Seven Simple Yet Powerful Ways To Improve Your Presentation
You have a task before you. You've been asked to give a presentation at a conference or at a professional meeting in front of your many colleagues. You now have to craft and prepare an informative yet compelling presentation. One thing you are certain of, you know and are confident with the material. That is not the problem.
The problem and issue are "HOW" to share it. How to package the presentation in such a way that is compelling and engaging for your audience? Here are some tips that might help.
Share real and authentic stories. Avoid just sharing facts and information. Share inspiration. Stories compel and captivate your audience. They are more likely to remember your story than facts and figures.
Entertain as much as inform. Have fun and use humor with your presentation. If you are enjoying your presentation it is likely your audience will too.
Avoid "death by powerpoint". Don't fill up powerpoint slides with wordy text and outlines that you end up simply reading to the audience.
Set expectations at the beginning. Forecast for your audience what you are going to cover and your presentation's expected outcomes.
Don't abuse the time. Don't go over your designated time. People will stop listening to you once you go long and abuse the time you have.
Provide your audience with at least one tangible takeaway. You must answer the question for your audience, "So What?" In other words, what difference or improvement will what they just heard make in their life.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repetition is the key for your audience to learn. Repetition makes what you said, STICKY!
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