Delivering business presentations is a key part of most professionals’ roles. Having the ability to deliver engaging and stimulating presentations which influence and inspire people is at the top of every presenter’s wish list.
However, many people find presenting extremely challenging as they lack the essential skills to present information in an interesting way. Attending a good presentation skills training course will really boost your skills in this area. IT training courses and personal development courses will also strengthen your presentation abilities. Read our top tips below for delivering powerful presentations:-
1) Know your audience
The first ‘rule’ of effective presentations is to know and understand your audience. This is crucial as you need to focus on what is in it for them. Until you truly understand why people would be interested in what you have got to say you will not present effectively. This could be helped by trying to see things from others’ perspectives and anticipating the likely areas of interest and possible questions which could arise.
2) Use the appropriate language
Once you have established who your audience is, then you need to use the appropriate tone and language. This means judging whether you need to be formal or more familiar in your approach and talking their ‘language’ by using words and phrases that are familiar to them. Avoid jargon and lots of technical language if at all possible and keep things simple.
3) Deliver bite sized chunks
The temptation when presenting is to give loads of information all at once and let people know how knowledgeable and well informed you are. However, despite being highly intelligent creatures, our brains function best when we are fed bite sized chunks of information. To help with this, think of just 3 points which you would like to make in your presentation and stick to these. Obviously, you can expand on the points but if you stick to just 3 your message will make more of an impact.
4) Use technology sparingly
PowerPoint presentations are great for emphasising your points but don’t make the whole presentation about the slides. The best presenters I have ever seen, and have been moved by, have not used any audio visual equipment at all. That is not to say that PowerPoint does not improve a presentation, but it does mean that is should be used sparingly and effectively in order to enhance the experience.
5) Be yourself
Finally, one of the best bits of advice for any presenter to deliver more powerful presentations is simply to be themselves. In order to connect with other people and, therefore, influence and inspire them you need to come from a place of authenticity. Let your personality, your passion and your commitment shine through and you will have people hooked.
Author: Karen Osborn is a highly experienced National Account Manager working in the Learning & Development arena on bespoke development programmes and organisational culture. Karen leads and creates effective learning & development programmes for a range of clients at leading training consultants, Thales Training & Consultancy.
Watch Integration Training’s video on Giving Great Presentations