Tips on How to Become a Great Presenter

Tips on How to Become a Great Presenter

Written by:
Payman Taei

May 16, 2015
Featured

Facing an audience can be a challenge for most. So we decided to compile a few tips to help you become a better speaker be it at a business meeting, a seminar or in front of an educator.

These tips are fairly easy to implement; practice them and in good time they will help you become a better Presenter.

 

Table of Contents

Tip #1: Know the Subject

Tip #2: Practice Makes Perfect

Tip #3: Be Dynamic

Tip #4: Name Examples

Tip #5: Don't Forget the Visual Support

 

Tip #1: Know the Subject

It sounds elemental, but you do need to know what you're talking about.   Your audience is smarter than you perceive them to be.  They can smell a Presenter who is not well versed in the topic from a mile a way.

1

You want to dig into the meat of your topic.  When giving a Presentation in front of an audience, if you are using visuals such as Visme, it should merely highlight the key points of your topic and it is you who needs to be able to get into the nuts and bolts of those points.

Your audience is there to hear you and it starts with their full attention and depending on how well you present the topics will reflect on how many will still be listening for the remainder of it.

Being well prepared, you will also ooze with confident both through your words and your body language.

 

Tip #2: Practice Makes Perfect

This is not about memorizing a speech and practicing it in the mirror over and over again.

You are presenting to an audience not to yourself; so nothing will prepare you better than getting in front of friends, family or colleagues and tell them to ask relevant questions and provide criticism which can help you to improve and refine your presentation.

2

Additionally you want to recognize that there may be unexpected circumstances when giving your speech, so ask your test audience to interrupt, make noise and to improvise. This way you can prepare for any situation.

It's not uncommon to have a bad apple in the audience who may be a distraction or there may be technical issues,  if you are prepared and have the ability to adapt to those conditions you will have little to worry about.

 

Tip #3: Be Dynamic

We've all been in boring meetings and presentations.  It may have been at school or at the workplace.   They either are too long, or just bare bones boring.   Avoid being that Presenter.

3

The fact is your audience is there to learn something but they also appreciate being entertained which will improve engagement and increase the amount of information they absorb.  Be dynamic and ask your audience to get involved; make them part of your presentation.

Look at them directly, make them feel like you are talking to each one of them.

There is nothing wrong with having a script, until it starts to make you look robotic and break the interaction with your audience.  Instead try to improvise from time to time and adapt to how your audience is reacting.

 

Tip #4: Name Examples

Too much information can force your audience to lose focus specially when it is not supported by examples or references.

To support your message provide some facts and include real-life examples to support your points.

4

Once you get passed your viewpoint, explain how it applies to their daily life, or how it has been applied in the past. This will help to keep them interested and relevant.

 

Tip #5: Don't Forget the Visual Support

PowerPoint presentations were and continue to be a norm today, but normal can also be quite boring.

Get out of the box and try new ways of communicating.  Create interesting visual content and add some oomph to your slides, which can help to draw more attention and use that to reel them to your main objective: Present, inform and engage.

5

 

We hope these 5 tips will help you on your next presentation. If you got any other pointers, go ahead and share it with us.

Speaking of becoming a better Presenter, Visme is great for creating engaging presentations, regardless of your level of knowledge with design programs. Try it free for your next presentation.

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    About the Author

    Payman Taei is the founder of Visme (he doesn’t like using the word ”CEO”—it’s way too formal), a DIY platform that allows everyone to create and manage presentations, infographics, reports and other visual content.

    He’s also the founder of HindSite Interactive, an award-winning web design and web development company.