Effective Presentation - Guidelines
Know what you are talking about
Rehearse and practice (especially if it’s a group presentation or involving software/technology)
Use some type of visual aid to help keep you on track as well as your audience
Entertain and engage your audience and communicate your message in a clear and interesting way. Be enthusiastic. If you’re bored by it, don’t expect others to be excited about it and pay attention.
Use relatable examples and break complicated topics down into a simple to understand way
Voice volume is important – it’s difficult to pay attention if your audience can’t hear you. If you are speaking to a screen, you are projecting your voice in the wrong direction.
Speak clearly and slowly enough so that your audience can process what you’re saying.
Eye contact keeps your audience’s attention. If your back is to the audience, don’t expect anyone to listen to you. Do you like it when people read things to you?
Don’t read your presentation (either on paper or on an overhead projector). In both cases, it’s boring and your audience is going to assume you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Add value to your presentation. If using PowerPoint, you should be talking about what is on the slides – not reading them verbatim.
If using PowerPoint, have someone watch you practice it from the back of the room to make sure you can read what is on your slides, offer you feedback, and ask any questions. You want honest feedback.
Too much text on slides is BORING. No one will pay attention. USE LOTS OF PICTURES – They’re more interesting to look at. When you look at vacation pictures, how much text is on them?
If you have multiple items on one slide, introduce them one at a time so your audience will be forced to listen to what you want …when you want them to. You are in control.
Test technology equipment prior to presenting to make sure your software is compatible and it works (including sound). Do you really want to experience technical problems in front of your live audience?
Use a laser pointer to focus your audience on an aspect of your visual aid.
A good presentation is like a good paper: Introduce, Talk about what you want to talk about, Conclude.
Conclude your presentation. You can always end a presentation by saying, “This concludes my presentation, does anyone have any questions?