People in leadership roles are often required to give presentations to the management team, their own team or other stakeholders. As you may be judged by the quality of your presentation and it can affect your career it is important to make sure you give the best presentation possible.

Here are 8 tips for great presentations that we hope you will find useful.

Tip 1: Set objectives for your presentation – inform and persuade

Management presentations must have a clear purpose. This purpose is either to inform, to persuade or to both inform and persuade.

Begin your preparation by defining and writing out your purpose. What do you want to inform the audience about? What do you want to persuade them to think and/or do? Putting this in writing gives you a clear focus that you can refer back to.

Tip 2: Identify needs and interests of your audience

A presentation is usually designed for a particular audience. Clarify what are the needs and interests of your audience. What do they already know? What would they like to know. Contact some of the audience members and ask what they would like to gain from the presentation and then build this into the presentation.

Tip 3: Keep it simple, keep it clear, keep it short

Don’t overwhelm your audience with information. Keep the presentation simple and to the point. “Talk low, talk slow, and don’t talk too much.” Was the advice of the actor John Wayne known for his portrayal of straight talking cowboy heroes. You might not want to follow his particular style but keeping it short is certainly useful advice. One of the reasons for the popularity of the TED Talks is that they are restricted to 18 minutes maximum length.

The choice of language and words should also be kept simple if for a non-specialist audience. “Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.” was the view of British Prime Minister and well known speaker Sir Winston Churchill.

Tip 4: Use visuals and documentation

Many people grasp ideas through visual means so it is a good idea to provide visuals to support your presentation. Don’t overwhelm people with too many visuals and do keep them both relevant and professional looking.

It is often useful to provide a hand-out to give people details to refer to and to save them time writing notes which can distract them from your presentation.

Tip 5: Tell stories to engage the audience

Stories bring ideas and concepts to life. For example, if you are talking about improvements in the workplace tell the story of someone who has made an improvement and how this happened. People relate to stories and they can be emotionally engaging.

Tip 6: Plan and prepare

It is important to plan and prepare for a presentation. The best presentations often seem as if they were totally spontaneous. The secret is to be so well prepared that you can be and appear spontaneous because you know exactly what it is you want to say.

Preparation can also give you more confidence. If you feel nervous before a presentation that’s a fairly normal response. Being prepared will mean you will find you way much easier. Always have some written notes to hand, even if you don’t refer to them. Just having them will give you more confidence.

Tip 7: Practice and improve

Practice your presentation in front of a mirror or record it and play it back. Change and alter it to improve it each time you practise.

Tip 8: Learn from others

Learn from other speakers whom you admire. They may be in your organisation or area of specialisation or they may be from elsewhere. View great speakers on the internet. If you want get a speaking coach or a voice coach. Join an organisation that helps you develop as a public speaker. Investing time and energy in developing your presentation skills can bring great rewards in terms of career development.

 

If you would like further details of training or coaching please contact the Frontline Management Institute at fmi@fmi-au.com or phone +61 2 9660 0199. We can help you analyse development needs in your organisation, contact us for a free initial consultation.