| Tips | 7 Presentation Skills for Dummies

I am very inspired and learnt a lot from these slides on SOAP PRESENTATION and here are 7 Presentation Skills for Dummies (beginners):

1. Always remember, you are not a presenter. You are a story teller.

There is a huge different between being a presenter and being a story teller.When you are being a presenter, your intention is to make sure you say everything you have in mind. But when you are telling a story about your ideas, you make sure your audience understand what you want to say. See the difference?

A story teller would focus on keeping the audience engaged and interested with the GREAT materials that are delivered. This, for me, is the basic point of view everyone has to keep in mind.

2. Smile.

This magic works every-single-time. Do smile from the first time you come in, while you’re doing your presentation, and even after you finished your presentation. Smiling is good for your first impression and it will make your audience receive your message more willingly. When you smile, you spread happiness across the room;people respond to happiness, they respond to you!

3. Keep your eyes on your audience.

You don’t have to really look at them one by one in the eye, but make sure your audience feel like you are talking to them. Look around the room in sequence. Only shift your eyes once you are finish with one part of your points. Example,”This would cause us a huge loss / for every second our website hacked / we lost $800.”

When there are judges, always make them your priority. Look at them, that’s one way to show them you are confident, and people only confident when they’re telling the right information; you make them think what you say is true!

Looking into your audience’s eyes will also make them feel like you are talking to them directly; it will keep them focus on you.

Don’t look at the PPT, only look at it when you want to point something important on your slide.

4. Move your hands.

Help the audience to visualize the point you want to say by making somenecessary hand gestures. When you say big, don’t close your hand, make a big circle using your hand. When you say high, elevate your hand. And don’t forget to keep it open! The most common hand gesture while presenting is The Open Palm:

This hand gesture shows you have nothing to hide and makes the audience tend to agree with what you say. Isn’t that beautiful? Learn more about hand gestures here!

5. Move around the room!

Don’t be afraid to move and conquer your stage. But make sure your movement means something. Example: when you are explaining 3 points on your presentation, stay in position A while explaining your your first point, move to left 2 steps when your explaining your second point, and go back to your first position while explaining the last point. Move one step closer to the judges when you are explaining a really important matter, step back when you’re explaining something surprising. Just move! Then again, make sure it counts.

6. Don’t forget to breathe.

No need to rush your presentation. It is YOUR presentation. The audience can feel your emotion, it is your choice to make it your strength or weaknesses. When you are confident, your audience can feel it, and trust you better. When you are anxious, audience can also feel it, and doubt your presentation.  So one way to boost your positive energy is to breathe. Take a deep breath before you do your presentation and  before you answer judges’ question. When you are not ready, do not rush it. I would personally say, “Sorry, but may I take a little time to think about this matter?”. Rather than showing you’re not prepared, it will make an impression that you do find this question important and you want to answer it correctly. Once you answer the question, don’t stop until you finish.

7. Practice-practice-practice.

I have no word to emphasize how important it is to do your rehearsal before doing your presentation. Going on a presentation without practicing is like going to the mall without wearing any shoes. You may get to the mall, but there is a very BIG BIG BIG CHANCE for you to stumble. And you don’t want that, so do practice your words, intonation, facial expressions, and gestures. Practice EVERYTHING.

Remember that presenting skill can be learnt and practice makes perfect.

YOU can be an expert in presenting!

Hope it helps!

Writer : Stephanie Regina William, author of www.halohanie.blogspot.com – a life enthusiast

“Definitely not a pro in presenting, but recently found a really awesome website discussing about how to present from A to Z.”