At some point in your career you will need to give a presentation. Luckily, there are a few simple techniques that can help to give a powerful presentation–no matter what industry. Check out these quick tips for a great presentation:
Keep it short
Keeping the presentation to a minimum is essential to keep your audience’s attention. The average human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000, or around the time the mobile revolution began, to eight seconds. When you drone on or ramble in presentations you can easily lose your audience’s attention. Condensing your message keeps their attention on your presentation.
Prepare key points to cover
If you’re not sure what to cut from your presentation, look at it from your audiences’ point of view. They only care about key information. Make a rough draft of key points that you need to address. Writing the key points out can help you to see what is not necessary, redundant, or off topic. The best presentations are the most polished.
Time yourself
Once you have isolated the key points, time yourself while practicing your presentation. 20 minutes is the longest amount of time you should speak. Use a timer or a stop watch to get an accurate time and revise if it’s longer than 20 minutes. Practice to it to make your presentation to fit in shorter and shorter timeframes.
Invite ongoing feedback
If you are interrupted by a comment or question, don’t push ahead just to finish your train of thought. The questions can give insight into what the audience is thinking. This gives you the opportunity to address it at the right time. It will also affirm your audience is understanding, and following what you are presenting.
Use visual aids
Any visual aids should closely follow your major key points to keep the audience’s attention. The right visuals, displayed in the right way, can make your messages stick and your key points more memorable. Use only as many slides as required to support what you’re saying. 10 slides are the optimal number to use in a presentation. Keep in mind, some presentations would be better with no slides at all or a simple graph, or bar chart.
The major point of any presentation is to transfer information, knowledge, or inspiration. Powerful presentations are remembered. Using these tips can help you prepare a great presentation.