My Presentation Questions

One of the times I find difficult when giving a presentation is dealing with questions.

One of my presentation techniques I use to handle difficult questions is to agree with the questioner to relax the audience and remove some of the heat from the question.

Listen to the question carefully. Pause for a second and then say, “I agree, there is a lot in what you say, but …”
This technique tends to calm down an irritated questioner and makes him feel that they are sensible and that you agree with much of what they have had to say. Avoid answering to quickly or you may appear to be too clever. The audience wants to be able to relate to the presenter.

My Presentation Tips

Here some more of my presentation tips to help your presentations to be more effective;-

1. Remember, you will feel more nervous than you appear to your audience. And the audience is on your side, they know how hard it is to get up there and present. They are glad it is not them up there.

2. The audience is looking for something from you that is of benefit to them. They are not expecting a word perfect oratory. If you make a mistake. So what. Move on. No-one in the audience will remember it anyway, and that's if they noticed.

3. Be brief. Present what you are there to present and then sit down. In my presentation experience, no-on has been annoyed too much that the presentation was short.

My Presentation Tips

My presentation top tips to become an effective presenter and public speaker are:-

1. Be well prepared. This involves researching your audience (if you don't know them), determining your purpose for giving the presentation. A presentation given without a purpose ends up of being little use for you or your audience. Choose a topic that interests you and you can make interesting to the audience.

2. Rehearse and practice. Practice aloud and often as you need to, so you are comfortable presenting. If possible rehearse in the room you are to present. It will help you get familiar with the surroundings.

3. Use presentation slides to support your presentation. Keep the presentation slides simple, use graphics where you can to give eye appeal. Keep words to a minimum.

My Presentation Slides

The biggest improvement to my presentation skills came when I took the time to prepare and practice before standing up to present. Previously I used to fill my presentation slides with as much data and words as I could and use the PowerPoint slides as my notes or even my speech depending how badly prepared I was.

You can get through your presentation using this method, but it is boring to the audience and not really satisfying. By being properly prepared the presentation slides have become a support to my presentation rather than the other way round. The slides add another point of interest for the audience, while I confidently deliver my presentation.

It was daunting at first, but it can be overcome quickly with a little effort.

My Presentation Effectiveness

Along with practicing and rehearsing, preparation will do the most to help you relax and reduce mistakes when giving a presentation.

Preparation - being well prepared has helped my presentation effectiveness. It makes it easier to to present because you know your topic and your speech. It helps to build the self confidence.

The first step I take when preparing my presentation is to determine what it is I want to achieve from giving it. Do I want to inform or persuade, i.e. "to tell" or "to sell". What action do I want them to take at the end of the presentation.

Next is to understand the audience. I do this by asking questions such as What do the audience know about the subject of my presentation? What is their age, gender, education etc?

My Presentation Skills

Presentation skills training and courses helped my presentation skills. Where you get the opportunity to learn and present in a supportive environment. The training does need to be run by a professional who wants to help you overcome your presentation nerves. By making your mistakes in an environment where it does not matter as much also helps. But probably more than any other human activity, presentation skills are improved by doing.

Remember your audience wants you to succeed, they know how hard it can be to present and are glad it is not them. Also, you will feel more nervous than you appear to your audience.

Being well prepared will help to settle nerves and build self-confidence. It helps build a logical reason for confidence to counter the nerves.

My Presentation Tips

Over the years I have worked on improving my presentation skills. I am still learning as I go. It has not come easy to me, being a quiet sort of person and not one to chase after of the limelight. Being able give an effective presentation can really help get stuff done and promote yourself as well.

So here are the tips that helped improve my presentation skills from being a nervous wreck to someone who can now give an effective presentation.

Overcoming Presentation Nerves - almost everyone has them. Unfortunately I have yet hear of an overnight cure for them. They become more manageable with more experience in giving presentations. Presentation skills training is a great way to learn to overcome them.