You’ve got your notes, you’ve finished your slides and you know everything there is to know about the subject you have to present. You may think you’re ready to go out on stage, but there’s still many factors that could turn a great speech into a mediocre mess, leaving your audience lukewarm to whatever you have to say. Follow these tips and you’ll be giving excellent presentations with ease.
Practice Makes Perfect
For starters, you have to practice your speech. This is an absolute must. The old saying that “practice makes perfect” is completely true and if you want to give an effective speech without stumbling over your words, it’s advice worth following. If you know what you want to say and how you are going to say it, then you will feel much more confident when it comes time to deliver. Plus, practicing helps you to catch any mistakes before they can happen on stage. You want to be careful about flat out memorizing your speech though, as it will come across as too rehearsed or could cause you to speak too fast for the audience to understand.
And when you do practice, make sure to time yourself. You don’t need a stopwatch, just a general idea. You want to make sure you’re not going too rapidly or that your presentation isn’t dragging on and on. You should know prior to the speech how long you are expected to present, so make sure you’re just right, with time allotted for audience questions if need be.
Nip those Nerves in the Bud
It’s okay if you are the type of person who gets stage fright easily; not everybody is comfortable with speaking in front of a large group. However, you can’t let your audience know that you have stage fright or you will lose them completely. When you step up to speak, remember to breathe. If you are nervous you’ll have a tendency to talk too fast, so remember to pause every once in awhile to slow down and catch your breath.
It helps to find something in the room to focus on so you don’t get overwhelmed. When possible, try to make eye contact with various members of the audience (or fake it by directing your gaze to the forehead right above their eye line.) Doing this will keep the audience’s attention more and help you to calm down by allowing you to imagine having a one-on-one conversation. Just don’t stare! Also, it’s a good idea to make eye contact with a few different people throughout your presentation instead of singling out just one audience member.
If appropriate, try opening with a joke. Getting a room full of people to laugh will greatly reduce your nervousness and will allow you to connect with them right away.
Know What You’re Speaking About
They say that confidence is sexy and while that might not hold exactly true in a presentation situation, it is still very important factor. From the moment you take the podium you are presenting yourself as an expert on whatever subject you will be speaking on. Even if this isn’t the case, you can never let your audience in on it. You should speak with confidence as if you were one.
Make sure you keep your notes handy in case you need to clarify or answer a difficult question. Also don’t try to re-write your speech when you step up on stage. A little wiggle room for improvisation is fine; just don’t decide to change the entire focus of your presentation at the last minute. It’s just an invitation for more “ums” and “ahs” to find their way into your sentences.
If you prepare yourself properly you should have no problem giving a professional quality presentation. After all, thousands of people do this every day with great success. Be ready to blow them away the next time you stand up to speak.
