Effective Group Presentations

Group presentations are often more appropriate than one from a single speaker. Some sales presentations or company policy changes may require the expertise of several people in one presentation. Handling the group presentation with coordinating themes and strong support/evidence plus integrating three, four, or five different personalities and approaches into one 45-minute presentation is a challenge. Here are some suggestions on how to make the group or multi-person presentation effective.

First, appoint one of the speakers to be in charge. If this is not done and something unexpected occurs, no one has the responsibility for the group which may lose credibility because of uncertainty in how to respond. In addition, when a question is asked, the speaker in charge immediately refers it to the person with the appropriate expertise; thus there is no uncertain pause because no one knows who will answer the question.

Second, each speaker should know what the other speakers are going to say. This knowledge will help them avoid duplication of material and they can make appropriate references to another speaker’s content if it applies. This knowledge helps insure continuity among the different speakers.

Third, the last words of each speaker should segue into what the next speaker will cover. This adds unity to the entire presentation and gives the new speaker a smooth opening to his or her material. An example might be, "Now Susan will cover the financial aspects of our proposal and help you understand the benefits this will give you."

Fourth, if possible the strongest speaker should end the group presentation. The ending is the most important part of the presentation; people remember best what you say last. You want to have an ending speaker who can show passion and enthusiasm for the topic.

Finally, a dress rehearsal is essential. The group members need to get a feel of the complete message to see how they can best contribute. In addition, with several people speaking it is hard to gauge the time the speakers will take. This dress rehearsal allows the group to time the presentation and to make adjustments in each portion in order to be under the time limit; the more people involved the more unpredictable the total time. With everyone hearing the other speeches, each speaker can give feedback to the others that will improve the quality of the whole presentation. Extraneous and redundant material can be eliminated as well.

Following these suggestions will contribute to an excellent group effort. The presentation will be one that the audience will see not as a segmented series of several different speeches but as a unified whole.

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Asking Open Questions

To improve the quality of your next conversation, learn to ask open questions. This will help you listen more than you talk, and you will obtain much more information with which to reach informed decisions. In addition, the person who asks questions can control the direction of the conversation.

Closed questions are better than no questions but usually elicit only a yes or no response; you end up talking more even though you are asking questions. Open questions usually begin with "what," "why," or "how." They seek an opinion or a specific reaction to an issue or topic. Some sample open questions would be, "How do you feel about the solution we have discussed?" or "What do you think about going ahead with the revisions?" These are much better than "Is the solution going to work?" or "Should we go ahead with the revisions?"

Ask positive questions. When our children were young, two of our favorite questions were "What was the best thing that happened at school today?" and "What is one thing you learned today?" Thus the conversation that followed was usually positive and enjoyable besides teaching us about the school environment.

A way to insure more questions in your next conversation is simple. Instead of giving your opinion or input when the other person quits talking, ask a question. Usually we can’t wait to give an opinion or an example of what happened to us; instead, resist just a few more moments and ask an open question such as "Why is that important to you?" or "What was her reaction to that?" This will keep you listening and allow you time to improve the quality of your eventual response.

Two cautions with questions:  First, don’t ask too many. If you do, the conversation will soon become an interrogation. In addition, be sure you listen to the entire answer. You must be patient to listen through the answers and not be thinking of how you want to respond.

You can become a great conversationalist not by how well you talk, but by the quality and number of your open questions.

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