As finals week is upon us, I thought it would be great to cover pubic speaking basic so you can give a powerful presentation. Even though many of these things are well, basic, sometimes we need a reminder to do these simple tasks that gives us preparation to whoo the crowd!
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
I don’t think it can be said enough how important it is to rehearse and prepare for your presenation. Even if you aren’t interested in your subject, you should be ready to answer almost any questions that may be asked during or at the end of your presenatation. This also helps with nervousness, since you will be knowledgeable enough to improvise if you lose your spot while speaking.
Present Yourself Professionally
Dress to impress is a cliche worth noting if you want to impress your audience. Even if you don’t necessarily need to wear a suit, dressing clean is essential. Be sure to make sure you look fresh, clean, and your clothing and hair reflect these characteristics as well. Sometimes looking good can even help if you are looking super nervous.
p.s. using a hard surface to hold your notes, like a clipboard, will help reduce the visibilty of nervous shaking!
Use Dynamic Tone
Everyone has sat through a semester or quarter with a monotoned professor, and possibly those who also dim the lights. This kind of learning environment makes it very hard to retain any information being taught, and the same goes for presenations. People need a dynamic tone to continue their interest in the subject being spoken about. So, don’t forget to prepare your lines and intonations!
Body Language
Along with having dyanmic tone, it’s also important to keep your body dyanmic, too. When making arguments, moving your hands with your points by taking steps, and so forth. And throughout, it’s helpful to use hand motions to further arguments and explainations.
Aesthetically Pleasing Visuals
If you are able to include visual aids, make them matter! Here’s a link to the world’s worst PPT presenation as an example of what not to do, and here’s a link to check out 11 design tips to make beautiful presenations. We all love beautifuls things, so why not make your next presenation something worth looking at!