Presentation Skills is a topic where some people think they’re good at it…. But often they’re not, whilst others fear it and avoid it. The truth is that it’s much harder than it looks and much more goes on behind the scenes to make a presentation effective and look effortless.  Here are some tips to make your presentations effective.

PRE-PRESENTATION PREPARATION – The foundations of success

  • Who are you presenting to and what will they want to hear rather than, what you want to tell them.
  • How long have you got to talk? It’s a sin to go over time!
  • What will the venue / room be like? What equipment do they have?

CONTENT – Making your presentation stick

  • Make your message audience friendly and in their language
  • Beware of industry / professional jargon or abbreviations
  • It’s not about what you know….more about how you deliver it

STRUCTURE – The roots of getting your message across

  • Tell them what you are going to tell them…..”By the end of today’s presentation you will know…..” (It’s good to stick to about 3 main points). 20% of time.
  • Tell them……discuss the 3 main points. 60% of time.
  • Then tell them what you’ve told them…..”So today I have told you about….” And a call to action….”Come and speak to me after this presentation” or “Contact me for more information”. 20% of time.
  • Typical structure for a presentation

¨       Title
¨       Contents / Agenda
¨       Aim of the presentation
¨       Content 1
¨       Content 2
¨       Content 3 ( best to stick to 3 chunks / main points)
¨       Summary and reiterate the key points of the presentation

Following these simple rules will made your presentations more structured, easier for you to deliver and easier for the audience to understand. Once you get used to the simple structure then you can adapt  and build other features in……more blogettes to follow……