Public speaking can be daunting whether you’re delivering a presentation to a small group or hosting a webinar for hundreds of people. If you’re looking for some presentation tips and tricks to help you get through your next big presentation or webinar, keep reading for some practical presentation tips. Giving a presentation can be a nerve-wracking experience, but there are some things you can do to boost your confidence and calm your nerves. Here are seven presentation tips to help you out
1: Define Your Goals
Are you giving a presentation or webinar soon? If you are new to presenting or you have been doing it for a while, take the time to define your goal. Here are some presentation tips to help you with your goals:
a. Know your audience. Focus your content on them to ensure they stay engaged and understand you.
b. Keep it simple! Choose one or two points you want to pass across and ensure everything in your presentation supports those points. Trying to cover too much ground will only confuse and overwhelm your audience.
Here are a few questions to help you keep your presentation clear and concise.
- Who is your target audience?
- What is your presentation about?
- What do you want your audience to take away from it?
- What key points do they need to hear from you?
- How do you need to say it to pass your message clearly
- What should you avoid so you do not confuse your audience?
Hanne Keiling writes in an article on Indeed to try and keep your main ideas to three or fewer key points. Defining your goals will help you focus your presentation and ensure your webinar or presentation is successful.
2: Identify Keywords Or Key Phrase
Choosing specific keywords or phrases to use is a practical tip. Think about the words or phrases that are most important to your presentation and make sense to the audience. Practicing these key phrases makes it easier to connect with your audience when presenting or running a webinar. Keep these key phrases to a small number to ensure you don’t forget any of them and don’t overdo it by trying to do them all.
3: Practice Your Opening Line And Closing Statement.
This third presentation tip will help to calm your nerves on the day of your presentation. Knowing your opening and closing lines will help you ease into your presentation or webinar and end it as you wish. Practice these lines several times before the event to get used to them.
4: Practice Your Presentation From Beginning To End Without Aid.
The best way to get comfortable with your presentation is to practice it from beginning to end without referring to any notes. The more you do this, the more confident you’ll feel when it’s time to present. Practicing your presentation multiple times will help you get more comfortable with the material and help you deliver a more polished presentation.
5: Record Yourself Presenting Without Stopping.
This fifth step is crucial to calming your pre-presentation jitters and helping your anxiety during your presentation or webinar. It is one of the best presentation tips that will boost your confidence.
Record your practice presentation or webinar without stopping, even if it sounds foolish or you think your presentation is terribly off the mark.
Next, review your recording, and you will observe a few things.
One of the things you will notice is that your presentation did not go as you planned it word for word. You should note that even though your presentation didn’t go according to plan, it made sense.
Your self-perception of what you think you say is not often the same as how others hear you. When preparing for a presentation or webinar, you know what you want to say before you express it to your audience. However, when you are presenting, you are likely not articulating your thoughts in the same way as your preparation, but it will still make a lot of sense to your audience. This is normal and to be expected.
You will notice you communicated your message well, much better than expected. The insights you gain from reviewing your recording will help you understand that you can convey your message well. This realization alone will boost your confidence.
You should also record your observations as you review your recorded presentation to remind yourself that you did well when you felt nervous about the event.
6: Pump yourself up!
One of the most critical presentation tips to help you just before you present is to pump yourself up! Focus on building your confidence in the days and weeks leading up to your event.
You want to create the right atmosphere for yourself. So, surround yourself with things that will help you calm your nerves and motivate you. You don’t want to entertain any doubts or fears about what people may think of you — instead, focus on the positive and remind yourself that you’re going to do great. You can also use the recording from your observation to remind yourself you did a good job before.
7: Do Not Be Too Hard On Yourself.
The last thing you want to do is to be one of the voices talking negatively about yourself. Feedback is good, but destructive self-talk will not help your career or business. If you will be giving presentations or speaking publicly, give yourself the time and practice you need to develop a confident demeanor. Instead of thinking about all the ways you could fail, focus on what you need to do to succeed.
Remember that everyone has their version of success, and there is no “right” way to achieve it. Be proud of your accomplishments and skills, and use them to project confidence to your audience.
When giving presentations, it’s normal to feel a bit (or a lot) nervous. After all, you want to make a good impression and ensure that your audience enjoys and understands your presentation.
But do not worry. There are some things you can do to calm your nerves and make sure your presentation goes off without a hitch. These seven presentation tips will help calm your nerves and boost your confidence. With these tips, you can deliver an impressive and successful presentation.
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Originally published at https://boldandageless.com
