On-the-GO! e-TA: September 2008 Edition

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Dear “Limelight” Colleague,

This is the season to take some lessons from the orators who’ve stepped into the limelight in the presidential debates. To help augment your observations, we’ve included information to help you prepare and present remarks when accepting an award for your program or giving a keynote address to a highly regarded civic organization. Click on the titles at the right to learn more about…

The Anatomy of a Presentation: Body and Soul

Questions and Answers

Accommodating Audience Personalities

Do you have questions about giving a speech or making a presentation to an audience? Contact us through LEADline@CampaignConsultation.com
for more information. You can still access previous issues of On-the-Go eTA by clicking on the title at the right.

The Anatomy of a Presentation:
Body and Soul

You can infuse body and soul into a presentation and diminish anxiety over public speaking when you have a plan. Use the outlines below to divide your presentation into three parts: the introduction, the message, and the conclusion. Then put some heart and soul into the verbiage to make your presentation memorable.

The Introduction	Get the audience’s attention. Hook them in 30-60 seconds. Craft a powerful or provocative opening to grab them and convince them that what you have to say is crucial. Wet the audience’s appetite. Give the audience your theme. Begin on a positive note - do not apologize, demean or patronize.
The Message	Speak to the audience’s self-interest. Be consistent with your overall vision, mission, accomplishments, objectives, tactics, membership, image. Paint powerful pictures with meaningful data ... use “social math”.
The Conclusion	Make it short. Make it conclusive. Make an ask – a specific request for action. End with a brief recap.

Soul
Tell stories	Think of ways to humanize your issue with anecdotes Give simple observations. Use the power of parables. Use short snippets to tell your own personal short story. Use the "hook" of the story to transition back to the presentation.
Repeat yourself	Once is never enough. Repeating the information presented will do wonders to reinforce a point.
Interact and develop a relationship with your audience	Be honest, positive, to the point Use language that is natural. Avoid jargon and acronyms. Call on members to explain something to the group. Keep them on their toes. Involve the audience in the presentation.

Click here for more tips to bring life to your presentation.

Questions and Answers

One way to build a relationship with your audience is to invite questions at the end of your presentation. If they are slow to respond, you can start by asking them for background on themselves, and be patient and wait for their thoughts. Study the points below to gain insight about answering audience questions:

To prepare yourself and alleviate any unexpected surprises, you might want to determine the questions you hope you won't be asked, then practice answering them.
Take a second to think about your answer. Rapid responses appear rehearsed. The extra time will also help you to develop a more strategic response.
Answer only one question at a time. If there are multiple questions, answer the one you want to address . . . then bridge to your key points.
Be calm, direct, and brief in answering hostile questions and avoid becoming defensive or argumentative.
Never give a “no comment” response in a media event. Turn the question into a comment.
Clarify any points that you think may have been misunderstood.
Don’t hesitate to say “I don’t know; I’ll get back to you.” Then get back to them in a timely manner.

Accommodating Audience Personalities

Whether you are speaking to one person or one hundred and fifty people, all speeches require that you know something about your audience. In telling your story, you need to consider...

Whom do you specifically need to reach?
What is their self-interest?
What’s in it for them?

Your audience will likely consist of a combination of the following four personality types. As such, you need to balance your methods and approach to appeal to each type. In a one-on-one presentation, you need to tailor your approach to the personality of the person to whom you are speaking.

The Analytical: The Analytical is self-disciplined, neat and orderly, and prefers to work alone. The Analytical is also a heavy thinker who needs time to digest everything you present.
The Driver: The Driver is fast-paced, action-oriented with a "my way or the highway" credo. The Driver is a difficult person to convince because she believes she's almost always right. Drivers are bottom-line thinkers.
The Expressive: The Expressive is highly creative and constantly moving. He typically thinks his ideas are better than anyone else's. Because his mind is constantly churning out new ideas, holding his attention is a challenge. And because he prides himself on his spontaneity and impulsiveness, he may interrupt to ask a lot of questions. He might even offer hints on how to improve your presentation.
The Agreeable: The Agreeable is friendly, polite and supportive. She'll listen with a smile to everything you have to say, and she rarely asks questions or raises objections. Why? Because she hates conflict and wants to have a positive relationship with everyone.

Click here to download a worksheet package to help you plan your presentation to appeal to an audience of all four types.

Let us know

Have you found ways calm your nerves when you have been asked to give a speech or presentation? Contact us at LEADline@CampaignConsultation.com
(LEADline is sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service through its Resource & Fund Development Initiative.) We would be happy to answer questions or to give you more support.

Thank you for your interest in On-The-Go eTA. We encourage you to send this and other issues of OTG eTA to friends and colleagues who would benefit from the information. Also, if you’re on information-overload, you may request email removal. Otherwise OTG e-TA will be back soon with another edition.

IN THIS ISSUE:
click on titles below to read full articles

The Anatomy of a Presentation: Body and Soul

Questions and Answers

Accommodating Audience Personalities

Share Square
Facts for your fundraising volunteers to know

Resources

Resource Development Learning Products & Services

On-The-G0 eTA

LEADline

GIZMOs

The Chronicle of
Philantropy

Workshops/ Clinics

Online Courses/ Webinars

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Facts for your fundraising volunteers to know

Remember—10% of your audience will love your presentation no matter what; 10% of your audience will dislike your presentation no matter what—the goal is to interest, inform and motivate to action the remaining 80%.

“Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.”

– Dorothy Sarnoff,
singer, speech consultant and author.

The Anatomy of a Presentation: (cont.)

Tips to Infuse Soul (cont.)
Go low-tech, high touch	Use a white board or newsprint instead of Power Point. Use a game or activity to illustrate a point.
Pause	Give your audience time to reflect and soak up new information/knowledge. Pause at a critical point to help audience retention and involvement.
Respond positively to criticism	Reflect Respect Respond
Master non-verbals ... actions speak louder than words	Fifty-five percent of everything you communicate is what you look like when you speak. Thirty-eight percent is in how you actually deliver the information. Only seven percent is what you say. Because ninety-three percent of presentation communication is physical, the actions of the presenter are critical.
Use visuals	People take information into their brains in different ways. Greater than 50% of the population prefers to receive information visually and just 15% are auditory learners.
Be aware	of the environment yourself your organization your topic

Resources

The National ASK (Awareness, Skills, Knowledge) to Sustain Institute, sponsored by Corporation for National and Community Service, provided by Campaign Consultation, Inc. 1998, 2002

The CNCS Resources Now! National Institute, sponsored by Corporation for National and Community Service, provided by Campaign Consultation, Inc. 2005-07.

Learning Products and Services

LEADline:
(Learning Experiences At a Distance) LEADline is designed to give information fast. Have a resource & fund development question? Use LEADline and within 24 hours you will receive response and advice from a fundraising professional.
Contact us LEADline@CampaignConsultation.com

GIZMOs:
(Giving Information for Zooming Mission Objectives) GIZMOS are resource and fund development tools for you and your volunteers. They are tangible products in packets, pocket brochures, CD-ROMs, games, etc. They feature a myriad of fundraising topics such as The Case for Support, an interactive online resource. View and use our newest GIZMOs at www.CampaignConsultation.com/gizmos/

The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Everyone who comes to a Resources Now! National Institute gets a free subscription to the Chronicle for a year. Participants in CNCS Campaign Consultation workshops receive the latest issue free of charge plus a $20 discount on one year’s subscription.

Workshops/Clinics:
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), through its T/TA service provider Campaign Consultation, Inc., offers a three-hour workshops and clinics for those interested.

Online Courses/Webinars:
Web course delivery of topics pertinent to resource development such as — Build Fundraising Volunteer Champions and Cause Related Marketing and Corporate Partnerships.

Available through the Resource Center at http://nationalserviceresources.org

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