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Project Manager at U: Speaking Skills

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George Lewis Program/Project Manager| DXC Technology Company Heredia, Costa Rica
Project Manager at University: Speaking Skills

Use these top tips so you are well prepared for the different types of presentations you may have to give during your course:


1.Make sure you know the range of choices permitted before dedicating yourself to a topic area. Read any project guidelines carefully, and check for any further details in documentation.
2.Never over pack a presentation in order to get in more detail. Instead, select a few relevant items that link well. This does not mean leaving out major points, but maybe leading the project team into asking questions that help you expand a point further.
3.You are the person giving the presentation, and the main focus of the audience. Do not replace yourself with audio-visual aids. These should only be used where they can enhance your presentation. For example, you might use a well-designed and fully accessible diagrams to help you explain selected details.
4.If over phone, keep focused on your audience, If face2face, direct look at your audience all the time you are speaking. They cannot hear you properly if you turn round and talk at a screen. In addition, facing a window at right angles also causes disengagement. You are not talking to the pigeons passing by!
5.If face2face Move your gaze around the audience. Never stare at one person and address them only. This can be quite scary for them and the rest of the audience will feel left out. If over the phone, address most members as you can, do not address constantly one single person o group of persons. Remember you're presenting if all.
6.Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. You need to be familiar with content and order, and to time yourself. Find a sympathetic friend/peer to help you. You can give them a short list of what to observe, such as your speaking pace. Allow time for feedback, discussion and possibly a second run through.
7.Lubricate your voice before any public speaking, including rehearsals. Plain, still water is always best. Other types of liquid can hamper good voice production. Keep any caffeine for afterwards.
8.Speak slower than you usually do and have pauses between sections. You have taken time to prepare, and the audience wants to listen. They also need time to take in your content. If you know you speak too fast, get help, and in good time, so that your speech habits can be retrained.
9.Use clear signposting language, such as: ‘First of all,…’; ‘Now I’d like to move onto X’. This keeps your audience with you and helps you to order your content.
10.Let people know when you have finished and are ready to take questions. This is all part of signposting. Use our handout Presentations: signposting for ideas. It includes useful phrases for group presentations.



All comments are modified from Alida Bedford www.Port.AC.UC/ASK, 2015 to reflect project manager point of view. This post is not intended to add anything new but to share great insights obtained from University Background that might be helpful to other Project Managers.

Feel free to comment or just read along.
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George Lewis Program/Project Manager| DXC Technology Company Heredia, Costa Rica
All comments are modified from Alida Bedford www.Port.AC.UC/ASK, 2015 to reflect project manager point of view. This post is not intended to add anything new but to share great insights obtained from University Background that might be helpful to other Project Managers.

Feel free to comment or just read along.
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
There's so much more than just a 10-point list to being an effective speaker. My suggestion is run to the nearest Toastmasters club. In the meantime, you can also check out my blog.
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1 reply by George Lewis
Aug 15, 2016 4:20 PM
George Lewis
...
Stephane - Obviously there so much more, but that's a start.

Thanks for your input, I'll take a look at your blog.
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Julia Cunningham Manager Project Management| Battelle Richland, Wa, United States
Yet another vote for Toastmasters. Even the most riveting material is rendered moot by terrible presentation skills. It is truly painful to listen to a speaker without polished presentation skills.
Also - I abhor "death by powerpoint" so certainly agree that if you are only going to speak from the slides - send them to me and save us both some time.
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1 reply by George Lewis
Aug 15, 2016 4:23 PM
George Lewis
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Julia - you're correct... That's why I'm sharing this to create awareness between us PM's...

But you know, it is just a matter of growing, not matter where you are at the moment in terms of skils.
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George Lewis Program/Project Manager| DXC Technology Company Heredia, Costa Rica
Aug 15, 2016 12:53 PM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
...
There's so much more than just a 10-point list to being an effective speaker. My suggestion is run to the nearest Toastmasters club. In the meantime, you can also check out my blog.
Stephane - Obviously there so much more, but that's a start.

Thanks for your input, I'll take a look at your blog.
avatar
George Lewis Program/Project Manager| DXC Technology Company Heredia, Costa Rica
Aug 15, 2016 2:42 PM
Replying to Julia Cunningham
...
Yet another vote for Toastmasters. Even the most riveting material is rendered moot by terrible presentation skills. It is truly painful to listen to a speaker without polished presentation skills.
Also - I abhor "death by powerpoint" so certainly agree that if you are only going to speak from the slides - send them to me and save us both some time.
Julia - you're correct... That's why I'm sharing this to create awareness between us PM's...

But you know, it is just a matter of growing, not matter where you are at the moment in terms of skils.
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Stephanie Graham VP of Strategy| BankOnIT Oklahoma City, Ok, United States
Great "quick 10 tips" to build from! I think a lot of these are missed or forgotten during public speaking.
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Farid Alsakkaf Ships Projects Manager| ADNOC Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
What about courage?. Many professionals are good at their field of practice and knowledge but when it comes to face the audience they are reluctant..
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Anupam India
There is lot you can learn from webinars. I came across few, that kept audience focused throughout the session.

An uninteresting session can be made interesting just by the speech delivery (intonation), and involving audience.
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JOSE ALOYSIO DE SOUZA JUNIOR Project Manager, Risk Practitioner| PETROBRAS Salvador, Ba, Brazil
Thanks George for sharing! I think it´s a simple and straightforward list of tips that we can evolve from.
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Sasikumar Balaiah Senior Project Manager| Arcadis Project Management Pte Ltd Singapore, Singapore
Thank you for sharing, very useful.

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