One of our friends from the presentation industry, Ian Callow, is co-author of The Presenter’s Handbook. In this guest blog, Ian shares his A-Z tips for presenting with more confidence.
We have all sat through presentations where it is "Death by PowerPoint" or "Sea Sickness" from the over-use of Prezi functionality. Just consider how this impacts on those watching. In a business environment it certainly impacts on the revenue stream with bored prospects unlikely to become clients. In the world of education students disengage and are likely to end up with a one-way experience, reading your presentation from a student portal instead.
As a presenter you need to make a difference and not rely on the software to do your job.
A successful presentation needs to be engaging to the audience. Polling systems such as Ombea enable interaction while giving you immediate feedback. This is incredibly useful but such interactivity is only a small part of an important journey: There is a lot more you can do make your presentation stand out. Let’s take a look at a few tips, from A to Z, to start the thought process. For a deeper explanation of some of the terms used in the list, check out our main website at www.presentershandbook.com.
A | Audience | Consider the audience at all times during the presentation. |
B | BYOD | Delegates and students have access to mobile technology. Let them use their own devices in your presentation to take notes and interact. |
C | Credibility | Create credibility with the audience; this helps them take on the key message. |
D | Deliver | Deliver a presentation that is memorable for the right reasons. |
E | Enjoy | Enjoy the feeling of presenting. Your enjoyment will help your performance. |
F | Feedback | Ensure you gain feedback from the audience. You will then know how good the presentation was. |
G | Graphics | Use good quality graphics during your presentation and avoid clipart. |
H | Help | Ensure help is on hand from a technician if a malfunction occurs during your presentation. |
I | Interaction | Allow delegate interaction for presentations over 20 minutes. |
J | Joke | A joke shared with the audience will relax both the audience and yourself. Also see ‘X-Rated’. |
K | Key | Understand what your key message is going to be for the presentation. |
L | Learn | Learn from your performance by building in self-reflection tools after presenting. |
M | Mirror | Use your mirror neurons to learn from the best. |
N | Nerves | Nerves can be quashed by building anchors to trigger a positive state. |
O | Orientation | If you are not happy with the orientation of the room, move tables and chairs. |
P | Physiological | Maintain a good physiological stance when presenting. |
Q | Question | Question your audience (Ombea). Why should they only be allowed to question you as the presenter? |
R | Rehearse | Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more for a successful presentation. |
S | Safety | Always have a safety net available in case things do not go according to plan. |
T | Timing | Timing is a key function of the presentation, start and finish on time. |
U | Underpinning | Underpinning your key message is you. Ensure you are at your best. |
V | Video | When using video in a presentation make it short and relevant. |
W | What | What is your story to relate you to the presentation? Tell the audience. |
X | X-Rated | Avoid an x-rated presentation. What you find amusing others may take objection to. |
Y | Yes | Yes you can become a great presenter - reading The Presenter's Handbook is a first step. |
Z | Zero | Accept a zero tolerance approach to poor presentations, evolve and improve. |
For more information on becoming a Power Presenter visit The Presenter's Handbook website. Whilst your there remember to take part in our interactive quiz to see how good a presenter you actually are right now.
About the Author
Ian Callow is a co-author of The Presenter’s Handbook. In addition to the work he does with our Ombea training programmes, Ian is a CPD & IT trainer for IRIS Connect, SMART Meeting Pro, and more. You can follow Ian on Twitter via @idcallow and @Pres_Handbook. If you want to read more of what Ian has to say about becoming a better presenter then check out his blog for The Presenter’s Handbook. Or get yourself to Amazon and buy the book.