How to be brilliant in Presentation Skills

Recently I met with a CEO, who deals with technology. Technology that touches our life- Your cell phone, computers, mobile phone, etc. This gentleman is a frequent guest at Ted Talk, Business Channels and had an experience of twenty years of giving presentations and holding public speaking skills and still, he sees space for development and ready for learning the art of presentation and public speaking skills. It’s obvious and I asked him what is the need to still learn this art since you mastered it with the exposure of twenty years, don’t you think it’s a long experience. What is that thing which makes you feel that you still have to master this public speaking art? Well the answer made me delighted, he said that every new training makes him better then what he was earlier and This company runs on our share prices and when it comes down it hats the valuation of the company. So, what I say and how I say makes all the difference.

Well for me it’s a learning and also a case study where we can learn that every new training makes us better. When we consult the psychologist to explain this, they refer to some Dunning- Kruger effect. This effect says that if somebody is mediocre at something then they believe that they are actually good at that and therefore this hider their growth in that quality since they stop all the development in those areas. Therefore, we say great leaders don’t let this syndrome chip in and they analyze their weakness and work over them. So, when you are reading these tips give yourself enough space for development as well. Let yourself give space to work on your weaknesses and enhance your communication skills. 

1.    Good presentation generally has few slides: How many times when you are audience would like to know the number of presentation slides presenter might be showing you! and if the number of slides is huge, how does it affect your attention to learning? Well, you have answer for the first tip for a good presentation. McKinsey we all know a consulting company that shares its experience of new management students giving a presentation to clients often try to impress clients with huge slides and ton of information. Well with the experience and guidance they reduce it to the minimum. They would also ask to reduce your twenty slides presentation to two slides. We can often find with few examples that key presentations in history often took less word and slides be it Gettysburg Address in 272 words to be precise. John F. Kennedy's speech of 15 Minutes, and preamble of the constitution on a single page. In short, it is always good to remove clutter when you can. 

2.    Use pictures instead of bullet point

Our memory absorbs pictures better than words. Steve Jobs from Apple is the ardent believer to put his point across his audience with text and pictures instead of bullet points. This concept is Pictorial Superiority where the audience remembers pictures more often than words. Even John Medina, a famous molecular biologist says that “ we are incredible at remembering pictures” The information stays 10% in our memory after three days while a picture has the chance of being in memory for 65%. So instead of words use images or even videos will also be a good option.

3.    Work on your vocal delivery

Jonah Berger a Wharton Marketing professor has found in his research that if a presenter lays stress on volume, pitch and pace tend to be an effective presenter. So voice modulation and emphasizing a key point with variation is voice is equally important. For instance, whenever you are present anything thinks that the audience mind is art paper and your voice as a paintbrush which will tend to draw your presentation in his mind. So for differentiation and impact, you will use different colors so does emphasis is also required. When you say my name is John. John should be stressed so that the audience remembers that. So key points, things to remember and key stats should be given proper stress by enhancing pitch and volume.

4.    Immerse your presentation with some WOW factor.

A rhetoric schedule of presentation won’t give you the attention of the audience, you have to create something novel and grab the audience's attention. While having a personality development session at my workplace, the presenter offered us a water-soaked skin tissue paper to keep that on our eyes and sit with closed eyes for two minutes. Trust me for a complete two minutes we were relieved and calm and after that, we remembered that presentation because of that activity.

We are humans and often gets bored if the things are rhetoric but this experiment was unexpected and came as a surprise when everybody was expecting a presentation, she started with a practical approach that matched with emotions as well.

5.    Rehearse the presentation

Malcolm Gladwell introduced the rule of’10,000’ hour and made it a benchmark of excellence. So, 20 hours a week of practice for a decade will make you master. Don’t be afraid you don’t need too much. It depends on the person and person and their thirst for excellence. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his dream speech after years of practice which is known as his ‘dream-speech’. The practice empowered him of the knowledge awareness and flexibility of delivering his presentation. So, King has given around 2500 speech imagine the time he has spent on practice of these speeches if for assumption we took two hours in writing and mastering the speech we came to 5000 hours of practice and if we take King’s high school debate then it would reach to 10,000 hours easily. So Invest your time whatever your excuse maybe but you need the practice to deliver your presentation. Even the best need that.

So, underestimating the power of good communication skills will weaken your chances of securing a good carrier. Master the art of communication and you are ready for the world which will not only listen to you but remember you for a long for your skills. Your business will thrive, your experience will be shared and will be a learning lesson for people. Regular practice makes you a person who can deliver great lessons every time.