Adult Basic Education - Essential Presentation Skills For Adult Educators and Facilitators - 6 Tips

By Robert Sissenah

1. Be prepared

As a facilitator, you are asked by the company manager to make a presentation. What should you do?

Try to get a handle from the manager what the company's issues, needs and concerns are.

Get as much information from the manager about the topics. Because if you don't understand what you want to achieve in your presentation, there is not a chance your participants will understand either.

Set an objective and goal setting at the outset what you want to accomplish and what are the desired outcomes?

What do you want your participants to benefit from the workshop? Latest information on new technology.

What do you want your participants to do with the information? They're anxious to apply their new skills with the new technology.

Make sure that the audio/visual equipment is available. Take extra spare parts just in case, for example, a bulb for the overhead projector burns out unexpectedly. Take an extra long extension cord if the projector is too far away from the outlet. This can be very embarrassing for you as a professional if you don't have "Plan B" to fall back on to.

The conference room is ready, the chairs are adjusted, all the instructional equipment is set and coffee is ready. Now you are ready...

Dress appropriately for your presentation.

Greet the participants at the door as you direct them to the table to pick up their name tags and the copy of the agenda and they will feel welcome. Inform participants to help themselves some coffee.

Icebreakers are short activities or exercises that encourage people to get to know each other. There are a dozens of them around. Ask each person to give his/her name and to tell the group how many years he/she has been involved in _____(nursing,teaching,hairdressing,construction, computers, or whatever the common interest is). Ask for a volunteer from the group to jot down the number of years as each person gives it, and add up the figures when you have them all. Ask the volunteer what the total number of years of experience is. You then can point out that the group contains a wealth of knowledge and skills gathered in these years, and that everyone stands to gain from sharing and learning.

Perform any housekeeping tasks before presentation. For example, reminding them that they all have to sign out after the workshop because their manager wants them to sign out before they leave.

Kindly remind them to complete a short evaluation/questionnaire about the workshop at the end of the day.

Inform your participants to "stretch their legs" before moving on to the next topic.

Don't forget to mention about 15-minute coffee breaks for morning and afternoon. Get on with the show.

2. Make it all about your audience

Clearly describe the workshop goals or objectives at the beginning of your presentation as to avoid any misunderstanding from your participants. Look at their needs, concerns and perspectives, the more likely you will be able to connect with them. If you want to connect with your participants you must talk "with" them and not "at" them. The workshop is not about you as the presenter. That entails involving the participants in the presentation without losing control of the flow of your message. There is a difference between giving an inspiring speech to selling a product or service.

Don't leave your audio/visual equipment on or running to prevent distractions. Turn it off after you completed your presentation. Be careful, always ask the participants if it's okay to turn it off, because there might be some slow writers who are still copying the information from the screen.

Think of yourself as a guide and a facilitator for your audience. This will ensure that your participants remained focus on the topic and on track.

Do a follow-up with the company management and the group participants after the workshop to ensure understanding and that everybody is satisfied.

3. Don't teach more than your participants can absorb

Carry out a series of presentations in small, managable chunks, particularly if the subject is complex, or highly technical. Add pictures or models if necessary. Create a visual to show how all of the pieces of the content fit together to create a whole.

4. Each person learns differently

Adults have their own personalities and a set of their own strategies for how they learn. Some adults believe that listening is important but others believe that they learn best when they just dive in and try a task or a procedure. Meanwhile, other adults rely heavily on visuals or pictures.

Here are some ways you can accommodate all of the adult learning styles:

Include interactive exercises to involve your participants by lengthening discussions and conversations to facilitate more interaction, get them to listen to real-life examples to break up the format, get them to pay close attention to your charts, drawings and handouts that you are using. Making sure you give out the handouts after the workshop as to avoid any distractions during presentations.

5. Don't get stumped

Part of your preparation is anticipating what kinds of questions your participants will have. If you have done a thorough job of understanding your participants needs and concerns, you should be able to predict, pretty accurately, where they will want further clarification.

Prepare and rehearse your answers to likely questions ahead of time so you will sound confident and feel more secure of yourself as a presenter. Your participants will then see you as a confident and competent presenter.

To keep the discussion productive and satisfying for your participants, keep these extra guidelines in mind:

Make it a policy to welcome every question, be respectful of the questioner and acknowledge by name (you can always read it off from his or her name tag). You can say: "I'm really glad you asked that, Bob".

redirect the question: Get the audience involved-"What do the rest of you think about that?"

rephrase the question to ensure you understand it correctly and to articulate it for the rest of the audience: "So what I hear you saying is.."

Look at questions as an expression of interest from the participants. It shows they are engaged and listening. If you don't get questions or responses from them, then you lost them, somewhere. Because when participants and facilitators have no questions for each other, it means there is very little meaningful interaction and sharing.

And it may be just fine to get side tracked from your prepared topic to pursue a lively conversation with your participants. Remember: The most important thing is not whether or not you cover all your material, but whether the participants' needs are satisfied.

6. Don't make excuses

While you will want to apologize for mispronouncing someone's name or spilling hot coffee on someone. But don't make excuses by..

Missing a topic. Either ignore it or unapologetically explain why it's missing and direct the participants where they can obtain the information.

Not knowing the answer. Admit you don't know the answer and either offer to get back to the questioner with the answer or direct him or her to where he can find it.

Following these steps will help you communicate more effectively and ensure a positive learning experience for your participants.

Robert Sissenah is the new owner of the Adult Basic Education (ABE) - About Learn-Eh! Visit his website at http://www.cybersenior.ca