Giving a presentation is not easy, but is often a necessary evil, particularly at work. Some people hate presentations so much they will avoid taking jobs or classes that may involve giving talks.

Learning how to improve presentation skills can help you shed some of this fear and enhance your communication skills. This is beneficial for both you and your audience. A great way to improve your presentations is to watch how others do it. It’s an excellent approach to gain tips in how to enhance your efforts. Whether you go to talks or watch TED Talks on YouTube, watching others give presentations is an activity that will help you learn how to better your approach. Perhaps you could get used to public speaking by volunteering in a role that requires this or get involved in an activity where standing in front of an audience happens regularly. This could include joining a debating group, a choir or getting involved with amateur dramatics. There are lots of ways to increase your comfort with being in front of an audience.

How to improve presentation skills.

Having good slides helps with giving a great presentation. It is important to remember that your slides are just prop. But they are not everything, and nor should they be. When you prepare slides remember that you should not simply read from them. They should not contain every last detail of your talk. It is not engaging for your audience to watch you simply read out slides to them. Rather, you should develop slides that make the key points, and not just rely on text. Where possible introduce images, tables or and graphs that can help you make your message. This will be more memorable for the audience and help prevent them from switching off. Also, keep your presentation on-topic rather than address points that are only marginally relevant so that your audience retains the most important messages. On a practical note, an important step in improving your presentations is to get to the presentation location early to set up ahead of time . If you arrive late you may end up flustered when you cannot get your laptop to project on the big screen. Arrive in good time to get everything set up and welcome your guests as they arrive, rather than panicking about practical matters that could have been attended to earlier. Starting flustered leads to stress, and therefore a less effective presentation. Arrive on time and set up early to give yourself a chance to get some good deep breaths in before you start. This improves your chances of performing well.

Practice!

Finally, don’t forget, practice makes perfect. Practicing your presentations in front of others can help you improve. Put yourself forward for situations where you will have to do presentations. As you gain confidence, each presentation becomes less scary.]]>