Communicate clearly

5 tips to keep your presentation on time

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Effective presentations stay on message and on time

Along with offering the wrong material, one of the bigger mistakes a presenter can make is running too long. Some presenters take a cavalier attitude toward time, especially if they’re speaking in the evening. Regardless of when your presentation occurs, stay on time. It shows respect and a level of professionalism. These tips will help you.

how to give a speech, effective presentations

 

Develop an outline and script The framework for your presentation, an outline creates order and structure. Your notes or script, developed from your outline, keep you on message and on time. Speakers who try to “wing it” during either the research stage or the presentation itself often end up with an incoherent speech that wanders aimlessly and goes well over the allotted time.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse The best way to know whether you’re on time is to do a full rehearsal. Don’t quicken your pace or cut corners. If, for example, you want to use 10 minutes for a group exercise, stop your rehearsal for 10 minutes. Walk away, and do some chores or other tasks to burn that time.

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Presentation tip: Don’t let gaffes trip you up

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In an earlier post, I discussed how to handle problems that sometimes occur during presentations. This presentation tip column goes a bit deeper. I use examples from my own speaking experiences to show you how I overcame minor mistakes

Remember this: If something occurs while giving a presentation, compensate and move on. This is an important point. Presenters – especially nervous ones – sometimes overreact when they make a mistake. Errors are a part of every presenter’s life. Learn to live with and deal with them.

Presentation errors fall under two broad categories: physical and mental. Let’s start with physical ones.

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Presentation Tip: Which “you” do you use?

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Presentation Tip: Choose the correct “you” for your audience.

Good presenters – indeed, anyone involved in marketing communications – know that to really connect with an audience it’s important to write in the “you” format. This involves using the pronoun ‘you’ frequently throughout the presentation. Doing so shows that you are genuinely concerned about the audience’s needs.

‘You’ can be used in two ways: as a plural form (“you folks”, “you guys/gals”, “you all”) or in the singular. For the purposes of the column, I want to concentrate on electronic presentations. Those include online presentations (webinars, teleconferences and video conferences) and recorded material (training videos and tutorials).

Webinars, teleconferences, and video conferences by their nature involve groups of people. It’s natural to speak in the plural form. You are, after all, speaking to a number of people simultaneously.

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How to get started as a speaker

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Ever had the desire to become a professional speaker? I do. I’m still putting together the pieces, but what I’ve learned could help you in your quest to become a speaker. A full discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of one blog post, but I can offer some suggestions to get you started.

To help in my journey, I purchased Darren LaCroix’s “Get Paid To Speak Next Week” program. Using DVDs and a workbook, Darren shows you how to become a professional speaker from the ground up. The following is from that course.

First, ask yourself: “What do I enjoy doing? What am I really passionate about?” It could be a particular hobby, professional matter or social cause. There is an audience for just about every topic imaginable. It’s better to focus on something you know and love, than to try and force yourself to speak about a topic that just doesn’t resonate with you.

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Effective communication skills are critical in today’s economy

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Effective communication skills help you compete

The massive layoffs in recent years and the continued soft state of the economy have caused many people to turn to job training. To be really effective, part of that retraining should involve developing and maintaining effective communication skills.

Having the confidence to look a person in the eye and express yourself in an intelligent manner can mean the difference between success and failure during an interview and later.

Consider this: Two equally qualified candidates interview for a position. One is poised and gives clear, thoughtful answers. The other slouches in the chair, laces his answers with heavy doses of “you know”, “like” “whatever”, and is constantly looking down or away. Who do you think stands the better chance for a second interview? Whom would you invite back?

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