TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION
- September 21, 2018
- Posted by:
- Category: Academic Writing Guide
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION
Whether you are a student, an employee or an employer, you will one day find yourself in a situation that requires you to sell your ideas, thoughts, and opinions or market a product.
Below, I will take you through a step by step process to making a beautiful presentation:
- Know your audience
This is the most important step in presenting; knowing your audience is very vital because it helps you to prepare your presentation slides. Take for a example, you have been asked to do a presentation in a legal institution, it will be wrong to prepare a material filled with medical jargons when you are not dealing with doctors.
- Know your environment and equipment
Understanding your location is paramount because it will help influence your choice of dressing and equipment to use or master. For instance, if a Biochemist is assigned to carry out a presentation in the lab, he/she would know that laboratory coat must be worn.
- Be confident
It doesn’t matter how long you have been presenting, we all face stage fright when we are dealing with new audience and for those that are it is their first time, it could be worse. You would need a lot of stamina to maintain your focus when you have hundreds of eyes staring at you but you must have faith in yourself.
- Make eye contact
Talking and looking at the floor or avoiding eye contact with your audience is a sign of timidity. You do not want your audience wondering if you are the right person to be presenting or not – make eye contacts.
- Use proper font/style and do not clutter your slide
Having too many ideas in your slides can put off your audience. Learn how to express your ideas in few lines and also you use the appropriate font/style.
- A picture is worth a thousands
It is not every thought that should be expressed in words; pictures sends quicker message to the mind than words – choose brilliant images.
- Do not read your slides
Reading slides shows you are lazy and unprepared. In other to impress your audience you have to show them that you are familiar with your topic. Please, note that this not mean that you must never look at your slides as you present.
- Predict questions
No matter how you try to avoid it, you must be confronted with questions after any presentation. In other to avoid embarrassment, you would have to thoroughly research on the topic and attempt to answer any question you feel your audience may have.
- Practice in front of the mirror
You cannot walk into a presentation hall without practicing and expect to do well. Presenting in front of the mirror helps you practice time management and observe your body language. It gives you a picture of how you would look on that day.
- Manage your time
If you have been asked to speak for one hour do not extend your time to two hours; it is wrong and it will send a message to your audience that you are a poor time manager.
