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Fine Tuning Your Presentation Skills

Guest post by: Andrew Bailey

Article Overview: In management, you are expected to have reasonable presentation skills. There a a few simple things you can do that will make the whole task a lot easier.

Fine Tuning Your Presentation Skills

In management, you are expected to have reasonable presentation skills. Unfortunately, most managers that I have ever known, their presentation skills were at the very least, quite poor. Many business presentations that I have attended, the presenter relied too much on a Powerpoint presentation and basically hid behind that. Many companies wont spend the time or money to train people internally to give these necessary presentations. However, if you are one of these managers who is called on to make business presentations regularly or every now and then but find it hard, there a a few simple things you can do that will make the whole task a lot easier. To start with, you have to remember that there are two different parts to every presentation. The first is:

Composition. That simply is the organizing, creating and structuring ideas etc.

The second is:

Delivery. That includes the presenting, the mind set, the vision, the problem solving, all of which is your stage presence.

If you deliver it with passion, then you should be exhausted after it and hopefully your audience will have been educated and hopefully entertained to some degree.

Maybe one of the most important tips anyone ever gave me was to never copy anyone. Be yourself and create your own style. That way you will never be compared to anyone else who might be a better presenter than you when you clearly are trying to copy them.

With your Powerpoint presentation, try to keep the word count per slide as few as possible. You want to make a point with each slide and not to get the reader lost in a lot of text. Some well known speakers when they use Powerpoint, they have as few as 10 words per slide but I have seen some with 40, 50 and maybe even 70 words per slide. You will lose your audience very quickly. Try and keep the font size between 50 and 60 and that will stop you from using too many words.

I have never been a fan of bullet points because that tempts you to use too many words. It's so old fashioned now as well. Whenever I see them I think back to being in High School and how the teachers always bullet pointed everything on the blackboard (yes blackboard, not whiteboard..I'm getting on a bit I know). Also, try and use words that will move people to action such as: "go" instead of "going". It will make your presentation more powerful and will stimulate someone to action now! As much as possible, keep away from using industry related "buzzwords". The simple reason being, you might have someone in your audience who is new to your company and you will lose them if you use too many terms that they are not familiar with yet. You also will look like a bit of a tool if you use too many fancy sounding words which you feel might impress someone as to your wealth of knowledge about the subject you are presenting.

Try and use different visuals as well to be a little different. If you need any ideas, check out some image sites or some creative commons sites that will get the creative juices flowing a little.

Above all else, try to be original and a little imaginative with your presentation. By fine tuning your presentation skills and by using your Powerpoint presentation to compliment rather than overshadow, your next presentation will be a little easier to deliver.

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Article Tags: business presentations, powerpoint presentations, presentation skills



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