KEYS TO EFFECTIVE LISTING AND PRESENTING

Introduction
Listening is an essential part of being a good communicator. As more and more of our
communication becomes visual and text driven, (i.e. Internet, text and computers) we are
forgetting how to listen. Listening involves both: the ability to understand what is being
said, and the ability to organize and analyze the messages in order to retain them for
subsequent use. There are many things that prevent us from listening, which include
mental laziness, different perspectives, strong emotions, physical tiredness or discomfort,
desire to talk distractions and mind wandering, reactions to the speaker etc.
To be a good listener we have to purposely concentrate on several activities that make
the listening process effective and should act upon consciously.

Well delivered presentations hold an important position in today's business environment

and it has become the most impressive method of communication. Properly executed and
in the right context, they can inform, motivate and convince more effectively than any
other single form of communication. On the other hand a bad presentation will nave
equally strong negative effects on the presenter and on the organization he represents.
Therefore it is of vital importance to make sure that your presentation is up to the
expectations and deliver the expected results.

Keys to effective listening

Find area of interest

G.K. Chesterton said “There is no such thing as an uninteresting subject; there are only
uninterested people”. When a listener becomes uninterested in the topic under discussion,
he usually declares the subject dry and rationalizes inattention.
On the other hand a good listener will follow a different tactic. Whenever he wishes to
listen effectively, he will say to himself: “Can I can use anything he is saying? What
worthwhile ideas he has? Anything with which, I can make myself happier? ”. Such
questions lead the listener to screen what he is hearing in a continual effort to sort out the
elements of personal value.

Judge content, not delivery

Many listeners attribute the inattention to the speaker by thinking to themselves: Who
could listen to such a character? What an awful voice! Will he ever stop reading from his
2
notes? The good listener may also look at the speaker and think “seems like almost
anyone ought to be able to talk better than that” but from this initial similarity he moves
on to a different conclusion, thinking”. But wait a minute… I am not interested in his
personality or delivery. I want to find out what he knows. Does this man know
something that I need to know?

Hold your fire

Over stimulation leads to inefficient listening. When over stimulated, the listener gets too
exited, or exited too soon, by the speaker. It creates a desire to enter somehow,
immediately in to the argument. The aroused person usually becomes preoccupied by
trying to do three things simultaneously: estimate the damage being done to his own pet
idea, plot an embarrassing question to ask the speaker, enjoy mentally all the discomfort
visualized for the speaker once the devastating question is launched. With these things
going on, subsequent passages go unheard. We must learn not to get too exited about
speaker’s point until we are certain we thoroughly understand it. The principle is that we
must always withhold evaluation until our comprehension is complete.

Listen for ideas

Good listeners focus on central ideas. They are able to discriminate between fact and
principle, idea and example, evidence and argument. Poor listeners are inclined to listen
for facts in every presentation.

Be flexible
Note taking may help or may become a distraction in listening. If we can obtain brief,
meaningful records of the salient points we here for later review, we definitely improve
our ability to learn and to remember. Good note takers equip themselves with four or five
note taking systems and adjust their system to suit the talk they hear. To be effective
listeners we must be flexible and adaptable note-takes.

Work at listening
Listening is hard work. It is characterized by faster heart action, quicker circulation of
blood, a small rise in body temperature. The over relaxed listener is merely appearing to
tune in, and then feeling conscience free; he pursues any of a thousand mental tangents.
An effective listener gives each speaker his conscious attention. We ought to make eye

3
contact and maintain it; to indicate by posture and facial expression that the occasion and
speaker’s efforts are a matter of real concern to us. This helps the speaker to express
himself more clearly. This does not necessarily imply the acceptance of the speaker’s
point of view. It is rather an expression of interest.

Resist distractions
The good listeners tend to adjust quickly to any kind of abnormal situation. Poor listeners
tend to tolerate bad conditions and in some instances, even to create distractions
themselves.

Exercise your mind

Poor listeners are inexperienced in hearing difficult, expository material. Good listeners
develop an appetite for hearing a variety of presentations difficult enough to challenge
their mental capacities.

Keep your mind open

Parallel to the blind spots which afflict human beings are certain psychological deaf
spots which impair our ability to perceive or understand. These deaf points are our most
cherished notions, convictions and complexes. Often when the speaker touches one of
these areas with a word or phrase, we turn our mind to familiar mental pathways leading
to that area of sensitivity. Effective listeners try to identify and rationalize the words or
phrases most upsetting emotionally and try to reduce the impact of such words through
free and open discussions of them with friends or associates.

Capitalize on thought speed

A person can talk at a speed of about 125 words a minute and could think at a speed
about four times that rate. It is difficult to slowdown our thinking speed and therefore we
have about 400 words of thinking time to spare during every minute a person talks to us.
If we are poor listeners, we soon become impatient with the slow progress the speaker
seems to be making and our thoughts turn to something else for a moment and dart back
to the speaker. The good listener uses his thought speed to advantage; he constantly
applies his spare thinking time to what is being said. To do this we should try to
anticipate what a person is going to talk about, mentally summarize what the person has

4
been saying and points he has made already, weigh the speaker’s evidence by mentally
questioning it, Listen between the lines as a speaker doesn’t always put everything that is
important in to words.

Keys to effective presentation

In preparation to deliver a presentation, you have to ask several questions from yourself
in order to get yourself clear about the whole process. You can divide the focus of the
questions in to three sections: the audience, you-the presenter and the presentation itself.

The audience
Why are they there? What do they want from the presentation? How do they listen?
What will they remember? What will turn them on or off, make them comfortable or
uncomfortable? What language do they speak? How much do they know? What
questions will they ask? What will they find hard to listen to? What are their needs? How
do you find out about them? Can you analyze their response? What might make them
hostile? How will you get feedback from them?

You – the presenter

Why are you there? What do you want to achieve? What do you look like, what do you
sound like? What will you do about nerves? How will you rehearse? How will you
remember what to say? How will you handle questions? What will you do if they are
hostile? How will you keep your energy up? Do you need a chairman or master of
ceremonies? How will you introduce yourself? Is there an efficient way of handling the
technology?

The presentation itself

What is it trying to achieve? What is it about? What are its limits? What visuals or
handouts will be needed, what technology is available? How long should it be? Will it
need following up? How will the information it contains be remembered? Which parts
will be difficult or hard to understand? How will the script be prepared? What about the
location and staging?
In discussing keys to effective presentation, it is easier to adapt an element wise
approach and concentrate on the important aspects that make the presentation more
effective.

5
System
You should have clear objectives to achieve from the presentation (to inform, to amuse,
to persuade, to train, etc) and if you are not clear about what to achieve, more chances
are that you achieve nothing at the end. Prior preparation and practicing is also key
prerequisite for delivering an effective presentation.

Clear structure (beginning middle end)

Having a clear structure makes it easy for the audience to synchronize with the presenter
and following a standard and widely accepted structure as shown bellow, is always
advisable.
FIGURE 01: Standard Structure of a Presentation

Introduction Outline Main Parts Summary Conclusion

1
2
3

Linking the parts together or maintaining the flow of the presentation is important and
following a technique like the following, has two advantages: it is easier for the audience
to follow the presentation, and it is easier for the presenter to follow his or her plan

FIGURE 02: Linking the parts of a Presentation

Tel the audience Tell the audience

what you are going to Say it what you have said
say

Special care may be taken to make sure that the content of the presentation is relevant to
the subject and helps communication of the objective better. If this is not the case, it is
better to avoid including such components in the presentation. Taking an extra effort to
make the presentation interesting may be rewarding but the balancing of the relevance of
the content to the subject gets priority.

Having a time frame and following the time line makes you a professional presenter and
failing to doing so shows your inexperience in presentations.

6
Body Language
Use body to emphasize the meaning of what you say. Maintain eye contact with
audience: make eye contact with different people each time; don’t just look at one person
all the time. Appear confident in the subject: i.e. Mastery of the subject matter
Facial expression: Use facial expressions (e.g. smiles) to emphasize feelings.
Hands: Use your hand to emphasize what you say. Keep hands out of pockets and hold a
pen or pointer if you feel more comfortable but don’t play with it.
Movement: Don’t stand completely still: a little movement between table and board or
between table and audience is more interesting. Don’t move around too much, or the
audience may watch you instead of listening to you
Posture: Try to keep your posture upright bet relaxed. Look straight ahead, not down at
the floor or up at the ceiling.

Visual Aids
Use clear visual aids that supports message. Master usage of equipment such as projector,
VCD player, etc. and display professionalism in handling the equipment.

Finishing off
The final part of the presentation should include a clear signal that you are about to end,
a brief and clear summary of what you have said, a conclusion or recommendation if
appropriate and an invitation for questions, to make comments or start a discussion.

Handling questions
Always welcome the questions. Listen carefully to the question- don’t interrupt, take
time to think before you answer, check you have understood the question- rephrase or
clarify if necessary and reply positively- be brief and clear about what you say, accept
criticism positively.
After your answer, check that the questioner is satisfied.

7
FIGURE 03: The Flow of the Finishing Stage of the Presentation
Signal to end

I’ll briefly summarize the main

points….

Summary

1…..
2…..
3…..

Recommendations

1…..
2…..
3…..

Invitation for questions

Are there any questions?

8
Listening Action plan for next three months
During the next three months,
• I will take around five minutes a day to sit quietly somewhere, close your eyes
and listen to all the sounds around me. Try to become conscious of them. Try to
identify and count the number of different sounds I hear.
• When I am having a conversation with another person, consciously try to receive
what he or she has said before rushing in to make your contribution. If I feel you
want to interrupt, I will think about pausing before you start to talk.
• I will listen to the radio programmes like discussions, etc as much as possible and
practice information receiving, retrieval after the end and summarizing.
• Will make it a point to attend presentations as much as possible and try to
consciously practice the key parts of effective listening process.
• I will browse the internet and find few note taking systems available and select
two or three note taking systems that I can adopt in different presentations
practice them while listing to radio programmes.

Presentation Action plan for next three months

During the next three months,
• I will look for more opportunities to do presentations at the office; will volunteer
to conduct few of the company’s weekly training presentations which are
conducted by senior staff of the company on each Friday morning as well as
presentations conducted for clients.
• Ask one of my collogues at the office to video my presentations and later analyze
the video and identify where I could have done better and incorporate them to my
next presentation.
• Will get my self acquainted with the different audio visual equipment available in
the company like the multimedia projector, overhead projector, audio system, etc.
• Will get a good book on Microsoft PowerPoint and practice all features and
facilities available so that I can incorporate them to my future presentations.
• Will prepare a feed back form incorporating all features of an effective
presentation which I can use for getting feedback from the audience who attend
my presentations.

9
Reference:
1. Harvey, R. (1992), How to Speak and Listen Effectively. New York, AMACOM.
2. McMillan, S. (1997), How to be a better communicator. London, Kogan Page.
3. Nichols, R.G. (1957), Listening is a 10 part skill. Chicago, Enterprise publications.
4. Richard Worth, R. (2004), Communication Skills. (2nd ed.). New York, Ferguson.
5. Rowson, P. (2005). Communicating with more confidence. Hampshire, Rowmark
Ltd.
6. Siddons, S. (2008), The complete presentation skills hand book. London, Kogan
Page.
7. Weissman, J. (2003), Presenting to win: the art of telling your story. New Jersey,
Financial Times Prentice Hall.

10