If you give a presentation in Spain, you will be at the centre of attention as a person. Indeed, in Spanish business life, the personal level plays a fundamental role. So the better you “sell” yourself to your Spanish audience, the more attention they will pay to your project or topic. Eloquence and charisma will take you far.
Presentation Style
For presentations, it is recommended that you use PowerPoint, together with a handout. Keep the individual slides rather simple, the main colours should be blue and black.
More importantly, you should not stick stubbornly to the individual slides during your presentation, but you should speak freely instead. Try to give the most exciting lecture ever, really make an effort to come out of your shell. Spaniards like a good show.
Spaniards like to use their lively gestures to reduce distance and involve others too! Move around the room and keep eye contact with your listeners. In this way, you will appear likeable and ultimately, you’ll give more emphasis to the content of your presentation.
Structure and Content
Begin your presentation by briefly introducing your company, product, project, or specific design.
Then talk about the individual topics without going into too much detail. Explain important facts not theoretically, but rather using practical examples. For the most part, you should keep your presentation general and not speak for too long. Keep it short: your presentation will take longer than expected.
Indeed, Spaniards will often interrupt you during your presentation, even if you ask beforehand for questions to be asked only at the end of your speech. Answer the questions that arise and take into account the comments as much as possible whilst speaking further.
Things can get very lively at presentations in Spain. Depending on the topic, your statements may sometimes be discussed loudly and passionately. A certain talent for improvisation is therefore advantageous in order to be able to react appropriately to all the interventions and contributions to the discussion.
You should avoid critical comments, recriminations or even accusations, as Spaniards would quickly fear losing face. Therefore, it is better to talk in terms of “we” and “us” if you want to make recommendations or suggest improvements during your presentation.
Conclusion
You should mention again all the important information at the end of your presentation or summarize it again. In this way, you will also have the opportunity to answer any new aspects which may have only arisen in the course of your presentation.
Anticipate allowing enough time to be able to have conversations with individual participants or to have a meal together after your presentation.
