Presentations and public speaking! I had my first taste when I was in year 3 in University. There was a course that your 30 marks solely depended on a 10-minute presentation you must give! I won’t lie, at that time,that was the greatest demon I had to face. But I did it after weeks of practice, whew!
Public speaking is the number one fear for a large majority of people…even more than death.
Nerves strike even the most confident individuals who are highly skilled and prepared.
Anything can go wrong.
To convey the message you want to get out there you need to be credible in your presentation.
But how?
Listed below are 5 tips to help you:
Free styling is not an option, prepare!
Preparation is key for an effective presentation.
Prepare for the presentation. Don’t try to wing it. It sounds simple but is worth noting that most of us fail to plan.
Jotting down a few bullet points is insufficient preparation. Do your research, write down your thoughts and build a flow to your material.
When time is short, it can be tempting to take shortcuts. Don’t be overconfident and assume that you will remember all the key points just because you’ve given the presentation once before.
Remember, your audience is depending on you to teach them something new – by being unprepared, you’re doing a disservice to them.
When should you prepare for a presentation?
Days, if not weeks in advance.
Know your audience
Do your research beforehand. Ask the organizers a few questions about the dynamics of the audience during your preparation phase. Understand their age, culture and expectations before you prepare your presentation material.
Why is this presentation important to your audience?
What is their level of knowledge about the topic?
Are there cultural taboos you should avoid during your presentation?
You may be well prepared with your material, but if your message is irrelevant, your audience will fail to connect with you. Make sure your presentation is relevant and important to your audience.
Gear the information towards your audience and make it relevant to them.
Have a plan B
What if your opening line falls flat, the microphone fails, or you are constantly interrupted?
You’re well-prepared with your 5-point presentation with the perfect balance of words and slides. You’ve practiced your spiel once and changed it based on your best friend’s feedback. And yet, there are a number of factors beyond your control that could go wrong.
Think of a few scenarios that are likely in the venue chosen for your presentation. Create a contingency plan for a few worst case scenarios.
A notecard to help you remember your main points.
An alternate way of presenting if the slides fail.
A few extra jokes and stories if you are not getting the response you expected from the audience.
Be flexible during your presentation and be quick to adapt if things go wrong.
Your timing should be impeccable
Comedians will tell you that the perfect joke relies more on timing than content.
You need to time yourself right. There are two advantages for factoring time during presentations:
You won’t go over the allotted time for your presentation. This ensures that the organizers and the attendees will not be forced to stay longer than expected.
Timing your statements keeps your message interesting longer. This is true as much for a stand-up comedy night with well-timed jokes as it is to a presentation about …
Break up the lull in your presentations, fill the gaps with stories, jokes and crowd interaction. It will make your presentation more dynamic, opening up the audience to engage with you better.
Last but not least, let your points be clear
Give your audience a simple take away from your message by breaking it up into smaller points.
The distractions of modern society have shortened our attention span. How do you keep your audience engaged with your presentation?
Have very clear points. Give the audience something they can apply straight away – a few action points.
Break up a presentation into smaller sections. In a 30 minute presentation, keep your message to 3-5 points you can elaborate on.
A presentation is not the same as giving a lecture. Your audience is working their best to keep up with you – especially when they are not forced to be there. Make it easy for them to follow you by breaking your presentation into 5-7 summary sentences.
Repeat your points if you have to, your audience won’t mind.
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