The Only Presentation Hacks You Need

Whether you have had two weeks or two hours to prepare for a presentation, it is still as daunting as ever to stand up and speak to a room full of people.

We have done our research here at MeetingsBooker.com by finding out ways to make you a better speaker and how to make sure that you have solid content to back you up!

Find your confidence

The secret to a great presentation is to think of it as two way communication.
Turn your presentation into a conversation and your confidence will soar.

Include elements such as questions for the audience to break the barrier and to make it seem less like a presentation and more like a chat.

If you turn your thought process to talking with your audience rather than at them, it will become a lot less daunting.

Don’t be boring

Keep what you’re saying concise.
A person can only concentrate for so long. Reciting long worded paragraphs are hard to follow and will bore your audience.

Studies show that a speaker will gain 100% attention from their audience at the end of a presentation – when they get to leave.

                            

Try not to get offended but it’s simply human nature. This is why it is important to keep your points short so that there is less content for your audience to lose track of!

Think about your slides

Use brief sentences not paragraphs. Include visual elements like graphs. 

Having a slide presentation is a great way to illustrate what you’re talking about and they are a great way to help you remember your points.

 
Slides are there to show something and you are there to explain.

If you rely on your slides too much however, you can come across as impersonal. Face your audience, not your slides. You want your audience to feel a part of the presentation.

Something simple like having a consistent colour theme throughout your slides is a nice touch to give your presentation some life. You can choose from a selection of templates if you are less artistically inclined, but remember, having too many elements can be overkill and can overload your audience’s thought process. So, work on finding the right balance.

Find a pair of eyes
Only talk when you have a pair of eyes.

If you are always worried about where to look at a presentation you can end up looking like a mad person with your eyes flying around the room or worse yet, staring down the back wall.

Don’t linger. No one likes a prolonged staring session so make sure to change your eyeline. Changing after a sentence, or every few sentences, will allow you to pay attention to someone else in the audience and, by following the rule, it allows you to have a pause while you look for your next pair of eyes.

Stop saying ‘eh’ & ‘um’
This and the last point go hand in hand.

There is something in our mental make-up, that means that we stop saying ‘eh’ and ‘um’ when we hold eye contact. So, following number two will help you with this.

However, there is another time where you must be careful using the dreaded break words and this is, naturally, when you take a break to look back at your slides.

As said earlier, slides are a great way for you to remember your points – there is no shame in using your slides as a cheat sheet. To stop saying eh and um, turn back to remind yourself of what you’re saying, but then only speak your point once you’ve found a pair of eyes again.

Stop the fidgeting
Keep your hands down by your side.

Fidgeting can make you look nervous which will the attention away from what you’re saying. An audience will feel more concerned about what your hands are doing and how nervous you are. Yes, you may feel like a soldier with your arms pinned to your side, but it is the stance that will look most neutral and will definitely stop you from fidgeting.  

You don’t have to keep your arms pinned the entire time in fact, having your arms by your side allows you to make greater, more effective gestures when needed.

Dress appropriately
Present yourself well for a presentation.

Be clean. Be Neat. There is nothing worse watching a person talk who is unclean looking – let the audience concentrate on what you’re saying rather than on unshaven face or make-up stained collar.

Something as unfortunate as an unzipped trouser, allows the audience’s minds to wander and criticise what they’re looking at rather than what they’re listening to.

Did you know that patterns promote brain activity? So don’t be afraid to dress in loud clothing.

Content content content…
Try keep attention as high as possible throughout your entire presentation. 

The content you deliver can increase your audience’s attention span. Your presentation may still drop at points, but you can pick it back up by following the triangle.

                                

Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them.

Once you follow this mantra your content will remain engaging throughout.

• The middle of the triangle holds your topic.

• You need three main points to carry your topic written on each side of the triangle.

• Each point can have sub-points for you to delve into further, but once you have those three points laid out you can create a steady flow of thought.

Whichever point comes to mind first is going to be the most easily accessible one for you to talk about, so don’t be afraid to put it down. Then, all you have to do is remember to tell your audience about the topic; talk about each point; recap your topic and each point.

Once you have the body language down, what you’re saying becomes a lot easier to say. Just remember, keep it concise, tell them what you you’re going to say, tell them, tell them what you told them (and tell it to a pair of eyes!)