Here are thirteen quick key points which can help you to improve presentation skills. To make it easier for you to remember,
Purpose:
You have to determine the main purpose or the objective of your presentation. Know exactly what your audience is there for.
To be informed, to be persuaded, to be trained or to be merely entertained?
When you know precisely the purpose of your presentation or talk, then you can tailored your material to meet their needs.
Rapport:
Building rapport with an audience is very important, so you can get your message across to your audience more easily and effectively.
When you have rapport with your listeners, they trust in what you have to say and at the same time they have feeling towards you and they care about what you are saying.
To build rapport, you have to establish and strengthen your interpersonal confidence.
Effective Delivery:
If you want to captivate and have influence over your listeners, you need effective delivery.
In order to do that, firstly you got to know the needs of your audience and give them exactly what they wanted.
There are many key aspects which you need to master, then only you can achieve the desired result.
Other than you well-prepared presentation materials, you must know how to present to them convincingly and confidently.
Your style of delivery, your voice and even your charisma are all equally important too.
Structure Of A Speech:
The structure or the layout of your speech or talk.
Carefully organize and arrange the key points in proper order, so your audience can follow easily.
Make sure the speech opening and closing are powerful and memorable.
Armed yourself with the latest and accurate supporting details to beef up your presentation. Make use of simple and short headings for greater impact.
Equipment:
Always check and re-check to make sure all the required equipment is working. perfectly
Please remember to use equipment which assist you and not to overshadow you during your presentation or talk.
Avoid using too many equipment which can be distracting to you and your audience.
Non-Verbal Communication:
Without doubt your speech content is the integral part of the presentation message, but it is the non-verbal communication which plays a big role in how your message is received.
Your gestures, body language, eye contact, facial expressions and the tone of your voice.
All these help to enhance the understanding of your message.
Timing Of A Speech:
When I say timing, I mean the the time limit of your speech, plus the pacing and the pausing as well.
Remember never rush or speak too slowly which can confuse and bore your audience respectively.
The use of pausing is to build anticipation and also allow time for your audience to absorb your message.
Always stick to the time limit allotted to you.
Audience:
Enough have been said about this.
You need to know your audience. Find out their demographic. For instance, their age, gender, education, prejudices, interests, etc.
Once you have better understanding of your audience, you can handle them better.
As a result you can impart your message more effectively.
Topics:
Once you know your audience, then only you can determine and focus your topic precisely to their needs.
The topic is the essence of your presentation. It is useless to give a sparkling speech or a powerful presentation when your listeners are not interested in what you are saying.
So plan and do your research well to come out with an appropriate speech topic or speech ideas.
The public speaking topic can either excite or bore your audience.
Interaction:
This is another reason why knowing your audience is a must.
Public speaking is a two-way interaction between you and your audience.
For instances, asking questions, appropriate games, magic tricks and relevant humor to get audience participation.
You need to interact with them.
Show consideration and fulfill your audience expectations. Interact with your listeners and and keep them enthusiastically engaged.
Overcome Fear Of Public Speaking:
Fear of public speaking, speech anxiety, public speaking phobia or whatever they call it.
I know this is the most popular and common problem you find in every books and websites on public speaking and presentations.
I will share with you various ways to handle or overcome fear of speaking in front of people.
One of the best ways to overcome public speaking fear is coming in well prepared and have ample rehearsal.
Know the content inside out. Have a positive frame of mind and remember this: you need not be perfect.
Notes:
It is advisable not to use a fully written speech.
Don't write out the whole speech. You end up reading to your audience rather than talking to them. But the use of notes is a good way to help you out.
Notes are just an outline of your talk.
They are there to remind you of the main points.
Highlight your keywords and key sentences to assist or prompt you during the delivery. You are there to talk and not recite.
Supports:
I am referring to items which one uses to prove, to clarify and illustrate your points in the talk.
Essential supporting materials which include engaging stories, latest statistics, relevant quotes, interesting analogies, relevant humor, etc. Make use them according for effectiveness and not just to fill up your time or to impress your audience.
There you are thirteen important tips on how to improve you presentation skills.
