Whether you are a college student or a corporate professional, at some point of your life you may have to give a presentation, facing an unknown set of audience and make them to buy your vision. Many of you might be lacking these basic presentation skills that help you to prepare and deliver a world class presentation. In this post I am sharing 5 important steps that would help you to enhance your presentation skills.
1. Know your audience
“If you don’t know what you want to achieve
in your presentation, your audience never will.”
-Harvey
Diamond
Before you start to prepare for your
presentation always note down the type of audience you are going to face. Answer
the following questions before you start your preparation:
- What is your primary purpose?
- What would be the age group of audience?
- What do you intend to interest the audience in?
- How knowledgeable are the audience about your subject?
- How can you mould your approach towards your audience
- What questions would they ask you?
- What response do you want from audience after listening to your presentation?
Once you answer these questions, try to incorporate the answers at each and every step of your presentation.
“Story telling is about connecting to other people and helping people to see what you see.”
-Michael Margolis
“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity and the emotions to affect other people.” -Jim Rohn
Here is how you can plan your presentation :
2. Learn the art of telling stories
“Story telling is about connecting to other people and helping people to see what you see.”
-Michael Margolis
Hope everyone remembers the commencement
address given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University in the year 2005. All he
spoke about was three important stories of his life; watch the video below for complete speech:
Have you observed the power of organizing your presentation or speech in the form of a story? So go ahead and create stories.
Remember the following points while trying build stories for your presentation:
- Your story should serve the purpose of conveying the exact information which you want your audience to know.
- Always try to tell stories in a crisp manner, do not prolong the story else the audience might lose interest.
- Try to incorporate humour wherever possible. (Do not fake it!)
- Mix emotion with your words. Only then you will be able to connect with your audience.
- Do not let the stories hamper the actual presentation. Use them only as a tool to engage your audience and to present your ideas in a more fun filled manner.
3. Improve your verbal and non verbal communication
“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity and the emotions to affect other people.” -Jim Rohn
Please read 5 Steps for improving verbal communication skills to know more about improving your verbal communication skills.
Non verbal communication includes:
- Your body language (Gestures and posture)
- Your attire
- The way you use the space
- Eye contact
- Facial expressions
While preparing a presentation it is advisable to write down what is the appropriate non verbal communication for each and every step. While practising you need to imbibe the gestures and postures so that they don't look artificial during the actual presentation.
4. Plan your presentation
"Plan your work and work your plan."
-Napoleon Hill
Here is how you can plan your presentation :
- Make your presentation flexible- always be ready for last minute changes.
- Prior to the presentation check whether all the equipment that you need is available.
- Take care about the slides or points which you want to emphasize on.
- Make sure that each and every step of your presentation is directed towards your primary purpose.
- Make the presentation visually appealing- always prefer pictures over text.
- Make sure you plan the presentation within the time limit, reveal the key slides accordingly.
5. Practice, practice and practice
"Repetition is mother of learning, father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment."
- Zig Ziglar
Practice helps you to build confidence in yourself. Follow the the below points while you practice:
- Do not read what is there in the slide or repeat the presentation verbatim, try to elucidate the points with the help of pictures.
- Take feedback after the rehearsal from your close circle and improve your weak zone.
- While practising follow your plan as it is, but always be ready for last minute changes.
- Make a list of possible questions that could be asked and prepare for the answers.
- Always keep in mind your primary purpose and try to finish the presentation as per time given.
- Follow the trick of mind mapping to remember key points, dates and stories.
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