As an expert in your field, you have a deep well of knowledge and skills. When it comes time to share your expertise, building your technical communication skills ensures you convey the information in a way that your audience understands. Regardless of whether your audience consists of peers, potential customers or lay people, you need to translate technical information into a presentation that educates and motivates your audience.
If your presentation is filled with unintended noise and clutter or you are nervous, these distract from your message, confusing your listeners about the point you are making.
To create a strong presentation for technical communication, follow these important steps:
- Know your audience so you can speak in a way they understand
- Determine your objective for the presentation. What do you need to accomplish?
- Decide what you want the audience to do and take action on afterwards
- Build your presentation about the above three main items
- Plan your opening to grab attention and your closing to move people into action
"The Knowledge to Impact System"
Laurie recommends working with the Knowledge to Impact System that utilizes three powerful filters to make you a better speaker, reduce noise and increase audience comprehension.
1. Research
While you are an expert on your topic, it's time to become an expert on your audience members too. This allows you to structure your technical communication for greater understanding and value from your listener's viewpoint. Being an expert about who your audience is changes how you write, organize and create visuals for your presentation.
2. Translate
Event though it's tempting and seems efficient to deliver the same presentation to all your different audiences, this is a huge mistake. You need to translate your message for each unique audience or you are in danger of not effectively communicating and losing your listeners. You cannot educate or convince people if they do not understand your point. This is where you focus on eliminating noise and clutter to streamline your message specifically for each audience.
3. Deliver
Noise and clutter can also be problematic during delivery of your presentation. For example, nervousness can distract from your message when providing technical communication. Laurie shares a number of relaxation and preparation techniques to calm your nerves and present like a pro. Discover how to feel more confident and at ease. Get tips on body language, gestures, eye contact and vocal quality for your best presentation ever.
PowerPoint Presentation Tips for Technical Communication
Creating a PowerPoint presentation for technical communication requires simplifying the slides if possible, keeping the content to just one idea per slide. Laurie has a wealth of knowledge to help you craft a streamlined PowerPoint document that holds people's attention and clearly communicates your message for lasting impact.
"Throughout my career both military and civil service, I have had opportunities to receive different types of presentation training. The Technical Presentation Skills Class outshone them all. The techniques presented not only met the class needs but they were down-to-earth easy to use. The difference between everyone's first presentation and their last presentation was amazing."
– Michael Mercado, EPA
Laurie Brown Will Sharpen Your Technical Communication Skills
Work with Laurie to improve your technical communication and presentation skills. Learn to engage your audience, convey your message and persuade them to take the next step. Her Knowledge to Impact System has proven immensely helpful to clients around the US and the world.
Contact Laurie now at (248) 761-7510 for Technical Communication Coaching.
