Author: Jacob Ahmadzai

Unless you’re an experienced and charismatic person, it’s very difficult to show confidence at a business presentation. It could cause your audience’s attention to wander and getting your point across could be challenging. People often don’t take classes on public speaking so it’s something that generally has to be learned as you go. So to help you out, we’ve put together seven tips that will help you be more confident during your business presentations. 

Give your presentation a narrative 

If your audience won’t understand your products very well then it’s important to give your presentation a narrative. This means structuring it much like a story with a beginning and end. This will help hook the attention of your audience and could also make it easier for you to give your presentation, but it’s important to plan this ahead of time. 

Understand your audience 

It’s important to learn about your audience beforehand so that you can plan it accordingly. For instance, if you’re giving a presentation to industry professionals, then you can afford to use technical jargon. However, if you’re addressing consumers, then it’s best to structure your presentation to be easy to understand. 

Don’t try to hide your nerves 

The more you try to hide your nerves the more they will show. A great way to hide them is to use it as excitement instead of just being nervous. Rather than trying to calm yourself, use your nerves to get yourself excited for your performance so that you’re more persuasive when you address your audience. 

Create images to use during your presentation 

Any presentation should have slides to accompany it and it’s important to design these as early as possible so that you can refine them to fit the purposes they serve. If you need to use sets of data, then they should be clear and easy to understand such as coloured charts, graphs and other visual representations of data. 

Rehearse your presentation 

Every presentation should be rehearsed before you go up on the main stage. Don’t just write it up and read it back to yourself at home; raise your voice and pretend that you have an audience in front of you and speak to them as if they were physically there.  Another alternative is to sign up to a professional course and learn how to deliver captivating presentations – we have a number of presentation training London courses available.

Remember your drink of water 

Getting a dry mouth during a long presentation is not fun, so make sure you bring up a glass or bottle of water and sip at it throughout the presentation when the opportunity presents itself. For example, if you’re showing a video clip then you may have a few seconds to take a drink of water to keep your mouth from drying up. 

Realise that the audience is rooting for you 

People often don’t realise that as soon as you get up on the stage, the audience is actually rooting for you. They’re here because they want to know what you have to offer them. They want you to succeed and wow them with your presentation and they’re listening to you because you’re the expert. 

Below, we’ve included an informative presentation where you can study some advanced presentation skills. 

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.