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The best way to learn Presentation Skills is to attend a tutor led presentation skills training course where you can practice your skills and receive feedback.
This free guide provides useful tips for planning, writing and preparing your presentation.
This free presentation resource can be used in its entirety as each section follows the last – however each section contains useful tips in its own right.
The fundamentals of presentation skills
The key to a effective presentation skills is confidence, a solid foundation of knowledge and clear aims. It can often be overwhelming to speak in front audiences, but thorough preparation can alleviate those fears. Everyone get’s nervous, and a low level of nerves can also focus your mind and help you perform. Bad presentations are usually the result of a lack of confidence, bad organisation and under preparation. These issues can be easily overcome with training and experience.
Presentations are an effective way to communicate to large numbers of people at the same time. However, it’s not only about the information - you should be able to engage your audience, create interest and excitement in your subject and foster trust in you, the presenter.
For many people presenting can be a daunting and unpleasant experience. It needn’t be so, and here we’ll give you some simple tips to help you deliver more effective presentation skills.
What our clients think:
I have just attended your presentation skills training course and I just finished the best presentation I have ever given. It went very well. I have been told it is was the best of all the general presentations at our conference. Thank you for all your help!!” Clive Brentwood – – GlaxoSmithKline
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on September 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »
Before you start on the content of your presentation it is important to have a clear cut structure planned. This can help you to really pinpoint what you want to get across to your audience. There are five simple questions that you should ask yourself when deciding on the structure of you presentation:
- What’s the aim of my presentation? This may seem obvious however it is surprisingly easy to loose track and deviate. The audience wants a precise and easy to follow presentation – don’t go off on tangents.
- What’s the title? This will be the first thing you audience sees and will set the tone for the rest of the presentation. Pick something striking that reflects the overall message you are trying to convey.
- What type of audience am I speaking to? Know your audience! Think about what aspects they’ll be interested in, what questions they may ask, what they know already, and what style they will be comfortable with. Change your approach accordingly. If your audience would have seen a lot of presentations before yours, think about how to make yours stand out. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to perform some grand gesture as it is often the little things that make a real difference such as proper organisation and a decisive line of thought.
- What are the main points that I need to make? Be direct and to the point with clear cut sections, this will help the audience to follow what you are saying and help you to keep track of where you are. Normally you will want to limit the number of main points in your presentation to two or three – keep things simple.
- What do I want the audience to take away from my presentation? Whatever the purpose of your presentation make sure that it comes across clearly at the end. It is often the conclusion of a presentation that most of your audience will remember and it is your chance to really make an impression. By the end of your presentation you should make sure that you and your audience have a clear understanding of your message.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on September 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »
Deciding what format your presentation will take will largely depend on what you feel your audience will most warm to. Again, consider the message you are trying to convey when you think about format. A more technical approach has its advantages if you are delivering to technically minded people, but don’t feel pressured into using equipment that you don’t understand. Often the simplest presentations can be the most effective. If you have a lot of technical information that is very dry, consider providing this in a handout that you can leave with the audience to read if they are interested. Don’t let it make your presentation boring, or interfere with your message.
Visual aids can be useful – studies have shown that the human brain is able to learn faster when aided with a visual stimulus. But don’t over-do it. We’ve all seen presentations that have been ruined through “death by PowerPoint” – people can become obsessed with fancy graphics and slide transitions. If you have put together a pretty PowerPoint show, you haven’t necessarily got a good presentation.
Structure:
The structure of your presentation will also depend on your message and your audience – however an age old adage is:
“Tell them what you are going to tell them – tell them – then tell them what you have told them”
A clear introduction which summarises the content of your presentation will let your audience know what to expect – they’re less likely to get bored if they know what’s coming. Make sure your key message is included in your introduction.
Then cover the main bulk of your presentation, which will include the information which supports your message.
Finally, provide a clear summary at the end – recap on what you have covered, and re-iterate how it supports your message.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on March 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
Once you have planned your presentation, collected all the data that supports your message, and organised it in to digestible chunks, the next step is to actually bring this material together and write your presentation.
The notes you write for yourself can be more detailed than the material you provide your audience, but try to avoid giving yourself a word-perfect script and forcing yourself to follow it, as this will come across as forced and unnatural. The presentation you eventually deliver will be honed by repeated practice and adjustment.
Once you’ve ordered the material sensibly and written the content, re-read it and make sure the transitions between sections are logical, as these are often when you presentation can become bogged down or confused.
Tip: Write content on cards or post-it notes that you can re-order and experiment with.
After you are satisfied with the order and structure the only thing that remains is to practice it until you feel ready and confident enough to give the presentation. Remember that not all presentations have to be complicated and that it is the flow and organisation which counts.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on March 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
Building a PowerPoint Presentation:
PowerPoint presentations can be one of the best ways to get your message across to your audience – however don’t concentrate too much on trying to be clever with special effects.
One of the first things your must do in order to start any presentation (whether you use PowerPoint or not) is to collect the data you need to support your message and divide it in to easily digestible chunks – if you’re using a PowerPoint Presentation these chunks can make up the sections of your presentation.
PowerPoint presentations can also help you to plan a good structure:
Early in your presentation you should a slide giving a general overview of the content you will be covering (use bullet points). After this should be your chunked data in a logical order – related information should be kept together to help it flow well and not confuse your audience. To conclude your powerpoint presentation you should show a summary slide, reviewing all your points and showing the concluding statement of your presentation.
General rules to follow when setting out your PowerPoint presentation:
Avoid garish colours or over-complicated backgrounds. You’re not going to win any design awards for a PowerPoint presentation and your slides should be easy to read. Use a simple colour scheme that will make your text and images easy to see – there’s a lot to be said for black and white!
Don’t put too much information on each slide. 3-6 bullet points should be your maximum for each slide. The slides should support what you are saying, rather than relying on your audience reading everything for themselves. Use charts and pictures to help you only if they help to make a point – don’t include them just because you can. The same can be said of audio and video content – any video longer than 5 minutes will start to bore your audience.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on March 5th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
OK – so you’ve planned your presentation, decided on the format, collected data, written the content and maybe put together a PowerPoint Presentation. What’s next?
One of the most common areas people fall down on is preparation and practice! It is vital that you know your presentation inside and out before you give it. If not then you are going to find it very hard to be convincing especially if members of your audience ask you a question you can’t answer afterwards. If you can, make sure that you run through your presentation in front of an audience and ask for feedback – it can make a world of difference. If you don’t have any willing guinea pigs, try recording yourself on camera as this will help to re-create the pressure of a live audience. Remember – you won’t be able to stop and go back because you messed up on the day!
On the day – arrive early, and make sure that your presentation is set up correctly before you start, as the audience will not be impressed if they have to wait too long for you to set up your equipment.
Presentation Inspiration:
Inspiration for a presentation is not always an easy thing to achieve. Many people have a spot or quiet place were they sit and think until inspiration comes to them. However some like a more pro-active approach and prefer to bounce ideas off others and actively seek inspiration. You will learn what works best for you. Watch others presenting for inspiration, however the trick is not to try to carbon-copy other people but to develop a style that suits you – be yourself, not a caricature of someone else.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on March 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
A presentation can be used for an almost limitless range of purposes – business, sales, academic, entertainment…
There’s no room to cover all of the different types of presentations here, however here are some tips on a couple of the main types:
Internal Business Presentations
Business presentations are often summaries of recent business activity, or of a business plan moving forward. Either way, they tend to be delivered to colleagues or peers (rather than to external clients like sales presentations) and often include stats or reports
Tips:
- Don’t under prepare just because you’re delivering to people you know – you’ll be wasting a lot of man-hours if you don’t have the information you need to hand.
- Use stats where they are needed to support a point, don’t just reel off a lot of graphs of the last quarter’s figures just because you’ve got them on your PC!
Sales Presentations
When you’re trying to sell to one of your clients it’s important to remember that you are representing your organisation. The client’s opinion of the whole company will be based on you as an individual. It’s therefore much more important to build rapport and trust than when presenting to your colleagues. You also need to think as much about the messages about your organisation that you are trying to put across as the facts.
Tips:
- Have a clear message about your company and your USP’s (Unique Selling Points). Make sure that these are emphasised througout your presentation
- Build rapport with the audience – make eye contact, engage them with questions and build trust. Remember people buy from people.
- Make sure your presentation stands out from the competition’s – you’ll often be one of many presentations they’re seeing that day. Think about what your competitors might be doing and make sure you do something different.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on March 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
A telephone presentation is unique in many ways and many people will never have the need to give one. However if the situation occurs when you have to give a telephone presentation then you will be glad to have been prepared.
Preparing a Telephone Presentation:
One of the fundamentals of a telephone presentation is to be prepared for the worst. For instance if the connection was bad or there was some kind of interference it is a good idea to have the person’s telephone’s number at hand in case the line goes dead as it won’t look good if you are unable to phone them back.
Some find this added dimension to be more relaxing, as they can no longer see their audience. However in this climate your choice of words and voice tone become imperative. It is still important to prepare as usual, and to have some form of cards or notes at the ready for guidance to help you not lose track.
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Posted by Faye Binfield in Presentation Skills Training on March 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
