How to Develop Presentation Skills that Leave a Powerful Impact

Presentations are crucial in any business, whether they are for sales pitches, keynote speeches, reports, training sessions, or board meetings. The main aim of presentations is to put one’s points across to the other person expecting a favourable outcome. Delivering presentations can be nerve-wracking but the skills can be mastered with the right techniques and practice. Delivering a presentation is empowering when done well. In addition to imparting knowledge, it is an opportunity to establish authority on the subject.

Presentations that are well-structured and delivered create a massive impact on the audience. As a presenter, the first impression an individual give is with their personal appearance. This refers to an individual being well-groomed, well dressed and having a confident body language. Virtual presentations are increasingly common these days. Proper care for grooming needs to be given even while presenting online. The same rule goes for presentations that are delivered online. Keeping the content crisp and attention-worthy is the key here. How well and effectively one communicates determines the rate of success of the result.

Tips to turn ineffective presentation abilities into smarter ones

During any presentation, it is important to choose one’s words carefully to establish credibility, appear knowledgeable, and ensure that the message is comprehended well. The speaker needs to use forceful, precise language to convey the ideas and not be ambiguous at any point.

A few pointers that make presentations extremely interesting and impactful are:

1. Clarity of speech

Clear thoughts result in clear speeches. Speeches need to be informative and entertaining at the same time. Reading out the facts and giving a serious talk is sure to leave the audience bored. Inexperienced and nervous speakers tend to speak fast or fumble during presentations. Adding proper pauses and consciously slowing down makes a big difference. Every idea should have a 10-20 word summary. Knowing those words and repeating them during presentations will leave a bigger impact on the audience.?

2. The 10-second rule

These days, the attention span of viewers has reduced considerably. All the creators are capitalizing on this and making short, visually appealing content to penetrate their target audience. The wider reach and engagement levels that crisp content with visually appealing elements manage to attract is beyond imagination. The same goes for presentations. Irrespective of the vastness of the idea, the presenter should be able to describe it concisely, in a few slides. The current capabilities of applications that produce data-rich visualizations ensure ease of understanding. Dale Carnegie’s 10-second rule implies that any presentation slide needs to be comprehended within 10 seconds. A successful presentation is one that enables faster information retention and decision making.

3. Tell a story

Presentations are about telling stories. The purpose is to make the audience see, hear and feel exactly the way the speaker did. Stories need to be structured in a way that the speaker first shares an incident, talks about a specific action to prevent or solve it and close it with the result caused by the action. Long presentations need not be stretchy and boring with dry facts. In such cases, conveying the message by narrating real-life experiences or as a simple story would leave an impact on the listeners. Great speakers use storytelling as a way to connect with their audience. People tend to tune out when flimsy and catch-all words are used.

4. Encourage interactions

Presentations that are engaging and interactive are more impactful. Keeping eye contact while presenting, and encouraging the crowd to ask questions and share their thoughts improves the credibility of the speaker. Acknowledging the audience’s comments and questions with patience and grace gives the listeners the confidence and conviction that the presenter knows the subject thoroughly.?

5. Admit when wrong

Many presenters and speakers find it difficult to accept that they do not have all the answers. Although unnecessary apologies create a negative impact, it is extremely important to admit when mistakes happen and are pointed out. For instance, apologising for being anxious or not having practised well needs to be avoided. Many a time, the audience does not care if the presenter is nervous. It is better to accept the fear and not intensify the anxiety trying to fight it.

6. Body language

A confident and commanding body language boosts the confidence of the presenter and gives a level of trust to the audience. Before any presentation, practising stress relieving techniques and deep breathing help to a great extent. Apart from that, joining a group activity and frequently putting oneself out there helps to ease the stage fear.?

How powerful presentations inspire the audience and leave an impact

Writing content that is meant to be read differs from writing content for speaking situations. Make sure the presentation's wording is easy to understand when spoken, without losing any of its pertinent aspects. Beyond what is said, how an individual presents the content as a speaker—the body language, the volume etc. has a big impact on whether or not the listeners pay attention and comprehend what is being said. Proper use of visual aids helps the audience recall the information. Whether the communication objective is to persuade, sell, or inspire, having strong presentation abilities will set you apart from competitors.

Speaking and presentation skills are not inherent, they are developed with practice. Brainstorming and practising beforehand are essential before any presentation. Addressing a group of people can be a nerve-wracking experience. Professional training along with practice will do wonders when structuring and delivering powerful presentations.

Dale Carnegie Training is the pioneer in providing guidance and training programs for creating high impact presentations. The High Impact Presentations course empowers participants to communicate and present confidently and competently to all types of audiences. The program focuses on creating a presentation with a strong structure that engages your audience, establishes credibility, and effectively communicates your message. The participants discover their unique strengths as a presenter, explore the optimum use of voice and gesture to create a lasting impression. Get in touch today to learn more about the course.?