Archive for March 2014

Making Professional Presentations

Giving a speech is very rarely someone's favorite thing to do in high school. There is something about standing in front of peers talking about something that is very nerve racking. The nerves do not ever go away for some people, even when they are at the level of professional presentations. However, even someone who gets nervous easily can make a great presentation. It just takes practice and getting people engaged.

People love stories. People remember things much better with a story or a visual. This is a useful tool in a professional presentation. If someone is trying to give their business a new direction, they ought to incorporate visuals and stories. This way, people get on board with their idea. A story helps someone to connect. Some ideas which are in presentations can be difficult to use stories for. However, many ideas can be paired with a visual used as an analogy.
The more effort that is put into making visual connections, the more likely people will understand and remember the ideas presented.

It is good to have interaction from people. There is a time and place to communicate ideas and a time and place to get feedback. A primary reason feedback is good is to hold people accountable. If a presenter asks people questions during the presentation, people will listen. They do not want to be embarrassed when they are asked a question, but were not listening. It also keeps things more interesting.

Changing up who is speaking even for two seconds is a new stimulus. People are engaged in what is going on, so they will fell like they are able to get more out of the presentation.
People will also have a much better presentation experience if the presentation is focused and they know how it will progress. It may be good to start out the presentation by discussing what will happen. If people can tell the meeting is making progress, they will be happier during the presentation.
PowerPoint is another tool that can help people to see progress. It is easy to tell the presentation is moving as slides go by. Remember, PowerPoint is a tool. The primary factor is getting people engaged and involved.

Professional presentations can be very fun to give! The speaker gets to connect with the people in a unique way. They get to interact with them on a different level than the people listening. It can be a great way to meet new people and to make a good impression of the company and ideas presented.

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