A Beginner's Guide To A Great Speech - What To Expect When You're Presenting



by Yuki Sano


Giving your first major presentation is always going to be a bit nerve wracking. It's something to get used to, whether it's a presentation in front of your direct superior, in front of the board, or in front of a whole room full of people. Anyone you ask will tell you to practice and prepare; few can give you advice based on experience that will help you give your talk with confidence and poise.

Preparation And Research Is Everything There is only one way you can really prepare for a talk, and it's not simply by practicing. You do need to practice, but that doesn't mean simply reciting your prepared speech to get it memorized. Real practice means anticipating questions, accounting for possible errors, and speaking to a group. Recruit your friends to help you with the practice phase. They should act as your listeners, engaged and interested in your topic. They should be ready to ask questions and, if appropriate, challenge your conclusions. They should ideally have about the same level of previous knowledge about your topic that your final audience will possess.

PRESENTATION MYTH: Your presentation is about YOU. I know you've likely heard this before, but everyone is still doing it! You stand up, introduce yourself, and launch into a long presentation about you, your company, your products and services and quickly put everyone to sleep.

Visual Aids Help Your Audience Engage If you are giving a long talk, you have to expect that people will have some trouble concentrating during at least a part of it. When people are asked to sit and listen, they have difficulty focusing because they are asked to engage with their ears only. The best way to prevent this problem is by adding a visual element of some kind.

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Your presentation should shine a light on the problem you solve. You've probably heard this before, so I am going to encourage you to review your presentation and ask yourself if you're really doing it. Are you making it safe for people to say, "you know I do have that problem!"? If not, you'll find your sales will suffer. So you need to be creative and sensitive to how present the problems your clients are suffering with at the moment, because its likely a sensitive subject.

If a table top display or other portable displays aren't in your budget, then you'll want to make use of printed flyers for anything that your audience will need to see. Portable trade show displays are better because they don't distract from you on the stage, but printed flyers can be an acceptable substitute.

Don't Stress Yourself Once you've got everything set, the most important thing to do is not be stressed. Even if your job performance is being reviewed or you're giving a talk to your profession's most illustrious governing body, you need to be relaxed. It will help you remember what you want to say, and it will make the entire experience much more pleasant.




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