Tips to be a better presenter?

Richard Fang
9 replies
Both virtual or physical - what are your top tips to help others (and me!)

Replies

There are loads of guides out there on how to be a better presenter but for me the main way that I've improved is just to practice - put yourself in more situations where you have to present.
Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza)
Practice makes perfect! Take every chance you get to deliver presentations, and if possible, record yourself, watch it, and tweak next time. You'll see improvement in no time.
Misha Krunic
Hey, Richard! There are 2 main tips that I stumble upon often and that I agree with. 1. Know your audience - one same topic should not be presented in the same way to different audiences. Some audiences will be more informed about the topic you are presenting and some less so. A significant problem occurs when you have a heterogeneous audience. Then, I think, you'll have to find a sort of middle line, and as other people have said - practice makes perfect. 2. Time management & rehearsals - I don't know who you're planning to present to, but many people value their time highly (and rightly so, in my opinion). If you've been given 45 mins to present something, I'm not expecting to sit for an hour and fifteen minutes listening to that presentation. I would suggest practicing a couple of times before giving the main presentation, in order to better fit into the given time frame. Bonus tip: make sure there's some sort of structural logic to your presentation. What I mean by this is that you need to take care of what section goes where and how much time will it take (and what information will it include, this is sort of a reference to the first point). There are probably many more tips, but these are the ones I find important. Cheers!
Richard Fang
@price2spy i still remember when I was presenting to a VP once very early on in my career and he gave me the 'know your audience' feedback to me. Although he liked the content I presented, he told me that a lot of it was irrelevant to him. Definitely helped shape my future presentations!
Alina Ihnatiuk
Remember that 'facts tell, stories sell. ' Know the content. Practice. Be engaging. Go faster. Change the pace and tone.
Iren
Hey! Raise self-confidence. Confident people make good impression even if do mistakes. Imagine that the audience is your acquaintances and friends. It would make you calmer. That all is about stage fright. If you feel confident enough, focus on the manner of speech - it should be unhurried and non-monotonous.
Maya Rioux
Write a script for your presentation, then read it several times through. Record yourself reading it and play that back for yourself. Read it through a final time - then burn it/recycle it/delete it. Stand up and let your words flow. You'll be practiced but sound more natural.
Richard Fang
@mayasinclaire I actually found recording yourself a great thing to do - especially big presos! Great comment :)
Kit Fach
1. Slow down your speaking and be ok with pauses. When your speaking publicly you usually speak too fast and are afraid of silence. Letting there be a brief silence, as long as you look calm and confident, makes your audience feel that you know what you're doing and that you're in control. 2. Practice with someone who will give you honest feedback so you can see what to cut out, and where you're being confusing. Most people include way too many things in a presentation. 3. If you really want to get better, as weird as it sounds, go do some open mics. I did stand up for a few years and I'm convinced that soul-crushing open mics where you bomb give you a level of confidence for business presentations that can't be matched. Even if you have zero interest in being a comedian. It will be thoroughly unpleasant but spend a month doing open mics and I promise your public speaking will be way better. You will also learn all of your vocal and motion tics because nobody gives better more honest feedback than other comics. 4. Recoding yourself is definitely useful. 5. Don't bring up note cards or a script it's the quickest way to forget what you were going to say. Hope this was somewhat useful!