11 Presentation Tips

Tomorrow I have a presentation for one of my advertising modules where I have to present my advertising campaign to a real client. I'm feeling okay at the moment but tomorrow the nerves will be kicking in because I do not like presenting my work in front of people. I'm quite a shy person and talking in front of strangers freaks me out. Talking in front official people is terrifying. Anyway, I thought I'd share with you some tips which I have learned these past few days when doing presentations. Here we go.

1. Stay calm
This is probably one of the more obvious one but try to stay calm and don't work yourself up about. The likelihood is that it is a ten minute presentation. It'll be over before you know it and you'll be leaving the room wondering why you were so nervous to begin with. Just try to relax and tell yourself everything will be fine. Your work is good and they'll love it.

2. Watch bad presentations, it'll make you feel better
If you're worried your presentation will be bad then go on YouTube and just watch some bad presentations. If you're stumped for ideas look on YouTube for The Apprentice and bad pitches. It will give you an idea of problems you can avoid when doing your presentation. I had a lecture for this module where I'm doing the presentation and we just watched bad pitches in the Apprentice and we made a note of the things they did which we could avoid.

3. You're allowed to have cue cards and do not read from the screen
When presenting you're allowed to have little cue cards. I recommend doing this so at least you have what you're going to say on them. You can quickly glance down at them if you don't know what to say but you'll still have more eye contact with your audience. Also please don't read from the screen because the audience will not like it if you have your back to them and they can read it for themselves. Their main focus will be on you.

4. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Please do practice your presentation because the more you practice the more prepared you feel. If you're prepared then you'll feel confident when it's day of the presentation and you'll feel so good.

5. Don't be too serious
I know you feel the need to be serious when presenting but you don't. Smile when you're doing it. Nobody wants to be watching a serious face all the time. The audience will think better of you if you actually look happy when presenting to them. It'll be obvious to them that you're trying to hard to be serious and they might get bored of you. Just be yourself and smile.

6. Dress to impress
Now I'm not saying buy a whole new outfit but make sure what your wearing is clean and not scruffy. Nobody wants to have a presentation if someone is wearing sweats or just looks like they've just gotten out of bed. It'll give a bad first impression. You want them to think good of you if you came dressing smart.

7. Know exactly what you're talking about
Have a knowledge of what you're talking about. If you don't know what you're talking about then audience may not know what you're talking about. They may also realise you're probably throwing in random information just to make you sound smarter. It won't make you look good. Trust me. Also when it comes to questions they want to ask, they may ask you about something you said and you probably won't know what to answer. They will not be impressed especially if it has something to do with what you just said in the presentation.

8. Don't have too much information on your slideshow
Keep the wording minimal. Just simplify the information on the slideshow and say the information yourself. You will sound so much better if you're saying more information than what is shown on the slides. Also nobody will read the information if there is a lot of it on the slideshow.

9. Don't be rude or arrogant during your presentation
Be nice. You may have to talk to your audience or they may have a question for you. Don't be rude to them. Be nice. If you're nice to them they may feel the they want you to have a better mark and hope you succeed. If you're rude or arrogant to them then they'll enjoy watching you fail and feel you deserve it. Just try to make friends with your audience by being polite and nice to them. If you don't know the answer to a question. Just be honest and tell them you'll find out and get back them. You probably won't get back to them but at least you'll come across as caring.

10. Stand still and use your arms
The audience doesn't want you to be walking around as they talk because it can be uncomfortable to move your head around and it may look a bit weird if you're presenting and walking around in front of them. However, they don't want you to stand there looking stiff as a brick because it won't look good and they may get bored. The solution is to stand still but use your arms. Body language is key to a successful presentation. Have good posture and use your arms to express what you want to say and guide them to your power point. If you're showing them advert then point to it. Show them what you mean. It'll look so much better.

11. Be enthusiastic
Finally, you need to be enthusiastic. If you are enthusiastic about what you are present then that will show the audience you really care about what you are saying and that you have a good knowledge on the subject. It will show them as well that you want to succeed and want them to know about what you're presenting. If you show enthusiasm then your presentation will be great.

That's all the tips I have for you guys. I hope it helps you when it comes to do presentations. I'll be back again on Tuesday with another post.

See you then guys.

Megan x