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8 Top Tips For Powerful Presentation

Most of the Americans are afraid of public speaking. They are usually stressful when they are required to speak in front of people. However, they can’t avoid themselves from doing presentations. They need to present their ideas and selling points effectively in order to achieve great success. They also need to communicate with both internal and external clients. In order to present in an excellent way, here are 8 useful tips you should follow:

• When you are on stage, the most important thing is you need to behave naturally. This is to show that you have full confidence. If you are not sure, you are recommended to study yourself in a mirror before the presentation to see what impression you make.

• You must keep in mind that your body language reflects what you are saying. You need to ensure that you keep your hands out of your pockets during the presentations.

• Besides, facial expressions are important too. You should learn to relax your facial muscles and smile always. However, you need to keep in mind that you should smile only when you feel natural to do so. A “forced” smile always looks false and unconvincing.

• Being a professional presenter, you should not wear anything that may distract the audiences. You should also ensure that your hair doesn’t fall across your face when you talk. At the same time, it will be good for you to wear comfortable shoes when presenting.

• If you are using audio-visual aids for your presentations, you are reminded to rehearse your presentations using the tools so that you can present your speeches in a smooth manner.

• In order to enhance your presentations, you are reminded to be creative. You should find different ways for expressing the same idea. At the same time, you should use the most natural tone.

• You are recommended to vary the pace of your speech. Practice speaking and you can decide which pace is the most effective.

• You must involve your audiences in the presentation as much as possible so that they can always stay focused. You should involve your audiences by asking questions at a regular interval so that the audiences know that you are aware of their feelings.

Every great presentation contains something special that makes it excellent. If you could apply the above mentioned unique tips in your presentations, you will be able to make yourself a great presenter.

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Pillars of Success – Embrace The Present

As we progress through the journeys of our lives, careers and businesses, we often stop to reflect on where we are at a given point in time. Like mapping any trip, we have certain expectations of our progress along the way. Similarly, setting timelines for our goals make them more tangible and urgent. What happens, however, when we find ourselves at a place other than where we expected? A typical reaction is to explain, excuse or perhaps even criticize. The mere fact that we see ourselves as not being “as far along as we should be” passes negative judgment and sets the stage for the world of scarcity thinking. The situations where this kind of scarcity thinking can creep into our psyche are numerous. Here are some examples that may be familiar:

A person begins something that is new and uncertain and finds themselves in a group situation such as a class or educational program. Immediately, they start compare themselves to other and begin to think that “everyone else is so much more qualified or further along” and wonder how they will ever catch or keep up.
A corporate professional thinks their career is passing them by. They see themselves passed over time and time again for recognition, leadership opportunities or promotions. They wonder how it is that they are so stuck where they are and others are moving ahead of them
A new entrepreneur who is sure that they have done all the right things still hasn’t achieved what they thought they would by this stage of their business. Like the professional, they see their peers moving effortlessly toward greater success. They may try new and different things, grasping at this idea or that but become more frustrated or despondent that they are still stuck.
In each of these examples and in others like them, the constraints of scarcity thinking become apparent. What is focused on with laser intensity is “WHAT IS NOT”: what skills are deficient, what career progress or entrepreneurial success is not attained. The Present reinforces our sense of failure as seen through the lens of our own expectations or our assumptions about someone else’s journey.

Step back for a moment and imagine that whatever your circumstances, whatever your present situation, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Where we are at any point in time is the cumulative effect of each of the decisions, actions, external events and our responses to them. Thus, while we may not be where we expected to be, we are where we are supposed to be. By embracing the present, we allow ourselves to discover the unique opportunities that are available to us right here and right now. Instead of beating ourselves up for not being somewhere else, we can identify the options that may have been overlooked otherwise. Perhaps instead of being “stuck”, we are where we are because there is knowledge or information that we need to gather before taking our next steps. Finally, consider the possibility that we are where we are because we need the chance to step back, catch our breath and enjoy things that may have been pushed to the side in the pursuit of our goals.

Our goals and objectives are like stops or progress points on a trip. We set a target for where we would like to be at a certain point on our journey. What would you do if you find yourself in Flagstaff at the end of your day’s travels instead of Albuquerque? Do you “fire” yourself? Do you cancel your trip or give up and go home? Do you keep driving relentlessly to make Albuquerque before you stop? Probably not. Instead, you likely consider the circumstances that brought you as far as you are, reassess your journey and plans and then go out to discover the surprises of a place that don’t know very well. The same approach works for our life and professional goals as well. It’s your journey, and each stop along the way is an important part of the map that will guide you where you want to go. Enjoy where you are. You are supposed to be here.

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You Can’t See Their Eyes Roll: The Challenges With Presenting In A Virtual Environment

When you are presenting in person, you can constantly monitor your audience for engagement. Are they with me? Do they disagree with the plan I am presenting? Do they understand what I am talking about? If you see someone open their laptop and start checking email, you can call on them to participate or move closer to them to pull them back in, but what happens when your audience is on the phone? You don’t see them sleeping. You can’t see them working on another project and you definitely can’t see their eyes roll.

Another challenge in a virtual meeting is making sure everyone is participating. You typically have a few dominant people who take over while the quiet ones on the team sit back and endure another “waste-of-time-meeting.” There are a few things you can do to ensure your meetings and presentations are more effective when you can’t see the faces of your audience.

1. If your attendee list is less than 25, draw an imaginary conference table on a white board or piece of paper at your desk. Now write everyone’s name as if they were sitting around the table. (Yes, I know, you can just print out a list of everyone that is in attendance, but if you are a visual person the table works better.)

2. Now as you begin your meeting, you put a tick mark next to the name of the person speaking–even if it is your own name. Within a few moments, you will SEE who has checked out and who is talking too much.

3. Now simply say to the chatty-Cathy’s on the call, “That’s a great point, AND since we haven’t heard from Bob, I would really like to get his input. Bob, how do you feel we should proceed in this next step?”

4. During a virtual presentation you need lots of interaction. Lots of Q&A time. The challenge is when you ask a question and then call on someone, (i.e. So what happened on this last week…Bob?) you catch them off guard. You and I both know that Bob was reading the latest Dave Barry book so he did not hear your question. This is why Bob would quickly dive for his mute button and then ask you to repeat the question. WASTE OF TIME! Instead, call on Bob first and then ask the question. “Bob, what was it that happened on this last week?” BETTER!

5. On conference calls, use lots of colorful picture words to keep people engaged. “The five of us are in a run-down single-engine bucket of bolts at 28,000 feet and now we’ve got to work together to build a parachute or none of us will survive.” This is much more intriguing than “We’ve got a deadline and we’ve got to work together.” When you engage the brain, the rest of the body will stay with you. Try this, “I want you to imagine standing in front of our biggest customer, Katherine. You are starting to sweat…” This technique gets people to go where ever you tell them to and they are listening. “I want you to picture the top of a mountain…”

Remember that when you can’t see the faces of those in your audience, you will have to put a little more effort and creativity into your presentations to keep your audience engaged, but it is worth it. If they ARE rolling their eyes it will be because they are in awe of your SIZZLING presentation style!

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