Giving a presentation in front of your peers, clients, or in front of a board is one of the more stress inducing tasks for most people. Getting up in front of a crowd to talk, explain, and bring forth an idea can be scary no matter the size of the group or who is in the room. However, as one who has presented in plenty of meetings, given a TEDx speech, and who has a stutter, I can tell you they are not as terrifying as you think.
Four Tips on Delivering a Great Presentation
Make eye contact
This was the first rule I learned when speaking publicly. Making eye contact engages people and makes them feel like they are being directly talked to, plus it invokes confidence. Your audience will believe that you know what you are talking about.
Have minimal info on slides
When doing a presentation, sometimes you may want to use Microsoft Power Point or slides from a projector to show a picture, charts, quotes, etc. My advice is to keep the information as brief as you can. In my opinion, the visuals of a presentation are used to have you expound on a topic. The audience is there to hear you talk, not to read the slides.
Project your voice
During a speech, talk, or presentation, one of the goals is to make sure everyone hears you. The room that you are speaking in may be small with a handful of people or packed with folks who cannot wait to hear what you have to say. No matter the size of the crowd, you want to speak at a volume level so everyone can hear you. The goal is for people in the back to hear what you have to say as well as those seated in the front.
Use your personality
Some of the most boring, mundane meetings have been because the presenter was dry and spoke in a flat, almost robotic manner devoid of any personality. That will turn people off from what you have to say and possibly put folks to sleep. My suggestion is to inject who you are into the presentation. When I spoke at TEDxWilsonPark, one of the ways that I wanted to keep the audience interested is to show my goofy charm which gained laughs, and I was able to connect with the audience. This is your presentation; personalize it.
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