Presentation Tips - More Effective Presentations

Presentation Skills

7 simple tips to help p your audience enjoy your Presentation.

Do not assume all is well unless you are getting the best results each and every time.

These 7 dwarfs can help you boost your existing skills or help you develop new skills.

Thousands of Tips

Thousands of web pages are dedicated to giving all kinds of tips and why should you choose to read this one?

After all, I am beyond claiming that these are the missing links to make you the best presenter in the planet or anything close to it.

No Pun Intended.

Magic Bullets

There are no magic bullets that I or anyone else can give you, to make an unbelievable change in the way you present.

However, I can help you with a tip or two to make the presentation a little more presentable and enjoyable.

Making a presentation enjoyable is quite an alien concept to many presentation specialists, especially the ones who feel that a presentation should be more a demonstration of your PowerPoint skills than your skills of influence.

Simple Tool

I belong to the latter group who think a presentation is just a simple tool to make good use of your skills of influence and if you do not have such skills, you have two options. Learn it or leave it. Stop boring audience with mindless oratory or graphic interference.

If I have caught your attention, that is good news. If you got a little ticked off about how I approach this topic, even better because there is an important presentation tip at work here.

Many people approach the idea of a presentation as being this nice person who everyone would appreciate by the end of a seminar or the course.

My line of thought is slightly different and it comes from Richard Bandler who said as a presenter or a trainer your job is to shake people up and take notice.

Thinking Differently

People will have to be challenged into thinking differently. Being polite takes a back seat in comparison to making people take action based on your presentation.

So, excuse me if you do not agree with this line of thought.

If you decide to continue reading, congrats You are the kind of person that needs to read on.

Good Presenter

A good presenter is one who forces you to have a change of perspective, the one who helps you look at things differently. He not only gives you an idea to think over but also points you in the right direction.

To be in this position, you will have to come from a position of honesty and integrity.

You cannot sell a dug-down, worthless used car by this method. People are perceptive and your karma will catch up to you, eventually.

So assuming you are the person with Integrity, I put forward the following presentation tips to help you communicate your ideas more effectively to your audience

1. Dare to be different

Your ability to capture and lead an audience's imagination will directly influence the results you get so if plan to get the best out of a presentation.

Dare to be different.

You will raise some eyebrows, especially from the ones wearing black Suits, but that is ok.

When you have their attention, by being the exception, you can do quite a bit with their attention.

2. Minimise use of technology- (read as PowerPoint)

No one enjoys reading a load of paragraphs of information from a screen, especially in a darkened room.

Most of them will actually doze off and you may not even realise this

3. Focus on the audience in the entire room

This means you have to step out of your comfort and move into the audience zone.

As much a challenge it is for you, it will before the audience too.

4. Keep your awareness externally focused

It is easy to get lost in your own words.

However, you will gain more by focusing externally.

Looking at your audience, noticing the differences and shifts in their body language, moments within the group of people etc...

Will help guide your next actions.

5. Measure your success by the number of people who take action

Even before you begin your presentation, put a clear action funnel in place.

It might be filling up of a form, or flashing their credit cards to buy your product, or booking of the next appointment, no matter what it is, make sure it is ready and visible.

At the end of the presentation, do not wait for or do a vote of thanks.

When the audience is at the height of their energy, direct them to the next action step.

6. Do not wait for a survey form to tell you how you did

Like I mentioned in section 4, by keeping your awareness externally focused, you can notice the in energy in the room.

This will enable you to adapt your words and behaviour to accommodate and magnify this shift and once they reach the peak press the magic button, and make them take the next step.