Honestly, if you asked me years ago to get up and present in a room full of people, I wanted to throw up! Then someone said to me "they are people just like you. They eat with their mouth like you do. They only have 24 hours in a day, like you do. They see with their eyes like you do. And so on..." ok I get it but I still wanted to throw up.
With practice, in front of the mirror, recording myself, looking at how I was presenting, my body language, the tone of my voice and how I was being me got me so comfortable now you can't get me off of the stage or video on social. Lol....
My best advice to you:
Be Yourself You know you and if you don't, well it's time you did.
Know what your strengths are and maximize them.
Know your weaknesses or what I like to call them, "areas for improvement" and work on them, one at a time.
Remember, no one else is you
Communicate Clearly
Public speaking is a form of art made up of two parts; the subject matter and presentation. Subject matter is what we say. Presentation is how we say it.
What are you trying to do in your presentation: - influence behavior
- educate
- inspire
- generate an action
Figure out what you are truly to do and make sure that is clear in your presentation.
Always Prepare If you are not at the place of true confidence just yet, don't worry you will get there. But until then; prepare, prepare and prepare. Make yourself a little cheat sheet, not a word for word document because then it sounds too scripted and no one wants to listen to you read from a paper. Lets be honest.
Know Your Audience If you're presenting for business purposes, know who you are presenting to because different audiences absorb information differently. For example, if you are presenting to the C-suite, they may not want a lot of detail, they want to know what's in it for them and what's the bottom line. The "so what".
Don't go on and on and on If you are presenting to a group (even virtually) find out how much time you have on the agenda. For example if you have 20 minutes, a good suggestion is to ensure your presentation allows for questions either throughout or at the end. Best they be held until the end because in my experience, some may ask questions that you will be covering in your presentation.
Keep your presentation or video on point, clear, not rushed but keep it moving (you know what I mean), pause in between topics or important information.
Do not ramble, you will lose your audience after a couple of minutes.
Get them engaged! There is always three parts to any presentation - the introduction, the body and the conclusion.
Each one has a specific purpose, but all should have some common characteristics.
a) Use short words that are vivid and familiar to the listener. b) Use your own words, be specific - when you generalize you start to lose them c) Use active words that demand action, don't be wishy washy, if you need someone to do something they say, here is what we need to do rather than "well, if we want to do this then maybe.."
Establish rapport with the audience;
Spark the interest of the audience in the subject;
Set the tone for the body of the speech;
Don't be all over the place in your presentation
Open - what are you here and why should you listen
Body - the meat of the presentation, the what and how and why
Closing - a short recap of the open (why) the core of the meat and the close (action - what's next and what do they need to do?)
And finally..... wrapping this all together! You got this! Trust me, your phone will become your best friend and practice, practice and practice.
Comments