10 Ways To Boost Your Presentation Skills

Words empower us, but images help us remember. Presentations not only helps you to keep your audience engrossed but also helps them remember what you’ve been talking about, even hours after your presentation. If you are someone in the corporate sector or even wish to enter its realm, you would know how much essential it is to create that perfect presentation to win your audience. The right words, the right font, the right image, these are quite the basics. But if you need to stand out from the crowd, here are 10 tips for you to deliver the perfect presentation.

credit

1. CRISP CONTENT

    Presentations are created to be used as pointers when you present your topic and not as a visual format detailing the matter. The more the text, the less the audience will find it interesting. Instead of writing lines about a topic, simply put the topic heading in your presentation and elaborate your audience on the matter in your own words. The of is to create more engaging content for your viewers.

2. CHOOSING THE PERFECT LAYOUT

  Layout plays a vital role in the succession of a presentation. If your audience is going to stare at a screen, you have to make it worth it. Platforms like Slidecapm is a one-stop destination if you are looking to get your hands on some really out-of-the-box slide layouts, that can help you make your unique mark. With loads of ready-to-use slides, it makes making presentation easy peasy, but at the same time, helps you showcase your professional side.

3. CONNECT WITH ALL, NOT JUST ONE

credit

When all eyes are on you, you need to make sure your eyes turn everywhere. Addressing your audience is a crucial part of making a good presentation. Don’t put your focus on selective persons, rather, look around while you speak and look at everybody. This makes the viewer feel that you are paying attention to them and compels them to pay attention to you.

4. BODY LANGUAGE

While making a presentation, confidence is key. If you slouch or make faces you are giving away the seriousness of the matter. Thereby, making your audience feel that its not really important to pay heed as you yourself don’t look too interested. Stand straight, have a smile on your face and don’t let your hands just hang. Make hand gestures and use up the space by moving around. If you are using a podium, don’t lean onto it, rather use it to give your hands a stand. The correct body language will portray positivity to your crowd.

5. STAY ON TRACK

credit

Going off track is one thing but riding on a different track is an entirely different deal altogether. While it is ok to use small stories to connect the content with the audience, it is never ok to tell them a prolonged story, entailing everything. For example, of you’re presenting about KFC it's fine to tell your audience that one time you ate an entire chicken bucket because it's finger licking good. This helps to lighten the mood. But at the same time, if you start a story about that one time when you visited XYZ outlet of KFC with so and so people and ended up eating a whole chicken bucket, the chances are your audience has already been bored and would not pay much attention to whatever you say next.

6. SAVE SOME FOR YOURSELF

  Pointers in presentations help the speaker remember the points to cover. But that never means one has to add all the pointers to their presentation. The moment you change to a slide, within seconds your audience will know everything you are going to talk about. That leaves nothing to the imagination. Always keep one-two pointers in your bag, to woo your audience and show them you have more in you than just the slideshow.  

7. START OFF WITH A BANG

A good start leads to a good ending. Start off by greeting your audience and giving a prolog of what you are going to be presenting about. Just like a movie trailer, you need to make them interested in seeing the whole show. If you start off on a high note, your audience will still pay attention even if your content is not that lucrative. But if you start with in a slouchy manner, even the best content will not be highly applauded. Delivering the perfect speech requires immense practice and a high level of confidence.

8. MAKE THEM SEE MORE AND READ LESS

While it is not practical to create a presentation based on only pictures and videos, the ratio of written content and visual content should be 1:1. Visual content helps the viewer remember the content of the presentation as it stays somewhere in the back of their minds, unlike written content which the viewer reads once and tends to forget in a short span of time.

  

9. MAINTAIN YOUR PACE

Being fluent is one thing and being fast is another. When you deliver your speech, you should be continuous, but not fast. It is essential to give your audience the time to grasp your words. Also, your dialogue should not be monotonous, as in, you should not repeat the same sentences 10 times during your presentation. If you have something new to say, then only your crowd will listen.

10. SOOTHE THE EYES

Colors play a huge role as to how we perceive things and react to them. For example, if you are making a presentation for a company meeting, the color yellow is a better choice as it shows confidence and energy. On the other hand, if you are making a presentation for a motivational talk the color Blue is an ideal choice as it has soothing capabilities. In case, you are not well-acquainted with how to visualize content, you can visit Slidecamp, where you get access to a huge store of Professional Business powerpoint slides, which are ready-to-use.

      Being presentable is compulsory in any social structure. At times, the biggest problem arises due to the speaker’s unfamiliarity with the crowd. Having a perfect presentation is 50% of the task. Presenting it decides how the audience will perceive you and your work. Show confidence when you speak, correct yourself if you speak wrong and always ensure that you show, that you know what you are talking about.

Share this post