Presentation Tips
Implement a Few of These Tips to Help Improve Your Presentation

Approach Your Presentation with Humility
Even if you are the keynote speaker, this is an opportunity for you to serve your audience. Don’t view a presentation as a chance to show off.

Know Your Audience
Learn as much as you can about your audience’s demographics. What are their ages? How many people will be there? Will they have eaten recently? How can they learn from you? What can you offer them? Chris Witt, a San Diego speaking coach encourages speakers to plan their presentation from the audience’s perspective. “Address their concerns. Speak to their interests, values, and aspirations.”

Make Yourself Easy to Understand
Although you want to use vivid, powerful, language--keep it simple. Talk conversationally with your audience. Witt adds, “Avoid jargon, words, or concepts they don’t understand. (If you have to use unfamiliar words, explain them immediately.)”

Connect Emotionally with Your Audience
Your talk will resonate with your audience if it connects with them emotionally. Don’t mask your emotions . Also make eye contact with your audience. That means no reading your remarks from a manuscript or slides.

Establish Credibility
When preparing research, choose sources that your audience trusts.

Use Appropriate Language
Don’t use language or humor that would offend your audience.

Create an Interesting Presentation
Witt suggests incorporating stories, quotes, interesting examples, metaphors and unusual visuals to keep your talk entertaining. To see an excellent use of visuals watch Jamie Oliver’s presentation at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference (one of the most prestigious conferences in the world).

Aside from very pointed charts and graphs, Jamie uses a wheelbarrow full of sugar cubes to show how much sugar one child will ingest in five years from the milk they consume at school. (Picture from http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/)

If you can find someone who would give you honest feedback, practice your speech in front of them and ask what held their interest and what didn’t.

Keep your Audience Focused on You
As the speaker, the audience is supposed to be watching you not your software. Using sound and visual effects on every slide will detract from you message. Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson, one of the largest book publishers in the US shares, “This is the biggest mistake I see speakers make. They forget that PowerPoint or Keynote are tools designed to augment their presentation not be their presentation. Never forget: You are the presenter. You should be the focus. Not your slides. Not your props. And not your handouts. You are in the lead role, and you need to retain that role. No amount of ‘razzle dazzle’ can overcome a weak presentation. If you don’t do your job, PowerPoint can’t save you. It only makes a bad presentation worse.”

Dig into some of our examples and sources:
http://www.wittcom.com/how_to_connect_with_your_audience.htm
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/
http://michaelhyatt.com/2007/01/five-rules-for-better-presentations.html

Ashley Barrett is a professional writer, editor, and researcher for ProProducts™