One way or another we have to do presentations in the course of our lives; either in class or at work, or at a party. The main objective of any presentation is to pass the desired message. Here what matters is the delivery. The delivery is a combination of the body language, the pronunciation, the content and the confidence. Presentations go hand in hand with public speaking. What separates the great speakers from the others is mastering the art of public speaking.
Here is what we believe can help you with your presentation. It can be the difference maker in giving you the edge out the others or may be clinch you that deal.
1. Practice, Practice and Practice
The only way you can get your skills right is to practice. Take ever opportunity of addressing people because once you can get your public speaking right then your presentation will be top draw. A lot of content is not delivered with the right oomph due to nervousness when you are the center of attention of listeners.
2. Know the content
There are people who cram what they are going to say which may lead to the speaker not knowing whatever he is saying. In the movie 3 Idiots, (an Indian oriented file) we have a student of engineering who delivers a Vote of thanks to the Chairman of the school and government official. The speaker didn’t know Indian very well so the 3 mischievous boys altered his speech. He crammed the speech with the wrong words as altered by the ‘three’. What followed was a hilarious episode to the rest of the audience apart the chairman and his guest. The speaker thought he was getting it right as everyone was laughing only to get a beating afterwards. The point is that knowing the content will help you in convincing, persuading as it will have made sense to you in the first place. Get to know how the words that aren’t familiar to you are pronounced and whether they can be replace with easier words but which are equal in meaning and magnitude. It’s always good to know the content as a good presentation should elicit questions which the speaker should answer with ease.
3. Appearance
Ensure that you are well kempt from your hair, shirt, suit, shoes, face, finger nails etc an example is you zipper refused to close or you lost a button at an uncomfortable area of your blouse. I bet that your mind will be caught in two areas; what you are trying to say, and what you are trying to deliver. Your body language will give you away and you will expose yourself to being nervous and this can be interpreted to mean different things. Therefore, ensure you do your grooming the day before such as in the case of hair dressing and in the area of clothes ensure that you put out the clothes you will put on ready before the material day.
4. Know your Equipment and Area
Due diligence will require that you get to know what you are going to use in presenting. Is the equipment something new and unfamiliar to you? Is it for the first time that you are going to use it? You will be more cautious of trying not to embarrass yourself hence not give your best. There are some ways to handle this, you either carry your own equipment or get someone who will work with you in the use. It is also prudent to visit the area where the presentation will take place as this will give you a familiarity hence reduce the nervousness of a new place and audience. Such a visit will help you with deciding the voice projection that will be effective and the utilization of the stage to. It will also help in coming up with the right background of your slides and other visual aids.
5. Body language
I believe that the body language says as much as the mouth. A strong person may overlook some of it and dismiss it as nervousness while some may want to give their own justify that with failure e.g. he/she is nervous hence she isn’t telling the truth. To guard against this ensure that you take up the right posture from your entrance to the stage, your hands and movements so that they portray confidence, decisiveness, and above all reinforce what the mouth is saying.
The right presentation can be the difference maker in getting the contract, the job, the financing etc. Give it the right attention and it will deliver the goods for you.
