Fail to plan, plan to fail – 7 tips when presenting.
At some stage most of us will be given the opportunity to speak in front of an audience, a platform to showcase our talents, our knowledge, our experience, to share insight and get some back in return. Isn’t this a wonderful opportunity? So why does it stop here for so many people? Being asked to present is only the start of the process but for so many it ends right there.
Now what? In my experience the majority of people will look for excuses from that point on, rather than reasons to succeed and these excuses will become their reality. In my experience it goes something like this and I have been a victim of this myself. “I cant talk for 1hour it’s too long”, “I don’t have enough content”, “I’m not good with PowerPoint”, “I didn’t have enough time to practice my slides”, “I was stuck in traffic and arrived late”. But why is this? Why do we search for ways to fail? We always hear practice, practice, practice but do we do it? Often we are at events and we see the presenter arrive in a state of panic, hand their USB key to the technician and hope for the best, the results as seen below. Hope should not be a variable when presenting. If you find you do one or any of the above these 7 tips might help you.
Top Tips:
Build stories around your slides, that create emotion and connect with the audience.
Ban the bullet point from your slides where ever possible.
The night before deliver your presentation over and over until it’s embedded in your mind, don’t read your slides.
Arrive to the event a minimum of 1 hour before.
Start with a high level structure to your presentation bearing in mind the 3 main points you want your audience to leave with.
Before you present check your presentation on the screen at the event.
Have fun and realize your potential.