Nerves are not a disaster. The audience expects you to be nervous. Acknowledging nervousness can also create engagement. Showing your vulnerability, whether through nerves or tone of voice, is one of the most powerful ways to win over an audience, provided it is authentic. Susan Cain, who wrote a book about introverts and spoke at our conference, was terrified about giving her talk.
You could feel her fragility onstage, and it created this dynamic where the audience was rooting for her—everybody wanted to hug her afterward. The fact that we knew she was fighting to keep herself up there made it beautiful, and it was the most popular talk that year. With so much technology at our disposal, it may feel almost mandatory to use, at a minimum, presentation slides. If you have photographs or illustrations that make the topic come alive, then yes, show them.
If not, consider doing without, at least for some parts of the presentation. Instead of a flat sequence of images, you can move around the landscape and zoom in to it if need be. Used properly, such techniques can dramatically boost the visual punch of a talk and enhance its meaning. Artists, architects, photographers, and designers have the best opportunity to use visuals.
Slides can help frame and pace a talk and help speakers avoid getting lost in jargon or overly intellectual language. Art can be hard to talk about—better to experience it visually. That can help sustain momentum. Another approach creative types might consider is to build silence into their talks, and just let the work speak for itself. The kinetic sculptor Reuben Margolin used that approach to powerful effect.
Video has obvious uses for many speakers. In a TED Talk about the intelligence of crows, for instance, the scientist showed a clip of a crow bending a hook to fish a piece of food out of a tube—essentially creating a tool.
It illustrated his point far better than anything he could have said. Used well, video can be very effective, but there are common mistakes that should be avoided.
Anything with a soundtrack can be dangerously off-putting. The people in your audience are already listening to you live; why would they want to simultaneously watch your talking-head clip on a screen?
The tricky part about rehearsing a presentation in front of other people is that they will feel obligated to offer feedback and constructive criticism. Often the feedback from different people will vary or directly conflict. In general, the more experience a person has as a presenter, the better the criticism he or she can offer.
I learned many of these lessons myself in So he invited me to give one, and I accepted. Even though I spend time helping others frame their stories, framing my own in a way that felt compelling was difficult. I really thought I might bomb. I was nervous right up until the moment I took the stage.
But it ended up going fine. Here are some common mistakes that TED advises its speakers to avoid. Take a really long time to explain what your talk is about. Speak slowly and dramatically. Why talk when you can orate? Make sure you subtly let everyone know how important you are. Refer to your book repeatedly. Even better, quote yourself from it. Cram your slides with numerous text bullet points and multiple fonts.
Use lots of unexplained technical jargon to make yourself sound smart. Speak at great length about the history of your organization and its glorious achievements. Never, ever make eye contact with anyone in the audience.
Ultimately I learned firsthand what our speakers have been discovering for three decades: Presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. If you have something to say, you can build a great talk. Decline the invitation. The single most important thing to remember is that there is no one good way to do a talk. The most memorable talks offer something fresh, something no one has seen before.
The worst ones are those that feel formulaic. Take the bulk of it on board, sure. But make the talk your own. Play to your strengths and give a talk that is truly authentic to you. You have 1 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month.
Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. How to Give a Killer Presentation. Reprint: RK For more than 30 years, the TED conference series has presented enlightening talks that people enjoy watching. Plan your delivery decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and over.
Put it together play to your strengths and be authentic. From Report: Literal, Informational, Factual, Exhaustive… Research Findings If your goal is to communicate information from a written report, send the full document to the audience in advance, and limit the presentation to key takeaways.
Product Launch Instead of covering only specs and features, focus on the value your product brings to the world. Check out our undergraduate programmes Check out our graduate programmes. Good presentation skills can help you in captivating your audience straight away.
In order to do that, you should start your presentation with a bang. Shock the audience, ask them to imagine something or think of a what-if situation, share a personal story, share a joke, u se a quote, or a video. You should also give an overview of the time and structure of your presentation. This outline should run through your presentation so that you can always assign the individual contents to an outline point. It is also helpful for your audience to have the outline displayed in a slimmed-down form during the whole presentation.
How you end the presentation is as important as how you start it. A weak ending will leave the audience uninspired. But a good ending will motivate them and help them walk away on a positive note. For example, include a call to action, end the presentation with a memorable quote, or a personal story, and don't forget to thank and acknowledge the audience.
The headline speaks for itself. To make the presentation as lively and enjoyable as possible, you should avoid reading it off. Speak freely, slowly, and clearly. If you are not yet confident in what you are presenting, try using note cards. But keep in mind: No continuous text, but only short, concise bullet points! If you use note cards to support you, it is especially advisable at this point to memorize at least the beginning and end of your presentation, as eye contact is crucial at these points.
In order to make your presentation flow as smoothly and confidently as possible, you should avoid using filler words such as "um," "so," and so on.
For your listeners, these words convey insecurity and inadequate preparation. In addition to a handout, other small takeaways can also significantly improve your presentation. For example, if you are giving a presentation on gummy bears, why not offer some to your audience?
If you are giving a presentation about your fishing hobby, why not show the audience your fishing equipment? A presentation can quickly become boring and monotonous. To avoid this, it is advisable to use different types of media.
For example, combine videos and flipcharts, use the whiteboard, or show something practical on a model. This will increase the attention of your audience enormously and will help in keeping them engaged until the end. When giving a presentation, you should keep in mind that you have already heard the content several times - your audience probably hasn't!
Therefore, give your audience enough time to read and understand the content of your slides. Effective use of speech pauses is a master technique. It is one of the most versatile tools in a presenter's toolbox. Yet very few people perform it well. A pause, if used correctly, can add a great deal to your presentation or speech. Pause before, during, or after saying something that you would like to emphasize. Pausing between two different parts of your presentation can indicate to the audience that something new is coming.
A quick pause could also help you in remembering your next point, without the audience noticing that you forgot what to say. When creating your presentation, you should already think about your target audience. This will help you present successfully later on. It is especially important that you speak the language of the audience. Use appropriate and relevant examples. Use "strong" and meaningful words in short sentences to avoid losing the audience.
If you have to use foreign words, explain them in a handout or footnote within the presentation. Always try to keep the attention of your audience and keep them engaged during a presentation.
To do this, it is advisable to regularly involve the audience. One way to do this is to ask questions. Deliberately ask "easy" questions so that can easily be answered by your audience. Another way to involve the audience in your presentation is by interacting with them. Focusing On Characters — People have stories; things, data, and objects do not.
A Changing Dynamic — A story needs something to change along the way. But you can help to make the spoken word better by using your voice effectively. For more about this, see our page on Effective Speaking. It has been estimated that more than three quarters of communication is non-verbal. That means that as well as your tone of voice, your body language is crucial to getting your message across.
Make sure that you are giving the right messages: body language to avoid includes crossed arms, hands held behind your back or in your pockets, and pacing the stage.
Make your gestures open and confident, and move naturally around the stage, and among the audience too, if possible. If you find presenting difficult, it can be hard to be calm and relaxed about doing it.
One option is to start by concentrating on your breathing. Make sure that you continue to pause for breath occasionally during your presentation too. For more ideas, see our page on Coping with Presentation Nerves. If you can bring yourself to relax, you will almost certainly present better. If you can actually start to enjoy yourself, your audience will respond to that, and engage better. Your presentations will improve exponentially, and so will your confidence.
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