Opportunities such as pitching your products to a potential client, explaining your business plans to a business partner, or promoting your brand at an event usually require a presentation. However, public speaking can be nerve-wracking, but it doesn’t have to be! With good preparation, practice, and confidence, you’ll be delivering empowering presentations with ease in no time.
Whether you’re giving a speech to thousands or explaining home loans to potential buyers, it’s ideal to step in front of your audience with your best foot forward. Remember that your presentation skills are just as critical as the information you’re sharing.
To help you condition yourself to deliver a successful pitch—here are five techniques you should practice bringing your presentation skills to the next level.
Research Your Audience
Knowing your audience’s needs and preferences beforehand can help you tailor your presentation to those things and explain how your product, service, or company can help solve their specific issues. If you’re going to present at a large event, try sending a questionnaire to a couple of individuals attending before structuring your presentation.
Structure Your Presentation
In essence, presentations should start with your speech’s benefits, the advantages to the audience, then present and review.
To help you create a straightforward yet impactful presentation, considering following this structure:
- Opening — Always start your presentations by making an emotional connection with your audience. You can do this by telling a personal story, asking a question, or saying an unusual fact to grab their attention.
- Body — For a presentation to be effective, engaging with your audience is better than telling them everything you know. Additionally, it’s wise to acknowledge competitors or arguments as it’ll make you seem more credible.
- Closing — When wrapping things up, remember to always end on an optimistic forecast, allowing your speech to stick with your audience’s minds.
Practice But Don’t Memorize
Rehearsing or practicing your presentation several times is going to be crucial, but never memorize the script. That’s because learning your speech can make you sound monotonous and over-rehearsed. So, take the time to practice whenever you can in front of a friend or colleague. You can also record yourself while doing your presentation to see where you can improve.
Speak To Your Demographic The Right Way
When presenting, ensure you’re matching the semantics of your audience as closely as you can, meaning try to speak their ‘language.’ For instance, if you’re selling smartphones, your semantics is going to be very different from if you’re pitching a sale for a home.
Don’t Forget Body Language
An often neglected aspect of a proper presentation is body language. The most crucial one to remember is to make eye contact with one person in your audience at a time rather than going through them. Additionally, standing at a comfortable distance presupposes a personal to a social relationship.
Be Short and Concise
Remember that every person’s time is valuable, so don’t drag your presentation for too long. If you can present everything you need to in half of the allotted time, do it. Moreover, ensure that you’re sharing only vital information and don’t add in too many fillers as it can bore your audience and lose their interests.
Remember that even if you’re not the most eloquent speaker in the world, following the techniques mentioned and being genuinely passionate about the practice can bring you far—allowing you to deliver memorable and empowering speeches while sprucing up your skills.
