Delivering Technical Presentations

A technical briefing is a speech that conveys technical information to a specific audience, usually in a workplace.

Technical briefings should be presented in a way that allows an audience to understand and apply critical information. Technical briefings can range from an engineer briefing a group of managers on a current project, to a retail supervisor explaining a new company policy to the store employees. Follow the steps below to ensure your technical briefings are as effective as they can be:

• Know your audience. Avoid using too much industry jargon or material that is too technical for your colleagues to easily understand.
• State the purpose of the technical briefing in one or two sentences and use this summary as the focal point for the entire presentation.
• Arrange the material into an outline containing an introduction, main points and a conclusion.
• Prepare for the questions when you invite questions at the last segment of your presentation. Anticipate what questions may be asked and be prepared for “loaded” questions that may be asked to knock you off balance. If you need more time to consider an answer or you don’t fully understand, say something like, ” I don’t quite understand what you mean, can you please expand on that for me?” If you don’t know the answer, simply tell the audience you can’t answer that today but you’ll follow up for all with the correct answer after the presentation.
• Know when to close your presentation. End the presentation on your own terms. A good technique to end the questions is to ask, “who has the last question?”
• Finally the important part, the “Close”. Finish your presentation after the questions by summarising the “key points” you have covered in your speech and what you want the audience to remember. This close should be to the point, no more than a minute and is your “action statement” with what you want from the audience in response!

Practice your speech so you are comfortable on the day of delivery knowing you should not expect surprises on the day that counts! As a member of our Toastmasters Club you have the opportunity to deliver your speeches at our club meetings and receive supportive feedback at the same time for improvements.

Source- “Delivering Technical Briefings” Toastmasters.org resources & David Hill of Alpha- Endeavour Club.