Want to be motivated to give a great presentation when asked to deliver one? Read on, and avoid these common mistakes that even experienced speakers make, and make your presentation dynamite!
a) ALWAYS BE A MEMBER OF THE AUDIENCE:
at every stage of your presentation, consider what the audience is going through – are they engaged? Bored? Are they leaning forward slightly to hear your points, nodding every now and then? A great speaker learns how tune into the audience an adjust his/her speaking pace, volume, even content, segues and body language.
b) WHEN IN DOUBT, LESS IS MORE
when preparing for a speech of 30 minutes, always prepare for 25 minutes of content. You will invariably find you may want to repeat a statement, embroider a compelling story further, field a question from someone who can’t wait until the Q+A session. The alternative is to feel rushed, be disrespectful to the possible mass of questions people may have, or simply swamp the audience with too much of a good thing.
c) START STRONG, FINISH WELL
Most quality presentation are let down because of a weak opener which fails to instil curiousity, provoke interest or build rapport with the audience. Further, most speeches fail to end with some call for action, or affirmation of the content of the presentation. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to this except to rehearse openers, endings and all humour in a speech ( imagine forgetting the punch line of a joke relevant to audience’s condition)