10 Ways to Give a More Effective Presentation in Public Speaking

A clear demonstration of ideas and correct delivery of message plays a huge role in making a presentation successful. As public speaking is an important component of success across various domains of life, being a good public speaker can come to an aid while seeking personal and professional development. However, as promoting one’s ideas publicly requires a good amount of courage to stand in front of an audience and deliver the message in a strong tone, many people develop an anxiety with the thought of public speaking. While a few people are naturally eloquent speakers, others need to overcome their public speaking fears. The challenge of delivering an effective presentation in public speaking can be facilitated with the below tips:

1. Keep Your Presentation Simple
A simple presentation that is easy to deliver is more likely to grasp the full attention of your audience rather than a complicated presentation full of overwhelming phrases, facts and figures. Although audience will enjoy fancy talks in the beginning, gradually their attention might drift and the speaker might also lose the exact point of the message. Before planning a presentation, always keep in mind the key message to be delivered to the audience and communicate it briefly. Refrain from saying things that don’t contribute to the core message of your presentation.

2. Connect with Your Audience and Engage Them
The most important thing behind delivering a successful presentation is establishing a strong connection with your audience. As a presentation is more about the audience and less about the speaker, it is essential for the speaker to be honest with the audience. Also, audience like to talk and raise their opinions. Rather than making a one-sided presentation, prepare a presentation with inviting questions about the thoughts of the audience. This will boost the attendee’s engagement and make them feel a part of the conversation.

3. Use Visuals Wisely
Visuals are ideal to gain the attention of your audience. A flat presentation where the speaker only speaks is not as effective as a presentation with adequate visuals. Use of pictures, audio clips, videos, animations or graphs makes a presentation more memorable for the audience as it emphasises and illustrates your point easily. But too many visuals can break the connection with your audience. So, use them sparingly to enhance the quality of your content.

4. Tell Stories
Personal stories are a great way to build an instant connection with anyone. As people pay more attention to someone with whom they feel a personal connection, most of the public speakers prefer to use personal stories in their presentations. But the crucial part here is to keep the story brief and relatable to the content. To make your story more identifiable and not self-centered, keep the story in mind before starting the presentation and don’t get carried away while telling a story.

5. Smile and Make Eye Contact with The Spectators
Even though this sounds easy, surprisingly most of the presenters fail to do so. Smile represents a confident and enthusiastic personality to the crowd. A presenter with a beaming personality who can easily make an eye contact can effortlessly build a strong rapport with its audiences. It not only helps the presenter feel less nervous but also keeps the attendees more focused while delivering an important piece of information.

6. Express Your Views Through Your Body Language
While we communicate a lot of messages through our speech, our body language discreetly gives hints about our personality and attitude. As presenters address a large number of audiences, it is necessary to alter the voice tone along with their body language. To deliver the right message with the desired impact make sure you use open and confident gestures as well as facial expressions while naturally moving around the stage and the audience.

7. Apply the 10-20-30 Rule to a Slideshow
Considered as a golden rule while preparing a presentation, the 10-20-30 rule was stated by Guy Kawasaki. As per this rule, a slideshow must contain no more than 10 slides, with duration of no more than 20 minutes and font size not less than 30 points. As the human brain cannot comprehend more than 10 concepts at a time, using 10 slides in a presentation which can be completed within 20 minutes will give enough time to the presenter in setting up the presentation and responding to the audience queries. Also, the 30-point font size will make the presentation more appealing to the audience.

8. Arrive Early and Adjust to Your Surroundings
Arriving prior to the audience will give you ample time to settle down and calm yourself before starting the presentation. Extra time will also ensure that you get familiar with the surroundings and the presentation space. Utilise this time in practicing with the microphone and understanding the lighting, the seating arrangement and the potential distractions. The more comfortable you get, the more confident you will feel.

9. Attend Other Presentations
Attending other presentations will help you in learning and understanding the skills of other presenters. In case of conferences, attend earlier talks to show respect towards other presenters as well as to get an insight of the audience mood. Observing various speakers speak in public will expose you to the positive and the negative traits of public speaking. It might also inspire you to use different tactics and strategies required to reach towards the next level of public speaking.

10. Practice to Perfect Those Skills
To make an everlasting impression on your audience, it is essential to rehearse your presentation. Although, practicing might be difficult between your busy schedules, give some time to yourself before delivering a big presentation. Work on your script, voice tone, facial expressions and gestures while practicing. Practicing in front of a friend will help you get feedback from your friend or recording your presentation and playing it again will help you evaluate the areas which need some hard work. Also listening to your previous presentation recordings will make you aware of how your skills appear in front of the public.