How to Have Great Presentation Skills

Having strong presentation skills - being able to share your ideas and point of view with several people at once - can make all the difference in a person's career, or a company's success. That's because the men and women who make the blockbuster sales, get the big promotion, or direct the organization all have one thing in common: they can communicate their ideas and passions when it matters most.

This page is designed to give you some of the basic tools you'll need to get, and hold, other peoples' attention while still getting your message across.

Sharpening Your Presentation Skills

My company, Impression Management, has been helping professionals at every level and background to communicate more effectively for more than twenty years. Through seminars, books, keynotes and online programs, we've been sharing the secrets of top-notch presentations. And while I can't give you all the advice in this short article, I can give you some basic tips to get you started in the right direction.

As powerful as a solid presentation is, most people are poor speakers. This is partly due to fear. Public speaking regularly ranks as the number one most common phobia across men and women of every age and demographic - one step above death. Given the terror that talking to groups incites in most people, it's no reason they don't excel at it.

Technology is another factor. Email, PowerPoint, and other tools have decreased the amount of personal contact we make with our colleagues, and our face-to-face skills have suffered as a result. But with more and more organizations making decisions by committee, or consolidating their leadership into fewer layers, having the ability to say what you mean - and do it in a way that increases attention and respect - is more important than ever.

Luckily, these aren't tough skills to learn. All it takes is a little bit of practice, and a handful of basic tactics. So, as you prepare for your next presentation, keep these four tips in mind:

• Use a Clear & Distinctive Speaking Voice


• Be Careful With Your Annunciation


• Remember That Your Tone Says As Much As Your Words Do


• Project Confidence

Many people ignore the power of the first three of these tips, but it would be hard to overstate their importance. If your audience can't understand what you're saying, then they're never going to agree with you - much less act on what you're saying. For that reason, it's critical that you speak in a way that's easy to hear and understand. This is especially true if you're going to have people in your audience who don't have English as their first language and might have trouble making your words out.

Along those same lines, many presenters have a tendency to take a somber tone, with the idea that it makes their talk seem more serious. As a result, they sound flat to audiences, who have a hard time focusing on what's being said. With that in mind, spice things up a bit. You don't have to sound like you're starring in an infomercial, but vary your inflection enough to let people know you're interested in what you're saying.

Of course, even if you speak clearly and with an interesting tone, you aren't going to get far as a presenter without a heavy dose of confidence. The psychology is simple: how you feel about what you're saying is going to go a long way towards determining how it's received. If you convey that you're shaky, or that you don't deserve to be listened to, then your audience is going to reflect that; but let them know you're going to knock their socks off, and they'll give you their undivided attention.

This might sound like a chicken and egg problem - after all, how can you have confidence if you haven't already given dozens of great presentations - but it isn't. One of the easiest ways to build confidence is by being prepared. If you have a thorough understanding of what you're going to talk about, and know that you do, you'll be amazed at how relaxed and confident you can become. Therefore, one of the best things you can do for yourself is realize that you are not there to impress your audience but instead to add value to them. If you think about your topic in terms of what they need to hear versus what you need to say you will go a long way towards talking with them rather than at them.

At the same time, realize that confidence is essentially a state of mind. If you feel a bit nervous, just think of things this way: you wouldn't be presenting if your audience wasn't at least a little bit interested in what you have to say. The value is not in how much more you know than they do but rather in showing them how much what you are saying is of value to them in their daily jobs and lives.

It's a commonly held myth that some people are born great presenters, while others are destined to be average, at best. The reality is that, while we're all born with certain natural strengths and talents, anyone can learn to be effective at speaking by taking presentation skills training .

Speaking to groups is no different than riding a bike, or driving a car. As a matter-of-fact, I bet today you drove to work and didn't even really think about it. That is because your brain just took over and mastered the driving for you. Becoming skilled at presenting is much the same. By mastering the basics, and then learning some advanced techniques, you can improve not only your technical skills, but gain important benefits to your career, including:

• Increased Opportunities for Leadership


• Greater Chances at Promotions


• Larger and More Frequent Sales


• More Interaction With Senior Management and Corporate Boards

What this really means is that men and women who can present confidently gain a huge leg up on their competitors and coworkers. Because they command the lion's share of attention - not to mention responsibilities and results - within any organization, they're the natural choices for leadership roles. The important point to remember is that anyone can reap these rewards, if only they're willing to overcome their own doubts and reluctance.

Learning Confidence

In order to be convincing, you must first convince yourself. In other words, no one else is going to believe in you, or what you have to say, if you don't project confidence. As I mentioned before, the first step to conquering your own fear should be to focus your energy on your audience and why what you are sharing is relevant to them. The ironic thing is you don't have to be the master of a topic to capture and hold your audience's attention; you just have to share something useful. Using visual aids and fine-tuning your communication skills can also help tremendously.

Using Visual Aids

Technology can add a crisp, polished feel to what you're saying; or, it can make you look like a complete amateur. For that reason, it's important that you know how to use the tools at your disposal, from the hardware to the software, inside and out. Knowing what they do, along with when and why, will eliminate nine-tenths of the problems you'll have. As for the rest - those technical glitches that seem to pop up when you need them the least - having a good base of knowledge and confidence should allow you to overcome the situation and move through. Remember, technology should be a complement to your presentation, not a crutch to hold it up.

Effective Communication Skills

Like confidence, communication skills can be learned. Nothing is worse than listening to someone who sounds like they're reading from a paper - or worse, someone who is actually reading from a paper. By working on some basic techniques, any speaker can be taught to use their tone, inflection, and volume to add excitement to their presentation. The power in learning to present is less about being the most knowledgeable speaker as it is about knowing how to think like your audience and utilize Outcome Thinking® so you entice, motivate, and move your audience to action. Check out our Outcome Focus Approach Series to see how to step up your performance and master the art of communication.