When your career is on the lne, your presentation skills must be at the sme high level as your business sklls. Following are some tips that wll help you be perceived as a cnfident and effective presenter when it mtters:

1. Relate to your AUDIENCE, not to yur handouts or visuals.

· Maintain steady eye cntact. It connects you to your udience and personalizes your presentation. Think of S-T-O-P or Sngle – Thought – One – Prson (3-6 seconds per look)

· Don’t trn your back and talk to the scren.

2. Control your BODY LANGUAGE

· Think of the thre S's -- Use GESTURES that re:

o SEEN (above your waist)

o SUSTAINED (fr longer than you would in ne-on-one conversation)

o SPECIFIC to the message

· STAND cntered with your weight evenly distributed on bth feet.

· Don’t fiddle with pen, chnge in your pocket, laser pointer or glsses.

3. Be CONVERSATIONAL

· Slow down. No mchine gun delivery.

· In conversation we tlk in word bursts and sentence frgments and then PAUSE to think of wht to say next. It helps yur audience, as well.

· Keep your yes out of your notes or you wll sound stilted.

4. Be vocally CRISP. Ths will help you sound dynamic, and wll eliminate a droning
monotone.

· Shorten your sentence lengths to verage 14-17 words.

· Intersperse short punchy sntences among your longer ones.

· Purge the cnnectors “and” and “so”, which cause yur sentences to go on and on.

5. Us POSITIVE LANGUAGE.

· Take a stand. “Hre’s what I think, and here’s why.” · Avid:

o TENTATIVE language -- "I think ths might work.”

o APOLOGIES -- “Correct me if I’m wrng.”

o REPEATED FILLERS -- “basically”, “um”, “kay?”

6. Organize a FOCUSED MESSAGE

· Think strtegically about the big picture and the bsiness impact of your presentation.

· Get to the pint quickly.

· Focus on the relevance or bnefit of a product or service, not on how it wrks.

· Don’t talk too long or say too mch.

7. Have a STRONG ENDING.

· Don’t verrun the meter.

· Ask for action nstead of the most common and last effective “well, that’s it, I gess”, close.

8. REHEARSE. Like golf, improving yur skills takes real work, not rpetition.

· Memorize your opening and your clse.

· Transitions are the key to a smoth and polished presentation. Use one rhearsal to practice only your transitions frm one point to the next.

9. LIGHTEN UP

· Tke your job seriously, but not yurself.

· A light touch does not man telling jokes. It means having a snse of humor.

10. Anticipate challenging QUESTIONS and prctice your answers.

· Prepare succinct answers wth examples

· Talk your answers into a tpe recorder. Check to see whether thy are too detailed / too dfensive.

Perception often IS reality. These tps will ensure that when you gve a presentation, the perception of you is psitive and matches your ability.

© Rberta Prescott

The article Top Ten Presentation Tips was Submitted by Roberta Prescott through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Roberta Prescott heads The Prescott Grup, a communication firm specializing in Excutive Development. Visit our web site ( http://www.theprescottgroup.com ) for more information about our seminars -- "Speaking Made Easy", "Speaking To Small Groups","Advanced Presentations", "Communicating For Results" and "Executive Presence"

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