Presentations

Who are you and what do you stand for?

What are your strengths? Make sure to use all of these to your advantage. You want to come off strong, but not forceful in most cases. 

What are your weaknesses? Even the mightiest of dragons have a weak spot. Do you have nervous habits? Make sure to look out for any possible weak points in yourself or in your presentation. Work on those weak points, because it’s true that practice makes perfect. 

What motivates you to give this speech? What do you stand for and what kind of message are you trying to tell people? Know where you stand on the issues related to your speech. If you have opposition, then figure out how they think. Be confident in how you feel towards something.  

Who are you talking to?

In order to give a speech that really speaks to your audience, you have to know who your audience is. Find out as much as you can about the people that will be there and think about their potential interests. State your purpose to them and if you can help them in some way, then let them know how you want to help them. 

It might also be a good idea to express some of the things that you have in common with them. If people can relate to you in some way, then they will be more likely to want to listen to what you have to say. 

Do you know what you’re talking about well?

It is extremely important to know what you are talking about. The more informed you are, the more naturally you’ll be able to speak about any given topic. Do your research far in advance. Brush up on the background information that you’ll need for the speech. Check and see if any of the information you are talking about has changed since the last time you did research on it. 

Speaking from personal experience is also a good way to get your point across. If you are speaking out about something that not many people know about and you have personally experienced this, then tell them your story. It’s easier to feel compassion about a topic if the face behind the story is telling it. 

Take your time when preparing a speech and make sure that there aren’t any grammatical mistakes, mistakes in statistics, misleading points, or that the order of topics in your speech isn’t clear.  

Be Presentable.

Think about the way that you want to present yourself. This is more than speaking loud enough and  good posture. Your presentation is what you make of it. Be confident in really present your topic, rather than just speaking it. Take your time, assuming that you have it, and present naturally. There is a reason why your audience is listening to you.

Present.

Get the job done. Be polite when addressing your audience. Keep your presentation flowing and stay within your given time limits. Save a small amount of time within those time limits for questions either throughout your presentation or after. Make people really think about your presentation. Make note of their interest and act accordingly. Reading your audience during your presentation is vital for an interesting presentation. Be ready and adaptable to change.   

P.S. 

After you give your presentation, think about how the presentation went. Did it flow? Were people interested? If so, why was that? If not, what could you have done differently? Build off of experience from giving presentations. Even a failed presentation can teach you good things for the future.