Of course, what you say is key to the success of your presentation. However, equally critical is what the audience sees, including your body language and facial expressions, and what they hear, including tone and volume of your voice. These and other physical aspects of a presentation – collectively known as delivery – significantly influence audience’s energy and trust for your content, and, therefore, the success of the presentation.

1. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 1 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
Great Presentation Series
Your Body Speaks - Delivery Skills
Of course, what you say is key to the success of your presentation. However, equally critical is what the
audience sees, including your body language and facial expressions, and what they hear, including tone
and volume of your voice. These and other physical aspects of a presentation – collectively known as
delivery – significantly influence audience’s energy and trust for your content, and, therefore, the
success of the presentation.
Here is a recipe for a good delivery:
First, Add the Magic Ingredients...................................................................................................................1
Make Eye Contact .........................................................................................................................................2
Pause.............................................................................................................................................................2
Smile..............................................................................................................................................................2
Stand Tall.......................................................................................................................................................2
Gesture..........................................................................................................................................................3
Let Your Body Move......................................................................................................................................3
Work Your Slides...........................................................................................................................................3
Make a Good First Impression......................................................................................................................4
Project Your Voice.........................................................................................................................................4
Watch for Vocal Issues..................................................................................................................................4
Some Final Notes ..........................................................................................................................................5
Troubleshoot and Deal with the Unexpected...............................................................................................5
First, Add the Magic Ingredients
Enthusiasm about your message and content, and respect and care for your audience are the two most
important ingredients for making your presentation a success.
People are strongly attracted to passion.
Make sure you are enthusiastic about your topic and let it show. If, on the other hand, you don't care
about what you are saying, nobody else will, and nothing on this handout will help.
Respect and care for your audience. What does that mean? It means thinking about their needs before
the presentation and tailoring your content accordingly. It means paying attention to them and
responding to their needs during the presentation, as opposed to being super-focused on getting the
material or delivery down perfectly. It means adopting “how can I help them” vs “I wish I had a better
audience” attitude.

2. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 2 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
If the audience doesn't like your attitude they won't hear what you have to say.
Speak from the heart - people relate to openness, humbleness, and vulnerability.
Make Eye Contact
Make eye contact with individual members of the audience as you talk:
o For the duration of one thought, talk to just a single person. Maintain steady eye connection -
darting eyes exude a lack of confidence and undermine credibility.
o Pause while moving your eyes to a different person, then continue with the next thought.
o Speak only to eyes, and not on the way to eyes or while looking up, down or to the side.
o Cover all sides of the room, front and back.
o Eye contact of around five seconds is generally normal, while 10 seconds or longer becomes
uncomfortable (intimacy or intimidation).
Think of it as having a series of 1-to-1 conversations.
Pause
Pauses are like white space in design – they create vocal contrast controlling how listeners perceive the
words that are being said. Pauses can give importance or clarity to selected content, and make you look
confident and in control to your audience.
For example, you can use a pause to get audience's attention before an important point.
You can also use a pause after an important point to let people process – consolidate and relate to
something they know. If you listen to stand-up comedians, about 20-30% of their time on the
microphone is spent in silence, often just to let the audience laugh and enjoy the last thing said, or to
provide a pacing break to set up the next thing they want to say.
You can pause for as long as three or four seconds, right in the middle of a sentence, and it will seem
perfectly natural to your listener, even though it may feel like an eternity to you. Most of us are not
used to pausing, and we rush to fill the silence, by speaking fast or by polluting our speech with Ums and
other filler words.
One way to develop comfort with pausing is to practice speaking to eyes only and not on the way to
eyes – see Make Eye Contact section above.
Smile
Smile - this will put both you and the audience at ease.
Caution: insincere smiles do not work.
Stand Tall
Good posture helps you feel and project confidence. No slouching - stand tall and open up your chest.
A good neutral posture is legs shoulder-width apart, feet pointing forward, weight slightly forward on
your toes, knees not locked, and arms naturally hanging by your sides.

3. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 3 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
Keeping your legs not too wide apart helps prevent swaying, which can be distracting to the audience.
Slight forward lean strengthens your connection to the listeners. And having your arms by your sides
makes you ready to gesture.
Gesture
Keep your body language inviting (open), and not protective (closed).
What does that mean? It means allowing your elbows to move away from the body rather than keeping
them close and tight to the body - pretend there is a golf ball under your arm pit. Gesture from the
shoulder, not from the elbow or wrist. Another way to think about it is “out and up”.
While gesturing:
o Keep your hands mostly above your waist - so close-up audience can see your face and hands at
the same time
o If you are gesturing up high (chest area), limit those gestures to 3-5 seconds. Otherwise, your
gestures start competing with your face and can become a distraction to the audience
o When not speaking, keep your hands in a natural position – either by your sides (feels awkward
but looks natural) or clasped around the belly button (not too high, not too tight). Avoid
crossing your arms, holding them behind your back or clasped in front of the crotch area.
o If you need to point, for example to call on someone, do so using your whole arm with your
palm up, rather than pointing a finger.
Let Your Body Move
In addition to helping dissipate nervous energy, movement is one more way for a speaker to change
things up to help keep an audience’s attention.
And more importantly, physically moving closer to your audience helps create a connection with them:
it makes you less remote, more accessible and informal. Conversely, standing behind a lectern creates
formality and builds a barrier between you and your audience.
Good opportunities for movement:
o Beginning - step into the audience
o Q&A - step towards the question asker
o Transitions – move to a different side of the room
Movement to avoid:
o Pacing
o Walking backwards from the audience
Work Your Slides
o Don't block your slides.
o Display a slide or another visual just before you are ready to talk about it. (Alternatively,
depending on context, introduce it before bringing it up onto the screen).
o Bring up the visual and give a few seconds for the audience to grasp the visual before you talk
about it.
o Don't turn your back to the audience and talk to the visual. Maintain eye contact with the
audience as you display the visual.

4. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 4 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
Make a Good First Impression
An audience starts forming their impression of you since the first moment they see you, before you say
a single word. They draw conclusions from how walk to the stage, how you greet the person introducing
you – eye contact, body language and facial expression, and how you start. Then, this first impression
colors how they hear what you have to say.
So set yourself up for success with a smile, eye contact, confident posture and energetic walk.
Pause for a second before starting, instead of rushing into it.
And, don’t forget, endings are also very important for the overall impression – don’t rush off the stage
when you are done.
Project Your Voice
Speak up. If the audience can't hear you they won't be able to like, remember or be moved by your
presentation. They should be able to hear you clearly without straining.
Voice is also what transmits the energy you have inside you to the audience. High energy helps hold
their attention. Low energy requires more effort from your audience to stay tuned in.
Common causes for low volume:
o Not focusing on your audience
Either not looking at the audience at the back of the room or, looking at but not seeing them (as
in focusing on the content and thoughts inside your head)
o Confidence issues or nerves
Do you want everybody to hear what you have to say?
See Managing Nerves Handout.
o Soft conversational habit
For those of us who are used to speaking softly, and do most of their speaking in a one-on-one
setting, it’s a matter of developing a new habit/muscle memory
o Physical aspects of voice production, like posture, breathing, and not opening your mouth wide
enough
Watch for Vocal Issues
 Enunciate words so the audience can understand you
Sometimes clarity goes out of the window when we are speaking fast or under stress.
 Don’t “trail off” (become inaudible) at the end of sentences
This is problematic for clarity and credibility.
 Don’t end sentences with an upward tone like you do when you ask a question.
This can undermine credibility.
 Occasional filler words are OK
They become an issue when they are used as a substitute for pauses, or are too numerous.
 Avoid monotone.
The best way to add expressiveness to your voice is to create the right conditions for it. Prepare
content which has a personal connection and makes you feel something, like relevant personal
stories or some issue you feel passionate about.

5. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 5 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
 Watch for sounding too high.
Nerves and tension cause our voice to go high. See Managing Nerves Handout.
If you naturally have a very high-pitched voice, it is possible to develop a lower part of your
range through vocal exercises.
If you would like to hear what you sound like to your audience, listen to a video or voicemail recording
of yourself. This will sound different than what you hear when you speak.
Some Final Notes
 The bigger the audience, the more volume, energy, drama and large gestures we need.
As an exercise - whatever you think you are doing in terms of energy on a scale of 1 to 10, try to
do that plus 2.
 Variety in any form helps hold audience's attention, because we are wired to pay attention to
things that break a pattern. This is especially important for longer presentations. Movement on
stage, new slide or visual, audience interaction, a co-presenter can all help change things up.
 If you are presenting in a new country, don’t forget to check on what’s culturally appropriate
and what mistakes are commonly committed by foreigners. For example, while direct eye
contact is a good thing in North America, it would be considered inappropriate in certain other
parts of the world. A benign gesture here can have an offensive meaning somewhere else.
Troubleshoot and Deal with the Unexpected
Advice from Scott Berkun.
You are running late for your own talk
o Notify hosts as soon as you know
o When you arrive take a deep breath and a moment to reset yourself
o Offer to stay late for any questions
You are running out of time during your presentation
o Don't rush or cram!
o Offer to put material on the website, offer to come back.
o Ask the audience which of the three sections they would like you to cover.
The program (in which you are a presenter) is running late
If you do notice the schedule getting behind and your talk is late in the day, let the organizers know.
o Recommend they cut a break short, or ask several speakers to make up a few minutes each
rather than force you to pick up the slack for the entire day.
o If your talk needs to be cut short, ask the organizer to introduce you and to tell the audience it's
not your fault the schedule has fallen behind. This will at least get you some additional
sympathy from the crowd.
Laptop/slides not working
o Have a printout of your slides with you. Worst case, you can use this as your notes.
o Write down core points. Do a shorter, less formal version of your talk. This is where having a
good outline/structure and being well-prepared really pays off.

6. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 6 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
o Don't constantly say, "If I had my slides" or "In my real presentation...." The audience doesn't
care about what they might have seen.
Microphone breaks
If this is a long session, take a break. Ask people what they hope to learn
Sparsely populated audience
Crowd size is irrelevant - what matters is having a dense crowd. If ever you face a sparsely populated
audience, do whatever you have to do to get them to move together. You want to create a packed
crowd located as close as possible to the front of the room.
The few that don't oblige should be left in the back of the room anyway. There's no law stating that you
must treat everyone in the audience the same. Give preferential treatment to the people who respond
to your requests.
People leaving
People leaving is a blessing - small crowd of 5 interested people looks bad but is a better situation than
50 people who want to leave but won't. Won't ruin the energy in the room.
There are only five people in the audience
Drop your prepared slide deck. Odds are slim that it will go over well with a small group. Switch to
informal mode, and start the session by making a list of questions. Then answer them.
Bad mood audience
Get there early to get a feel for things. Cut material to get to Q&A quickly.
People are on their laptops/devices
One possible approach: "Here's a deal. I'd like you to give me your undivided attention for five minutes.
If after five minutes you feel your time is better spent doing something else, you're free to do so. In fact,
I won't mind if you get up and leave after five minutes. But for the first 300 seconds, please give me your
undivided attention." Most people close their laptops.
Heckler
o To prevent: set the rules for how the audience can interact with you. If you want questions held
until the end, say so; or, if you're OK with them at any time, let the audience know. I always give
out my email address so everyone in the room has an outlet to say things they're not sure are
appropriate during the lecture.
o On first occurrence respond like you would to any difficult question
– Manage your emotions by managing your thoughts. You want to be calm, polite, and
respectful as you respond. Role-playing practice can help achieve this.
– Active listen and paraphrase the concern. Letting the heckler go for a little bit can make
them less likely to continue interrupting.
– End responding by looking at somebody else in the audience. If you end on them, it
invites more questions and conversation. Ask to hold questions until later.
o On repeated occurrence, address whoever spoke using “I” statement, politely.
You’ve made a number of points. I find it difficult to progress with the presentation. Would you
please hold your comments or questions until the end.
o If the heckler persists, ask the audience whether they want to hear from the heckler or
continue.

7. Delivery Skills |Great Presentation Series Page 7 of 7
Ignite Communications Training | Coaching | Consulting www.ignitecommunications.co 502.379.7131
Always remember you have more power than any heckler. If you have the microphone, you are
amplified; he is not. You can interrupt or talk over him, and he can do nothing to stop you.
If someone is clearly out of line and upsetting other people, ask the event host to help.
People yelling out questions or comments
o Ask them to first raise their hands.
o The sooner you quiet them down, the happier the audience will be with you.
o Just because a question is asked does not mean you are obligated to answer. Ask the audience,
"How many people are interested in this question?" If only a fraction of the audience raises their
hands, tell the asker to come up afterward and you'll answer then.
o During a break, talk to the person in private. Thank him for his contributions, but ask him to hold
off on asking more questions so others can have a chance to contribute. Give him your email as
an alternative way to ask questions.
Wardrobe malfunction
o If you notice something you can fix discreetly, hide behind the lectern to do it. The lectern
covers many sins.
o Bring a sweater or extra shirt just in case something bad happens. A sweater can be put on over
your shirt or wrapped around your waist, covering whatever it is you wish to hide.
o And of course, find a way not to care about superficial things you can't change. Make a joke or
tell a story of a worse experience, but above all, don't let yourself be upstaged by a stain, a rip,
or an open zipper.