1. There’s only one right way to do it. The most important factor in being able to successfully and consistently make good presentations is to find your own voice…not your first boss’s, your CEO’s or even your mentor’s. Yours.
2. You have to build up gradually to your most important point. In a business context, you need to hit the point very early on. Time is usually tight. Your audience’s attention peaks naturally at the beginning and at the end of your presentation (after you sat “So, to sum up…). Take advantage of that.
3. Keep your hands and body still. Nothing is more likely to make you feel uncomfortable and tongue-tied than trying not to use your hands when you are speaking – you need to be able to gesticulate naturally to keep up momentum. Remember, more than half of what people pick up from an interaction is from your non-verbal communication – your body language and voice tonality.
4. You’ll be fine as long as you learn the presentation off before you stand up. This is one of the biggest causes of poor performance and stress amongst speakers. If you are trying to remember what you wrote down, you are lost in your own memory game and you’ve forgotten about the most important thing of all – the audience. You need a clear message that’s focused on your audience and a sensible, logical structure. Just concentrating on these two things will go a long way to making you feel relaxed and prepared.
5. It’s not a presentation if you don’t have slides. Slides are visual aids to help the audience to understand and remember more easily. A flip chart and a pen can do the same job and may very well feel a lot more dynamic.
6. Your slides are your notes. See point 4 – they’re visual aids for the audience. Needless to say, most adults can read faster in their heads than you can read your slide out to them. If your slides are your notes, pages of wordy bullets, it’s very hard to avoid playing that (very boring) game.
7. A presentation is a good way of passing on information. Not really. If you want people to understand and remember precise details, send them a document that they can examine at their own speed. What presentations are really good at is changing how someone feels or thinks about something. It’s about engagement and influence, which is why they’re so important in the world of work.
8. If you have a 20 minute slot, you should prepare a 20 minute presentation. There are two reasons why this doesn’t work: firstly, it’s essential to allow time for questions – that’s when the real engagement and communication happens. Secondly, it’ll usually take you about 20% longer to give the actual presentation than it will when you are practising alone. So give yourself some leeway. Think in terms of 75% - so no more than 15 minutes for a 20 minute slot. It gives you a margin of error in terms of time and stops you feeling rushed.
9. If at first you don’t succeed, give up. So many people believe they are poor speakers based on one or two less than stellar performances early in their career. Presenting is a skill that requires work -the more you practise, the luckier you get. Most impressive speakers who make it seem effortless have actually put in a lot more work than you think ( and they might be willing to admit…).
10. It’s easy. There’s no reason to worry. It’s not easy. Every time you stand up in front of colleagues or customers, you take a risk. But it’s a risk you can manage by knowing your audience, tailoring to their needs and focusing on engaging their interest.