Powerful presentation skills

In almost all the business roles today, presentation skill has become a core competency and an inevitable prerequisite for any reasonable job. One of the popular fears among the people, after dogs, snakes heights, water, is public speaking. This category of people usually experience abnormal heartbeats, cold sweats, shivering and the worst, low or high blood pressures.

Contrary to this, presentation skill can be developed and achieved through practice and observation. It’s exactly like learning to ride the bike. Here are some quick, tried and tested tips, if followed carefully they will make you a powerful presenter as well as an influential public speaker.

Why do we give the presentations?

Basically, there are four purposes of giving a presentation. Firstly, to inform your audience about what you know. In other words, it is called informative presentation. Secondly, to train, all the effectiveness of teaching and training activities for students and staff solely depend on the presentation skill of the teacher or trainer. The third purpose of giving a presentation is to persuade the public, our politicians are a very good example of that. During the election campaign, the politicians give persuasive presentations to convince the public to give them the vote. Lastly, sales people give presentations about their products to the customer and clients for the marketing.

Pre-presentation Tips

* Objective

Before preparing any presentation one must be clear about the purpose of giving the presentation. Because, if you know clearly what you have to deliver it will help you find how to do it.

* Content

Once the objective is clearly defined, now you should focus the contents of your presentation. It means what is the scope of your talk. What is included and excluded. The contents must be according to the objective and the need of the audience. Through brainstorming, keeping in view your knowledge, audience and the topic, the parameters can be defined to cover the topic extensively.

* Audience

Jim Rohn, the American motivational speaker and writer, says, “Consider your audience”. It means who they are, what they already know about the topic, how old they are and what language and style they prefer etc. Once you are fully aware of all the facts it will help you tailor your presentation according to the needs of your audience.

* Time and length

People have their peak and low time according to the time of the day. Some people tend to be more active and alert in the morning. Therefore, if you present in the morning you might get positive feedback from your audience. On the other hand after lunch and in the evening people are likely to be drowsy and may not focus on what the presenter says. There, audience should be energized through activities and questions to keep them awake. Whereas, length means the time you are allotted to present. If it exceeds the timeline, you will lose the interest of the audience and the required purposes may not be achieved.

* Structure

One of the important components of success of any presentation is its structure. About the structure of the presentation, Jim Rohn says “Tell your audience what you are going to say, then say it all and at the end tell them again what you have just told them. In other words, it means introduction, body of the presentation and summary.

* Take care of yourself

The presenter’s health, mood, feelings and emotions matter a lot because if you are suffering from cough, sore throat or otherwise sad and sleepy you can not give a good first impression. So it’s a good idea to take care of your health to avoid any physical or mental distraction.

* Practice makes perfect

Mock presentations given to a group of friends, family members, colleagues or in front of a mirror, will help you grasp the subject and learn the content. As it is said, practice makes perfect. Rehearsal of your presentation will also increase your confidence.