Absolutely! Nothing is more effective than strong & careful preparation.
I also liked your point about being yourself. I see too many speakers who are trying to be somebody else & no matter how effective that other person is, if it's not authentic, it doesn't work.
Confidence definitely comes from preparation.
Ryan
Grab their attention in the first minute.
Prepare the content in a logical order.
Be prepared to thoroughly understand the content for credibility and for any questions.
Be confident and competent.
Practice and practice some more.
Relax and have fun with your presentation.
Tim,
Great ideas. A couple of other things that I have found to be particularly effective are to follow the old rule of tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them & then tell them what you just told them. This helps to cement the points.
Another technique is to allow the audience to check in. This can be done at strategic points in your presentation. After talking for a few minutes, pause, have the group pair up & ask them to discuss for 90 seconds to 2 minutes a couple of thought provoking questions pertaining to your content. This helps them to make meaning for themselves out of what you're discussing & keeps them engaged. It sounds a little strange but this can be very powerful.
Ryan
As a visual person, I would key into the things that make for a visually appealing presentation:
The use of pictures where possible (being careful not to distort them when editing size), not using vertical text, Selecting one or two fonts and being consistant and remembering that things that are projected are much larger than on the computer screen you created the presentation on.
Joseph,
Great insights & thank you for pulling the visually appealing concepts into your response. I think these are some great tips for all of us.
Ryan
I think the three or four things should include RELAX, RELAX, RELAX and prepare. I cannot underestimate the importance of the relaxation part, for you can have the best prepared presentation in the world, but if you are not relaxed you will not come off as confident, knowledgeable, or credible.
The first step to prepare and deliver an effective presentation is to define the objective. This will pave the way for developing the presentation. In the second step, the presenter must ask him or herself various essential questions. Examples of key questions include:
Is the subject controversial, familiar, or new or a combination to this audience?
Who are they and what is their relationship to your topic?
In the third step the presenter must get familiar with the audience to customize the presentation. Learning about the audience maximizes the impact of the presentation.
I completely agree. Additionally, when you are relaxed I feel this allows you to come across authentically. Too often I see presenters coming across as fake or "showy" and I believe a good deal of that stems from the fact that they are incredibly nervous. When I am well prepared, I am much better able to relax and as you said come across as confident, knowledgeable & credible.
Ryan
Absolutely! I think the idea of defining the objective is so key and unfortunately is often missed. I think this applies to discovering if I'm trying to inform, persuade, influence, etc. Do I want my audience to take action? Do I need their permission or support to move forward? Or am I just being curteous by informing them? It is so important to define that objective. Great job.
Ryan
I believe the top four things to remember when preparing and delivering an effective presentation are:
1. Be prepared
2. Know your audience and know the context
3. Know who else is speaking
4. Speak clearly
In preparation for a presentation, I spend a considerable amount of time to ensure that my central message is clear and important to the audience with supporting details to back it up.
Rehearsals are equally important to ensure a smooth delivery and transitions amongst talking points.
Breathing and relaxing, paying close attention to my facial expressions help keep my audience engaged and me on track. People have told me that my facial muscles twitched. If I blank out, I stretch my hands/feet, breathe, and say excuse me, refocus, and deliver.
James,
Some great, practical & immediately useful ideas. I think rehearsals are a great way to prepare & I also always advise to make sure that rehearsals don't cause you to become too rehearsed sounding. Audiences seem to really respond to a nice, conversational approach.
Ryan
Cheryl,
I apologize for the delayed response, I've been in the process of moving the past week.
Great ideas for preparation. I believe a key point that is often overlooked is knowing who else is speaking. This can help you know how to tie together or what topics to avoid.
Ryan
When preparing and delivering a presentation to be effective in the classroom it is important to:
1.Be organized and present in a logical progression
2.Know about what I am presenting (research the topic) and repeat key points
3.Know my audience so that I can personalize the presentation to maintain their interests
4.Practice the presentation.
Patricia,
Great job. All of your points are good, but the point about a logical progression really resonates with me. I believe this is incredibly helpful to an audience.
Ryan
I believe that it is crucial that you address and understand what the value is of what you are presenting to your audience. After you identify for them (what's in it for me) then make sure you clearly know your objective, know your audience, prepare and rehearse your delivery. Also it is a great idea to play devil's advocate and figure out what objections may be raised during your presentation and be prepared to answer. Finally, ask for specific feedback afterward to help you ascertain if your met your objectives, or not.
Well said, Amy. It's interesting to me how many times it does seem like the presenter understands the value of what they are saying. How can the possibly expect the audience to understand it then? Great comments.
Ryan
Being an effective speaker takes more than natural talent or charisma. Like any other skill, the more lessons you have and the more you practice, the more accomplished you become.
There are six basic elements to follow: be prepared, use personal examples and stories in your speech whenever possible, make sure your stories are relevant to your material, stay relaxed, focus on your message and not the audience, use natural humor, practice of your speech look for occasions where you can use a gesture and pay attention to all details.
When preparing for a presentation I believe the most important thing to remember is who the audiance will be. Then I need to determine my purpose of giving the presentation and finally I need to determine the main goal that I want to accomplish once I have concluded my presentation.
Great Ashley & very important. Always determine the goal ahead of time, not in the midst of developing the presentation.
