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.