Master the art of the presentation

(06-21) 04:00 PDT 06/21/09 -- The phrase "death by PowerPoint" has probably made the rounds in every office in the country by now. But work presentations don't have to be boring - and any employee who can keep things interesting has a better shot at keeping his or her job, or even getting promoted.

"You've only got one chance to impress senior management, and it isn't going to happen at the networking happy hour," says Richard Bradley, communication skills director at the American Management Association. By honing the skills it takes to be a great presenter, he says that employees will convey credibility, trustworthiness and competence when it matters most.

PowerPoint has become a ubiquitous tool in the workplace, but Terry Ward, founder of the local communications training firm CommSkills, says that presenters often read directly from their slides. "As an audience member, I want people to focus on me, not the visual aide," he says. "People can read the information themselves about five times faster than someone can read it to them."

Cara Hale Alter, president of the Bay Area training center SpeechSkills, says that the best model for what a PowerPoint presentation should look like is shown each night on the evening news. "There is an actual face giving most of the information and visual aides that support him or her," she says. "When a news program does put text up on the screen, it is only for a few key reasons. Usually it is to show direct quotes or action points, or for data that are too difficult to grasp without seeing it on the screen."

Of course, not every presentation will consist of a slideshow. Simply giving a project update during the weekly staff meeting can be considered public speaking - and can be an important arena for giving one's best impression. Whatever the setting, Ward says that everyone should keep at least three core "ABC" principles in mind: "Action, Benefits and Conviction," he says. "Tell the audience what action you want them to take after the presentation, how it will benefit them, and have the conviction in it yourself so the audience believes you."

Having the right body language can also be a huge advantage when talking to a crowd. "When people are effectively communicating they aren.t just talking with their mouths, they talk with their bodies too," says Hale Alter. "Your body language and your voice need to be in sync. That is where you get the bonus points." Hand movements and facial expressions are some of the obvious places to work on body language, but there are also more subtle features as well. How someone tilts his or her head while listening to another person, or how far into the conversation someone leans can be important cues for conveying trustworthiness and credibility. "People would never go into a job interview without looking in a mirror, but people rarely check their moving image," Hale Alter says.

No discussion of public speaking would be complete without mentioning those dreaded filler words. The "ums and ahs" or the "you knows" and "uh-uhs." One common tactic for addressing the tendency to say these words and syllables is to give a practice speech and have someone in the audience count the number of filler words that show up during the entire talk. Hale Alter says that it can actually be more helpful if the speaker gets immediate feedback as he or she is giving the talk, so in her workshops she raises a small orange flag each time a filler word creeps into someone's practice speech. "It is more effective because the speaker gets the awareness right that second," she says.

For people who are intimidated by the thought of standing in front of a group, Ward suggests using a tactic he calls individualizing the group. "There are actually no such things as groups - we are all individuals," he says. "So I tell my clients to talk to each individual person in the room. Start with the first sentence and say that to one person. Then say the next sentence to someone else in the room, and continue until you have finished the talk. Studies show that eye contact between three and six seconds is what makes people feel a connection. Anything less than that is too short and anything longer is awkward.. Public speaking skills matter whether you are giving a formal speech or just introducing yourself at happy hour. Either way, a good self-presentation is one of the most important .soft. skills to bring to the workplace. "We're all projecting an image," says Hale Alter, "and a lot of behaviors go into that image! We have a lot more control over that than most people take advantage of. The goal is to become more intentional so it is not a roulette game."

YAHOO! HOTJOBS is a weekly advertising feature produced by the marketing department of The San Francisco Chronicle. For advertising rates and information, contact Joyce Garmon at (415) 777-7340 or jgarmon@sfchronicle.com.