Welcome back! Here are the top 10 do's. 1. Dress appropriately Depending on your topic and your audience, you will want to dress appropriately. For example, if you're presenting to your classmates, I highly recommend at least business casual. If you're unsure of the dress code, ask your professor. 2. Note cards If you are allowed to use note cards, use note cards, not paper. Note cards are more subtle and not as distracting as a flimsy loose paper. The paper will make you look unprepared whereas note cards are used as nice little references. 3. Project Last blog post, I talked about mumbling and speaking too fast. Here I want to touch upon projection. Use a clear, loud voice. Make sure the people in the back of the room can hear your voice. 4. Leave time for questions Sometimes your audience may want to know more information about your topic. Leave some time for them to ask their questions. Get them involved! 5. Enunciate Speak clearly. Don't slur your words or clip the endings of them. 6. Smile Sounds cheesy, right? But really, show some humanity and spread the goodness of a smile! It may lighten up the mood. 7. Breathe Don't starve yourself of oxygen because you're scared! Just remember to breathe! 8. Good posture As mentioned before in the last post, stand up straight and proud. Slouching will give off a bad vibe. 9. Stick to your time limit I can almost guarantee you that most people despise presenters who go over their time limit. 10. Have fun! Honestly, have fun with your topic. If you show enthusiasm and are generally having fun, it will rub off on your audience. Good vibes are always welcome and contagious! What are some other pieces of advice you would recommend to someone for tips on the 'do's' of presentations? Leave a comment below!
It's that time of the year for presentations! Here are some tips in no particular order of things to avoid while speaking. 1. Sitting down Sitting down undermines your credibility. Take the presentation seriously and show the audience you are being serious by standing up and moving around just a little bit. It also can make the audience feel like they can't trust you if they can't see you. 2. Mumble It can be scary to speak in a group of people but the entire process will be even more painful if you audience doesn't hear a single word you said because now you've just wasted your time and theirs. Clear your throat and speak up. 3. Monotone Nothing puts people more to sleep than a dreary, monotonous voice. Show some enthusiasm when you're speaking especially if you're passionate about your topic! 4. Reading off the slides Your PowerPoint or Prezi or Keynote or whatever medium you choose to use is not the literary tool; it's a visual there to aid you. Speak to the audience, not the projected screen! 5. Lack of eye contact You are speaking to real, live human beings who want to be connected with what you're saying (unless this is over webcam but that's another blog post.) Avoid staring at the ground or the screen and try to have eye contact with your audience. 6. Leaning on the wall By leaning on the wall, you might give off the impression that you aren't interested in your own presentation or idea. How can you convince or inform your audience if you seem laid-back and aloof about the situation? Stand up straight and proud! 7. Chewing gum This can be a huge distraction for your audience especially if you start smacking it while talking. There's also a possibility it will fall out of your mouth mid-sentence. Do yourself a favor and just spit it out before the presentation. 8. Talking too fast Woah there, slow down. Take a breather and talk at a slower pace so that your audience can digest the information. How fast and how slow? Well it really depends if you're shooting out statistics or fun facts about history. You'll need to gauge the speed yourself or ask a friend when you practice. 9. Pacing Please don't walk back and forth especially across the screen. It's a huge distraction. 10. Hands in your pockets Take them out. Having them in your pockets gives off a 'I don't care' attitude. We also trust people more when we can see their hands! Were you aware that you do some of these things? Don't know if you do? Give a mock presentation to a friend and ask them to watch for these things! Check in the next few days for some tips for the "do's" of presentations. Also, leave a comment if you have thoughts on other things that speakers should avoid to do!
Let's talk technical difficulties. It happens. Sometimes in the worst way possible and sometimes it's mild. I had the awkward experience of dealing with it this morning in class. It's frustrating when something you've worked hard on doesn't get conveyed properly. Nevertheless, the presentation must go on. When you run into technical difficulties, you may lose your visual aid or certain pictures or your video clips. If this happens, you need to improvise and adapt. Improvisation and adaption is key to a good presentation because: 1. Practice really does make perfect. By knowing your content and material, you will still be able to convey your information through your mouth instead of visually. It will be easier for you to adapt and improvise if you know your speech inside and out. 2. Presentations are your visual aids, they are not your speech. Most
people have this misconception that presentations can convey by itself
what needs to be said. That is wrong because you are the speaker. You
are the one the audience will be focusing on. Presentations are the
visual aids that help support what you are saying. Try to avoid hardware malfunctions by making sure what you needed is present such as
the updated software to present on the device that is being used (Prezi, Keynote, PowerPoint)
e-mailing yourself your presentation or keeping it on Google Drive, the iCloud, Dropbox or any type of storage mediums
I wholeheartedly could not even begin to explain the phenomena that Nancy Duarte so simply shares in this wonderful Ted Talk. Please take a few minutes to watch this Ted Talk by Nancy Duarte about why some presentations work and some do not. You will have a greater understanding of why some ideas win over others and what makes a fantastic presentation. This speech truly inspires me to change the world with my ideas and I hope it does the same for you. If it does, I highly recommend reading Resonate by Nancy Duarte!
Do you have a fear of public speaking? If so, is this what happens to you?
Fear of public speaking is a real thing. It's actually called glossophobia or speech anxiety. Many people have glossophobia including possibly you. And you know what? That's okay. It's okay that you are afraid. Just know that there will be times when you will be asked to speak up in front of a group of people. Have you spoken in front of others before? Think about it. How did you do? Did you survive? Are you alive? I sure would hope so considering you're reading this. I don't expect you to overcome your fear of public speaking overnight, but I do want to help you fight it over time. Here are some tips that can help you combat speech anxiety. 1. Relax - Seriously, just breathe. Take a deep breath before your speech. It's okay to be nervous and sweaty, but take some time to breathe and put reality back into place. Whatever you are speaking for or however long, it will not last forever. It could be a 5 minute presentation or a 60 minute presentation. Either way, it is not infinite. It will end. Breathe. 2. Body position - Try to keep your weight even. A lot of speakers will tend to lean on one leg or the other which applies pressure and can be stressful. It's okay to move a little while speaking. Find your space by extending your arms out. Try to stay in that amount of space when moving and avoid pacing back and forth. 3. Practice - Practice, practice, practice. This cannot be stressed enough! Most people feel that they are not good at speaking in front of others because they lack experience. Practice your speech or presentation by yourself, in front of a mirror, in front of a friend, in front of a family member, and then in front of a group. It sounds tedious, but like most things in life, you need to work hard to get the results you want.
Knowing your audience and credibility can be two things that highly influence each other. Let's talk about credibility first. What is credibility? According to Merriam Webster dictionary, credibility is defined as the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest. As a presenter, you will want to establish credibility so that your audience can take you seriously and see you as a reliable source of information. This can be established in many different ways, but I'm going to discuss how credibility can be established through sharing a personal experience or story. Let me tell you how credibility was established in one of my most recent presentations. My colleague and I presented in front of the principals in the Iron County School District for the Cedar City Water Conservancy District. As a 21 year-old student, it was extremely nerve-wracking to stand in front of twenty-five or so important officials. Even as a child, everyone at one point of time must have been a bit afraid to be in a room with a principal; now I was standing in front of at least twenty-five. To establish credibility with these education officials, my supervisor, Sage Platt, started the presentation with something like this: "Jessica's family is originally from Cambodia. They were in the middle of a war and each member separated from each other as they stayed in different refuge camps. After being sponsored to come to America, her family now lives here in Utah. Her mother did not attend college and her father cannot speak English fluently. Jessica is now a 1st generation student who knows the importance of education." Sage was able to establish credibility for me because she knew my audience. This opening statement resonated strongly with these principals because they work in the education field; they take pride and joy in education. Research who your audience is and share a personal story to establish credibility.
Here is a great article about business presentations. I especially appreciate number three because of how important it is to know your audience. You've got to really know who your audience is for your message to really reach them. Read this article for eight useful tips on building better business presentations! Building Better Business Presentations
