Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills

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The ability to deliver great presentations is a core business skill that very few people ever try to improve.  By following a few simple guidelines, most people can significantly boost their presentation performance.  There are four key things you can do to improve your presentations:

Prepare

• Know your subject matter.  If this element is missing, you are destined for failure
• Organize your thoughts in advance.  For some, this will mean writing a presentation or speech out long hand; for others it will be in point form
• Try to keep the tone conversational
• Recognize the difference between written and spoken language.  The use of run-on sentences and contractions is not permitted in written language.  It is commonplace in spoken language, so beware of writing a ‘script’ in proper written English.
• Use visual language and images – a picture paints a thousand words
• Contain your presentation to a few key concepts

Target your audience

• Who will be in your audience, and what is their level of understanding of your subject?
• How many people will be there?
• Which media will be most effective.  Is it Powerpoint?  Is it audio-visual?  Is it just you talking?
• What is an appropriate presentation length for the audience?  Just because you’ve been allocated an hour, doesn’t mean you have to use it!
• What questions will the audience likely have? Anticipate and be prepared

Practise

• Visualize: repeatedly imagine yourself giving an outstanding presentation.
• Practice in front of a mirror.  This is extremely uncomfortable for some people but if you can move past the discomfort, it can be very helpful. Rehearse language and actions
• Some people attempt to memorize their presentation or speech.  This usually doesn’t work, and makes the tone less conversational.  However, you may want to memorize a few key concepts to which you will speak

Manage the room

• Try to visit the room a day or two before your presentation so you know what to expect and can incorporate it into your visualization process
• Ensure the all equipment and audio-visual aids are functioning in advance.  Nothing ruins a presentation faster than asking 200 people to wait for a powerpoint presentation to load!
• How to manage your nervousness:
• Remember to breathe
• Follow all of the steps above to minimize the unknowns
• Remember that your audience wants you to succeed