The Art of

Presenting
By DP AUROSISH

Reviewed by Mrs Vandana Ravi

Imagine yourself as a cook and you have invited a guest to whom you want to serve some
delectable foods and the guest has arrived on time and the table is set to serve the guest,

The Chef – I have made special Chicken Salad for you

The Guest-I don’t eat non-veg

The Chef- Apology, forget Chicken Salad! I have made peanut salad for you.

The Guest- Sorry, I can’t eat that too. I am allergic to peanuts.

So far, even you might have realised that you haven’t been a good host as you failed to cater to
your guest, the perfect food. The similar thing happens when a presenter presents in front of an
audience, he/she is not aware of. You must know the audience before you start your presentation.
Knowing your audience is as much important as delivering the presentation.

I find the below mentioned 10 Key Suggestions very much effective and hope they help you to
improve your presentation game.

1. What - How – Why

From the consulting point of view, I got a suggestion from a Senior Partner in McKinsey that
there are three basic things which are expected out of a consultant while presenting Infront
of the client
● What is the Problem?
● How to solve the problem?
● Why that solution / How the solution will impact?

While presenting a solution to client one must follow this basic approach to explain the
solution to the client. According to him, PowerPoint presentations are widely used around the
globe and if your ppt is structured in the following sequence then It will have a greater impact
on the client.

2. Watch out for Jargons!

One experience shared by a Senior Consultant at Deloitte that while presenting the solution
to the client, the presenter used a jargon, which he was not so confident, in the PowerPoint
presentation and it took them nearly one hour to explain the significance of the jargon to the
client, which further led to the cancellation of that particular project by the client.

- If you are using Jargons in your presentation then you must be careful about it and avoid
using too many jargons while presenting. Don’t use it until and unless you are confident
enough to explain it to the audience.
3. Follow OSCRE Model for Story Telling

Since we were children, we have always been fascinated by stories. So, always try to bring up
stories that are aligned with your objective of the presentation and take the audience on a
journey by using this OSCRE model; The story that you are narrating during your presentation
should have the following aspects

Objective: Identify the objective of your presentation and pick a story that aligns with your
objective. The objective could be broadly divided into three categories;

• To Inform (the objective is to create awareness)

• To Reform (the objective is to make the audience take certain actions)
• To Transform (this is more of a strategic aspect when your organisation would
undergo a transformation)

Situation: Your story must have a situation so that the audience will be able to relate it with
himself/herself and be able to visualise.

Complication: There must be a complication in the story, which you will later resolve as the
story goes.

Resolution: Explain how you provided a solution to that problem in the story.

End: End with a nice message that must connect with the objective.

(**OSCRE framework is circular and all the parts are connected in series.)

4. Emotion is the essence of Storytelling:

While presenting, always try to connect your audience emotionally to the story that you are
narrating, and this will keep the audience glued to your presentation. Why I am bringing
emotion into storytelling! because it is related to persuasion. In a business environment,
through the presentation, you are trying to convince the client to buy your solution. You are
asking them to trust you. You are selling your idea and What could be better than bringing
some emotional aspect to your presentation to build that trust.

5. Body Language

- While presenting, your body should be in an upright position and chin must be up.

- You should start your presentation with an energetic voice to grab the attention of your
audience.

- Make proper eye contact with the audience because aye contacts define whether you are
confident or not. It helps in building trust

-If you see your audience is not paying attention to what you are saying then try to make some
hand gestures or moves that will get their attention.
6. Honour the Expectations of the Audience

The audience has certain expectations from the presentation and as a presenter, you must
take care of that. If you don’t take care of the expectations, then the audience will not listen
to you. They expect a solution or a story from you during the presentation and if you fail to
deliver then you will lose them. So always try to honour the expectations of the audience.

7. Never miss putting Logic!

The human brain is designed to find logic in every aspect and logic helps us to relate the bits
and pieces for better comprehension. So, if you don’t show rationality in your presentation
then the audience will have several assumptions and confusions, which may lead to lack of
interest.

Try to walk the audience through your journey of devising a solution, let them know how you
concluded that this should be the solution. When they see the logic, it is highly likely that they
will be convinced with your proposal.

8. Broken Links

Very few presenters use transition words to switch from one part of the body to the next part.
Transition words fill the gap when you jump between various stories and contents. Not using
proper transition words may create a bad impression on the presenter. So, use transition
words while jumping from one context to another.

Examples of Transitions:
On the contrary, contrarily, notwithstanding, but, nevertheless, despite, in contrast, yet, on
one hand, on the other hand, rather, or, nor, conversely, at the same time, while this may be
true

9. Use the Right Weapon

You are always encouraged to use the appropriate tools for your presentation. Imagine
yourself going to war without any weapon. Similarly, while presenting, if you are not using any
tools then it won’t be very effective and persuasive. In the business scenario, we widely use
PowerPoint Presentations as a tool to effectively deliver the content. But it is not always
recommended to use PPT as some find the Prototypes and wireframes more persuasive. So,
choose your weapon wisely!

Refer to this course for making wonderful PowerPoint Presentations

(https://www.coursera.org/learn/powerpoint-presentations)
10. Mind the time

It is imperative that you respect the time of your audience as time is precious. Always try to
finish your presentation within the allocated time and if possible, try to finish it before time
and spend some time in Q&A.

Recapitulation in “Take away points”

At the end of your presentation, always try to summarise your entire presentation in the form
of some bullet points as take away points. It creates mutual respect.

If your presentation lasts for a longer duration, then it is highly likely that the audience might
miss out some key points from your presentation and the purpose will not be fulfilled. A
recapitulation at the end of your presentation ensures that your audience remembers all the
key points. The conclusion of your speech summarizes your purpose and main points while
leaving a lasting impression with your audience