How to deliver an effective presentation?

How to deliver an effective presentation?

Presentation as performance

Making a presentation will put you on public display. Audience not only listens to your ideas it also responds to the way you use your voice and your body. You will also need to deliver it in a lively, flexible and interesting way. Here we suggest many ideas for invoking energy in your presentation style.

To begin, imagine that you are in the audience for your presentation. What might: Grab your attention? Stimulate your imagination? Inspire your confidence? and Develop your understanding?

Now think about ways to encourage these things.

Six steps to becoming an effective presenter

1. Practice

The more familiar you are with your material the more you will be able to inspire your audience’s trust and confidence during presentation. This will help you to keep your chosen objectives and avoid distractions when it comes to your actual delivery.

To read or to learn?

Find a way to compromise between these two important approaches.

Reading
Reading tends to focus your thoughts on your notes. Reading can also reduce your voice to a removing energy and enthusiasm from your delivery. Directly addressing your audience is more engaging.

Learning
Learning is fine until you lose your way. Always have some notes to keep you on the right track. If you over learn your notes you might lose a sense of energy and enthusiasm.

2. Assert yourself

An effective presenter needs to be assertive and not aggressive.

3. Make contact with your audience

One of the key challenges faced by the presenter is to establish links with the audience. You can make contact with your audience in a number of ways: eye contact, gestures, spoken contact, use of language.

4. Use your voice

Your voice is a very flexible and powerful tool for delivering your ideas. You can use it in many different ways by varying the volume, pace and pitch.

5. Breathe

Always remember to take breath steadily and deeply. If you are anxious about making a presentation your breathing will become fast and shallow, this will affect the quality of your voice and your ability to speak clearly for extended periods of time. Don’t be afraid to slow down the pace of your presentation if your breathing becomes uncomfortable.

6. Drink

It is better idea to have some liquid to hand to quench your thirst if you are speaking for a long time. However, be careful not to gulp ice-cold water before you go on which can affects the quality of your voice.

Humor

Only use humor if by knowing that it will work. Humor needs to be relaxed and confident if used badly; it will only heighten senses of awkwardness and anxiety. Use humor if you know you can and if you feel it is appropriate to do.

Conclusion

Continually explore your personal style using any or all of the above suggestions in different combinations. Above all, remember two main points:

              1. Be yourself; even in the most formal of surroundings you will need to be yourself. No one will be 

                impressed if you try to perform like a classical actor or act like a stand-up comedian.

2. Avoid any behavior that might hurt to your audience, always be deliberate and clear in your use of voice and physical actions.