Attitude Knowledge Skills

Attitude is the top of the pyramid. They will perceive your attitude and obviously you must have the knowledge or the skills – the competence – before you talk about your particular subject. The technique can’t help you here. This is completely, entirely your (4)______ .

Where the technique can help you is on the (5)_____ line. You should be your natural self. And a lot of people say: “Well, I am naturally bad in front of the public”. So, you will get some (6)_____ to help you. You should say things in a simple way. A good (7)_____ of words, for example, is 130 words per minute. If you are speaking for an hour, 130 times 60 is 7800 words, plus the words on the slide, plus the graphs and the (8)_____ . How much do you think people can (9)_____ ? So, remember, less is more. The less you say, the more they will remember. The less you show, the more they will be able to retain.

13.16. Read Part 3 of The Do’s and Dont’s When Presenting Yourself in Public and answer the questions:

1. What do the letters O and A in OASIS mean? Can you guess what do the rest mean?

2. What is a “hook” in the context of a presentation?

The do’s and dont’s when presenting youself in public

Part 3

Let’s have a look at the acronym – each letter stands for a word. OASIS is a great word for presentation skills, because that’s like being in the desert – your mouth is dry; you are starting to get hot. If you want people to remember the things better, use images, acronyms, analogies, and metaphors.

Remember, in the public you will have visual and auditive people, some people can remember images very vividly. What do the first two words mean? Open and advanced. Remember our 60-20 rule: you meet and greet, the people are sitting there, you are starting your meeting, you are walking into the public speaking space with an open gesture.

Your first words are the key, we call this hook. By telling the public they don’t know, you grab their interest right in the start. Don’t tell them things that are nice to know, tell them things they need to know. Usually the hook is the essence of your presentation to grab their interest right in the start. It’s been statistically proved that when you come toward the public with an open gesture, they like it.

13.17. Some presenters don’t know what to do with their hands. Here is the list of positions they often take. Can you demonstrate them?

1. zero position

2. “ready-to-be-fired”

3. waist-level position

4. “hands-to-the heaven”

5. rubbing hands

6. hands in the pockets

7. barrier position

Which of these positions can be considered negative? Positive? Which one can be recommended for a presentation? Read Part 4 of The Do’s and Dont’s When Presenting Yourself in Public and check.

The do’s and dont’s when presenting youself in public

Part 4

The difficulty for a lot of speakers is “What shall I do with my hands?!” So, let’s look at gestures. Low gestures are considered to be negative. We call this the zero position because there is nothing happening. If low gestures are negative, high gestures are considered to be positive. You can see politicians with high gestures in large meetings. It is too high for your presentation. So, your hands should be around waist level, a nice open position. Try and avoid closing in the front – this is perceived very negatively, a barrier position. You put a barrier between yourself and the public. And we have to avoid rubbing our hands. If you’re rubbing your hands and walking backwards at the same time, this can have a very negative effect.

Remember, nevermore backwards when you are saying something important. It’s perfect to stand your ground when you are saying something important. And it is not a good idea to put your hands in the pockets. The research tells us that the body never lies. When people are uncomfortable, they will do things like these with their hands.

13.18. Read Part 5 of The Do’s and Dont’s When Presenting Yourself in Public and answer the questions:

1. The first S in OASIS means see. Should a presenter keep an eye contact with the public? Why /Why not?

2. I in OASIS means inhale. Do you think correct breathing is important for a presenter? Why /Why not?

3. Can you guess what the second S in OASIS mean?