Last week, I attended 3 network events in 3 days. I found it interesting how each presenter had his/her own style. One presentation was very poorly done, one was excellent and the other was in the middle. Attending these presentations made me think of the keys to giving a successful presentation.
- As a speaker you need to have energy and capture the audience’s attention. For example the one speaker I saw immediately walked into the middle of the crowd and started to engage the audience with an energetic style of speaking.
- Know your topic inside and out, be prepared to answer all questions that you feel may be asked. One of the presenters was representing a business social networking solution and he was knowledgeable about one use of the solution but had very little knowledge of the solutions’ other uses. The problem was most of the attendees were not looking to learn about recruitment so the speaker lost most of the listeners quickly.
-Educate your audience, ideally you want your attendees to be writing down tips to use in their business. While preparing your presentation ensure you think hard about the tips you want the attendees to learn while listening.
- Don’t speak over the knowledge base of your audience but don’t speak under as well. One of the presentations last week was presented by a good speaker but I found the content was too simple and there was few take a ways for listeners.
- Tell stories during your presentation, your own experiences are very powerful and engages the audience to listen and understand the concept you are trying to explain.
- Use humor wherever possible, this loosens up the audience and engages them more to the presentation.
Speaking is definitely an art and some are naturally talented. Next time you are in a presentation analyze the speaker and I bet you will find the presenter uses at least one of the tactics above, if not enjoy the snooze or sneak out without getting noticed.
