How to Build Effective Presentation Skills: 5 Top Tips
During your presentations, if awkward silence followed by audience members clearing their throats, shuffling in their seats, and a general air of boredom is a familiar scenario for you, it may be time to work on your presentation skills.
Struggling to capture your audience’s attention and feeling awkward as the center of attention doesn’t mean you’re a bad presenter. It means you simply haven’t learned the tools and strategies to bring out your personal presentation style.
At Be Brilliant Presentation Group, we specialize in coaching presenters to develop their authentic voice and presentation style so they can be confident and effective presenters, regardless of the situation. To help you start developing effective presentation skills, we’re answering commonly asked questions and sharing our top five strategies:
1. Why Are Effective Presentation Skills Important?
2. FAQ: How Do You Start a Presentation? And More
3. The 5 Keys to an Effective Presentation
If you’re ready to take your presentations to the next level and give your audience a memorable experience, let’s dive right in!
Why Are Effective Presentation Skills Important?
According to Forbes, 70% of employed Americans believe that presentation skills are crucial for career success but 75% of adults are estimated to be affected by a fear of public speaking. Many of the skills required to give an effective presentation hinge on key communication skills that come in handy both in and out of presentations, yet so many adults struggle with presentations.
So, what benefits will you gain by developing your presentation skills? Here are a few:
- Build confidence. Overcoming this fear can help you gain confidence at work and bring newfound assertiveness to other areas of your life.
- Reduce stress. Developing effective presentation skills can reduce stress about performance reviews, day-to-day communications, and new responsibilities requiring similar skills.
- Exhibit leadership qualities. Being an effective presenter who clearly communicates key information to a variety of audiences shows potential for a more senior position.
Because so many people fear public speaking, building your presentation skills up can be beneficial in your career and daily life, even when you’re not on a presentation stage.
How to Give an Effective Presentation: FAQ
What makes a presentation good or bad?
Remember those horror stories of public speaking teachers who took off points for every “um” a student let slip? Contrary to popular belief, those little filler words are not actually what makes a presentation bad. Instead, you should focus more on avoiding these more serious presentation mistakes:
- Too many slides or too much information on slides. 91% of presenters feel more confident presenting with a well-designed slide deck. But your audience’s focus should be on what you’re saying, not just your slideshow. Don’t make them speed read to keep up with your presentation!
- Not creating a narrative to engage the audience. Keeping your audience engaged is much easier if you connect the information you’re sharing together into a story, versus just listing off facts.
- Closed off/visibly uncomfortable body language. It can take as little as 5 seconds for the audience to determine whether a presenter is charismatic or not. Slouched shoulders, crossed arms, and fidgeting makes you seem insecure and uncomfortable. Instead, use open body language like standing up straight, hand gestures, and eye contact to invite them in.
- Not tailoring presentations to an online audience. If you’re giving a virtual presentation, it’s important to follow virtual presentation tips and best practices because this format is quite different from in-person presenting. You’ll have to spend time setting up your equipment and background and practicing speaking in front of a video camera.
Making your presentations engaging, concise, and memorable is a skill you can learn with the right guidance and an understanding of your personal presentation style and strengths.
How do you end a presentation?
Your first question was probably how to start your presentation. However, here at Be Brilliant Presentation Group, we recommend figuring out the ending to your presentation, and then moving on to either the middle or beginning depending on how you develop the narrative included in your presentation.
At Be Brilliant, we like to encourage using our Do-Remember-Feel formula to successfully end your presentation. Knowing your end goal will make it much easier to build the rest of your presentation. A few ways you can end your presentation to convey your message following this formula include:
- Use a call to action. This calls on your audience to do something after your presentation to get them started applying what you presented to their own lives.
- Reiterate the core message. Doing this will help your audience remember your main message even after you’ve run through your entire presentation.
- End with an inspiring quote. A moving quote is a great way to give your audience a lasting feeling that will make your presentation and main takeaway stay with them.
The kind of ending you choose will largely depend on your personal message and presentation style, but it’s important to end on a strong note your audience will remember.
How do you start a presentation?
If you’re still wondering how to start a presentation, we’ll share a few tips. Keep in mind your ending and the bulk of your presentation are what will determine your presentation’s beginning. Here are a few ways you can kick it off:
- Give a genuine welcome. Building a foundation of open communication and friendliness from the start of your presentation will help the audience relate to you throughout the presentation.
- An interesting fact or statistic. Capture your audience’s attention with a surprising or interesting fact related to your topic.
- A story or anecdote. An engaging story is an easy way to get your audience invested in what you have to say before you even dive into the facts and meat of your presentation.
- A question. This doesn’t work for every type of presentation but posing a thought-provoking question can be an effective way to get your audience to consider the problem you’re trying to solve or the topic you’re exploring.
The best way to start your presentation will often become clear when you’ve clearly outlined and created the rest of your presentation. For example, a presentation about a problem you’re solving could easily start with a fact or statistic about the problem itself to set the framework for why your solution matters. Alternatively, a presentation about a topic like maintaining creativity in the workplace may benefit from starting with a question, to facilitate an open-ended environment that can stimulate creativity.
The 5 Keys to an Effective Presentation
1. Create a detailed plan
Before you start designing the visual elements of your presentation or practicing your speaking skills, You’ll need to create a plan. Your plan will help you identify your presentation’s goal, which will, in turn, enable you to create a well-defined beginning, middle, and end.
Even though your plan should be detailed, you don’t need to identify every element of your slide deck or exactly what you will say just yet. Think of this plan as the bare-bones structure of your house, not your paint colors or furniture choices.
2. Speak like yourself
At Be Brilliant Presentation Group, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to presentation skills. A big part of our philosophy is helping you identify your own personal strengths and presentation style and then learning how to use those to your advantage.
While there are tips and best practices that apply to many different people, you never want to abandon your unique voice in favor of a cookie-cutter approach. This is why we believe coaching works best to help you not only excel during your next presentation but to also help you develop effective presentation skills.
3. Connect with your audience through storytelling
People are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it is part of a story which is why you should consider including storytelling in your presentation whenever you can. You’ve probably heard this advice before, but you might have been unsure how actually to implement it. In reality, you’re likely already doing this without realizing it.
At its core, storytelling in a presentation uses examples, anecdotes, and narratives to bring the information you’re sharing to life. Your audience is much more likely to remember the story of Company X and the decrease in employee churn they saw after implementing the strategies you’re sharing in your presentation than a random statistic.
4. Practice!
Even though almost everyone practices before presenting, that does not mean everyone is practicing effectively. In the same way, you need to know your personal presentation style to put together an effective presentation, being self-aware of how to bring your unique presentation traits alive during your presentation will dictate what you need to focus on and practice most.
Working with a Be Brilliant coach ensures that you get personalized assistance not only with the planning, storyboarding, and creation of your presentation but also with practicing in the most effective way for your personal style.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
We’ve all done the frantic “How to do X” Google searches at the last minute to ease our anxiety about a situation we aren’t prepared for. Unfortunately, when it comes to presenting, the internet is full of articles giving unhelpful advice and age-old suggestions that never worked in the first place, like picturing your audience in their underwear. YIKES! After a few hours of sifting, you might have found a few practical tips, but only after pages and pages of bad advice.
The Be Brilliant Presentation Group exists not only to help you save countless hours of unsuccessful Google searches, but to give you the personalized coaching and advice that will turn you into a confident, memorable, and effective speaker. If you’re feeling anxious about your next presentation, take the leap and ask for help. The Be Brilliant coaches will be there for you!
Wrapping up
Presenting can be anxiety-inducing and overwhelming, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience. These strategies should help get you on the right path to developing your presentation skills, and our coaches will help you perfect those skills when you’re ready to get to the next level.
