myriad of audiences, which include local, state, and national boards; CEOs; service clubs; administrators; parents; business constituents; and trainers or facilitators.
This book is divided into two distinct parts: (1) tips for preparing for, delivering, and reflecting on your message, and (2) processes, protocols, and strategies to implement in your presentations.
Throughout the first part of this resource, each chapter focuses on a particular element of making a successful presentation and its many derivatives. Chapter 1 describes the important considerations and needs of adult learners. Thoughtful planning questions, as well as an organizational quadrant, help novice and expert presenters reflect about the meaningfulness and purpose of the message itself. Chapter 2 embodies essential elements of content, training formats, group-size characteristics, and considerations for planning short- and long-term work. The next few chapters highlight considerations for how to deliver a quality message. Chapter 3 describes important considerations for setting the stage—room arrangement, use of sound, managing the audience, centering yourself, and preparing the all-important speaker’s toolkit. Whether you are a novice or an expert presenter, thoughtful planning solutions will help you improve your approach and messaging. Chapter 4 embodies essential elements for three types of introductions: (1) informal, (2) formal, and (3) topic-based. The plethora of considerations for a dynamic delivery of your message is the focus of chapter 5. It discusses attention-grabbers, voice control, presenter behaviors, engagement, visual enhancements, and webinars. Chapter
6 describes tips for designing visuals and print materials to use in your presentation, including slides, handouts, and concerns when presenting via a visual medium. Chapter
7 emphasizes the importance of obtaining and using feedback from your audiences. It establishes the importance of feedback by highlighting current research, and provides suggestions to assist with obtaining feedback that is specific, timely, and the appropriate amount. Chapter 7 also provides helpful reflective progressions that you may use for planning and reflecting on your presentations. Chapter 8 concludes part 1 by featuring various presenter tips, tricks, and troubleshooting strategies, such as how to cope with a difficult audience or audience member.
Part 2 takes a different tone as it presents new, useful strategies you can incorporate to optimize your presentation and fully engage adult audiences. Chapters 9 through 14 provide processes and strategies in the areas of team building, triggering thinking, processing and practicing content, consensus building, summarizing, and checking for understanding. The appendix contains useful technology links to enhance your presentations.
It is important to note that the essence of this educational resource is based on and quoted from the series of published works by Dr. Tammy Heflebower, found in Presenting Perfected: Planning and Preparing Your Message (2018); Presenting Perfected: Dynamic Delivery (2018); and Presenting Perfected: Feedback, Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting (2019). While those books focused on tips for all presenters, this book has been adjusted to focus on presentations by educators. Additionally, the processes, protocols, and strategies included in part 2 are entirely exclusive to this volume. I hope this culminated resource will assist you in becoming the best public speaker you can be. Go—be great!
| PART 1 | Preparing for, Delivering, and Reflecting on Your Message |
Many educators, especially those in leadership roles, are required to speak publicly on a regular basis. This may be to small teams, during staff meetings, at board of education meetings, at parent nights, or at other similar functions. Yet, many of us received very little, if any, formal training on how to do so—at least, beyond that nerve-wracking required public speaking course in high school or college. This resource is your go-to guide! Within it, you will find practical supports for preparing a thoughtful message, delivering it in a polished manner, and assessing your performance and audience feedback.
There is no one specific way to use this resource. Jump around to specific parts of need, or follow it in chapter order; the choice is yours. If you are a seasoned presenter, you may start at the feedback and reflection chapter (chapter 7, page 59). Here you will discover ways to make a good presentation better. The small details make such a difference, and considering these reflective practices will make you that much better. You may also find part 2 (page 87) particularly helpful in honing a new process or protocol. If you are newer to regular public speaking, begin with preparing an effective message (chapter 1, page 5), and move through the chapters in a consecutive manner. You will find that each piece builds upon those before it, culminating in a well-crafted message with ideas for delivering it dynamically.
Chapter 1
Preparing an Effective Message
Proper preparation and practice prevent poor performance.
—Robert Pike
Adult learners are different, and teaching adult educators is vastly different from teaching students. At best, adult learners can be interested, inspired, and enthusiastic, and at worst, they can be irked, jaded, and disrespectful. Let’s face it: some educator audiences will try to behave in ways they would never tolerate from their students. They may resist your greatest ideas and be wary of new, untested concepts. Often, this is because they have had experiences in the past that justified such skepticism. However, you have the power to prevent such negative reactions. How your audience responds is related directly to you and the message you are conveying.
This chapter takes an in-depth look into how you can tailor your presentations to be maximally effective in front of an adult audience. It begins by considering the needs of adult learners and introduces questions you can ask during the planning stage of your presentation to ensure you meet these needs. Advice for improving and augmenting your knowledge of the subject matter follows. Finally, this chapter discusses the differences that may exist in your audience members, specifically focusing on four distinct adult audiences, and provides useful ideas for how to present to an audience with diverse learning styles. All these features will help you better engage your audience and distinguish your presentation as different and inspiring.
The Needs of Adult Learners
In most instances, adults want to contribute and have their knowledge honored and respected. There are defining features of virtually all adult learning theories (Dunst & Trivette, 2012; Heflebower, 2018a; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2012; Kolb, 1984; Schön, 1983, 1987). Summarizing what the various authors espouse leads to the following four key components of adult learning.
1. Relevant: Adult learners are task- or
