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Know
the needs of your audience and match your
contents to their needs. Know your material thoroughly. Put what
you have to say in a logical sequence.
Ensure your presentation will be captivating
to your audience as well as worth their
time and attention.
Practice
and rehearse your presentation
at home or where you can be at ease and
comfortable, in front of a mirror, your
family, friends or colleagues. Use a tape-recorder
and listen to yourself. Videotape your
presentation and analyze it. Know what
your strong and weak points are. Emphasize
your strong points during your presentation.
Present
the desired image to your audience. When
you are presenting in front of an audience,
you are performing similar to an actor
on stage. How you are being perceived
is very important. Dress appropriately
for the occasion. Be solemn if your topic
is serious. Look pleasant, enthusiastic,
confident, proud, but not arrogant. Remain
calm. Appear relaxed, even if you feel
nervous. Speak slowly, enunciate clearly,
and show appropriate emotion and feeling
relating to your topic. Establish rapport
with your audience. Speak to the person
farthest away from you to ensure your
voice is loud enough to project to the
back of the room. Vary the tone of your
voice and dramatize if necessary. If a
microphone is available, adjust and adapt
your voice accordingly.
Body
language is important. Standing,
walking or moving about with appropriate
hand gesture or facial expression is preferred
to sitting down or standing still with
head down and reading from a prepared
speech. Use audio-visual aids or props
for enhancement if appropriate and necessary.
Speak with conviction
as if you really believe in what you are saying. Persuade
your audience effectively. The material you present
orally should have the same ingredients as that which
are required for a written research paper, i.e. a
logical progression from INTRODUCTION (Thesis statement)
to BODY (strong supporting arguments, accurate and
up-to-date information) to CONCLUSION (re-state thesis,
summary, and logical conclusion).
Do
not read from notes for any extended length
of time although it is
quite acceptable to glance at your notes
infrequently. Speak loudly and clearly.
Sound confident. Do not mumble. If you
made an error, correct it, and continue.
No need to make excuses or apologize profusely.
Maintain
sincere eye contact with your audience. Use
the 3-second method -- look straight into
the eyes of a person in the audience for
3 seconds at a time. Have direct eye contact
with a number of people in the audience,
and every now and then glance at the whole
audience while speaking. Use your eye
contact to make everyone in your audience
feel involved.
Speak
to your audience, listen to their questions,
respond to their reactions, adjust and
adapt. If what you have
prepared is obviously not getting across
to your audience, change your strategy
mid-stream if you are well prepared to
do so. Remember that communication is
the key to a successful presentation.
If you are short of time, know what can
be safely left out. If you have extra
time, know what could be effectively added.
Always be prepared for the unexpected.
Pause. Allow
yourself and your audience a little time to
reflect and think. Don't race through your
presentation and leave your audience, as well
as yourself, feeling out of breath.
Add
humor whenever appropriate and possible. Keep
audience interested throughout your entire
presentation. Remember that an interesting
presentation makes time fly, but a boring
speech is always too long to endure even
if the presentation time is the same.
Use
audio-visual aids and props where appropriate. When
using audio-visual aids to enhance your
presentation, be sure all necessary equipment
is set up and in good working order prior
to the presentation. If possible, have
an emergency backup system readily available. Check
out the location ahead of time to ensure
seating arrangements for audience, whiteboard,
blackboard, lighting, location of projection
screen, sound system, etc. are suitable
for your presentation.
Have
handouts ready and give them out at the
appropriate time. Tell
audience ahead of time that you will be
giving out handouts at the conclusion
of your presentation so that they will
not waste time taking unnecessary notes
during your presentation. Know
when to STOP talking. Use
a timer or the microwave oven clock to
time your presentation when preparing
it at home. To end your presentation,
summarize your main points. Terminate
your presentation with an interesting
remark or an appropriate punch line. Leave
your listeners with a positive impression
and a sense of completion. Do not belabor
your closing remarks. Thank your audience. |
