turn my responses into opportunities to expand more on the benefit’s and problems’ we could face in our data analytics predictive modelling. Anxiety of the spotlight is also a big issue for me. I hope to manage my anxiety by just focusing in the moment with Matt’s games suggestions of talking in spelling....