Presentation Skills

Presentation skills

INTRODUCTION ⦿ Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill to get your message across. ⦿ Presentation skills are helpful not just n formal capacity but good presentation and public speaking skills can help you advance your career and create opportunities.

⦿ Presentation skills are important to both individual success and business success.

● The secret ingredient to success as a speaker is simply the ability to look at an argument from the other person’s point of view.

● If you can master this ability to anticipate reaction, predict impact and think about what would bring out the most optimum reaction from your audience, impact becomes a byproduct every single time.

WAYS TO IMPROVE

There are steps that can be taken to improve one’s presentation skills: 1. SUBJECT & PREPARATION

⦿ Research and have facts to supplement your speech. Create an outline, and once you’ve prepared your presentation, don’t be afraid to revise. ⦿ To develop your presenting skills and increase confidence you must prepare, practice and learn from each presentation.

2. FOCUS ⦿ No one is impressed by a presentation that rambles. Rambling happens when the speaker is both self-indulgent and unorganised. ⦿ Your purpose and prose must be specifically directed to interests of your listeners or they will mentally shut you down.

3. ENTHUSIASM

⦿ If you’re not interested in your subject then no-one else stands a chance. You must bring some enthusiasm to your talk.

⦿ Be enthusiastic about your topic, it will help get your audience excited. Try and feel the adrenaline from your nerves as a positive and use it to give yourself some energy.

4. USE MEDIA ONLY TO ENHANCE ⦿ PowerPoint, visuals and video are powerful presentation tools when used correctly. But they can be disastrous distractions when misused. ⦿ They should never replace you as the provider of expertise. ⦿ Ask yourself if a slide or video is truly necessary before adding anything.

5. TOASTMASTER ● The word “toastmaster” refers to a person who proposed the toasts and introduced the speakers at a banquet.

● Toastmasters International is an educational (nonprofit) organization with mission to teach communication, public speaking and leadership skills. Headquartered in California it has more than 280,000 members in 116 countries.

IMPORTANCE OF PRESENTATION SKILLS

⦿ ENSURE GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION In business (as well as in life), making a good first impression can have a profound impact on the success or failure of a business. Presentations are usually the very first instance where potential clients and investors get to know your business. And most of the time, you only have one shot to make things right. As such, you need strong presentation skills to persuade your audience. ⦿ BUILD TRUST FOR OUR BUSINESS Perhaps by now you know that business is all about building trust. And for people to trust your business, you need to show them that you are trustworthy, reliable, and knowledgeable. This can be achieved by developing good presentation skills.

⦿ AVOID MISUNDERSTANDINGS Strong presentation skills help convey your message well. Through good communication and use of concise, well-presented and informative props, you can avoid potential misunderstandings or misinformation. With your presentation skills, your audience will leave your presentations informed and with clear understanding of your message. ⦿ SHOWCASE GOOD ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS How you organize your presentation speaks a lot about how you run and manage your business (as well as your personal life). By improving your presentation skills, you can show your audience that you are capable of running and managing the business. Structure your presentation well, so that all topics are given ample amount of time and the audience is also given time to digest inputs and ask questions

⦿ KEY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS Last and most importantly, presentation skills are vital to business success! Some of the most successful businesses were built by excellent presenters. Steve Jobs, a prolific presenter, used his presentation skills to bring Apple to its peak. For every presentation he made, Jobs effectively conveyed his messages bringing about success to his business.