How to Excel at Presentations

Presentations are needed for all areas of life. As a student, you would have needed to give presentations about countries, or about political systems around the world for example. When you’re older, you will need to do presentations for your work. You may be involved in selling a product or service to another business, or work on helping employees build skills and confidence.

Whatever the reason, you need to excel at giving those presentations. Here are some of the most important tips to get you through.

Have Confidence in Your Capabilities

You may be nervous but you don’t want that to show through. A good presenter will have confidence to get up there and say everything. Y

ou’ll be able to handle questions and deal with interruptions without a problem. If you are nervous, it’s important to learn how to pretend that you’re confident.

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Practise Makes Perfect

There really is truth behind that saying.

When you practise your presentation, you will learn the talk off by heart and will only need to look down at cue cards if someone throws you off. The practise will also help you with your confidence. You know that you can give this talk, and that you won’t make a fool of yourself while up there.

Keep the Slides Light

Think about the colour scheme of your presentation slides. Lighter backgrounds with darker text are much easier to read. It’s what people are used to when it comes to word processors and writing on paper.

Try to avoid using greens and reds as much as possible. A red/green deficiency is one of the most common types of colour blindness.

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Avoid Too Much Text

You don’t need all your text on the slides. The slides are there to just reiterate the important parts.

The idea is that people see the slides, get an idea of what you will talk about and then you talk around those points. If you’re just going to reiterate everything that is on the screen, there is just no point in talking! Think about how you felt when you were at university or college.

Eye Contact Will Help

Eye contact with the audience is a great way to show that you are confident. It also helps to keep people interested. Avoid focusing on just one person.

You want to talk to the whole group, so you need to make eye contact with various people around the room. There is nothing wrong with glancing down at notes now and then, but don’t read off of them.

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Engage With the People

It’s really important to be engaging during your presentation. If you’re monotone and boring, people are going to switch off and gain no value from you.

You can do this through your slides. Look for innovative ways to get your message across, and never be afraid of trying something new. You could have a video to get people started or have a fun game to get people talking at the beginning.

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