Presentation Tips and Techniques

So. You've got to give a presentation. The problem is, you haven't presented anything since you were Troll #3 in your elementary school production of "Things that Might Live in the Forest." Here are some helpful hints to get you by.

1. Make eye contact with your audience.

People can tell when you are looking over their heads. Or at their foreheads. Or at your notes. They will feel more vested in the presentation and your material if you look up at them, letting your eyes meet theirs for a natural beat or two. Any less than that and you'll appear restless and frightened. Any more than that and you're a big creepy creep.

2. Move with purpose.

Meaningful gestures can help to relax you as well as your audience. These movements convey a sense of comfort and give listeners something to look at. If you are using ancillaries, motion towards them. If you've got nothing, feel free to use your hands to enhance your speech (not too much!) and to take a few purposeful strides in one direction or another. This will engage people.

Things that will not engage people, and that may outright turn them away? Rocking back and forth from foot to foot. This makes people seasick and uncomfortable. Then there's the flamingo. This is when you stand on one foot and let the other one wobble around limply behind you. Lastly -- the cross of doom. This is when you cross one foot over the other, rest, then repeat in the opposite direction. All of these are sub or unconscious movements. Become conscious of them, and get rid of them. You'll be a much stronger presenter for it.

3. Strike "nothing words" from your vocabulary.

This doesn't just go for presentations -- the word like has no place in speech unless it is contained within a simile or used to describe the way one feels about ice cream. Um is useless. Well needs to go away, unless Lassie needs to tell us where little Timmy is or when using an expression of state of being. Well, otherwise, like, you should, um, get rid of those words.

4. Smile.

It brings light to a presentation.

5. Don't laugh.

Especially not at your own jokes. If you do laugh, don't follow it with, "Right? Right!?"

6. Don't apologize.

If you forget where you are or otherwise make a mistake, move on. Apologies are unnecessary. If you apologize, you will call attention to your error. Correct the error and keep going with the presentation.

7. Keep slides short and sweet.

If bringing some sort of slide show to your presentation, be sure to limit the number of words you put on each slide. 10 - 15 words per slide will help guide your presentation, and will guarantee that the audience will read it. Any more than that and you risk losing your audience to the slide. It is also not advised to read directly from a slide show. Use these for reference only -- spend most of your time looking at your audience, not at a screen behind your head.

8. Set up and test all technology beforehand.

Technology is great! There will be times, though, when you don't have the right connector and the projector won't turn on and the screen won't unroll and the audio is fuzzy and your slides are out of order and in the middle of your presentation your screen saver of you and your cats making kissy faces at each other pops up because you forgot to set the computer to presentation mode. So. To prevent this, do a test run at the facility with the technology you'll be using if at all possible. Even having a few moments to yourself to check connections before the audience arrives can be helpful.

9. Allow time for questions and comments...

but don't count on them. If you've got an hour presentation to give, plan at least an hour and ten minutes worth of material. Why? You'll talk faster in front of a crowd. Planning extra material (~ 20% more time) will give you about the presentation you want, with time left over for questions. How long to take questions? No more than 5 - 10 minutes.

10. Thank your audience.

Nothing is more awkward than when a presenter says, "Any questions?" and then waits around hopefully for applause. Thanking the audience lets them know that the presentation is over. It will also give you a feeling of closure.

I hope these hints were helpful!

Thank you.