Presentation Skills #3: Doing a Presentation or SHOW TIME

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Presentation is not a merely stand in front of audience and get started talking. It really needs a well-planning.  if we don’t make a good preparation, well I think the presentation will be boring. The worse, the audience will less respect you when you do not interesting presentation. Other word, when you do your presentation well, they will respect you and hope they will see your presentation again. you don’t want they disrespect you ha?

So does happen, after you have been through such a long and tiring process starting from preparing your materials and doing so many rehearsals, it is a SHOW TIME.

All you need here just a simple thing: CONFIDENT and PUBLIC SPEAKING TECHNIQUE.

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One big mistake for most amateur or first timer presenter is letting his nervousness and the feeling of lack confident grows bigger and stronger. Well, let me tell you something. The reason why they want to sit there and wait your presentation is YOU!!!  They want to get something new from you.  So why you do feel you gut shrank?.. other reason, YOU ARE The ONE who knows better about your presentation, or the topic you will talk, besides, you have make a great effort during of preparation. if your preparation is well done, I guess you don’t have any reason to feel lack of confident.

Walk confident, Wave and Smile To Audience

Well, you also may try this in before you get on the stage or podium. First, suck your guts in. Take a deep breath, and show that you are in a good spirit when you walk toward the podium too.  Automatically, you promise “something” to audience. you will be the centre of all eyes in the room. Wave and smile to audience when you start walking on the stage. Make a small wave to audience will make you feel better, it indicates you are friendly person as well as help you feel more relax. 

Speak clearly and not too quickly.

Presentation is delivering your ideas and thoughts to audience. The aim of presentation is the receiver or audience will understand clearly. So take your time, speak conversationally, don’t get too rush. use intonation and stress while talking or be animated. Try not to read your speech word-for-word or read all through your slides. use moderate volume of voice to make sure everyone in the audience can hear you easily.  

Short and Simple

When you don’t have much time, you should try to keep your presentation short and simple. Use language level which is suited to the audience. You don’t have to use high level words when you think they are not familiar with. Use clear and simple language that your audience will understand.

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Get your Audience Attention

Well, basically every talk could be driven into something WOW!!!  SO it needs a technique. You may try this. The first is you have to make them pay attention to you. When you get their attention, you must maintain interest. You can share a personal story or two, tell some jokes or anecdotes, or ask them questions.  You may pause a little bit when they are noisy or busy with other activity. You may ask the noisy make a simple of funny question related to the topic.

When on the stage, be aware of your body language, be natural but try to add expression to you voice and be animated. You should avoid some silly act or too over behavior when on the stage. well, you are not a comedian, instead you are a presenter.  when you think the audience easily get noisy or become well I think you should not send more joke on them.  

Body Language and Gesture

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You may use hand gestures, don’t stand up there like a stick. Well, using hand gesture will make you feel more natural, it also will help the audience to grasp the understanding of your presentation easily.  if you have ever noticed, you palm is the imitation of your tongue. It also can help you to keep talking or never losing a word to fire up. Still, you should keep you gesture appropriately, don’t make yourself a stock of laughing and people think you are over acting.   

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To feel more relax, you may move around a little on the podium or stage, make a small steps up and front or sideward, also don’t rock back and forth, that makes you look nervous.

Making eye contact to audience

Don’t stare only to one spot. You should also make eye contact with all sections of the audience. Look at to all directions or to all groups of audience.  don’t be scared. well, if you are scared, this little tip may help you then.  don’t stare to audience’s eye. Stare to their head, hair or forehead or other part. but if you talk one on one you should see hi face. Staring at audience eyes for a beginner will make your guts shrank.  

Doing Question & Answer Session

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A good presentation is when the speaker doesn’t make the audience bored and so they respond to the presentation and enjoy it. Take questions from the audience and answer them as best you can. Don’t get into a debate if someone disagrees but talk with him/her after your speech. 

If you follow these steps, you should be able to give a really good presentation. Remember, practice makes perfect. After each presentation, take time to think about what was good about your performance and what could be improved.

Well, this is what I have learned from my tutor – Geoffrey Collins.

I hope my sharing will help you a lot especially when you are about doing a presentation.  

  

Presentation Skills #2: Presentation Rehearsal

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On the previous post on this blog, it was mentioned what sort of the preparation steps and materials should be done. When you have done all those being mentioned steps and materials, it means that you have gone a half of the process, which is the Great Presentation.

So let’s go forward.    

The next step merely focuses on rehearsal, rehearsal and dress rehearsal. it could be simplified as practice on and on till reaching perfection. One big question, do you know how to rehearse? yeah… HOW to REHEARSE your presentation???

Rehearsal for a Presentation

Before going further, could you give the answer for these following questions?

Do you have fun when rehearsing a presentation? 

I think it is tormenting and such a pain in the neck.

Do you memorize one by one or every word on your draft or good copy of your draft?

How many times should you do rehearsals till you can consider you are ready?

What aspects should you concern?

What steps do you take during this?

Is you draft or presentation just way too short or perhaps way too long to the time allocate for your presentation?

Oke… let’s us begin. Follow these steps please.

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Read you good copy or you draft for your presentation.

Well, you should read your presentation out loud. Not to forget, read it as interesting can be or just like reading something that you like. Even better, you should read it as though it is a love letter from your special one. But, don you think it is too over and exaggerate?

Well, you should consider about the comma, the period and the exclamation or even a question mark on your draft.

By the way… before you begin reading, I think it is better to set your stopwatch. why? you could measure the duration of our presentation whether it lasts before the time, over the time.

When your reading is way too short then you should add up more explanation on your draft. For the opposite, you should cut off unnecessary sentences you would like to say. You should be aware or keep your presentation.

Do these for two or three times, make sure you evaluate your reading after finish doing it. 

  

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Reading flow using appropriate intonation and stress.

After you know where to stop for a while or pause slightly, now for the second steps is adding up your reading with intonation and give stress on the emphasized sentences.  well, nobody wants his presentation goes flat. so start practice sending your presentation with intonation and stress.

When you want to ask the audience to think deeper, utter your sentences slowly. You can say you sentences in a high tone or a low tone and it depends on the matter you say.

Practice this step several times. You can also imitate the famous presenter style to be more fun.

Now, it is the time to drop you good copy or draft. You should not drop it directly, if you think you should remember what will you say, why don’t you leave or drop you draft? and when you need it again, read again.  I believe after five to seven times reading you will master 50 to 70 percents of your presentation material.  

it is wise enough to make cue cards to help you practice and doine your presentation. what is cue cards anyway?

Making Cue Cards

Well, cue cards are small cards, as big as your palm, about the short notes of your presentation to notify your steps of presentation. It helps you to keep tracks of your presentation. So you know where you are, what things to speak in orderly. it also helps you to avoid being speechless when you are on the stage.

Well you just put them on your palm, where the note is facing to upward. you can take a peek for a glimpse when you forget what will you say next. and nobody will notice what you are doing. you should practice using cue cards professionally while you rehearse the presentation.

it is a small stuffs but it is life safer I supposed. 

After you find your style of delivering your presentation, the next steps will be easier and promise you confident and fun as well.    

Rehearse you movement when on the stage.

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Well, first think you should know who is the audience. you must behave to the audience, whether it is formal or little less formal. some might say using gesture indicates ill-manner or less educated but on the other forum, it is necessary to be animated.  

Among those animated behavior styles while doing presentation, there are at least three things to be fully concerned. There are the way we stand, eye contact and body gesture.

Stand Confidently

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We should walk to and on the stage confidently. And you should stand upright full of guts. Don’t stand like a stick and move back and fro or even moving a tick tock like hours hands without any purpose. the solution is simple. Feel free, enjoy and have fun while you doing this. You may take small steps around your podium when you are doing a presentation. you may also get off the podium if you think you need and come closer to audience.     

Well you need to practice alone and infront of the mirror to see how good your movement is.

Making eye contact

Make sure you shared your eye contact to every corner and spot in the room. Don’t stare on a single spot only. Try not to look down when you are talking, unless when you peek your cue cards. Do feel nervous when your eyes look ahead? one big secret, don’t look them right in the eyes but you may look their forehead. Can you imagine your eyes against every eyes in a whole room? it is terrifying, isn’t it? so, do like what I tell you. 

 

You can practice sharing your eye contact to every spot in the room by placing some face on your whiteboard or wall. Stick seven to eight faces on different spot and look them on by one in a glimpse while you practice. after doing this several times, you will get used to share your eye contact.

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Body Language and Gesture      

Thing I can suggest on this matter is enjoy every part of your presentation. When you don’t enjoy you will be like a numb. Move your hand a bit, wave them up, lift them up and make it goes as your tongue speaks. I strongly advise you to be more animated, use your mimic expression. still be mannerly when saying something infront of the forum. don’t make a silly and unnecessary gesture. the audience will respect you differently.

You can practice these steps step by step. if you were still shy, do it personally. then ask one friend or two, you could ask you relatives as well to be the audience. don’t forget to ask their opinion about your presentation. when you are ready, practice along with your classmate. 

Rehearsal with Properties.

After you practice your presentation fluently, don’t forget to practice with your properties you created for your presentation as well. Make sure you know how to use your properties well. if your speech is great, so the properties must be excellent too. it will support one another. One big error is presenter sometimes could do excellently on both aspects. so you are better combine those excellently   

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DRESS Rehearsal.

This is the final steps of your rehearsal. Just think this is your presentation but less the audience.  prepare and use all properties you need. get on the stage. do the final rehearsal. when you are doing great in this step then I am pretty sure you will be ready for the SHOW TIME!!!

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So Good Luck with your presentation, you have gone by far that’s why you should give more than a hundred percent otherwise all your work will be vain.