Mastering the Delivery

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Mastering the Delivery
MASTERING THE
DELIVERY
Connect with your audience

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Attribution: All images are from sources where a Creative Commons license exists for commercial use. All icons are on subscription
from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train
Learn.
Mastering
the Delivery
Introduction: The reason why fear of public speaking is so widespread is because of the
fear of what can go wrong. Yet, even in the worst-case scenario, a prepared and quick-
thinking presenter can take charge of a bad situation and turn it to their advantage. In
this topic, we’ll show you 7 situations that will threaten your success and how you can
rescue them.

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1. CARDINAL
SINS
There are some bad habits you must avoid when
presenting to an audience. These include:
apologising for your own lack of experience or
preparation; overloading people with
information; making inappropriate jokes;
speaking badly about others not present; and
being late without good reason. Perhaps the top
cardinal sin is focusing on your own self-
importance. Your audience will start to think
about you and judge you and you will almost
certainly lose rapport and good will.
As a presenter, focus on them, not you
Flickr attribution: /tedxsomerville/6967468873/

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2. LOSING
RAPPORT
Lost rapport is the feeling deep in the pit of your
stomach when you realize that you have lost
your audience and are no longer getting through
to them. It may be a feeling you pick up, or signs
of boredom among the row of faces. It may be
when you dry up or start to feel anxious about
the impression you're making. Dealing with
moments of lost rapport means staying calm and
realising you have choices, eg stopping for a
break, changing the pace, and doing something
to involve the audience which takes the focus off
you.
So, what’s this got to do with me?
Flickr attribution: /fordschool/10930721136/

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3. TECHNICAL
PROBLEMS
Some technical problems have the potential to
ruin a good speech. The story is told of a prestige
gathering in a large hotel. As the afternoon wore
on, dusk fell outside and the room was soon in
complete darkness which only served to enhance
the sharpness of the screen presentations.
However, when the presentation ended, none of
the organisers could find the light switches and
the audience were left sitting in total darkness
until staff arrived and located them in a boxed
wall cupboard.
Sorry, I can’t seem to get the site up
Flickr attribution: /foam/3591793257

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4. DIFFICULT
AUDIENCES
If you are making a presentation to an audience
and need some response from them, it is
important to know the different kinds of
prospects you might meet. There are those who
talk too much and those who say too little. There
are those who will say they already know it and
those who say you haven't covered enough.
Always be polite with difficult audiences. Never
argue. If things get heated, suggest a side
meeting afterwards. Don't allow others to spoil
your show.
The presenter’s nightmare: an unresponsive audience
Flickr attribution: /carbonnyc/3316028639/

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Remember These Pointers on DifficultAudiences
If you allow interruptions, questions and
audience participation, you will sooner or later
face difficult audiences.
While difficult audiences may annoy you, you
must treat them all with tact, courtesy and
deference.
If you're clever, you can even turn their tactics
to your advantage; a difficult audience is, after
all, still an interested audience. On no account
should you argue, lose control or let others
spoil your presentation for you.
One consolation is that no harm should come
to you, even if you fail to win over a difficult
audience.
Remember that in the days of the orator,
Demosthenes, (384 -324BC), the Athenians would
put any speakers who displeased them to death.
(Image attribution:Wikipedia)

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5. TAKING
QUESTIONS
If you take public questions, follow these 2 rules:
1. ask if the audience heard the question. Even if
they did, repeat it. This clarifies your
understanding and gives you precious time to
think.
2. if you don't know the answer, don't pretend
you do. Either promise to find out and get back
to the questioner (and others) or ask if anyone
else in the audience has experience in the matter
and can add something.
Learn how to answer tricky audience questions
Flickr attribution: /sandwellcouncil/4748131375/

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6. THE
UNEXPECTED
The best-laid plans can sometimes come unstuck
as a result of unexpected events: the blown bulb
on the overhead or the video that won't start.
When this happens, the audience will look to you
to do something about it. That's why you should
check all your equipment before your
presentation and have a fully-equipped first aid
kit on stand by. In an emergency, you have 4
options: stay calm and acknowledge what has
happened; ignore it; make light of it; have a filler
up your sleeve.
When the lights go out, what do you do?
Flickr attribution: /jessicatam/6146653578/

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What'sYour Backup Response?
Since you can't predict all the things that can
happen in your presentation, it is wise to have a
backup response even if it is just to get you out of
trouble.
The story is told of a salesman who was in a
departmental store demonstrating unbreakable
plastic combs. He had gathered a large audience
around him and was putting the comb through all
sorts of tortures and stress. One or two of the
audience were sceptical about their un-
breakability and challenged him to prove it. So
the salesman bent the comb completely in half.
To his and the audience's surprise, the comb
snapped in half with a loud crack.
Without missing a beat, the salesman bravely
held up both halves of the "unbreakable" comb
for everyone to see and said, "And this, ladies
and gentlemen, is what an unbreakable comb
looks like on the inside."
The Sales Pitch

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7. THE FIRST
AID KIT
Experienced presenters know that they should
always keep a toolkit of items that can come in
handy if things go wrong. Here are some
examples:
General items: pens, pencils, card, paper,
highlighters, felt-tip pens, pins, tape, penknife,
screwdriver, string, wire, razor blade, blu-tac,
sellotape, masking tape, screws, nails.
Visual aids: spare bulbs, butterfly clips, plugs,
wire, fuses.
Your appearance: toothbrush, deodorant, spare
buttons, sewing kit, shoe polish kit, wipes, pins,
spare tie (for men), spare tights (for ladies).
Develop your own set of emergency resources
Flickr attribution: /vblibrary/4427820200/

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4. The lights go
out:
“It appears I need to shed
some more light on this
subject.”
3. Something is
broken:
“Anyone got any
superglue?”
6. You hear a loud
crash:
“I’m flattered. You ordered
fireworks for me?”
2. You drop
something:
“Is that a signal I’ve
talked too long?”
Saver Lines
When things don’t go as planned, you need to have a few
quick-witted lines up your sleeve. The following are examples
from speaker Tom Antion.
1. When nobody
laughs at your
joke:
“That was a Polaroid
joke. It takes a minute
to get it.”
5. Your slide is
upside down:
“You may want to stand
on your head for this
one.”

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This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
Managing your presentation means not just preparing your talk but preparing for the experience
that you want your audience to have. This means being slick, professional, and in command of
everything that happens.

Mastering the Delivery

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