Top 10 Tips to Make Your Presentation Skills Strong
What are Presentation Skills?
The definition is in the title itself. Presentation skills are your expertise in presentations. Your presentation skills are mandatory when you step into your professional life. Although, you need those skills in your education career as well. This is why your college years are a good time to build up your presentation skills.
You are at the learning stage when you are in universities. You can practice and polish your presentation competencies in colleges and universities so you have a better grip around them when reaching in your professional career. If you want to enhance your presentation skills, you can also lookup for a talent management program specially designed for students.
The Importance of Presentation Skills at Your Workplace
Your presentation skills play a pivotal role in your workplace. Whatever job you are doing, you need to be good at presentations. Presentations are your way of explaining something, be that an idea or a project or anything relevant to work. If you are not able to break it down properly to others, you will not be able to gain their confidence in you.
Having good presentation skills can mean that you have a better problem-solving attitude than others and this is one of the very basic things that a business is looking for. Presentations are always problem-driven and if you are unable to provide solutions for it, your presentation is as useful as a pan in PUBG.
10 Ways to Dramatically Improve Your Presentation Skills
While people with better aptitude enjoy giving presentations, there are many who find it much more difficult, be that for students or professionals. Presentations can be challenging. Some people who are not much outgoing and shy face many hardships in life.
Standing in front of a group of people can make their legs tremble and they hit rock bottom. Fret not. Here are some tips to improve your presentation skills.
1- Take the Stage Confidently
Remember, if it is your presentation, you are in charge. Be that for a few minutes or hours. You are the boss. Do not think of yourself any less than others while standing at the stage. Everything is in your control and it depends on you what you will make of it.
2- Have a Strong Body Language
The way you throw yourself around during a presentation matters a lot. Your body signs say everything about you. If you are standing in front of people like a zombie, they might as well just be scared of you than to take you seriously. What others think of your personality is highly dependent on you. Look active and into it.
3- Be Precise, Deliver Your Message Loud and Clear
You do not want to beat around the bush while standing in front of your audience. Your audience is there voluntarily but for how long and with how much interest they will listen to you is up to your game. You have been assigned a specific time to get your point across and you can achieve that only if you get straight to the point. Be certain that your audience is getting your message. Do not prolong your presentation if not required.
4- Involve Your Audience
Although it is your presentation, your stage, and your time but involving your team or your audience in it can make things go easier. With everyone involved, you will feel less hesitant and will continue your presentation with a lot more confidence. However, it is not easy to involve everyone. The key to do that is to ask questions which bring more involvement.
5- Use Visual Aids
Do not let your presentation come off as dry. It is proven that people get engaged more with visuals being added to your project.
6- Ask for Reviews
You audience opinion matters. They are the judges of your performance. Their honest opinion about your presentation will point out your good and bad points. Keep them in mind and work on your shortcomings for future projects.
7- Make Eye Contact
It is essential to make eye contact so that your audience knows you are talking to them and not to the walls. Moreover, it gives others the impression that you are bold and confident
8- Smile Often and Enjoy Yourself
A smile goes a long way. Do not let any pressure get to you. You definitely do not want to look serious or frowned. Your smile can enlighten the air in the room and everyone else’s mood.
9- Add Stories to Your Work
People love hearing stories as far as they are relevant and progressing towards a point. Relate things to your personal experience. Give examples from your own life.
10- Be Passionate, Show Interest
If you are not looking too bright about your own presentation, your company might just hand over it to someone else. If your presentation does not bring your energy level out, if it is not interesting to you, you will not be able to deliver it properly.
Top 5 Presentation Tools for Students to Help Present Engaging Presentation
While the above-mentioned tips can polish your skills, you can make your presentation much more engaging with tools. You can refer to the tools below to
1- PowerPoint
When someone says presentations, we equally hear PowerPoint. The easiest and most used presentation tool worldwide that provide outlines for your presentation in the simplest way.
2- Prezi
Students commonly use Prezi for a better concept map. It lets you switch between your main pages and sub-pages. It saves students plenty of time.
3- Powtoon
If you want to make your presentation fun, Powtoon should be your choice. Powtoon not only provides outlines for your presentation but provides images as well to add on it.
4- Animoto
Animoto makes it much easier for students to add video clips, texts, or images to their presentation that can form up a video. Students only have to drag and drop in order to achieve that.
5- VoiceThread
A great innovative program that lets students present digitally. Student can present their work, reports or any assignments on while other students can comment on it. The teacher can advise what needs to be added through this tool.
All in All
Presentation can be a really fun adventure if you want it to be. If you let it control you, it will drive you nuts. If you convince yourself that it is just a fun part of our work or class routine, you will enjoy it and if you enjoy it, you will present a thousand times better than you did before.
