Methods of improving your presentation
- Tell stories/ use anecdotes: Make your presentation personal. As a presenter, you will be perceived better by your audience, but remember to keep it short, sweet and relevant.
- Show pictures/ images: This can make your presentation much more powerful and memorable, then bullet point page after bullet point page.
- Don’t apologise. If something occurs to you as a mistake during the presentation, keep it to yourself. If the audience weren’t aware of the problem, there is no need to tell them. If you are ever tempted to explain why something isn’t quite perfect, avoid it, as it may distract your audience.
- Start confidently and strongly: Do not get up there and say, “Um, well, I guess we should probably get started.” If you are a nervous speaker, don’t start with “I’m really nervous”. Instead, welcome your audience, give a very brief introduction of the presentation, mentioning your preferred questioning method, e.g. questioning throughout, or Q&A at end of presentation.
- End confidently and strongly: When you have finished, you may ask the audience if they have questions. If nobody asks anything, break the uncomfortable silence by thanking the audience and start packing up your stuff. You may find that people will come up to you after.
- Stand confidently and control your body language: Preferably, stand away from the podium, or out from behind the presenter table. Keep your hands out of your pockets. It can be useful to use the stage, and to move or pace whilst making your point, however it is important not to move too much, as again, this can be distracting for your audience.
- Make use of pauses: When you say something important, leave a gap after it. Let it hang there for a few seconds. Try it when talking to your friends, and you will find that you are controlling and holding the attention of the audience. You are also allowing your audience to digest your points, and thus your points become more impactful.
- Don’t overwhelm your audience: Be entertaining, but, as above use moments of silence to your advantage. Take the less is more approach to really get your message across without bogging them down with jargon (this an cause them to switch off quickly) and too much irrelevant information. Keep your information relevant and to the point at all times.
Useful links
http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/comms.htm
http://www.essortment.com/all/overcomingfear_num.htm
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/presentationskills.htm
http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/body_language.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A427277
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/lifestyle/sexandrelationships/body_language/public_speaking.html
http://nonverbal.ucsc.edu/
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/commun-1.htm
http://www.stresscure.com/jobstress/speak.html
http://www.nfib.com/object/2681584.html
http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-articles.htm
