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Most of us hate any form of public speaking. We’d much rather sit in the background and not having any attention focused on us.

Unfortunately, at some stage in our working careers each one of us will be required to either sell an idea; make a recommendation; market our work or ourselves or market a product. In such an instance you would have no other choice but to bite the bullet and stand before an audience to present your case.

Do not stress it is not that difficult. It only requires a few skills which are easy to master. When you are required to do a presentation, do it well and use it as an opportunity to get noticed – it could well be the key to a successful career!

Start at the very beginning and plan well ahead for the big moment. The starting point is your expected audience. What will my audience know about the topic; what are their needs and what do they want to hear. Your approach would be different when you have to do a presentation on a new medical invention to a conference of medical practitioners compared to addressing a group of housewives on the same topic. Always try to put yourself in your audience’s shoes before starting to prepare your address.

With any presentation, there must be an envisaged outcome. Why are you doing the presentation? Is it to inform, persuade, motivate or teach? When you clarify your purpose, you will more easily hit your target.

Once you know what you want to achieve, you can start with the preparation:

Prepare the opening: Make a statement or ask a question that grabs the audience’s attention. State the purpose of your presentation and remember the opening should make up 5 to 10% of your entire presentation.

Prepare the structure: The presentation should have a logical flow:

• Opening
• Background information
• Body of the presentation
• Action steps – what next or what is required
• Close

Choosing Key points: Your audience can only remember 4 to 6 key points, so choose them carefully. Back your message up with interesting evidence – statistics, testimonials, analogies and demonstrations. The key points should make up 80 to 85% of the entire presentation.

Prepare the Duration: Don’t make the presentation to long. Rehearse the duration of your presentation to make sure it falls within your time limits. Always allow time for questions – it is appropriate.

Prepare your closing: Prepare a close that supports your purpose and creates a lasting impression. Only briefly summarize or restate your key points and throw a challenge to your audience. Leave your audience with something to think about. The closing should make up 5 to 10 % of the entire presentation.

Prepare effective visual support:

• When using slides, it must be visually appealing
• Use colors and fonts that make an impact
• Select graphics carefully – they must support the subject matter
• Use effective but not irritating animation
• When using a whiteboard or flip-chart, write quickly and neatly.

Speaker notes: Never read your slides – this is very boring. Only have the bare outline on the slides and fill the rest of the detail verbally. You can make use of speaker notes on the slides to ensure that you know what you want to say and not forgetting anything.

Rehearse: First practice your presentation on your own in front of a mirror then follow it up in front of a friend or colleague. They must give you feedback on the content and style of your presentation.

Lastly, after everything is said and done, it is time to put your money where your mouth is:

• Be well prepared
• Know your subject
• Be exited
• Act confidently
• Dress smartly
• Speak clearly
• Make eye contact
• Focus on the main points
• Be yourself

Remember, when you are marketing your product, system, idea, or whatever, you are marketing yourself in the process!

Cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien, author of The Four-Fold Way, teaches there are four bones to which we must pay attention if we are to remain fully present in our lives. As in life, so it is in speaking! Use these four bones of professional speaking to ensure your presentation is masterful.

1. The wishbone. This is where our vision resides, the place of dreaming and re-dreaming so that we live the life we came to live. When you’re developing your presentation, what is the vision you hold of what is possible because you choose to show up? A transformational speech begins with knowing the new story you want people to embrace and act upon. So exercise your wishbone as your very first step to a transformational speech. What is the outcome you wish for that makes all the energy of preparing and delivering a presentation worthwhile?

2. The backbone. Taking action in support of our dreams requires courage and strength. The call to action you put forth in your speaking is the backbone–it first represents your own backbone, the bravery to ask for something worthy of a better story. Then you call forth the backbone of the audience when you challenge them to leave the room with a commitment to a personal step toward an action that will make the new story possible. Just one step; ask them for that without apology or equivocation.

3. The funny bone. It is said that laughter is the shortest distance between two people. It is perennial wisdom in professional speaking circles that, “You don’t have to be funny to speak; only to get paid for it!” Forge your own brand of humor–without telling jokes–and be sure to include it in your speaking.

4. The hollow little bone. This bone is likely the most challenging for a speaker who needs a strong ego to show up in the first place–and then get out of the way. To be a “hollow bone” requires that we acknowledge our doubts and fears and reluctance and do the work to heal the personal wounds that cause us to question our callings and capacities. Only then can we be “hollow” enough to make room for something more powerful than a carefully crafted speech to flow through us and out to others. When we recognize that ultimately our speaking is in support of our message and not about us, we open the hollow bone to hope and possibility and to receive grand support for a worthy mission. We experience an energetic surge when the hollow little bone is an open channel for truth to be spoken in the moment.

When your wishbone, your backbone, your funny bone, and the hollow little bone are acknowledged and expressed, you’re well on your way to presenting the speech you were born to give to the audience you are destined to serve. To be a transformational speaker, remember the Four Bones!

© Gail Larsen 2010. All rights reserved. Real Speaking is a registered trademark. Permission to reprint: You may reprint this article in your own print or electronic newsletter. Please include the following statement: Reprinted from “Real Speaking” a free e-letter by Gail Larsen featuring insights and ideas to enhance your public speaking and communications.

Lean manufacturing principles use continuously developing practices, implemented through tried and tested techniques to help your company gain more productivity, customer satisfaction and employee fulfillment. It’s a complete path to overall improvement, with the basic goal of reducing wastes or deficiencies and adding value.

While it is very effective, Lean manufacturing is not easy to implement. It takes cooperation, will, motivation, and more importantly, the desire to learn. The fundamentals of it are primarily taught through an extensive presentation. Many companies offer these presentations for varying prices. And while Lean is a well-known philosophy, there is no standard modular system for teaching it. This is what those companies attempt to do, and so, before you sign up for a presentation, you should always check for an overview of contents and pick the one that’s either most comprehensive, or the one that suits your company best.

Its principles can be learned easily with the right tools. These tools typically involve the Lean manufacturing presentation that includes other teaching tools, like Lean games and simulation.

The philosophy of Lean involves a lot of jargons – jargons that describe principles that either involve or preclude one another. Thus, a good Lean manufacturing presentation should contain extensive discussions of these principles in the right order of association for the trainees to properly grasp and comprehend.

A good Lean manufacturing presentation should also be able to help you visualize your transition from your old practices to the new Lean practices. It should effectively illustrate how you can eliminate your company’s inefficiencies and wastes, by seeing the differences between your old practices and Lean. The presentation should also help you with describing techniques and clear examples of appropriate practices for certain events.

Most importantly, like a real instructor or sensei, your Lean manufacturing presentation should be able to teach you how to identify obstacles and help you learn how to come up with effective ways to overcome them. Overcoming obstacles is the best skill that your presentation should be able to give. This is the key to sustaining Lean principles and practices in managing your manufacturing business.