Making good presentations isn’t something impossible, that only few people with a special gift can do. If God didn’t give you this gift, you need to learn how to do it and improve your presentation skills. There are many good advices, some obvious, and others not so much for you to reach your goal, for example, be prepared, speak clearly and with confidence, don’t be shy, dress accordingly with the public. We will discuss three of many of them:
. Visual Aids: research shows that the most part of the information that we’ve learned are visual. Sounds and vocal are the second best way to learned. Texts are only the third way that we learned something. Using visual aids can make the messages of your presentation be retained better and for longer time and your goals are more easily reached. So, wherever you can, use visual aids, like, pictures, graphs, tables, etc. Remember, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
. Rehearsal: one of the best things to improve yours skills is to practice your presentations. You can identify faults in your presentations, in your posture and gestures, if the time to present is in accordance with the predictions, if you have full knowledge about what you talk, and can take notes for helping you during the presentation. You can practice with other people, friends or your family for example, to make you more secure and to be opened for this opinion. Or you can video or tape record yourself and watch after your performance. This can help you to be more confident because you will know beforehand everything that may be wrong with your or in your presentation.
. The rule of three: First, you can talk about many topics, but your audience will only focus in three of them, so plan carefully what these topics will be, make sure that they are connected to make a relation among them. Second, your presentation may have three parts: introduction, middle and conclusion. The introduction is the key for a presentation and gives to your audience what exactly you will talk about. The middle should not have items that were not shown in the introduction. In the conclusion you can indicate the main points or your point of view about what was shown. And third, use and abuse of lists of three in your presentation for your audience will always be watching with attention. A good example of this rule is the Winston Churchill’s speech about Blood, Sweat and Tears. He said “I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat, toil and tears”. But we only remember three of four things cited.
Of course, there are much more that you can do to make your presentation better. But if you follow these advices, you can be less nervous and more confident in your next presentation.
Source: www.presentationmagazine.com