Presenting

Presenting

OK - let's cut to the chase...

We recently read a great article on what makes a good presentation great (and what makes a bad one terrible!)

The Best: Truly excellent speaker, great ideas, and slides that amplify on the points made, instead of repeating them.
Very Good: Truly excellent speaker, great ideas, and no slides.
Still Okay: Excellent speaker, redundant slides that don't add anything.
Not So Good: Bad speaker, good slides.
Pretty Bad: Bad speaker, no slides.
The Worst: Bad speaker, redundant slides.

Our conclusion? No matter how wonderful your PowerPoint, if it's not supporting the main attraction (you!), the presentation is unlikely to win you any new fans.

Stage fright - tips for the nervous!

Mouth turned to cotton wool? Head completely bereft of any rational thought? Heart pounding? Don't worry...nerves before a presentation are natural (and, believe it or not, vital!). Here are our tips to managing the butterflies...

Take deep breaths - the extra oxygen will help clear the mind
Drink water - not coffee, fizzy drinks or alcohol (!). Take slow sips of water to relax you and keep your throat in working order. Coffee & other stimulants can be a recipe for disaster so tread carefully
Get in the zone - focus your mind on the presentation & it's aims. Take time out to remember why you're the one presenting this - because you are the subject matter expert! If you can, leave the room briefly to aid the focus.
Warm up your voice - even if it's singing loudly in the car on the way to the presentation, give your voice a workout before hand to ensure it's ready for action.

Hello! Can anyone hear me?

What makes some people easy to listen to, and others not so easy? First, it's volume. When someone speaks too softly, the audience gets tired of straining to hear. When someone is too loud and overbearing, people feel boxed into a corner. They may listen, but they won't buy.

Then there's pitch, which has to do with the high or low sound of your voice. When a sentence ends on a high rather than a low note, people hear the speaker as lacking in confidence. When someone's voice never changes pitch, it begins to sound boring after a while.

The speed of your talking will also influence how much you connect or do not connect with your audience. When you speak too fast and run your sentences together, audiences tend not to pay attention. They don't have the time they need to process the information. Even if you talk fast, you can still pause between sentences. I have rarely had someone talk too slow in my classes.

Finally, consider how well you articulate your words. Don't mumble or let your words trail away at the end of a sentence. If you aren't speaking in your native tongue, make sure you are understandable to your audience. Audiences don't usually mind a speaker with an accent as long as the person is understandable.

Get some feedback. Ask someone to rate you in these voice areas:

Am I loud enough?

Is my voice too high or too low? Do I end my sentences in such a way that I sound confident? Does my voice go down at the end of each sentence?

Do I talk too fast or too slow? Do I pause enough between my sentences?

Can you understand all the words I say? Do I mumble the last few words of my sentences?

Our thanks go to Claudyne Wilder for these valuable tips!

For more tips & ideas for beating presentation panic, click here.

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