Communication Skills

Ms. Course Facilitator: Faiza Khadim Arain

Lecturer English
D.I.H.P.E General education
Business/PowerPoint
Presentations
Business Presentations: Preparation

Know your purpose. • Do you want to sell a health care

program to a prospective client?
▪ What do you want your
audience to believe, • Do you want to persuade
remember, or do when you management to increase the
finish? marketing budget?
▪ Aim all parts of your talk • Do you want to inform customer
toward your purpose. service reps of three important ways
to prevent miscommunication?
Know your audience.
▪ Friendly, neutral, uninterested, hostile?
▪ How to gain credibility?
▪ How to relate this information to their
needs?
▪ How to make them remember your main
points?
Introduction:
• Capture listeners’ attention and get
them involved.
• Identify yourself and establish your
credibility.
• Preview your main points.
 The Body
▪ Develop two to four main points. Streamline your topic and
summarize its principal parts.
▪ Support your main points.
▪ Arrange the points logically by a pattern.
▪ Prepare transitions to guide the audience.
▪ Prepare transitions as “bridge” statements between major
points (I’ve just discussed three reasons for X; now I want
to move to Y).
▪ Include verbal signposts.
How to organize and sequence main ideas?
• Chronology
• Geography
• Topic/function/conventional
grouping
• Comparison/contrast (pro/con)
• Journalistic pattern
• Problem/solution
• Simple/complex
• Best case/worst case
 The Conclusion
▪ Summarize your main themes.
▪ Leave the audience with a specific and memorable
take-away.
▪ Include a statement that allows you to depart the
podium gracefully and leaves a lasting impression.
▪ Be prepared to answer questions.
Before you make a
business/academic/professional
presentation, consider this wise
proverb: “Tell me, I forget. Show
me,I remember. Involve me, I
understand.”
 PowerPoint
• Use strategically
• Use to enhance specific points.
• Don’t overpower presentations.
• Don’t read from screen.
CHOOSING STRUCTURED OR FREE-
FORM SLIDES
 Structured Slides Free Form Slides
• Structured slides are usually based • Free-form slides are much less rigid
on templates that give all the slides and emphasize visual appeal.
in a presentation the same general
• Well-designed free-form slides help
look (which usually involves a lot of
bullet points). viewers understand, process, and
remember the speaker’s message.
• Structured slides have the
advantage of being fast and easy to • Free-form slides can require more
create: You simply choose an overall skill and time to create, and they
design theme, select a template, put more demands on the speaker
and start typing. during the presentation.
Effective fonts
• Clear, Easy to Read.
• Avoid using ALL CAPS
• Two per slide: Title & Body
• Standardized across slides.
• Properly Sized Titles, Body Text
✔Titles and major headings in 44- to 36-point type
✔Make subheads and other text 32- to 24-point
Effective Colors
• Easy to See
• Dark print on a light background or light
print on a dark background.
• Limited number of colours.
• Consistent across Slides.
Use Images Strategically
• Images are large enough to be seen clearly.
• High-resolution images that will project
without blurring.
• Graphs and charts clear and simple.
(Include titles)
Effective Fonts
Enhancing Comprehension
• Make sure you’re on the right visual.
• Don’t rush through visuals too quickly; make
sure the audience has enough time to digest
each slide.
• Paraphrase its verbal message; don’t read it.
• Elaborate on each bullet point. Give your
audience more than the slides provide.
• Proofread all visuals carefully.
Adding Animation and Multimedia
• You can animate just about everything in an
electronic presentation, but resist the temptation
to do so; make sure an animation has a purpose.
• If you use transitions between slides, make sure
they are subtle; they should do nothing more
than ease the eye from one slide to the next.
• Slide transitions control how one slide replaces
another, such as having the current slide gently
fade out before the next slide fades in.
Using Presentation AIDS
“Listening can lead to understanding; seeing can
lead to believing.”
Presentation aids can make your speech
more interesting
• A colorful and attractive presentation aid can help you
spice up any Presentation, especially one on a slightly dry
topic.
• For instance, a financial-services salesperson giving a talk
on retirement savings might display a photo of an older
couple looking relaxed, happy, and healthy. The
salesperson also could provide graphs that show the
makeup of sensible investments.
Presentation aids can simplify
a complex topic
• If you are giving a speech on a technical or complicated
topic, a presentation aid can help you simplify your
message so that your listeners can better understand
you.
• For example, a student giving a presentation on how to
skydive could show a drawing of a simplified parachute,
with labels highlighting each part of the equipment.
Presentation aids can help your
audience remember your speech
• Many individuals find visual information much easier to
recall than spoken information. Thus, the right presentation
aids can help ensure that you leave a lasting impression on
your listeners.
• For example, a speaker sharing a long list of reasons for
changing the entrance requirements at a community
college might hammer home his message by displaying a
bulleted list of his main points at the end of his speech.
OTHER TYPES OF
PRESENTATION AIDS
A presentation aid includes the speaker,
assistants, objects, visual images (maps,
photographs and drawings, diagrams),
graphs (line, bar, pie), text based visuals, and
audio and video.
Control audience interaction with your aids
• To avoid distracting your audience unnecessarily, do not
show or play an aid until you are ready for listeners to
see or hear it. When you’re finished presenting the aid,
put it away or shut it off. This strategy keeps your
audience’s attention focused on you instead of your aids
—and helps ensure that listeners don’t miss important
parts of your speech.
Three Types Of Member Roles
Task-Oriented
Roles
Maintenance-Oriented
Roles
Self-Oriented Roles
 Tips for Participating
in a Small Group
• Prepare for group meetings
• Treat other members courteously
• Listen interactively
• Participate, don’t dominate.
• Participate authentically
• Fulfil your commitments
Single Group Representative
• Sometimes one person will be responsible for presenting on behalf
of the entire group. If your group has selected this format, keep the
following considerations in mind.
• First, check that your group has discussed and decided on the best
approach for the presentation.
o Which person is most qualified to present the group’s opinions?
o Who would have the most effective delivery?
o Is this a topic that requires the ethos or authority of a group leader
or a group member with particular expertise?
o Select the member who best meets these criteria.
• Second, if you’re the person chosen to give the presentation, be
sure your group has carefully thought through all aspects of the
speech. Get input from all group members before you start
preparing the presentation, and solicit their feedback after you
outline your speech.
• Third, as you are delivering the talk, take care to distinguish
whether you are representing your own views, the views of some
members of the group, or a consensus of all group members. Be
fair and accurate when summarizing other members’ viewpoints.
Poster presentation
 Tips for Poster Preparation
Posters should stimulate discussion, not give a long presentation. Therefore, keep
text to a minimum, emphasize graphics, and make sure every item Included in
your poster is necessary.
• Utilize handouts to supplement your poster. (optional)
• Goal: 30% text, 40% graphics, 30% space.
• Make sure ideas flow logically from one section to the next.
• Use charts and graphs to illustrate data (avoid large tables of raw data).
• Use high resolution photographs (web images often will not work).
• Do not use all capital letters.
Be consistent.
• keep consistent margins.
• keep line spacing consistent.
• keep the color, style, and thickness of borders the same.
• keep shading consistent.
• Pick no more than 2–3 fonts
• Pick no more than 2–3 colors
Test readability
• Title banner should be legible from 15-20 feet away.
• Body text should legible from 6 feet away
An example of effective font choice and size:

Title = 100 pt bold sans serif font (Ariel)

Section Headings = 48 pt bold sans serif font (Ariel)
Body Text = 28 pt serif font (Times New Roman)
Captions = 24 pt serif font (Times New Roman)