Partner Article

Make your fear disappear with these presentation pointers

One word: presentation. This one word is enough to make your heart race, your palms sweat and your mind to imagine excuses to avoid the dreaded date.

After the panic, you accept that your presentation is inevitable, but do you know how to make your time in the limelight count?

As most occupations use presentations as an essential aspect of the job, you should read these handy hints to overcome your fears and make you feel at ease.

Understand what you are presenting

Pretty obvious I know, but there is nothing more frustrating than listening to a presentation where the presenter has no idea what they are talking about.

A vital aspect of understanding is thorough research, so ensure you have explored every nook and cranny of the topic you are pitching. You will not only look professional, but you will sail through the question and answer session after the presentation.

Additionally, your coherent approach will benefit your listeners, as it will help them understand the topic you are presenting.

Presenting your message

After researching your talk, the next step is knowing how to convey your ideas. Using visual aids such as handouts and videos are helpful for the audience as well as demonstrating that you have gone the extra mile.

To engage your audience further, use humour and enthusiasm whilst remaining professional, to show that you are a friendly and approachable person, as well as establishing a good rapport with the audience. Enhance your delivery further by using these techniques; it will make your presentation interesting and memorable.

PowerPoint is the most popular delivery tool for presentations. However, try not to ruin your ideas by writing too much information on the slides or using unnecessary fancy animations. Otherwise your listeners will get lost or distracted by the PowerPoint and will consequently lose interest.

Communicating your ideas should not be purely reliant on PowerPoint, but also through other forms of non-verbal communication.

Verbal/non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication such as body language is also vital to a successful presentation. The statistics below from Albert Mehrabian’s Silent Messages reveal what is conveyed through what you say and what you don’t:

• How you articulate your message (e.g. tone) consists of 38%
• Word choice accounts for 7%
• Facial messages and body language make up a massive 55%

Your expressions carry the majority of your message, so relax and ensure your body language is upbeat. At 38%, your pronunciation of your words are also important. Remember you are in control, talk slowly, taking time with your delivery.

Keep these tips in mind and your presentation worries will be a thing of the past. Just remember, look up, loosen up and liven up.

Article written by Annabelle Cornelius and reproduced from employersjobs.com’s blog.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by employersjobs.com .