You've been asked to make a presentation before a group. If this is you first time, or if you haven't made many presentations you automatically feel the grip of fear that almost everyone feels. Depending on the subject, or the audience, you may have that same grip, regardless of your experience.
Fear of public speaking is one of the most universal fears that we have. There are a few things you can do to make your presentation a success, regardless of your experience.
1. Almost everyone feels nervous just before starting - this is normal, you won't die and the nervous feeling usually fades within 60 seconds of starting. Don't let the butterflies get the better of you.
2. Take some deep breaths just before starting your presentation, this oxygenates your blood and helps your brain, which hopefully will help you get focused and get through those first 60 seconds.
3. Know your material. This can't be emphasized enough. Winging it will almost always allow for distractions and usually it is obvious to your audience that you aren't prepared. You can only blow smoke for so long before it becomes apparent that you don't know what you are talking about. Know your material THOROUGHLY. Go over it repeatedly until you can deliver the information from a knowledge base, then if you get distracted it will be easier to get back on track.
4. Rotate your eye contact every 2-7 seconds and look people directly in the eyes. You will find this is a powerful method to build audience engagement. It also lowers your own anxiety as you will be directing your comments at one person instead of thinking about the larger audience. Pay special attention to your supervisor if there is one present. Don't forget the back of the room or the wings.
5. If you are using technology have a plan B in mind if it were to fail. I have seen this happen all too often and when it does it often throws the speaker completely off track. Think about it ahead of time and be able to move forward in spite of these difficulties. This builds your credibility and enhances your image in the eyes of your supervisors, which is a nice benefit of something that could be a disaster.
6. "Leave them longing rather than loathing." This was often quoted to me by a former parishioner and she was right. Keep track of your time and make sure you stay within the allotted time frame for your presentation. Going over your time is one of the most frustrating things you can do both for audiences and event organizers. You may feel like your content is worth it, but likely there are many others who won't agree. Leave them longing rather than loathing.
7. Be organized. Make sure your material is presented in a sequence which is easy for an audience to grasp. This is why so many people use points, e.g. point 1, point 2, etc. People like to see patterns and understand sequence at an emotional level. Your organization can contribute to their understanding your material or being so confused that they go away empty.
8. If you are presenting a lot of material, especially to a large group, consider using a teleprompter application for your tablet (e.g. PrompSmart for iPad). I've done this and find it can be extremely useful, especially if it has voice recognition and moves the text forward as you speak.
9. Jokes are good, especially at the start, to ease everyone into the presentation. However, if the joke is off color or offensive in any way it will overshadow anything else you say and damage your credibility. Make sure you look at the joke from the receiving end and consider whether it could be offensive. Better no joke than an offensive joke, this goes double for off-color jokes.
10. Examples and illustrations spread through out the presentation help communicate with the audience and lets them identify with you or the material. It helps make sense of large amounts of data. You can overdo this, refer to point 6 above.
No comments:
Post a Comment