A colleague recently asked me what I consider to be the 2 key elements of good presentation skills. Here is my response:
THINK ABOUT YOUR
PRESENTATION FROM THE AUDIENCE’S POINT OF VIEW
A presentation is not about you dumping everything you know
about a topic on the audience. You have
to consider what the audience needs to know – what is important to them and why
should they care about your topic.
Follow what I call The Golden Rule
of Communications™ - communicate unto others as THEY want to be
communicated to, not as YOU want to be communicated to.
Thinking about your presentation from the audience’s point
of view helps you to organize your material and make sure your message is
customized to this specific audience, including visuals, examples, stories,
etc. It also allows you to figure out
what to eliminate so you make sure you stay within your time limit.
PRACTICE
Don’t expect that you can just throw together some slides
the night before a presentation and just “wing it.” Most people will be
unsuccessful. Effective, clear and
memorable presentations take more practice than that, especially if there is something
different about the presentation (new content, in front of a new audience, in a
new environment) or if it’s high stakes (in front of the Board of Directors or
your key client).
Practice by speaking the words out loud in as close to the
real environment as possible (standing, in a conference room, using a remote to
control the slides, etc.) and making sure you can communicate your ideas
clearly within the time limit. It also
helps to record yourself (audio or video) and review.
And if I could add a third element, it would be CONFIDENCE. Believe that you have something
worth saying (and I’m assuming that you do) and that you are the right person
to share that message with this particular audience. Make sure that your words and your body language
communicate confidence and trust that your preparation and your practice will
allow you to deliver the best presentation you can under the
circumstances.
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