If you’ve been asked to speak at a presentation then it may already be making you nervous. The idea of standing on stage and addressing dozens of people can be daunting, but there are a couple of skills that you can learn in order to make the entire experience a lot more manageable.
Creating a narrative for your presentation
If you’re addressing an audience about something like a product or service you offer, then you can design it to include some kind of narrative. Stats and figures are important and often necessary for a presentation but if you frame them by making them follow a narrative, they’ll be much easier to remember and it can hook your audience if you manage to create a story that carries the purpose of your presentation.
Understanding your audience before planning your presentation
Even if you have to give a presentation about the same thing in two different places, the audience that will be attending will have a drastic impact on the approach that you should take. For instance, if your audience will be filled with consumers then using technical jargon probably isn’t ideal. However, if you know that your presentation will have investors and specialists in attendance, then you can use technical terms to help get your message across.
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Designing visual elements to go with your presentation
One of the best ways to lift your presentation to the next level is to include visual elements such as slides and videos to help you get your message across. For example, instead of just listing statistics, you could give your audience graphs and charts to help them visualise the numbers. Videos can also help you explain something with ease but producing one will take a bit more time. If you have a lot of time before your presentation, then we recommend including several images and videos if possible to make your presentation more engaging. You may also consider participating in our advanced presentation skills training London course to learn how to prepare yourself for delivering a professional presentation.
Picking the right time to interact with your audience
People often don’t realise just how important interaction is during a presentation. Whether it’s a short question and answer segment at the end or speaking in a conversational tone to your audience, it’s vital that you get their attention by making the presentation include them in as many ways as possible. You don’t want to overuse this because it can tire your audience if you interact with them too much during your presentation.
Hiding your nerves and turning it into enthusiasm
Another important presentation skill to possess is to turn your nerves into enthusiasm. It’s normal to be nervous when you get up to speak and it will show in your body language and the way you talk. You can take your nerves and turn that energy into excitement and passion by speaking louder, adding some personality, moving your body more or even adding emotion to your speech.
Below, we’ve included a helpful infographic that can give you some advanced tips to take your presentations to the next level.
