Boost your impact: Three simple tweaks that transform your presentations

She turned around and pulled a face as she confided “I know I have to do this but I hate every minute of it! It just makes me miserable.”

She then stood up and started presenting. She was concise and delivered the information well. Everyone understood what she was saying, some even came up afterwards and asked for more information. Overall, it was a good presentation and no-one realised how much she hated this part of her job.

I was there to give her some ideas to help her have more impact and here are a couple of the suggestions I gave which anyone can implement to make a difference.

 

Stand still or move with purpose but don’t wander. The last thing we seem to control when nervous, appears to be our feet. This means that while the top half of your body can look confident and in control, the bottom half is tapping, wandering or doing a poor attempt at the footwork for Tiger Feet. (For those of you not old enough to remember the joys of a 70’s disco’s see here!)

Smile! The tension in your face robs you of your personality and stops you from smiling warmly. You want your audience to warm to you and the quickest way to do that is to smile. If the thought of presenting makes you miserable then think of someone or something that makes you happy as you stand up. No one will know what is causing you to smile but they will know if it’s a real smile or not and react accordingly.

Make sure your slides are relevant and concise. Don’t use them as your notes. Your audience can read quicker than you will talk so they’ll always be ahead of you. Use single words, short phrases or pictures and speak around them. If you need notes, have them but not on the screen.

There were other suggestions but as a top three, these have an immediate effect and are easy to implement. Try them and let me know how you get on.

If you want me to attend a presentation you’re delivering and give you some feedback its one of the services I offer … or better still come to The Presentation Club and you’ll get constructive feedback from me and everyone else in the room.