James Malinchak

In any business job you may be asked to deliver a presentation.

So what do presentations accomplish? Well, for one, they inform and make things clear to individuals within the company or organization. The main purpose of a presentation is to provide verifiable facts and figures in order to determine the course of action the company should or could take towards a particular goal.

Making and delivering presentations can be tricky. It requires you to have meeting management skills, research abilities, and creativity. Goals must be set and defined so presenters can prepare better and gauge the presentationsí success in the end.

Follow these general guidelines and training tips so you can give an effective presentation.

1. Determine what you are trying to accomplish with your presentations.

Would you like something done differently? Do you want more productivity? Do you want the body to agree with your proposal?

Those are the questions you should ask before creating your presentations from the drawing board. Do not aim blindly; have a target and aim for that goal. It will provide you a single track to follow which can make it easier to complete your presentation.

It is very easy for your audience to miss the message of your presentation. So it is vital to be clear with yourself and others.

2. At the start of your presentation, explain immediately the purpose of the meeting and tell the audience why they were the ones chosen to be in your presentation. Describe the problems you would like to address and clarify the objectives of the presentation.

3. Compartmentalize your presentations into key points. This is very important. It takes quite a skill to sort and catalog a particular topic. Making too many points may confuse and may easily make your audience forget the point. Making it too minimal, on the other hand, will make your presentations vague and fuzzy.

In general, people tend to effectively remember about 3 to 5 points. Making many more points than that can make your presentation hard to follow. So its best to assemble your presentation into 3 to 5 key points

4. Graphical representations are always better. Illustrate your figures and statistics with colored graphs and pictures. ìA picture is worth a thousand wordsî This holds true in presentations and people respond well and retain information better when pictures are used.

5. Practice your tone and the volume of your voice. Use inflection and volume control for emphasis. Monotone will bore your audience.

6. Have a pace which your audience can comfortably follow. Speakers usually catch speed as they go along with their talks. It is not surprising to hear speakers jabber swiftly midway through the presentation. So with this in mind, you should start the presentation with slow speaking speed. Enunciate words clearly. Learn to use pauses and take breathers.

7. Practice and use rehearsals to make your presentations perfect. I cannot stress this enough. It is only through doing this that you can achieve the full potential of your talk. Do this often. You may want to record yourself so you can improve and fine tune your performance.

Check your pacing and clarity. Also, determine if you are making distracting movements and gestures.

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