TIPS FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Public speaking is one of the greatest fears of humans. In a sudy conducted in 1980, public speaking was ranked 2nd in the list of greatest fears of Americans, only beaten by death by fire. The fear comes from the fact that we feel intimidated and threatened when we face a large audience in front of us. It is an unnatural situation for a human being and is not an ability that we practice and learn in childhood. While (most of us) feel comfortable speaking with friends, family, customers, partners, etc. in small groups, we feel frightened when we stand up to speak in front of a larger audience. Our ego is threatened. You may sound like a fool, you will be judged by your audience, you will probably make mistakes, you can be humilliated, they will laugh at you, they won't like you, you will never be as good as... All these fears come to your mind and the body reacts as it will do with other types of dangers. It will prepare for a fight or flight response. This is, you get prepared for facing the threat (fight), for which you will need an extra dose of adrenaline and nerve, or to runaway from the danger (flight), which your body is telling you to do. Nerves are the typical body reaction to prepare you for either course of action.
If you decide to face the situation, you should try to minimize the negative nerves while making use of the positive energy that the extra adrenaline that your body generates. Accept your nervousness as something normal. With some preparation and practice you can reduce the negative impact of nerves and focus your energy on your task. Some tips are good for reducing your nervousness.
CONTROL YOUR NERVES (Tips)
1. Focus on anything other than yourself and your situation. Look at your audience, a friendly face, who is picking his nose,...whatever.
2. Your audience is on your side. They want you to do good. We are frightened because we see audiences as inquisitor oficials that want to humiliate us or laugh at us. But in general audiences are kind and want to help you. They understand that you make some mistakes or that you look at a piece of paper when you get lost. They understand that you are nervous.
3. Practice diaphragmatic breathing. This video will teach you how to do it. Breathing right can help you relaxing tension and reducing stress. You can also stretch your muscles especially around your neck and also your arms. It will release some nerves.
4. Prepare well your speech and focus on your content.
PREPARATION
Definitely you need to prepare carefully your presentation. Good preparation is the key to reduce nervousness and succeding in having some impact on your audience. The objective of a presentation is to deliver a message and have an impact. You need to structure your message well and prepare the way in which you will try to catch the attention of the audience. The first thing you need to consider is the type of talk you are giving. You will act differently in an informal discussion than in a formal solemn ceremony. Reading is boring, but is acceptable (indeed it is almost compulsory) in solemn ceremonies. Are you talking to specialists that can follow your technical words or are you talking to a general audience? What are the expectations of the audience? You have to think in these aspects of the presentation to find the appropriate wording and tone. Here some tips for preparing your presentation:
1. Write a sketch: Write down the points you want to make. Organize them in a logical sequence and make cue cards that you can check during the presentation if you need so.
2. Do not write a complete text for reading: unless you are the speaker in a solemn ceremony (then write everything and read). Having a complete text will make you feel more confortable and confident. But if you read it it will be boring for your audience and chances are they will unplug soon. If you memorize it chances you will not sound natural and chances are you will forget something and make a mess.
3. Rehearse your presentation: give your talk to a (patient) friend. Revise your notes and practice again. There is no shortcut. Excellent presentations come from practice, practice and more practice.
4. Be organized: use the classic structure of stories. Opening-Body-Conclusion (Tell them what you are going to tell them-Tell them-Tell them what you told them):
- Opening: Greet the audience. Introduce yourself if necessary. Provide a clear statement of the topic and the structure of the presentation you are about to start. Give some reason to pay attention to you. The introduction of a presentation is perhaps the most critical part. If you don't provide a reason to listen to you or you are unclear about what you are going to talk about or how, it is likely that people in the audience will start unplugging.
- Body: Just be logical in your sequence. Be clear in making transitions. Use links when moving from one issue to another. Let the audience follow you. Don't mess around with details that noone in the audience can understand or follow. Try to keep it simple and clear. Highlight your main points when they appear.
- Conclusion: Summarize the main points you raised (but don't list every single issue you have commented....people will stop listening to you). Prepare one or two "take home messages". You will be lucky if your audience remembers just one or two points of your speech just an hour after the talk. Make it easier for them to remember the important by saying what was important and try to say it in a memorable way.
DELIVERY
The day has come and there you are starting your presentation. Some tips to improve your communication ability:
1. In general avoid reading. It's boring and reflects low interest for your audience. They will soon start thinking about their problems (unplug). You can use cue cards to help you and look at them eventually.
2. Speak clearly and loud. You are nervous and when people are nervous they tend to stutter and speak softly. Try to be concious of this and make an effort to speak up.
3. Don't speak too fast. As a result of being nervous you will tend to speak faster than you normally speak (which is a special problem if you normally speak too fast). Recognize this effect and try to speak more slowly. But try to sound natural.
4. Use your energy. If you end your speech and you are not tired you probably put low energy on it. Believe what you say, show enthusiasm.
5. Use pauses and tone variations. Help people follow you. They don't know what is important and what is not. Help them by stopping and highlighting important points by raising your voice tone suddenly. You know how to do this because you do it everyday when you tell a story to your friend. You don't use a monotonous tone. Your voice tone goes up and down in different parts of the story which serves to communicate which things you consider more important. Use signposting to make transitions and help the audience follow your presentation.
6. Use your body language. You also do this with your friends. Make eye contact with the audience (but try not to stare at one person for too long...that is intimidating). Use your hands to emphasize important points. Smile, look friendly. Just as you do with your family and friends. Your audience is made of people who are the family and friends of others. They react to body language and they expect it.
Speaking in public is hard. Except for very rare natural speakers, it takes effort and practice to become a decent speaker. But it is very likely that you will need to do it in your professional life. The sooner you start practicing and the more opportunities you have to practice the best you can build this important personal ability.
If you decide to face the situation, you should try to minimize the negative nerves while making use of the positive energy that the extra adrenaline that your body generates. Accept your nervousness as something normal. With some preparation and practice you can reduce the negative impact of nerves and focus your energy on your task. Some tips are good for reducing your nervousness.
CONTROL YOUR NERVES (Tips)
1. Focus on anything other than yourself and your situation. Look at your audience, a friendly face, who is picking his nose,...whatever.
2. Your audience is on your side. They want you to do good. We are frightened because we see audiences as inquisitor oficials that want to humiliate us or laugh at us. But in general audiences are kind and want to help you. They understand that you make some mistakes or that you look at a piece of paper when you get lost. They understand that you are nervous.
3. Practice diaphragmatic breathing. This video will teach you how to do it. Breathing right can help you relaxing tension and reducing stress. You can also stretch your muscles especially around your neck and also your arms. It will release some nerves.
4. Prepare well your speech and focus on your content.
PREPARATION
Definitely you need to prepare carefully your presentation. Good preparation is the key to reduce nervousness and succeding in having some impact on your audience. The objective of a presentation is to deliver a message and have an impact. You need to structure your message well and prepare the way in which you will try to catch the attention of the audience. The first thing you need to consider is the type of talk you are giving. You will act differently in an informal discussion than in a formal solemn ceremony. Reading is boring, but is acceptable (indeed it is almost compulsory) in solemn ceremonies. Are you talking to specialists that can follow your technical words or are you talking to a general audience? What are the expectations of the audience? You have to think in these aspects of the presentation to find the appropriate wording and tone. Here some tips for preparing your presentation:
1. Write a sketch: Write down the points you want to make. Organize them in a logical sequence and make cue cards that you can check during the presentation if you need so.
2. Do not write a complete text for reading: unless you are the speaker in a solemn ceremony (then write everything and read). Having a complete text will make you feel more confortable and confident. But if you read it it will be boring for your audience and chances are they will unplug soon. If you memorize it chances you will not sound natural and chances are you will forget something and make a mess.
3. Rehearse your presentation: give your talk to a (patient) friend. Revise your notes and practice again. There is no shortcut. Excellent presentations come from practice, practice and more practice.
4. Be organized: use the classic structure of stories. Opening-Body-Conclusion (Tell them what you are going to tell them-Tell them-Tell them what you told them):
- Opening: Greet the audience. Introduce yourself if necessary. Provide a clear statement of the topic and the structure of the presentation you are about to start. Give some reason to pay attention to you. The introduction of a presentation is perhaps the most critical part. If you don't provide a reason to listen to you or you are unclear about what you are going to talk about or how, it is likely that people in the audience will start unplugging.
- Body: Just be logical in your sequence. Be clear in making transitions. Use links when moving from one issue to another. Let the audience follow you. Don't mess around with details that noone in the audience can understand or follow. Try to keep it simple and clear. Highlight your main points when they appear.
- Conclusion: Summarize the main points you raised (but don't list every single issue you have commented....people will stop listening to you). Prepare one or two "take home messages". You will be lucky if your audience remembers just one or two points of your speech just an hour after the talk. Make it easier for them to remember the important by saying what was important and try to say it in a memorable way.
DELIVERY
The day has come and there you are starting your presentation. Some tips to improve your communication ability:
1. In general avoid reading. It's boring and reflects low interest for your audience. They will soon start thinking about their problems (unplug). You can use cue cards to help you and look at them eventually.
2. Speak clearly and loud. You are nervous and when people are nervous they tend to stutter and speak softly. Try to be concious of this and make an effort to speak up.
3. Don't speak too fast. As a result of being nervous you will tend to speak faster than you normally speak (which is a special problem if you normally speak too fast). Recognize this effect and try to speak more slowly. But try to sound natural.
4. Use your energy. If you end your speech and you are not tired you probably put low energy on it. Believe what you say, show enthusiasm.
5. Use pauses and tone variations. Help people follow you. They don't know what is important and what is not. Help them by stopping and highlighting important points by raising your voice tone suddenly. You know how to do this because you do it everyday when you tell a story to your friend. You don't use a monotonous tone. Your voice tone goes up and down in different parts of the story which serves to communicate which things you consider more important. Use signposting to make transitions and help the audience follow your presentation.
6. Use your body language. You also do this with your friends. Make eye contact with the audience (but try not to stare at one person for too long...that is intimidating). Use your hands to emphasize important points. Smile, look friendly. Just as you do with your family and friends. Your audience is made of people who are the family and friends of others. They react to body language and they expect it.
Speaking in public is hard. Except for very rare natural speakers, it takes effort and practice to become a decent speaker. But it is very likely that you will need to do it in your professional life. The sooner you start practicing and the more opportunities you have to practice the best you can build this important personal ability.