The risk of developing anti-social disorder or ASD

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It is a common predicament for many of us to get nervous when giving a speech in public and perhaps there are even times when we find ourselves stuck in an embarrassing situation. When a situation becomes so extreme, Anti-social disorder can be developed and would probably be the most threatening among all of the anxiety associated with stage fright. Similar to a phobia, a person who suffers under ASD tend to experience high degree of consciousness and lower self esteem causing them to avoid situations such as dealing with the public. But is there any way for us to know whether or not we suffer from this type of disorder? According to the experts, it is quite common for a person to get nervous when doing a presentation and their body would usually function back to normal once their done giving a speech. This is just one way to confirm that they do not suffer ASD. On the other hand, if a week or so has already passed and the person still experiences unusual emotional distress, this would mean that they have developed an ASD. (Segall, J. 2015)

Working with PowerPoint and other visual aids

Capturing the audience attention is never an easy task, while others are visual learners who prefer to look at certain things in different viewpoints. This is when PowerPoint comes into play as it provides the audience with better understanding of the presenter's topic making it easier for them to remember it more than the words spoken. Another thing to keep in mind when using visual aid is to understand the culture of the whom you are presenting, for business purposes presentations this is really important especially if some members of the audience are from different cultures. It is important to be consistent when providing main idea in each slide, try to abbreviate if possible and use graph/charts to effectively convey statistics of financial information. Avoid using too many colors and try to match the them with the topic. While bright colors can be used if the lights will be off during the presentation and dark colors when discussing serious matters. I thought it would be helpful to share the following videos because it provides a step by step explanation on how to plan and structure information in PowerPoint.

 

According to David Kawasaki, a chief evangelist of Canva (a graphic design software), a successful speaker takes more than just being confident and definitely will require more practice to be competent. As a result, David came up with 10-20-30 a PowerPoint rule saying that slides should be no more than 10, a presentation should not go over 20 minutes and smallest points should be 30 font. I agree with the concept offered by Kawasaki, because as human beings, we all have different limitations in terms of our learning capacities. It may be impossible to absorb more than 10 ideas at the same time especially in business, the audience would probably care more about the solution to a problem rather than spending more time explaining the problem itself. If a presenter talks more than 20 minutes chances are people will have trouble retaining valuable concepts as new ideas replaced the old ones. A common mistake when using a PowerPoint is the use of fonts lower than 30. As soon as the audience figures out that the presenter is reading right on the slides, the audience may read ahead causing them and the speaker to be out of synch. Kawasaki, G.(2015)

For more information about the 10-20-30 rule feel free to visit Kawasaki's website at PowerPoint 10-20-30 rule

 

How to leave an impression at the end of your presentation

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The last thing to worry about is how to end a presentation in a way that would leave an impression on your audience. In other words the end of a presentation is not really the end, keeping in mind all the questions that you may be asked after your presentation and start to ask yourself about other topics that you might have missed. Once you have expressed all you thoughts and opinion about your topic, end courteously by restating the main idea of your presentation and perhaps distribute handouts to clarify complex issues that you have discussed if necessary. Encourage the audience to participate by making them engage in a discussion which you can come up with as you try to answer questions at the end. If there are not many questions, you cannot assure that the audience fully understand the topic that you have just talked about, some of them may find their questions irrelevant or a little personal to share with other audience. If this is the case, tell your audience that you will be available to answer personal questions regarding the topic of your presentation by allowing them to get in touch with you through e-mail or phone. 

If you are being evaluated by your peers or teacher, it is a good opportunity to ask about their thoughts on your presentation and ask for advice on how to enhance the audience engagement experience. Express your gratitude by thanking the audience for spending their time listening to your presentation and you will be amazed how good it feels to end the presentation with ease and confidence. If you feel that your presentation did not leave much impression on your audience, try to visualize your presentation from the beginning to end and perhaps ask yourself which areas requires more improvement and take note of areas that you consider as your strength. Remember that every presentation provides you with a new experience and knowledge which could take your presentation  skills to a higher level.

Stay calm and confident during your presentation

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By the time you get to centre of the stage, start by looking at your surroundings and greet some members of the audience to ensure that you are in a comfortable position. Once you settle down, start your presentation by delivering an introduction that you memorized in order to make yourself well prepared and it will also allow you to get a great control over the whole presentation. Each of us experiences different degree of nervousness whether shaking, stuttering, faster heartbeat or even headache could be a cause of nervousness as an individual gets so fed up when dealing with all of their anxiety while presenting on stage. Sometimes the size of the audience can be intimidating but it is important that you maintain eye contact with them in order to deliver a more persuasive speech.

Avoid talking too fast as it would only make you look nervous even more causing the organization of details to overlap. This would also make it difficult for the audience to understand your ideas making it seems like you are uncertain about what you are saying. It is important to pay attention with your vocabulary, avoid saying things like uhm, I think or they say as they can affect the purpose of your presentation and lessen the credibility of your information. If you are fidgeting, do not remain in one spot or put your hands in your pocket, but instead try to move around and perhaps interpret your visual aids for the audience. It is also common for most of us to come up with new ideas while presenting, but there is a right time to share this with the audience because they can potentially ruin the organization of information if you fail to back it up properly.