Leadership Series | Blog from Lingaraju

 


Making and giving a stellar presentation is an art. We all want to dazzle our audience when it comes to giving a presentation. But mastering presentation skills doesn’t happen overnight. Constant practice and following few simple rules can make your presentation more effective.

For the last several years I have delivered hundreds of presentations and from my experience, reading, and research I have compiled few best practices which I often try to incorporate. In this blog, I would like to share those tips and tricks which you can implement to improve your presentation skills.

·       Know your audience in advance: Try and learn about your audience as much as possible. Interact with them and understand their needs and expectations. This will help you to customize your presentation as per the need of your audience. If somebody is introducing you to the audience before your presentation, I would recommend that provide a hand-written note to the person. It should be crisp and short. It should not be too long, otherwise, your audience will zone out before you take the floor.

·       Make the most of your introduction: Once introduced, don’t waste too much time on ‘good mornings’ and ‘thank yous’. Rather directly connect with your audience by asking questions on relevant topics right away. This will get them engaged and will help them to initiate their thought process. Finish your introduction by telling your audience what you plan to do and your takeaways and your action steps.

·       Consider your structure: Do you remember your high school days when your teacher always used to remind you to prepare an outline of your paper before you started writing? Yes! Your presentation too should be structured and planned thoughtfully. Ideally, your presentation should have one major point and 4 to 5 subpoints. Your subpoints should include specific data and advice, but again do not overwhelm your audience. Try and include memorable anecdotes and examples that will resonate with your audience emotionally.

·       Use PowerPoint carefully: PowerPoint is a great tool, so use it wisely. Do not cram your slides and make them text-heavy. Have a 10/20/30 rule about PowerPoint slides as mentioned by Guy Kawasaki. Try and restrict to 10-15 slides and no text in less than a 30-point font. Visual content attracts more attention, and it makes the experience memorable. So, make your presentations highly visual and use bullet points instead of paragraphs. Always remember to put dark text on a light background so that they are easy to read.

·       Smile and make eye contact with your audience: The moment you make eye contact and smile, you are building a rapport. This helps the audience to connect with you and your subject.

·       Tell a story: Humans are programmed to respond to stories. So, if possible, use stories in your presentation. It will help your audience in 3 things – pay attention, remember things and create connection. Think about what story you are trying to tell your audience and create your presentation to tell it.

To deliver a great presentation, you have to increase your self-confidence and bring yourself to relax, once you do that, you will definitely notice the difference in your presentation skills. Once you enjoy yourself, your audience will respond to that and engage better. This will make your presentations improve exponentially, and this in turn again will improve your confidence level. It’s well worth a try.

 

 


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