Basic Guidelines About Your Delivery

1. If you're speaking to a small group (for example, 2-15 people), then try to accomplish eye contact with each
person for a few seconds throughout your delivery.
2. Look up from your materials, or notes, every 5-10 seconds, to look into the audience.
3. Speak a little bit louder and a little bit slower than you normally would do with a friend. A good way to practice
these guidelines is to speak along with a news anchor when you're watching television.
4. Vary the volume and rate of your speech. A monotone voice is absolutely toxic to keeping the attention of an
audience.
5. Stand with your feet at shoulder-length apart.
6. Keep your hands relatively still.

Five Things You Must Do in the First Five

Minutes
© Copyright Gail Zack Anderson

Recently I attended a speech given by a brilliant but soft-spoken philosopher and author. Even though he had a gentle,
thoughtful way of speaking, and a serious topic, he managed to connect well with the audience, and got some great
chuckles with his stories and his subtle humor. It started me thinking again about how important the first few minutes of
every presentation is, and what you can do to make a good connection with your audience early on.

Check your next presentation to see how many of these you are doing.

Tell a short human-interest story.

This speaker made a reference to boy scouts, comparing how they were years ago, to how they are today. It illustrated a
point he was making in a highly visual, personal and memorable way. And it took less than one minute.

Refer to the audience and their worlds.

More important than telling them all about you, let them know you understand who they are, what their concerns are, and
how you plan to address them. The old adage is true: they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you
care.

Engage them in some way.

Get them to do something besides just sitting. Ask a question, ask for a show of hands, ask them to greet their neighbors,
ask them to write down their questions, ask them to gather in the four corners of the room according to…well, you get the
idea. Unless you are mesmerizing, you really should get them engaged and involved, and do it sooner rather than later.

Start without slides.

It sends a whole different energy into the room than starting with your slides on and ready to go. In fact, this speaker used
no more than 10 slides in two hours, and he turned them on when needed and off when not needed. And another thing;
they were all images, not bullets! Maybe you need to use slides. If so, then make them as clean and simple as possible, and
start (and end) without them.

Find the humor.

It could be in your story, in the audience, in a misfire or mistake, in a cartoon you show, or in something you heard or read
recently. Look for humor that is comfortable and natural for you; don’t try to be a comedian. It doesn’t have to bring the
house down; even a chuckle can bring us all together.
Yes, this speaker did all five of these in the first few minutes. He showed humility, depth, and passion about his topic. I bet
you can too, and I would love to hear what you do in the first five minutes.

How to Handle Undesirable Behaviors in

Presentations or Training: Use the
Intervention Escalator
© Copyright Gail Zack Anderson

Many years ago, while leading a workshop for effective presentations, I had a number of students who were actually there
because they had been asked to conduct mandatory safety training. They talked about undesirable behaviors on the part of
their learners: people falling asleep during the training sessions, arguing, or making inappropriate comments about the
content. I asked what they would do in such cases, and their immediate response was to “kick them out of the class.” I
thought this was a pretty radical reaction, so we talked about what else they could do to get through to their learners. I am
not sure they bought into my suggestions to start with a more subtle intervention at that point, but I hope as they became
more experienced in the classroom they tried some more subtle techniques.

Over time, as I heard and experienced similar audience behaviors, I developed and shared the Intervention Escalator, a
reminder to start with subtle interventions, and move toward more extreme responses only as needed. The hope was that
presenters could use subtle but active interventions to maintain harmony in meetings, presentations, or training sessions
without relying on extreme or unilateral methods.

Take a look and let me know what you think of this approach. Where do you start on the scale? What is the most effective
technique, in your experience? Have you had to eject participants from a classroom or meeting? Are there other steps you
would suggest adding?

1. Ignore it. If you see or hear a behavior once, you may be able to ignore it. For example, a short side
conversation, heavy eyes, or a comment you think is just a little “off” can probably be ignored for a while without
fear of losing control of the classroom. Keep an eye out for continued behaviors around the room or from the
same people but just take note.
2. Silence it. Instead of stopping your presentation or commenting directly to the offender, insert an extended
pause into the conversation. Most times, when the room gets quiet, so do those who are indulging in side
conversations. Wait until everyone is quiet, then continue without comment.
3. Eyeball them. Often you can head off a confrontation non-verbally by making extended eye contact with people
who are distracting others. Your silent message is: “I have my eyes on you.” You still don’t have to be
confrontational or put anyone on the spot. Just extend the eye contact beyond 5 seconds and they will get the
point.
4. Stand by them. As you move around the room, standing close to those who are being disruptive can help quiet
them down, again without a direct confrontation. If only one party to the side conversation is “into it” the other
person may appreciate your non-verbal intervention.
5. Ask a question. As the behaviors continue unabated, you are moving toward direct action. But before you jump
on someone, start with questions. Ask a question of the audience at large: for example, “I have shown you some
of the facts about eye safety, now who can tell me which one you think is most compelling?” Questions sound
different than questions, and this may be enough to grab the attention of those who are drifting. By the way, ask
the question first, then call on someone. That way, everyone in the room must think, in case you call on them.
6. Ask for input. If lots of side discussions are breaking out, or if lots of eyes are fluttering, you are going to have to
deal with it. Call it out: “I see some of you are drifting… Is it too warm in here? Do we need a break now? Did you
have a question? Was there a comment you could share?” Note that it is really easy to sound sarcastic here, so
try not to let that happen. You could try humor too, if it seems natural and appropriate. “Try this lecture tonight
on your three year old to get her to sleep.” (And if you are lecturing, stop, and change the pace to discussion or
action.)
7. Talk offline. If one or two people are causing the distraction, try connecting with them on a break. Let them
know the impact of their behavior, on you and on others. Ask if there is anything you can do to keep them
engaged. Let them know the consequences of continued behavior. At least this way you aren’t embarrassing
them in front of others and you are giving them fair notice.
8. Divide and conquer. If certain people are developing distracting behaviors, it may help to get them apart. Break
into “discussion groups” by counting off, thereby breaking up teams or whole tables who are too chatty. After
lunch or a break, ask people to sit in a new spot so they can “meet new people.” In long meetings or training
sessions, this is great practice anyway. Just note that people get attached to their territory and sometimes resist
moving. If you use name tents, you can move them over lunch, or catch people at the door and ask them to
move. If even a few people change seats it is often enough to change the dynamics.
9. Address them directly. You are getting toward the most direct approaches. If behaviors have continued to this
point, you will have to address them directly. Be direct, calm, and factual. “Bill and Sam, I am going to ask for
 your cooperation. Let’s eliminate the side comments so we can finish our session on time.” (I love telling them
this; everyone wants to finish on time.)
10. Eject them. In twenty years of leading training sessions, I have only had to ask someone to leave once or twice.
But if you feel their presence is impacting or threatening the physical or psychological safety of the other
participants, you will need to take action. Personally, I would ask them to step outside the room and then
privately ask them to make a choice about leaving the class or changing their behavior. If you feel threatened,
you will want to call security or ask for help. Hopefully, you never have to get this far on the Intervention
Escalator.

It is a fine line to walk between being respectful to individuals while being a strong leader, but by starting at the bottom of
the escalator, you may never have to get to the most direct actions. Don’t confuse subtlety with avoidance or evasion; take
action early to maintain a healthy environment in your next meeting, training session or presentation.

Additional Perspectives on Presentation

Skills (Public Speaking)
There are numerous articles on the Internet about public spea