Give Great Presentations: How to speak confidently and make your point
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About this ebook
Speaking in front of other people can be daunting if you've never had a lot of practice. Even if you know your stuff, it can be hard to get everything together in time, look confident, speak clearly, and get your message across well. And that's before you consider things like presenting online or hosting a Zoom conference.
This practical book contains a self-assessment quiz, step-by-step guidance, top tips, common mistakes and advice on how to avoid them, summaries of key points, and lists of the best sources of further help. At the same time, it comes with strategies to help you cope if things don't go to plan, and special sections on how to manage nerves and boost your message with your body language.
Give Great Presentations is full of advice on how to prepare and deliver a knock-out speech - whether that's in person and in front of colleagues, or online with an audience of 'virtual' strangers.
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Book preview
Give Great Presentations - Bloomsbury Publishing
Contents
Assess yourself: How good are your presentation skills?
1. Preparing great presentations
2. Delivering great in-person presentations
3. Delivering great online presentations
4. Creating on-demand presentations
5. Using slides and visuals in your presentations
6. Fighting back against nerves
7. Boosting your ‘live’ message with your body language
8. Surviving worst-case scenarios
Where to find more help
Index
Assess yourself: How good are your presentation skills?
If you’re reading this as a presentation is looming, take heart! This book will help you conquer your nerves, get your message across and give a great performance. Start here by answering these questions and reading the guidance points.
How do you feel about public speaking, either in-person or online?
a. I hate it.
b. I prepare very carefully to avoid nerves.
c. I always enjoy it and never get too stressed.
How do you deal with nerves?
a. I don’t really. I just have to get on with it.
b. I try to take it in my stride. I think being a bit nervous helps me to perform.
c. Although I do get nervous, I always pretend that I don’t and bluster my way through by playing a role.
Do you practise?
a. Yes. I often try to improve my presentation at the last minute.
b. I rehearse four or five times but when I feel I have got it right, I don’t tinker with it.
c. I don’t bother to rehearse. I know I’ll be fine.
How long do you usually make your presentations?
a. I keep it as short as possible.
b. As long as it takes to cover all the necessary ground.
c. As long as it takes – I really enjoy public speaking.
How do you deliver an in-person presentation?
a. I often fiddle with my hair or props as I get so nervous.
b. I stand up straight and make sure I address my audience directly throughout the presentation.
c. I tend to sit down and relax.
How do you deliver an online presentation?
a. I turn off my camera so that no one can see me.
b. I make sure I talk into the camera, not at the screen.
c. I’ve never really thought about it; it’s just a chat, right?
Do you cater your presentation to your audience?
a. No, not really – I just want to get my point across.
b. Yes. I try to find out as much about them as I can beforehand.
c. Yes. I tend to aim it at the most senior people.
How long do you arrive before you are due to give an in-person presentation?
a. I’m always a few hours early.
b. I like to leave enough time to check my equipment.
c. I’m often late.
What would you do if everything went wrong?
a. If I’m honest, I’d completely panic.
b. I’d keep smiling and try to keep calm.
c. I don’t think I’d be too bothered. I’m not likely to see the audience again.
a = 1, b = 2, c = 3
Now add up your scores.
9–14: The very thought of presenting makes you nervous, so take some action to calm your nerves. Chapter 6 will help with this particularly, but Chapters 1, 2 and 3 feature lots of practical tips on planning and research that will help make your life easier, too. They’ll help you work out your objectives, so that you know exactly what message you want to get across. Read Chapter 8 and find out how you can and will survive if things don’t quite go to plan!
15–20: Well done – you’ve realized that practising is the key to a great presentation! Chapter 7 will show you how you can take your performance up a notch further still by boosting what you say with the way you say it. Chapters 4 and 5 offer lots of advice on how you can boost your message with the clever use of visuals and images; Chapter 3 talks about the specifics of online presentations
21–27: It’s great that you enjoy presenting; it’s a really useful skill to have and will stand you in good stead as you move up the career ladder. Try not to be over-confident, though, and take the time to tailor what you say to your audience – you’ll really grab their attention then. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 are particularly helpful here.
1
Preparing great presentations
Giving a presentation, whether in-person or online, can strike fear into the heart of even the most experienced business people. It takes some courage to deliver a well-structured and interesting talk to an expectant audience, and most of us at one time or another have experienced the panic, sweaty palms, blank minds and wobbling voices that sometimes accompany this.
Being able to cope with presentations is a very valuable skill, though, whatever your job. They are useful in many situations, such as pitching for business, putting a case for funding, addressing staff meetings or even as part of the application procedure for a new job. Few people like speaking formally to an audience, but there are many real benefits and, as you gain experience in giving presentations, you’ll probably find that it becomes less of a worry, and even enjoyable.
This chapter offers you help on the first step of your journey towards a great presentation: preparation. It will give you some suggestions for preparing the content of what you’re going to say, looking at your objectives, gearing it to your audience and getting your points across well.
Step one: Work out your objectives
Clear objectives are the starting point for all great presentations. Start by working out