I recently did some in-house training on presentation skills thought you might enjoy reading the Top 10 presentation tips that came out of our discussion:
- Know your content – This is the #1 differentiator between a great presentation and a lousy one.
- Eye Contact – Make eye contact with your audience.
- Paint a picture with your words – Explain your points through short stories. Great speakers use stories to create an emotional connection between ideas and their audience.
- Stick to your topic – Remember what type of presentation you are giving and be certain you are focused on achieving the desired result.
- Informative - Tell others about something they should know about
- Instructional - Teach others something they don’t know
- Arousing - Make them think, change their thought process (a great example would be the Monica Lewinsky TED talk)
- Persuasive – Talk them in to taking an action. Tell the audience what to do, how to do it, what happens if they don’t take the action.
- Slow Down – Nervous and inexperienced speakers tend to talk way to fast, slow your speech down and add pauses for emphasis.
- Don’t Read –If you don’t know your speech without cues it shows you don’t really understand your message.
- Good Questions – Use statements like, “that’s a really good question,” to encourage more questions.
- Show up Early – Show up early, check out the room, and run through your slideshow if at all possible.
- Practice – The secret to becoming a great speaker is to practice, speak, then speak some more. The more you speak the better you will become.
- Have Fun - Enthusiasm is contagious, so is a complete lack of passion for your topic.
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