Kosciusko Leadership Academy met at the Warsaw DePuy headquarters Nov. 8.
The 2011-2012 KLA class members learned the essentials of making an effective public presentation.
Moderator Allyn Decker began by stating the purpose of the session was “to help you prepare for your next presentation”. He then asked if students had presented before. Some had spoken before stakeholder meetings, phone presentations to people overseas and one on one.
Decker used this as springboard pointing out that it is expensive getting groups together for talks so there needs to be a sense of stewardship to bring the best one can offer. He encouraged students to make it as fun and engaging as possible so that the audience forgets they had to be there. Decker cautioned the students to “watch the shop talk” so that the audience can understand.
He used a tree analogy with the thesis statement represented by the trunk, the main points by the largest branches coming from the trunk (usually two to four), the subpoints that branch off and the pretty stuff – the leaves, fruit, etc. – representing the pieces of supporting material that give aesthetic value to a speech. These would include stories, statistics, examples, etc.
Additional tips were given for special occasion speaking: Find out what the “norm” is in dress beforehand, write a good biography in case you will be introduced by someone else, attempt to control the time slot you are placed in with 10 a.m. being the best and not after dinner when people have a full stomach. He advised class members to take extra clothing when giving a dinner presentation, eat sparingly, and avoid soft drinks.
When giving presentations, KLA class members were cautioned to plan for questions and answers at the end. Decker advised the class members to remember the Eight-Second Rule for Q & A … ask for questions and wait eight seconds for a response. If none, then close.
Upon conclusion, students broke out into their White Paper project groups.
The next session is Dec. 6 at 7 a.m. It will be held at the Kosciusko County Community Foundation building and will cover “Philanthropy in Kosciusko County.”
