The Oral Presentations are in Term Two and I know that some of you are not looking forward to them. I have added part of an article from Forbes magazine to give you some tips on how to give a successful presentation.
Sweaty palms, shortness of breath, blurred vision. No, you aren’t having a heart attack.
You’re giving a speech.
For most people, speaking in public is a living nightmare–though it’s a skill we all need, whether to woo investors, sell a product or even toast a best friend at her wedding.
To ease the pain, Forbes.com tapped 28 people, from politics to religion, who are no stranger to the podium. Their tips may not transform you into a gifted raconteur–that comes from practice and, to be fair, raw talent–but they just might help you get your point across, and hopefully put a few more bucks in your pocket.
Surprisingly, perhaps, only a few in the group talked about dealing with nervousness (and none mentioned that thing about picturing the audience naked). Instead, many focused on the substance of the speech.
“You shouldn’t give a public speech unless you want to make something happen,” says Tom Peters, a communications consultant and founder of the Tom Peters Company. “My wife was the president of an organization that was trying to raise funds to build an Olympic-sized pool and a skating rink in Manchester, Vt. She hates public speaking, but she gave about 100 speeches over five years. She didn’t become a great speaker, but she became a good one with incredible passion. If you’re in love with an idea, you’ll do the speech pretty well.”
Jack LaLanne, the 92-year-old fitness guru, concurs: “If you believe in something, you can talk about it. All my life I have been very, very shy. To get in front of a crowd drives me nuts, but I have a message to deliver.”
Once you have something to say, boil it down to its essence and hammer that message. “Have a unifying theme tethered to a powerful, inspirational story,” offers Ken Starr, dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law and former White House independent counsel.
Also be sure to avoid death by a thousand facts. “Minimise data,” says Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and frequent speaker and expert witness in court proceedings. “I speak at nursery schools; benefactors ask me to speak for Earth Day. It is invariably the most challenging presentation I ever give, but I force myself to do that because it really forces me to get down and think [about] the basic message and how can I communicate it as simply as possible.”
Incorporating humour got mixed reviews. Says Dick Rudder, partner and global co-head of securitisation at Baker & McKenzie in New York: “Never make any jokes in the morning. They’re absolutely deadly. No one has gotten their full dose of caffeine.”
Others approached humour with respectful caution. “Never be boring,” says Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems. “There is always risk with being funny and controversial that the audience will miss your message, but I think there is a better chance they’ll hear it if you are entertaining.”
Read the rest here.
This slideshow – Podium Tactics from 28 Public Speaking Pros has some great advice.
10 Presentation Killers is also very useful so check it out.
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