Presentation Skills

The following is a summary of presentation skills hints and tips for managers and others. For best effect they should be used in conjunction with a good quality presentation or public speaking training course.

Preparation
Practise

Practise on a colleague or friend. Think about who your audience is and what you want them to get out of an effective presentation. Think about content and style. If you video yourself get someone else to evaluate your performance; you will find it very difficult to be objective about yourself. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

For living in a society so social, the vast majority of our population seems to be quite the opposite when they get in front of even the most modest audiences. Low self-esteem and the proper experiences have seemingly crippled many of our current generations presentation skills. Some were never given the chance to practice, while others had poor experiences in the past due to being uninformed on how to properly give a presentation. Bad experiences live with us for a long time and it can be incredibly difficult to outgrow them and move on, however the best way to shut out those seemingly uncontrollable fears of embarrassment, is to be properly equipped with knowledge of good presentation skills and believing that you have what it takes to wow that audience.

All too often, people sit dumbfounded in front of audiences mumbling, looking at the ground and just generally trying to live through what can feel like a horrible experience. The real secret is to remember the audience doesn’t see it that way. They don’t judge you or even give more thought to you as a person than you would a TV personality. The personal aspect of giving a presentation is transparent and as long as you keep talking, the audience will be focused on what you’re saying and not you personally. A key presentation skill is fear control. It can be a difficult skill to master and even the best presenters get nervous, the trick is to not panic and not let it rattle you. Fear is a good motivator, take the intense emotions it causes and focus that into a calm concentration. If necessary, take a short pause to calmly collect yourself and continue on.

If the unbearable feeling of failure isn’t tugging at your heart and you’re still finding your presentations going horribly awry, then it’s time to learn organizational skills. There are a number of different key presentation skills and they all focus on different aspects of the presentation. Some involve the emotional side such as fear and anxiety, which can often times be conquered by relating to your audience on a personal level, or using a number of different calming techniques. The other sector that has numerous different important presentation skills is the presentation itself. Being able to deliver a good presentation is only half the battle; if the presentation is unorganized or poorly written then no amount of self-confidence can salvage it. Preparing properly days ahead of the presentation is one of the many great presentation skills. Giving yourself days to practice the presentation will help you run through the entire process much smoother due to partial memorization. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.