Even if you’re a charismatic person in the office, giving a presentation can feel like an incredibly daunting task that you just aren’t comfortable with. Even if you’re used to speaking in public, giving a detailed presentation can be very difficult if you’ve not had any experience. So in this post, we’re going to talk about a couple of secrets that you can use to achieve fantastic presentation skills.
1. Learning to control your nerves and convert it into excitement
It’s normal to feel nervous when you’re standing in front of a dozen or hundreds of people who are eagerly waiting for you to start speaking. That level of nervousness can easily overwhelm you and make you stutter or speak quietly as you tremble in your shoes, but there’s a trick to helping you mask your nerves.
It involves converting that nervousness into energy to help you give a more positive presentation. You can start by speaking louder and letting go of your nerves. You can be more excited, incorporate some body language into your presentation and even impart your personality and emotions into your speech. Converting a negative emotion like anxiety and fear into something productive is a secret that many of the world’s greatest public speakers use. Another option is taking our presentation skills course London – it can help you feel confident whilst delivering a talk or a speech.
2. Productive rehearsals and feedback from your test audience
Rehearsals don’t just happen in front of a mirror. You should learn to speak more and become more charismatic, but you won’t achieve those goals by just talking into a mirror. Instead, you should focus on performing in front of a group of people such as friends or colleagues that won’t be afraid to give you some advice on how to improve.
This will get you used to looking people in the eye as you speak to them and it’s also a great way to get used to converting your negative emotions like anxiety into positive energy to speak louder and use your body as a way to communicate as well.
3. The best presentations require a lot of planning
Planning is vital for your presentation. In fact, we recommend spending several weeks if possible on revising your presentation and also producing extra materials such as images, videos, sound clips and even answers to potential questions that your audience might ask.
If you’re well-prepared and plan ahead, then you’ll find that there’s less improvisation needed during your actual presentation and you’ll be ready for anything. Planning is one of the key steps to helping you pull off a fantastic presentation, so don’t take it likely.
4. Turning your presentation into a story
Imbuing your presentation with a narrative is a fantastic way to make it more human and easier to follow. Turning your presentation into a story can be difficult, but it’s not impossible and will require some creative writing in order to set the scene and make it believable.
If you’re able to add a narrative to any of your presentations, then it will hook your audience and get them emotionally invested in your performance.
We’ve also added a handy infographic that lists a couple of advanced presentation skills that are great for compelling your audience and increasing the likelihood of grabbing their attention.
