Do you know any tips for a great presentations? That’s the question someone asked me a few
years ago, and I said no. because It really didn’t matter to me, as I my work never
involved giving presentations. Then one fine day, I had to give a presentation to some
of my clients, although they were just a bunch of people, I had never felt so nervous in
my entire life. I spoke very fast without breathing, because I just wanted to get over
with the presentation. Soon I realized, it's not gonna work like this, my next presentation
has to be great.
Now, on the way to develop my own presentation skills, I discovered many little hacks that
could improve the way we present things to the audience, maybe small or large. So in
this video today, I am bringing you these little hacks that would make a great amount
of difference to your presentation skills. Hi I am AAKASH and today I am gonna share
with you few ways to improve your presentation skills, that have helped me personally, or
I could say they have saved me, on a number of occasions. So let’s get started.
Well I am not gonna start with your appearance, how should you dress, its common sense, I
am sure you all know that you need to be well dressed and appear great when you are supposed
to stand on the podium. Of course you know that – you are not going to wear your most
comfortable boxer shorts and give a presentation. But I would like to add something here, wear
something that you are comfortable in. Only because you saw some presenter wearing that
impressive Jacket, you also shouldn’t jump in. How you carry what you wear is important.
Okay, now if I say that you need to be a genius with your presentation that would sound unrealistic.
But you need to know these 3 knows even before you start preparing your presentation. These
3 Knows are definitely the building blocks for any great presentations.
First, know - know your room. Arrive early and stroll round, so you know where you will
be presenting. You get the feel of the place, we humans always take some time to get adjusted
to the environment. Next, know your people. Know your audience
beforehand, if you have a brief background about your audience, you can tune your presentation
accordingly. What’s the point of presenting something that in not in sync with your audience?
Let me explain that to you better. In the software industry, when you develop a particular
software, understanding what the client needs is very important, understanding their business
is very important, if you don’t do that, the outcome of the application what the client
picturized would be completely different, even though you are great at your programming
skills. Same thing applies when it comes to understanding your audience, if you do your
homework well, your presentation is sure to be accepted by the audience
And finally, know your speech well. Rehearse the presentation until you’re comfortable
with what you’re saying and how you’re saying it. After all you are presenting to
and for the audience. If you sound confused with your presentation, and it’s not absorbed
by the audience, what’s the point. So, always remember these three knows know your room,
know your audience, and know your speech well.
Take the comfort of knowing that nobody understands your presentation or the data in your presentation
better than you. There is a very popular mantra shared by theatre expert that says - Sometimes
mess-ups can happen but... “The audience doesn’t know the script.”
So it could happen that you could mess-up with some of the points in your presentation.
You might forget to highlight some important fact, what would you do? Would you start saying
sorry or maybe panic, or freak-out? Come on ...Just relax.
Instead of freaking out, freezing up, or trying to ignore it happened, just try to be graceful
about it. Chances are that it went unnoticed by your audience. And even If it was noticeable,
all you need to do is say “excuse me,” “I would like to add some more information”
and carry on with your presentation. Believe it or not, presentations can be fun. All you
need to do is be prepared and know your audience well...
Are you one of those people who get really nervous and start to walk up and down the
stage like a polar bear in a zoo, mark a spot for yourself on the stage or bring a stool
if required to use. Guy’s people are watching a presentation, and not a tennis match! I’m
really bad for shuffling while I’m talking. I even flap my hands around when I get excited
with some points in the presentation. Remember when you are presenting, what do
you want your audience to remember, your poor body language or your great presentation.
Do you want your audience to think about your message or your body movements? So be aware
of your body language.
Do you wriggle from one foot to the other, crossing and uncrossing your legs or stepping
backwards a lot? Try to keep all these body movements under control. Make some eye contact.
Eye contact helps keeping the connection between your audience and you and is one of the key
elements for a great presentation. If you show your back all the time while reading
your slides that will destroy that bridge between the audience and you. Now also remember
staring down your audience without a blink can be creepy. It’s also stressful on you.
Shift your gaze and sometimes it’s acceptable to glance at some note cards if you have one.
But also remember just don’t read those cards, it's gonna be as good as reading your
slides. Come on you need to smile, everyone knows
you are nervous, Giving presentations is nerve-wracking. So make sure you are smiling and make an effort
to make eye-contact with people. Practice meeting your audience's eye while rehearsing
and it’ll feel a lot more normal in the big presentation. This would project you as
a warm and friendly person and your audience would be also at ease.
Using PowerPoint? Well, you’re not the only one – Do you know? There are around 350
PowerPoint presentations given every second across the world. And what do you think, are
they effective enough? They aren’t that effective. Immediately after a ten minute
presentation, only 50% of the facts can be recalled. By the next day, only 23% is retained,
and 7 days later, just 10% of the information. You know this human mind has its own limits,
and it can only hold on to between three and or say maximum seven points.
You should aim for three main points and your presentation would be remembered. ALSO AVOID
BIG WALLS OF TEXT. This is a common mistake a lot of presenters make with their PowerPoint
slides. I know it’s tempting to stick every item of information on your slides. However,
this will intimidate your audience and the recall value of your presentation would be
limited. Now if you have too much text on your slides that would force you to turn your
back to the audience which is a big no in all forms of public interaction. So guys,
Keep your slides brief, and let the audience keep the attention on you.
Rather than focusing your mind on your presentation and how you’re gonna do it, think about
the message that you are gonna give. You’ll come across as a lot more passionate and interested,
and would give yourself an expert presenter status as well. You’ll also make fewer mistakes
because you won’t be flustered. Define the purpose of your presentation. Before you start
designing your presentation, ask yourself what's the purpose of your talk is. In general,
you’re either informing, persuading or building a goodwill.
So think about it: are you sharing your expertise, giving a step-by-step workshop, do you want
people to buy your product or service, are you motivating people, educating them, are
you presenting case-studies, is it purely entertainment. Now these are just some main
themes you could build your talk or presentation around.
One of the best public speaking tips, I have learned is to make sure that you’re only
gonna cover 1 main topic and just stay away from adding anything else you might want to
share. Although it might be important as well, it just takes away the power of your presentation.
Now what do I mean by this For example, This video is about How could you improve your
presentation skills, Well designing a good presentation is an important part of presentation
skills, However my main goal is to introduce you to important hacks for delivering a good
presentation and not how you could write a good presentation. I will certainly do that
in some other video. But In this video my main topic is - How to deliver great presentations
And I am gonna just stick to that only, that’s my main topic. Although I might share a few
highlights about designing a presentation, but that’s not my main topic. You need to
draw an outline of your talk, so you have a framework to start with. Because if you
don’t know the main purpose of your talk, no-one in the audience will. So always, define
the purpose of your presentation.
Hey! Slow Down.... Its not a RACE....
Focusing on speaking slowly should be one of the most important things in your talk,
because you are speaking for an audience where not everyone is an expert on the topic, possibly
quite a few people have English as their second or even third language and it really just
takes time for people to let new information sink in.
PRACTICE SPEAKING SLOWLY For some reason, people talk faster onstage. I remember, my
boss always told me to speak so slowly, until the point it gets uncomfortable. That will
be the perfect tempo for the audience. I promise, it’s gonna feel weird initially.
But what’s weirder: speaking a lot slower than usual, or stumbling over your #words
and confusing your listeners? There’s one more way you could learn to speak slower,
listen carefully to each and every word that you say, only say the next word when you have
listened to the first one clearly. It would help you to certainly slow down your speaking
speed and be clearer with your words and pronunciation.
Why do phrases like, “Once upon a time…”or
“In a land far away…” immediately grab our attention? Because those phrases tell
you, you’re about to hear a story, and stories, are incredible communication tools. When you
tell stories in your presentation, they challenge our intellect, stimulate our imagination,
and touch our emotions. Why everyone does loves a good story? Because stories communicate
ideas and information that no other medium can.
Now No matter where you tell a story, it could be around a campfire when you are on a picnic,
it could be by the water cooler in the office or in a courtroom, or even in an auditorium
while giving presentations. The impact of a story always remains the same: When you
tell a story, start strong, be engaging, capture the interest of your audience and get them
thinking with an impactful story related to your presentation.
Look through for anywhere that you can add in stories or a really good or relevant image
from where you could build the stage for telling your story. Story telling will make your presentation
seem realistic, as well as help your presentation to flow naturally and increase the retention
of your presentation by a minimum 65%. So, learn the art of storytelling, it certainly works.
Listening to a presentation for any length of time can be a difficult process. If the
talk doesn’t engage their attention, the audience will start to feel distanced from
your presentation, they will start to lose track of the flow of information and eventually
fail to absorb your ideas and insights. To engage an audience fully, the presentation
needs to be energetic, purposeful and staged as if it is a direct conversation between
you and the audience. Direct interaction with the audience is harder , as most presentation
are one-way only , but if you can find a way to get your audience to DO something, like
a activity, chances are they will remember what you said much better.
The activity doesn’t have to take long, but just let your audience members speak up
or speak to each other for about a minute. To give an example, I can recall a presentation
I attended where the speaker asked the audience to close their eyes for a second and think
about their first travel experience. And then to turn to the person sitting next and share
the travel experience. Very simple, but so powerful, as the rest of the presentation
was all about powerful travel stories.
Involving your audience is essential to making an impact. Your presentation should pull them
in, get their attention and stimulate their thoughts and understanding. The way that you
deliver your presentation should create a bond with your audience and ensure that the
audience receive a positive message about you and your presentation.
The single most important thing to remember is that there is no one good way to do a presentation.
The most memorable presentations always offer something fresh, something no one has seen
before. So do not on any account try to emulate every piece of advice I’ve offered here.
Take the bulk of it on board, but make the presentation your own. You know what’s distinctive
about you and your idea. Play to your strengths and give a talk that is truly authentic to
you. That’s all for today, Subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon to get
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