Presentations Training:
6 Tips For How to Give a Great Presentation Workshop

Most people know that at some point in their professional lives they will have to deliver a presentation. Whether the presentation material is as dry as a tinderbox or whether it is just plain controversial, observing certain presentation guidelines can really cut down on preparation time (and those nerves) as well as vastly improve the final effect that you create with the audience. Here are six simple things to consider before you start your presentation:

1. A clear objective. Most people start with a load of content and try to shoe-horn it into a PowerPoint show - instead start with the question: "What effect am I trying to achieve with their opinions and with their emotions?

2. Involvement. Plan to get your audience involved in the first 30 seconds - or less. They have to understand what is in it for them - why they should pay attention to you rather than their Blackberry or their own head noise?

3. Simplicity. Keep things as simple as you dare. Regardless of the IQ level of the audience, people are so poor at keeping things in their heads whilst trying to pay attention that most of what ends up on the screen or in a script might as well be in a handout for all the audience is able to retain. You will also be avoiding Murphy's Law: 'If it can go wrong it will go wrong'.

4. Relevance. Think carefully about what you keep in the presentation. Be brave about culling the material until you can cut out no more without the whole thing not making sense. It is great to watch a presentation that sticks to the point and it makes the content so much more memorable too.

5. Humor. Don't feel pressured into having to be funny. Starting with a joke is not compulsory. Instead, consider beginning your presentation with a relevant observation about something that has happened to you on that very day. E.g. In a presentation about sales figures or targets you might start out with: "On my way here today I stopped off to buy a chocolate bar - I found they were on special offer. It made me wonder why the sales director for that company had done that..."

6. Personality. Something happens to people during the walk from their chair to the podium. They are transformed into people that their own families wouldn't recognize. Since most people's ultimate presentation need is to be believed, it is important to allow the authentic, real you to peep through the numbers and words.

Spending a few minutes thinking about each of those six tips will not only make preparing your next presentation quicker and more fun but it will also probably mean that you enjoy the experience of presenting so much more. Good luck.

Source: Paul Furey, PhD link

Related: Presentation Workshop

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