Know your audience, know your objective, rehearse, relax.
Great points. I would add make sure your visual aids truly add to your presentation & aren't a distraction. Also, re: feedback, yes be prepared for the negative & prepared to handle it graciously.
Ryn
First, it is very important to research and know your topic. Secondly, rehearse your presentation so that can feel confortable in delivering your talk. Practice moving around and have someone in the audience to provide feedback. Third, assess how the presentation went. Solicit feeback from participants.
First: I think you should consider the audience.
Second: How much is too much. Know when to stop.
Third: If using visual aids, make sure they are readable and effective.
Fourth: Expect feedback. Negative and positive.
I would say first, know your material. Nothing is more frustrating than watch someone try to explain something they do not know or understand themselves. Next, I would suggest you prepare your slides or other visuals and review your notes for verbal lecture. Finally, don't forget to relax and engage the viewers when possible. The more they interact with you, the more they will pay attention and the more information they will retain.
True. You may get a question that you can't answer. Just say so. Then get the answer then get back to the person who asked the question either privately or publicly if the rest of the group would benefit.
The top three things I believe are knopledge of the topic that you are going to present, preparation of an order or presentaion that makes sense, and time to explain and answer questions in the form of feedback.
1} Preparation
Know your material and practice until you don't have to read from notes
2} Be Enthusiastic
Whether you are selling a product or delivering a hitory lecture, your audience will pick up any negative energy and tone you out.
3] Don't Go Overboard
I've learned from teaching 18-22 year olds that they have about 20-30 minutes before they start losing interest. Be informative and brief.
The top (3-4) things to remember when preparing and delivering an effective presentation would include:
One: Know what the occasion is. You need to understand why there is an occasion for a presentation and why type of presentation will be done.
Two: Know your audience. If you do not know your audience, you could wind up with a hostile, angry, bored, and overwhelmed audience because of not knowing what they already know, what they do not know, and what the demographics are.
Three: Knowing your material. The more you can be comfortable and confident with what you are presenting, the more you can be comfortable and confident with the audience and thus they will be more receptive to your communication, and presense.
Four: Engaging your audience with visual aids can leave a great impression and stress the major points you want them to remember. It also tells the audience that you care about their learning modalies and that you want to engage with them in multiple ways.
Avia,
Great ideas. Regarding projecting your voice, while obviously much of this is physical, I also believe this ties into good preparation & confidence. When we know that we have prepared well, we are much more confident & then our voices will be that much stronger & we will be able to project better.
Ryan
Kelly,
All great suggestions. I especially appreciate your comment about learning from mistakes & just focusing on doing better next time. While I admit that it's embarrassing to make a mistake when publicly speaking, it is so important to not let these mistakes "destroy" us, but as you said, to learn from them & move forward.
Ryan
1.) Preparation: Knowing your material and your audience is essential.
2.) Relax: If your prepared, you'll do fine, if not you can learn from your mistakes and be better the next time.
3.) Avoid side bars and subjects or questions not inherently related to the topic at hand. This can be done through preperation and anticipating audience questions.
4.) Plan for contingencies. It seems to never fail, that when you have adequately prepared, relaxed... Murphy shows up in some form or another.
In order to have an effective presentation I believe that the presenter must know the material that is to be covered, Prepare mentally, Project your voice and remaining calm at all times.
I agree with Craig. It is very advantageous if one can videotape themselves and the audience/students when giving a presentation or instructing a class. I did this in graduate school. We videotaped ourselves twice, once at the beginning of the course and again at the end. We critiqued ourselves and a classmate critiqued our video as well. When watching the video we took note of the volume and tone of our speech, how we answered questions, how we asked questions (open or close-ended questions), which members of the audience did we make contact with, which members of the audience did we seldom or never make eye contact with, were we calling on the same person, if we moved around the room were we blocking members of the audience, and when we spoke did we tend to speak to the front, back, left or right side of the audience/room? It made me more aware of myself and my actions when I'm presenting presenting.
Determine the level of your audience and how best to hold their attention.
Determine the points of your presentation by deciding what it is your supposed to impart.
Decide on a method of presentation, including visuals, handouts or other materials that are suitable and well-designed for your presentation.
Practice your presentation by presenting before a person familiar with the target group and at a similar level. Or use a video camera or recorder to view your presentation to make improvements as you see your weak areas.
Great pieces of advice & I feel tied together. The more prepared I am, then when those little things happen (dropping something, etc) then I won't be as flustered. And the more prepared the more confident I will be & especially in the Q & A time.
Know your audience, be prepared and use tone of voice as well as pauses in your speaking.
First and formost be prepared. Know your material and believe it.If you don't believe it how will you make someone else believe it?
Secondly: Your manerism. Don't just move around during a lecture or presentation,move with poise,good posture,and use distinct movement.If you would drop something,kick a table leg,a fly gets in your face, or what ever just make light of it and keep going.
Thirdly: Speak clearly and with enthusiam and vary your tone.
Fourth: Q@A time. Don't be afraid to say (I don't know the answer)But be sure to state that you will find the answer and get back to them.
1) Be prepared.
2) Know your audience so that you can better repair a presentation that will match your audience.
3) Start your presentation with a WOW moment that will capture your audience.
I took public speaking in school and we did this all the time. It was a big help. I realized quick that I talked to fast and was boring. I never really thought I would use the things I learned in that class. I'm glad my Dad made me take it!
