To improve presentation skills, allow plenty of time, if at all possible, to find out exactly who will be in your audience. Consider obtaining some of their names, phone numbers and email addresses so you can do a ?survey? or interview to find out more about their needs, challenges and expectations before the day you present. Are they colleagues or clients you've personally invited? What will be the attitude of your participants? In other words, do they want to be there or is attendance mandatory? Are you going to be presenting any ?bad news? or information they may not want to hear?
In my seminars, people often tell me that two of their biggest presentation skills challenges are ?how to handle a hostile audience,? and ?how to present bad news.? If you start by knowing who will be in attendance, what their expectations are, as well as their objections, you can then begin to prepare your presentation. Other than rehearsing, nothing will improve presentation skills more than knowing details about your audience.
Incidentally, studies show that by rehearsing and truly being prepared, you can reduce nervousness by 75%. If you take the word ?rehearse,? and delete the ?se,? what word do you have? ?Rehear.? When you rehearse, you are actually rehearing yourself. In addition, 95% of the success of your presentation is determined before you present. So knowing something about your audience, and then rehearsing the information, will greatly improve presentation skills.
Your main source of information will be the individual who invited you to speak. When you ask questions, it also gives the impression that you're conscientious and meticulous in planning and preparation. Also, find out if there are any issues sensitive to the group or topics to be avoided. What about any cultural differences or language barriers?
Before I give a keynote speech or lead a breakout session at a conference, I inquire about getting a list of all attendees, their phone numbers and email addresses. I like to ?interview? at least 3 people who will be attending. Often times they'll come up with other pertinent issues that the contact person may not have known about or simply forgot to mention.
If your presentation is to a client, or potential new client, keep apprised of their company news, goals and objectives. What is an average work day like for the participants in your audience? What are their greatest challenges? And if applicable, how does your product or service help solve their problem?
Presentation skills = defining your purpose. Ask yourself, ?What is my purpose in being here?? And, ?Why are they here?? Everyone is always tuned in to ?Radio Station WIIFM,? which stands for, ?What's in it for me?!? So, how does what you're talking about address their problem, the ?what's in it for me??
In addition to interviewing individuals ahead of your presentation, do ?meets and greets? if time permits. Get to know people one-on-one right before your talk. It will calm your nerves and you'll no longer see them as total strangers. Also, it shows you're taking an interest in them. Often by talking one-on-one beforehand, you discover a wealth of new information you may want to bring up in your presentation.
In improving your presentation skills by knowing your audience ahead of time, here are some questions to ask yourself:
? What is the attitude of the audience? Do they want to be there? ? What are their approximate ages? ? What is the percentage of males to females? ? What are their levels of education? ? What is their technical expertise? ? What about their geographic locations in terms of home base? ? What about their cultural make up?
Remember, 95% of your presentation skills success is determined before your presentation. What do you know about your audience? How can you incorporate that information into the tailoring of your presentation? The work is in the preparation, the fun is in the performance.
Copyright 2006 Colleen Kettenhofen
If there's one skillset that can help you position yourself for career success, it's presentation skills. That's because in today's highly competitive workplace, it's not enough just to be competent - you need to be seen to be competent. And the best way to do that is to present as often as you reasonably can to as many appropriate audiences as possible. To do this successfully, of course, your presentation skills must be at least better than average.
Have you ever noticed that when some people speak up at a meeting, or in another group conversation setting, everyone listens - while others make almost no impact? Think of someone in your organization who always commands attention, whose views are always respected. Now isn't it true that that person possesses good presentation skills?
Now think of someone whose ideas tend to be ignored, who almost seems not to have spoken at all. I'm willing to bet that person's presentation skills are at the opposite end of the competency level - am I right?
I once knew an engineer with a brilliant mind. He had been with his company for many years, and had played an important part in designing innovative new products. But he never progressed into the senior management ranks to which he aspired, and I'm convinced that was largely because he regularly put people to sleep making his presentations! The powers that be never really understood how brilliant he was, because their eyes glazed over before he was halfway through his story. What a shame - what a waste.
Now here's the big question. Where do your presentation skills fall on the scale of excellent to poor? Do you speak up with confidence at meetings? When you're asked for your opinion, can you give it without mumbling and stumbling your way through it? Do people pay attention when you speak?
In my presentation skills workshops, I always tell people this big secret: if you present well, people think you do everything well! If that's true (and my experience tells me it is), then think what improving your presentation skills can do for your career!
If you've come up with an idea for process improvement, for example, try to arrange to be the person who presents it to the appropriate individuals. Make sure you prepare your message well, practice your presentation until you could do it if you were suddenly awakened at 3 a.m. Present your ideas competently and confidently. The interesting thing is that they won't just notice you did a great presentation, they'll see how valuable an employee you are to have come up with such a brilliant idea!
If you want to improve your job performance and your career prospects at the same time, work on your presentation skills.
Both Colleen Kettenhofen & Helen Wilkie are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Colleen Kettenhofen has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Difficult people and Leadership. Colleen Kettenhofen is a motivational speaker, workplace expert, & co-author of "The Masters of Success," as featured on the Today Show, along with Ken Blanchard and Jack Canfield.. Colleen Kettenhofen's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
Helen Wilkie has sinced written about articles on various topics from Writing, self improvement and motivation and Finances. Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker, workshop leader and author specializing in communication. Call 416-966-5023 for information on her presentation skills workshops. Subscribe to Helen's no-cost monthly e-zine, "Communi-keys", at. Helen Wilkie's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.