Transformative Presentation by Knowing Who You Are
by Ivan Yong
"You had me at hello" moments by first knowing who you are.
I have had the opportunity to sit through another 2 rounds of presentation as a mentor with the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group (HKFYG) at their GENESIS incubation centre. This 2 presentation adds to the countless presentation that I have attended at big conferences or startup pitching and not forgetting some of my very own.
Most of these presenters are well prepared, they have learned the techniques of a good presentation such as using more visuals, flow and above all present to your audience. The powerpoint are getting more sophisticated and trendy too.
However, the elephant in the room from the word get go is "Is he or she convinced himself/herself on what she is telling me ?"
And you may wonder, how can my audience know whether if I have convinced myself. The answer is how you exhibit your natural behaviour. In my line of work, we can predict to a certain level of accuracy how you will behave without observing you in person e.g. with psychometric tools such as personality questionnaire.
A side note. On personality questionnaire , I find that many had the wrong expectation with what the extend of work can you do with a personality questionnaire. It is not a lie detector although good ones has a checking mechanism (known as validity, reliability & consistency), it does require both the questionnaire taker and the design of the personality questionnaire to work in tandem.
A good tool should be able to do this, "Tell us who you are and we will show you how you behave"
Thus, the best preparation for any presentation is to first know who you are and present from your natural behaviours. What is in you will come out naturally and it will be shown in your body language, words and tones without being consciously trying to correct yourself to the point of paralysis.
For instance, in the profile above, this individual clearly demonstrates,
Persuasion & Influence (Low) - being persuasive, social, extrovert and making first impression in influencing audience is not a strength .
Dynamism , Expeditiousness, Planning (High) - cordial, intense and strive to get things done, adapt quickly to new situations, enjoy variety in their work with a high desire to achieve their goals asap. Meticulous and precise with an innate ability to solve problem - making decisions based on logic. These are strengths.
From the above some of the suggestions could be;
Engage the audience at appropriate intervals to conduct a survey to a question related to the presentation and respond to it.
Illustrate points with a variety of stories and examples.
Make points across backed by details and researched data.
Therefore by first seek to understand thyself, the choice of words, the body language and above all the message will be naturally convincing.
Last but not least, the 2 startup founders at the HKFYG had caught me at Hello by showing me their conviction. It was a good day as an audience.
