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Do you know what the most common fear among adults is? It’s public speaking. Whether in front of a large crowd of strangers or a few leaders you work with daily, speaking and presenting isn’t always easy.
One way to gain confidence in public speaking is gaining proficiency in presentation skills. While a lot of jobs won’t require frequent presentations, many will need it at some point. Let’s take a look at why you should hone your presentation skills and how to do it.
Why Presentation Skills Are Important
The better you are at presenting, the better your audience is at listening. The purpose of improving presentation skills is to better display information so that you can achieve your goals.
In many cases, the further you are into your career path, the more presentations you’ll have to do. As a leader and boss, the onus may fall on you to talk to clients, shareholders, and colleagues. Becoming a skilled presenter may open promotion opportunities and career moves.
Benefits of Presentation Skills
Being a good presenter can help in ways beyond adding a skill to your resume. The benefits of presentation skills include:
- Becoming a better overall communicator
- Learning creating problem-solving
- Discovering your strengths and weaknesses
- Becoming more confident advocating for yourself
Like a number of soft skills, the acumen to give a good presentation can carry over into other parts of work and other jobs.
Learn more about different soft skills and how important they are.
5 Tips for Better Presentations
It does take some practice, but anyone can improve their presentation skills. Don’t feel like you need to employ every new skill at once. Eventually, they’ll all come together and you’ll feel confident in any public speaking setting.
The top five tips for better presentations that you can start working on today are:
- Be ready to go off-script
- Practice, practice, practice
- Be engaging
- Know your audience
- Slow down and embrace silence
1. Know What You’re Saying Inside and Out
Most people who give a presentation will have a script. Some find it beneficial to memorize it almost word-for-word, while others do better having more of an outline to guide them.
Whichever way works best for you, you’ll want to attack this information two ways:
- Make sure what you say sounds natural and conversational
- Know more about the project than just what’s featured in the presentation
When you have a little more in your back pocket than you initially offer up, you can feel confident fielding any questions and ad-libbing if you get off track. You’ll obviously want the most important information in the presentation, but keep a few extra details on hand so that you can showcase your knowledge.
2. Don’t Just Practice Your Speech—Practice the Whole Presentation
Of course, knowing what to say and when requires practice. Talk to yourself in a mirror, present to your roommate, or even your cat. You should feel confident with your script well before the presentation.
What many don’t think about practicing is the timing. Don’t just practice what you’re going to say, but also how you’re going to move through your powerpoint or visual aid. At what word will you click to the next slide? Do you need a pause so the audience can take in visual information before you elaborate?
3. Make Your Audience Want to Listen
The goal of a presentation isn’t just to display information. Any presentation should have a motivation or goal that needs to be accomplished. If your audience is snoozing, you probably can’t count on them to help you achieve your goal.
It starts with how you say what you say. Work on changing the pacing of your voice and your pitch to make your words easier to listen to and natural. Speak directly to the audience.
Then think about body language. Give your audience something to pay attention to by moving around a little bit and gesticulating. Make eye contact with different members of the audience.
Of course, any visual aids should be exciting and well-designed. Like body movement, animations give the audience something to visually latch on to.
4. Know Your Audience
This is where other communication skills you’ve learned during professional development come in handy.
Depending on who you’re giving your presentation to, you’ll have to adjust your delivery. You’ll likely have to adjust the information you showcase, and also how you say it. You may find yourself upping the formality and technical jargon for presenting progress to higher-ups, and find space for more levity if you’re talking to a group of students at a fair.
Read more about effective communication skills for employees.
5. Slow Down
Perhaps the most difficult skill to implement when you start talking is to slow down. When people are nervous, they tend to talk fast—faster than they probably think they are. Take your time when you speak. It allows you to be more intelligible to your listeners, but it gives you a little bit of time to think ahead.
Thinking ahead means that you avoid filler words—your “um’s” “uh’s,” and “likes.” Allow a break in thought to simply be quiet. This does three things:
- Helps you gather your thoughts
- Creates suspense for the audience
- Exudes confidence
We know that filler words mean someone is searching for their next thought. When you don’t say anything, it feels like an intentional pause that makes your audience lean in and listen.
Effective Presentation Skills for Every Career
Effective presentation skills can obviously help as you grow in your career and have to give more and more of them. But the same skills that make presentations engaging and informative can help in other ways:
- Having disciplinary talks
- Asking for a raise
- Managing clients
- Training new hires
- Running a meeting
Combined with other professional development training, learning effective public speaking skills can help you grow in your professional and private lives.
Learn how presentation and communication skills can help you navigate different challenges for managers.
Learn More Professional Development Skills with REDC
Want to grow in your career? Being a top-notch presenter can help you stand out. The Regional Economic Development Center at Yavapai College offers resources such as career counseling and online courses that can help you succeed.
Sign up for a presentation skills course to get started. And for every professional development skill, check out our catalog of essential workplace skills courses to keep developing and growing at work.