Presentation skills - Presenting Yourself

Imagine you have been asked to present for one hour to three hundred people. You are now standing backstage, peeping through the curtains and are waiting for your cue. You see the audience chatting and waiting expectantly for your entrance.

Are you feeling nervous? You are not alone, in a recent survey where 3,000 adults in the United States were asked to list their ten worst fears. Speaking in public came out as their number one fear - above even fears of financial ruin and death!

In fact, a certain amount of nervousness is vital to making successful presentations - it gives you some very useful adrenaline, which you need to be at your best.

Interestingly, when required, most people learn to face their fear, perform the presentation well AND survive in the process. All you need is to plan it well, apply some everyday skills, add some new knowledge, practice a lot and DO IT.

The Plan

Before you begin, it is important to be very clear about why you are presenting. Who are your audience? Think carefully about what you wish to achieve and what your audience will gain from your presentation.

How do you want the audience to feel during and after your session? Do you require them to feel motivated or excited, do you want them to perform some different action after the session or perhaps you want them to buy something?

Decide the key points you need to put across during this presentation to achieve your outcomes. We know that the human brain generally holds between five and nine pieces of information in their conscious minds at any one time. So decide what your 'jewels' are and keep these to five or less points, if possible.

From research we know that people tend to remember the start and the end of presentations more than the middle. This is why you may have heard the old adage, "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you have told them".

This repetition ensures your audience have had an opportunity to take in the important information whenever they are at their peak concentration levels. Plan your 'jewels' in this way so that by repetition the audience take on the messages you want them to.

First Impressions

A new audience will sum you up in seconds. You can help to manage what kind of first impression people create about you. This is important because their first impression will determine whether they:

1. Listen to you
2. Believe you
3. Want to go along with your ideas

The first three minutes are vital here:

• Decide what impression you want to give. Dress accordingly!
• Plan your opening moment; this must have maximum impact For example. A slow walk may communicate calm confidence; a fast walk may communicate energy.
• Make eye contact with everyone in the first few minutes and smile.
• Plan your opening perfectly and rehearse it until perfect.

Variety

For people to enjoy and remember your presentation, variety is essential. Think about your voice, your pace, tone and how you can use emphasis to help you. This powerful tool can help you create an emotional impact on your audience?

We need to stimulate as many senses as possible in order for effective learning to take place. What visuals can we use to help the audience understand fully the message we are putting across? Visuals must be big and bold in order to stimulate the audience in a different way.

Add activities, questions, anecdotes, stories, and humour, all these could be used very effectively to vary your presentation and add more interest.

I recently used a story in order to introduce the topic of congruence to a group of Managers and as I looked around the room, I noticed how people were hanging on my every word until I finished the story. It truly is a powerful way of gaining full attention of the group as well as helping them understand the topic at many levels.

Practice

When you enjoy listening to the best presenters today, you will probably be aware that this wasn't their very first presentation. It takes practice in order to achieve excellence in anything and the art of presenting is no exception.

You can shortcut your pathway to excellence by spending some time practising these skills:

Voice

• Control your breathing
• Project, don't shout
• Vary the pitch, tone and volume
• Speak clearly
• Use pause for punctuation
• Use questions

Body

• Use controlled gestures to emphasise and illustrate your words
• Standing still, moving with purpose
• · Posture

Practice

• Use you mind, visualise your successful presentations
• Use a mirror, notice your body language and its effects
• Use a video and give yourself feedback, what worked what didn't
• Ask a group of friends to watch you and give you feedback (this is the most effective way of learning as you will have an idea of your effects on others).

Emotional State

Examine your nerves, what is the fear? What is the likelihood of it happening, what if it does? Know your role and reasons for talking. Know your subject area. Just before you speak visualise the successful presentations not your fear. Regulate your breathing to help you relax. Relax your face and muscles. Show your enthusiasm in your body movements even if it feels you are going over the top - you have probably got it right. Use your voice to punch home key words.

Emotional state applies as much for your audience as it does to you. When they are at their 'peak' they are more likely to take in and remember your presentation. The best presenters are able to keep their audience in a 'peak' state for more of the time.

Nervous or not, you can enjoy presenting. Acting is a nice way to tackle presentations. Just act as if you were confident, enjoying yourself and enthusiastic - it works!

About the author

Katerina Hajivassiliou is a Training Consultant with Kaizen Training. She is a qualified Business and Master Practitioner of NLP with 10 years experience in the Pharmaceutical industry.

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