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How Good Are Your Presentation Skills?

How do you feel when you have to make a presentation?

Is the thought of standing on a podium and holding a microphone enough to give you stage fright?

Whether you get up in front of formal audiences regularly, or you simply have to make your voice heard in a meeting, you’re using presentation skills.

From sales pitches to training lectures, good presentation and public speaking skills are key to your role in today’s business world. The good news about presenting is that you can improve with practice.

So how do you become a great speaker?

1. Understand Your Audience

The success of most presentations is generally judged on how the audience responds. You may think you did a great job, but unless your audience agrees with you, that may not be the case. Before you even begin putting your PowerPoint slides together, the first thing you need to do is understand what your audience wants.

Follow these steps:

  • Determine who the members of the audience are.
  • Find out what they want and expect from your presentation. What do they need to learn? Do they have entrenched attitudes or interests that you need to respect? And what do they already know that you don’t have to repeat?
  • Create an outline for your presentation, and ask for advance feedback on your proposed content.

When what you say is what your audience wants or needs to hear, then you’ll receive positive reinforcement throughout your presentation. If you see nods and smiles or hear murmurs of agreement, for example, then this will motivate you to keep going.

2. Prepare Your Content

The only way to become a better speaker, in general, is to prepare your content. This means understanding what to present, and how to present it. Bear in mind that if you give the right information in the wrong sequence, this may leave the audience confused, frustrated, or bored.

If you provide the information in a well-structured format, and you include various techniques to keep the audience engaged and interested, then they’ll remember what you said – and they’ll remember you.

There are a variety of ways to structure your content, depending on the type of presentation you’ll give. Here are some principles that you can apply:

  • Identify a few key points
  • Don’t include every detail
  •  Use an outline
  • Start and end strongly
  • Use examples

3. Deliver Confidently

Even the best content can be ineffective if your presentation style contradicts your message. Many people are nervous when they present. However, it’s the major distractions that you want to avoid. As you build confidence, you can gradually eliminate the small and unconstructive habits you may have. These tips may help you:

  • Practice to build confidence
  • Be flexible
  • Welcome statements from the audience
  • Use slides and other visual aids
  • Keep your visuals simple and brief

When you present with confidence and authority, your audience will likely pay attention and react to you as someone worth listening to. So ‘pretend’ if you need to, by turning your nervousness into creative and enthusiastic energy.

4. Control the Environment

While much of the outside environment is beyond your control, there are still some things you can do to reduce potential risks to your presentation.

  • Practice in the presentation room
  • Do your setup
  • Test your timing

In Conclusion,

How to be an effective speaker doesn’t have to be scary, or something you seek to avoid. Find opportunities to practice the above tips, and become more confident in your ability to present your ideas to an audience.

Join the January Public Speaking, Communication & Presentation Skills Training.

In the training, you’ll learn how to communicate effectively, have a powerful presentation, how to retain your audience’s attention and overcome nerves when presenting. Register today for the class!