Key Essential Ways For Developing Effective Presentation Skills

Delivering a presentation can be difficult, exciting, energy-draining, fun, or all four together. The ability to give a persuasive presentation is a tremendous career booster for a person. For many individuals the first important presentation they deliver might be to the selection committee. It might be labelled as a “job interview” but it’s really a presentation. Success rides on their presentation outshining the competition. Presentation can be defined as a formal event characterized by teamwork and use of audio-visual aids. A presentation is a means of communication which can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team. To be effective, step-by-step preparation and the method and means of presenting the information should be carefully considered. The main purpose of presentation is to give information, to persuade the audience to act and to create goodwill. A good presentation should have a good subject matter, should match with the objective, should best fit the audience, and should be well organized. Some of the key essential points that a person must kept in mind before giving a presentation are:

1. Preparation is the most important thing you can do before a presentation in order to do a good job during the presentation. The speaker must plan how to begin the presentation, what to speak in the middle of presentation and how to end the presentation without losing audience interests at any point of time.
2. Rehearse and practice the presentation. This will help the speaker to be more confident and self-assured. The more the speaker rehearses the better the presentation turns to be. Communicate ideas and facts verbally in a clear and organized way. Adjusts style, tone, and level of verbal communication to fit the audience and situation.
3. A detailed audience analysis must be made before the presentation, i.e., an analysis of the needs, age, educational background, language, and culture of the target audience. Their body language instantly gives the speaker the required feedback.
4. A good presentation should be concise and focused on the topic and should have the potential to convey the required information. It should not move off-track.
5. To communicate the desired information, the speaker should use more of visual aids such as transparencies, diagrams, pictures, charts, etc. Each transparency or slide should contain limited and essential information only and no slide should be kept on for a longer time. Organize all the visuals for making a logical and sound presentation.
6. The speaker should encourage more questions from the audience. He should be honest enough to answer those questions. If any biased question is put forth by the audience, rearticulate it before answering. Summarise the presentation at the end and give final comments.

Business leaders and managers are often expected to present their message with confidence and clarity to staff, clients, partners, investors and sometimes the public. Thus developing good presentation skills is as important as gaining relevant experience in a business organization. Experience develops one’s wisdom, strengthens one’s knowledge, but in order to make it obvious, there is a need for powerful presentation. Visit www.asiapacific.edu for details.