7 Tips for Effective Presentation

What does Presentation Mean?

Presentation is the rehearsal of performance and the explanation of the content of a theme to viewers or students. In the business world, we have sales presentation, informational and motivational presentation, first encounters, interviews, briefings, status report, image building and training sessions.

What is Presentation skills?

Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill to get your message or opinion across and, today, presentation skills are required in almost every field.

Whether you are a student or manager, if you wish to start up your own business, apply for a grant, you may very well be asked to make a presentation. 

Many believe that good presenters are born, not made. This is simply not true. Sure, some people are more relaxed and comfortable speaking in front of others, but everyone can learn the skills and techniques they need to increase their level of confidence and performance when presenting.

From sales pitches to training lectures, good presentation and public speaking skills are key to many influential roles in today's business world. The good news about presenting is that you can improve with practice. Following tips may offer some guidance to help you on the way to delivering a memorable presentation.

1. Preparation, preparation, preparation

There is no easy way out. Giving a excellent presentation is all about the preparation that goes into it, and this theme applies to every single aspect you include in your presentation. Prepare and structure your presentation carefully. Introduce the subject tell the audience what your talk is about. Explain the points you wish to convey. End with a summary of your points.

Write down the main points on a paper. Don't write details, or be stuck with the fate of looking down, staring at your note cards while reading. Put in some fun facts interactive questions, and other interactive activities on the cards to share with the class.

Most of the time, the act of putting information down on your index cards will help you remember the information. So, while you might not strictly need the note cards, it's a nice security blanket to have if you happen to forget what you were going to say.

2. Think of the audience & Do your Research

When you are preparing your presentation, there is one thing you should always keep in the back of your mind: the audience. The sole purpose of a presentation is to communicate whatever you have to say to an audience. Position yourself being in their shoes and answer the following questions: who, what, why, how?

Who are they and who are you? It’s essential to know who your audience will be: are they your classmates, professors, professionals, etc. and what do they know about you. Do you need to inform them? Do you need to introduce yourself? Different audiences have different needs, and different audiences may need different communicative approaches.

What do they want? What do they know? What can I tell them? Knowing this information will help you decide what content to include in your presentation. If you are not sure about the answer to one of these questions, perhaps you may want to include it in your presentation.

Where can I take them? Your presentation is very much like a journey. Guide your audience through the content. Use signposts to indicate what you are presenting and where you are going. Examples of signposts are, “Next, I will discuss..”, “Now I’d like to move on to….”, and “Finally, …” or “To conclude..”. Signposts are also great tools to keep you audience awake, focused and engaged. Have you ever listened to a less engaging presentation and the presenter said, “Finally”, surely that was the moment you found yourself waking up. Use signposts throughout your presentation.

Do your research. In order to give an engaging presentation, you need to know what you're talking about. You don't have to become an expert, or read every book or website ever written about your topic, but you should be able to answer any questions your teacher or classmates might give you.

Get quotes from reliable sources. Good quotes make a good presentation great. Taking what smart people have said and putting it into your presentation not only makes you look smart, it shows the teacher that you spent time thinking about what other people said.

Make sure your sources are trustworthy. There's nothing that can quite break your confidence like a fact that turns out to not be a fact. Don't always trust the information you get off the Internet.

3. Structure your presentation

The purpose and content needs to be carefully considered. How much detail can you cover in the allotted time? Going back to a point made earlier, what does your audience already know about your topic? What do they need to know, and more important, what is your take-home message? What do you want your audience to remember?

Most presentation will have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. You introduce yourself in the introduction, your topic, and what you will cover during your presentation. Remember, this part can be as short as 30 seconds. 

The body will include key points, new knowledge, trends in your data, or progress to date. The level of detail may depend on the task and time available. Highlight the implications of your discussion or possible applications of your findings in your conclusion and finish with your take-home messages.

4. Practice

In most presentations, it is pretty obvious who has practiced and who hasn't. Work on what you're going to say and how you're going to say it. You'll feel a lot more confident when you do the real thing and you'll eliminate the "likes" and "ums" unlike those who try to "wing it."

• Practice in front of your family or friends, or in front of the mirror, when you rehearse your presentation. It's probably better to do it in front of friends who you may not know well, as this will help you replicate the feeling of being in front of the class.

• Ask your friends for feedback after you finish your presentation. Was the presentation long enough? How was your eye contact? Did you stammer at all? Were all the points clearly made?

• Make a critique of your practice performance. Challenge yourself to work on all the things that you believe you can improve during the real presentation. When it comes time to deliver the real deal, you'll feel confident knowing that you've worked extra hard on what was toughest for you.

5. Communication

Smile at your audience. When it comes time to present, there's nothing that draws your audience into your presentation than a good old fashioned smile. Be happy; you're about to teach your entire class something they didn't know before.

Studies have shown that smiles are infectious[1]; that means that once you smile, it's hard for everyone else not to smile. So if you want your presentation to go off without a hitch, force yourself to smile. That'll make everyone smile; and maybe those smiles will make you actually smile.

A presentation is never a one way communication, despite the fact that you are the only one speaking. Communication is always two ways. Vary the tone, pitch and volume of your voice to add emphasis and maintain the audience’s interest. Although you do not want your audience interrupting your speech, make it engaging: look at the audience, speak loudly and clearly, speak to the whole audience. Match eye contact with everyone in the room. 

Your audience wants to be spoken to. Ask rhetorical questions, use short pauses when you are, for example, changing the subject or moving on to another topic. Rhetorical questions will often raise the audience awareness as do pauses. Don’t hide behind a computer, a paper, or a desk.

When you give your class a presentation, your teacher is essentially having you take over their job for a little while. It's your job to make sure everyone understands what you're trying to tell them. Make sure you pay attention to how your teacher does this before your presentation, because teachers are expert presenters. Build confidence on yourself.

Make eye contact

Nothing is more boring than listening to a presenter who looks at the floor or at note-cards. Relax. Your audience is made up of your friends and you talk to them all the time; talk the same way now.

Have the goal of looking at every person in the classroom at least once. That way, everyone will feel like you've engaged with them. Plus, you'll look like you know what you're talking about.

Be sure to have inflection in your voice. 

Your goal is to engage your audience, not put them to sleep. Be animated about your topic. Talk about it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Your classmates will thank you for it.

Use hand motions

Move your hands along as you talk, using them to emphasize points and keep the audience interested. It will also channel your nervous energy into a better place.

6. Do not read or read like you mean it

When giving a presentation, from a communication perspective, speaking is always better than reading. However, when you find yourself in the situation where  you are going to read, there are a few techniques you can use to make it more enjoyable for the audience (remember your audience).

Always address the audience, even when reading. Make sure you take your eyes off the paper and look at  the audience. Highlight parts in the text that you wish to stress, e.g. keywords,  signposts, words that evoke, etc.

7. Have a good conclusion

You've probably heard the presentations that end in something like "um... yeah," Your conclusion is your final impression on your audience, including your teacher. Make it exciting by introducing a final statistic, or come up with something creative to do at the end. Your conclusion can be anything so long as your audience knows you're finished.

Tell a story, maybe one with a personal note. Stories are great for history or English presentations. Maybe you can tie your presentation into a little anecdote about a famous historical person?

Ask a provocative question. Ending with a question is a good way of getting your audience to think about your presentation in an interesting way. Is there a certain conclusion you want them to come to? Maybe you can frame a the question in a way that suggests that conclusion.

NOTE: Above content is put together from various sources from internet. Images I used are copyright(c) to respective creator.

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