Love them or loathe them, there is much you can learn from journalists to help you deliver better presentations.
Reporters, whether they work on television, radio or newspapers, have a unique understanding of what makes audiences tick and how to maintain their attention.
Whether you are preparing to present to customers, colleagues or delivering an online presentation, current working journalist led presentation training can provide all you need to produce a compelling performance.
Here are eight things you can learn from reporters to improve your public speaking and business presentations:
1 Immediate impact
It may sound shallow but when you are presenting your audience will form an almost instant impression of you. In fact, you have between three and 10 seconds to get that first impression right. So you need to engage your audience from the start. This is part of everyday life for journalists who have to ensure their story introductions instantly grab attention.
2 Delivery
Delivering you messages in a dull, flat monotone way will ensure audiences quickly switch off. You need to inject passion, enthusiasm and energy in to your voice. Broadcast journalists depend on their voice and can show you make your voice more impactful by including ‘light and shade’ to your deliver.
3 Understanding the audience
The more you know about your audience the more effective you will be at making the content of your presentations appeal to them. When journalists consider a story idea they are looking at whether it is relevant to their viewers, listeners and readers. That’s why, for example, some stories are only covered by tabloid newspapers or publications with a particular interest in, for example, finance.
4 Good structure
When presentations don’t flow the audience gets lost and switches off. Consequently, the opportunity to get your messages across has gone. Structuring your presentation is key to avoid your audience having to sit through a disorganised and frustrating ramble. You need to know where you are going – and so does the audience. It’s exactly the same for news stories and that is why journalists are ideally placed to help you get you presentation structure right.
5 Avoiding jargon
Journalists hate jargon and know it is a huge turn-off for their audience. That’s why they cringe when someone they are interviewing falls in to corporate speak. It’s exactly the same with presentations. Journalist will stress upon you the importance of using the language you would normally use when speaking to friends – not just for engagement, but also comprehension.
6 The importance of storytelling
People love stories and good stories are memorable because they trigger an emotional response. Crafting storytelling into your presentation will make your messages much more memorable than a series of bullet points. And who better to learn from than people who are paid to identify and tell stories every day?
7 Making it timely
One of the key components of something being newsworthy is timeliness. Similarly a presentation audience is much more likely to be engaged if you are discussing something new, of the moment and something people are talking about. Our journalist trainers can help you to understand what is newsworthy and what will interest audiences.
8 Human interest
Ask any journalist what makes a good story and the answer will be human interest. People like hearing about other people. So when you prepare your next presentation focus on what is in it for the people you are talking to and the impact what you are announcing will have on your customers.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our highly practical Media training, crisis communication and presentation skills training courses.
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