English for Oral Communication -Problems Faced Oral

ENGLISH FOR ORAL COMMUNICATION -Problems faced oral presentation ways overcome problems Sales Marketing staffs.

Problems faced in oral presentation and how to overcome them

Many a time sales and marketing staff members are required to give oral presentations to existing and potential clients. These presentations may range from short to long while others include visual aids and are in slide format, they can also be done individually or by a group of sales team members. In the normal course of studies, students have the chance to deliver tutorials, assignments and other presentations. However, one important thing is that practice leads them to have to become more experienced and give killer presentation. However, before they gain this experience, there are several problems that are faced by sales and marketing professionals when giving presentations to a live audience and using spoken language which need to be overcome for them to be able to give great presentations.

In a survey conducted by the Sunday Times in London which sought to find people's greatest fear, it was found that 41% of the 3,000 sample stated that they most feared public speaking. The reason for this was found to be that the speakers lack the essential skills and confidence level to make an effective presentation. Despite them being able to know how ineffective many of the speakers are, many of them have found out that despite them having the best intentions in their presentations, they have not really fared well.

Unfortunately, the result of this survey is backed by the happenings in reality. Even the most experienced of speakers may give presentations that are felt to be boring by the audience. This may be in spite of the speaker knowing the topic well and having their ideas and the points written down. The problem is in the way the speech is delivered.

Problems faced in oral presentations

Lack of rehearsal

When giving a sales and marketing presentation, one of the common problem is that the presenter may not have rehearsed their presentation. Though the person is usually well acquainted with the subject matter of the presentation, they usually fail to rehearse their presentation which leads them to give ineffective presentation. One of the reasons why they should rehearse their presentation is to check that the writing on the visual aids or slides is legible by all members of the audience even from the back of the room. Second is that they need to rehearse their presentation in order to ensure that there is a smooth transition between the topics in the presentation and the presentation slides.

Rehearsing also enables the presenter to ensure that the sequence of points in their presentation is logical and there is coherence of the presentation. This will ensure that the audience is able to understand the presentation and all points in the presentation. The presenter may also decide to rehearse the presentation with a friend which will help him or her to get invaluable feedback on the presentation itself which when incorporated into the final presentation will help it become an effective one. The best thing about rehearsing the presentation in from of a friend or two is that it helps the presenter to discover their mistakes and deficiencies before the actual presentation so they have ample time to correct these thus enabling them to give an effective presentation. By rehearsing the presentation, the presenter can also be able to familiarize with the audio-visual aids that they are planning to use in the presentation which will increase their confidence level greatly. Other advantages of rehearsing the presentation is that the presenter will be able to get the timing of the presentation correct and they will be able to reduce their nervousness greatly.

A study conducted in the year 2010 on the reliability of peer assessment of presentation skills of engineering students found that by giving presentations in front of their peers, the students were able to increase their overall confidence level before giving the presentation to their teachers. Overall, the students were also found to give better presentations than when they did not practice in front of their peers (Magin & Helmore 295). Therefore the importance of rehearsing the presentation before giving the actual presentation needs to be emphasized in the sales and marketing staff in order to improve their performance and confidence level ahead of the real sales and marketing presentation.

Timing

Timing is a huge problem that is faced by presenters of sales and marketing presentations. Many presenters try to explain each point in the presentation as detailed as possible to the audience in order to improve their understanding. However, this is one of the major problems that lead to a presentation being branded as boring because it ends up being too long for the attention span of the audience. Timing is important to ensure that a situation where there are too many slides in the presentation and a limited amount of time is avoided. Many presenters often have voluminous sets of slides which are created in an attempt to add as much detail as they can to the slide while in the real sense they should focus on the major points that they plan to give in the presentation.

This problem is often overcome by the presenter rehearsing their presentation prior to giving the presentation. The presenter often rehearses in front of a friend or two in order to get their feedback which will be crucial to the final presentation itself. Secondly, it can be overcome by the presenter ensuring that their timing for the presentation is very short. Most of the times, the presentation timing should be one minute for each slide in the presentation. Moreover, the presenter should strive to have the minimum number of slides possible while at the same time not compromising the quality of their presentation.

Lack of fluency

Another huge problem that is faced when giving an oral sales and marketing presentation is that the presenter does not practice their fluency and oral skills and thus ends up giving presentations using their own broken English and in an interrupted form which becomes boring for the audience. This happens even in the case whereby the presenter has mastered their visual aids and slides properly and has an in-depth understanding of the subject matter of the presentation. The problem is usually that the presenter focuses more on making the visual aids and slides effective and does not focus on their own oral skills. These oral skills include their fluency and grammatical accuracy. This makes the overall presentation to be ineffective.

This problem can be overcome by fluency practice by the presenter. The presenter should frequently give short presentations in order to learn how to speak in the appropriate tone and so that they are able to be as effective as possible. Secondly, rehearsing the presentation in front of a friend or two will often help the presenter to become fluent and speak with accuracy. The feedback they receive from these rehearsals will be important in setting the success and effectiveness of the final presentation.

Lack of planning

Improper planning of the presentation is another huge problem that is faced by the presenters. Improper planning comes in multiple dimensions. First is the lack of analyzing the audience. Secondly is not determining the primary purpose of the presentation and lastly is lack of supportive information in the presentation. This can be easily overcome by understanding what it takes to plan a presentation.

In planning for an effective sales and marketing presentation, first, it is important to know the audience. The presenter, before preparing the presentation, should know who the audience is and whether the audience knows the subject. The presenter should go a little bit deeper and analyze the audience knowledge on the subject in terms of the terminology that they would know and that which they would want to know. The presenter also needs to know the motivating factor for the audience to listen to this particular presentation. It is only by being knowledgeable on why the audience would listen to the presenter that the presenter would be able to capture the attention of the audience by making sure they design the presentation around this motivating factor.

The second thing in planning the presentation is to determine the primary purpose of the presentation. Here, the presenter needs to know why they are giving this presentation and the time allocated for the presentation. If the sales and marketing presentation is being given to inform the audience, it should contain as much information as the audience can absorb at once. The same applies if the presentation's purpose is to convince, guide or entertain the audience.

The last item in planning for a presentation is to select supporting information. Any presentation that lacks in terms of supporting information is deemed to be ineffective because the audience will not be able to accept the presentation as credible. The credibility of the sales and marketing presentation lies in the supporting documentation in the presentation. However, the presenter needs to keep in mind that the members of the audience will only be able to remember two or three supporting points and thus should not fill the whole presentation with supporting information.

Another problem that arises for the presenters of sales and marketing presentations is in the arrangement of their points. The presenters often decide to begin with the least strong points while gradually progressing to the stronger points. However, this leads to the presenter giving an ineffective presentation. In a well-crafted sales presentation, it is important to start with the key points then gradually give the weaker points. This is what is involved in planning the presentation.

The presentation should be designed to follow a three part structure. First is that the introduction should give an overview of the presentation while the second part should be the body of the presentation. Here, the main points of the presentation are properly arranged in a coherent manner to bring out the information that the presenter wishes the audience to know. The final part is the conclusion which summarizes the main points in the presentation.

Attitude towards oral presentation

A study conducted in 2001 on the rhetorical analysis of oral presentation skills with professional and pedagogical implications found that students and teachers have differing perceptions of the purpose of learning to give good oral presentations. This was also reflected in the overall performance of the students in regards to oral presentations and in terms of giving effective presentations. According to this study, teachers look at presentations as a flexible way of communicating with the audience and a method of creating the details of a case into an elaborate marketing or sales plan while on the other hand students view presentations as being tests of their communication skills and thus they are detestable. Per the students, oral presentations are a rigid and rule-based activity that is governed by rules and regulations that they are required to follow (Haber & Lingard 312).

This study also brought important findings that all presenters learn their oral presentation skills through trial and error. Though they are taught these presentation skills in class through an explicit rhetorical model, this delays the development of effective presentation skills and results in the potential acquisition of professional values that are not intended.

Oral presentation skills are central to the relationship between the sales or marketing representative and the client. This case is true for both the existing and potential clients. Therefore, there is need for the sales or marketing representative to learn the appropriate oral presentation skills both in class through a rhetorical model and through practice which involves trial and error. This will enable them to evaluate their own competence and to develop some of the language characteristics and other skills that are essential to the delivery of an effective sales presentation. It will also help them to find the appropriate professional relationship and professional values to apply in their oral presentation. Again, the importance of rehearsal of the presentation comes in since it is only by rehearsing the presentation that the presenter is able to learn through trial and error.

Lack of Q&A section

Many presenters only prepare to give the presentation. When they are allocated, say 15 minutes for the presentation, they use up the full 15 minutes giving their presentation. This is one major problem that leads to ineffective presentations. After giving the sales presentation, the presenter should always allow time for the audience to ask questions where they feel the presenter's points are not clear and they should also allow time for the members of the audience to criticize their presentation. Here, the presenter needs to expect the unexpected. The reaction of the audience may range from good to bad. The questions and criticism that the presenter may get may be good or bad. Therefore, the audience should prepare to answer all questions raised by the audience and to respond appropriately to their criticism. The presenter should also prepare for the situation where the audience misunderstands the presentation and should give ample time for clarification. In a situation where there are no comments or questions from the audience, the presenter may decide to ask the audience a question to see if they have comprehended the content of the sales and marketing presentation.