HOW TO BECOME A GOOD PRESENTER Useful Tips and Notes of Encouragement for First-Time Presenters If you are presenting

for the first time and are concerned about your language proficiency, it is easy to become overly-worried about your presentation. Although it is natural (and good!) to have some measure of anxiety, you must not allow it to cripple your presentation. An excellent, must-visit site during your preparation is: http://tls.utsc.utoronto.ca/instruction/presentation/default.htm. In addition, here is some friendly advice for the 3 stages involved in a presentation: 1. Preparation Stage 2. Presentation Stage 3. Post-presentation Stage Preparation Stage 1. Research your topic well (as you would when writing an essay) so that you can speak authoritatively and persuasively. If reading texts are a challenge to you, you can use a very versatile, user-friendly interactive software (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) that has been installed in the Academic Learning Commons Lab (B221). Using your cursor, you can just point your cursor at a word that you dont understand, hit the Control key and the meaning of the word and its uses will automatically pop up on the screen for you. (NOTE: In order to use this software effectively, you need to open your document using Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer). 2. Organize your points in the most effective order that is appropriate for the topic that you are presenting. This is similar to preparing for a written assignment. However, one important difference is that your written preparation for your presentation should NOT be in complete sentences. You should prepare a few note cards where your points are presented in outline form or in the form of a mind-map. If you write in complete sentences, and in a paragraph form, you might succumb to the temptation to memorize what you have prepared. That would be disastrous for your presentation!

3. Practise in order to ensure that you are able to elaborate on the outline notes on your Presentation Worksheet or mind-map that you have made. DO NOT MEMORIZE paragraph after paragraph of written texts. If you do so, you will not be able to communicate your points well during your presentation. Practise to ensure that you can present within time limit. Also, if possible, get your family members or some trusted friends to be your audience and give you frank, CONSTRUCTIVE feedback on your practice sessions. If possible, record yourself on video or use a tape recorder. 4. A very important secret for great presentation: MENTAL PREPARATION. In the days leading up to your presentation, visualize yourself making a successful presentation. In your minds eye, see your attentive audience nodding their heads in agreement with your points and their clapping enthusiastically in appreciation of your presentation. Feel good about yourself. Presentation Stage 1. Dress well for your presentation. Feel confident. If you have items to show your audience, lay them out in a systematic manner so that you can reach them easily without having to rummage in your bag or rifle through your binder while trying to present. 2. Warm up your audience and the room with a wide and confident SMILE. Stand upright, at your full height, to give yourself the psychological advantage of height. Look at your Dr. Elaine Khoo, 2004. The Writing Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough. See terms and conditions for use at http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ctl/twc/terms.htm audience, not as a sea of intimidating faces, but as friendly individuals who are interested in your topic and WANT TO HEAR YOUR INTERESTING TALK (Note: they are looking forward to seeing you succeed, not fail!) 3. Maintain maximum eye contact with your audience. DO NOT HAVE YOUR BACK TO THEM AT ANY POINT! When you are referring to a chart or a projected PowerPoint slide, just do a half-turn, point/click at the chart/slide and turn back to face your audience. 4. Glance only briefly at your notes and continue talking to your audience. Refer to your notes only when absolutely necessary. Remember, even if you dont use the exact sentence

you had planned, or have forgotten part of your presentation, your audience should not know! If you have forgotten something, dont panic. Just carry on using other words in order to present your information smoothly. 5. Speak loudly and clearly so that the audience in the last row can hear you. Even if you feel a little nervous, you will find that by speaking loudly and clearly, you will regain your confidence after the first minute or so. Anyway, it is good and natural to feel slightly nervousall presenters (including experienced ones) do because they care for their audience. 6. Engage your audience immediately, both through your body language as well as by what you present. Some useful ways of engaging your audience during your introduction are: share a short, interesting (BUT RELEVANT) anecdote; a short but tasteful joke; state the importance of the topic from their perspective; pose a question (but the danger is that you might be caught in a discussion before you even begin your presentation). 7. HAVE A FEW CENTRAL POINTS THAT YOU SUPPORT WELL. DONT PRESENT TOO MUCH MATERIAL. Pace yourself so that you dont end up rushing towards the end. 8. Remember, you DONT have to be perfect. Relax and use humour where appropriate. Conclude by reiterating your important points. Thank your audience for their attention. 9. Look forward to answering questions at the end of your presentation. Questions show that your audience found your presentation interesting. No questions might mean that you have not communicated well. Though questions might seem scary to novice presenters, there are some easy ways of handling them: (a) Repeat and clarify the question in order to give you time to think and respond in the most appropriate way; (b) If you dont know an

answer, be honest and say,Im afraid I dont know the answer to that question at this time, but I will look into that.; (c) If the questioner is challenging your position and it appears that there will be an argument that you dont want to engage in, you can say, That is an interesting perspective to take/ That is an interesting point of view. Anyway, a good moderator would usually intervene at this point; (d) Always be gracious; never insult the

questioner

A laugh is the shortest distance between two people, so challenge yourself to include humor or light comments at least once in your talks. It makes you more approachable and creates energy. The only exception is when you are announcing bad news. Create a key message that you repeat at least three times during your talk. A great way to come up with a key message is to imagine you are creating a T-shirt that will have the main message of your talk written on it. Then imagine you are handing out that T-shirt to attendees so they can remember your key message and share it with others. When you practice, stand up and verbalize what you will say. Too often we run through our presentation in our heads instead of actually standing up and saying it out loud. By making your practice as real as possible you reduce nerves and ensure that what you are saying makes sense. It also gives you an opportunity to practice gestures and vocal variety two very important delivery elements. Learn to tell stories and include at least one in your presentation. Stories have the greatest power to create connection. If you are giving a persuasive speech this becomes even more important. You can tell personal stories, stories from friends, movies, books or historical figures. Author and accomplished speaker Liz Carpenter once advised, Begin as though you are taking off a pair of long kid gloves. You cant do that in a hurry. The point here is: warm up to your audience, create a personal connection and provide an attention-getting opener before you launch into the body of your presentation. Business speakers are too quick to show the agenda and get to bullet number one which can quickly bore or overwhelm the audience. Dont just give a presentation, start being the presentation. Too many speakers come across as talking heads. What do you uniquely bring to this presentation? What are your unique opinions, ideas, experiences and reflections? I can read your slides tell me something I cant read. Ask yourself, So What? Is this slide or piece of information really relevant to my main message? So often what we need to get across can be expressed in far fewer words or slides. More is often less when it comes to making your message memorable and understandable. Before you put pen to paper (or text to slides) take a moment to analyze your audience and ask yourself, What is their point of view on this subject? This will help you develop a presentation that focuses on what is in it for them. Always develop content with your audiences interests in mind. Dont write for you, write for them. Watch out for execution by bullet point. Too many points will kill your audiences interest. Use the PEP formula (Point Example Point) throughout your presentation. Whenever you have an important point to make, be sure to support it with one or many examples. Examples can be analogies, stories, demonstrations, activities or case studies.

Join Toastmasters for practice. There is no better organization to give you an opportunity to be on your feet regularly and get supportive help and feedback in your speaking.

From Good to Great: The secrets on How To Become A Good Presenter And Make Great Presentation Greatness comes with simplicity and understanding of the basic framework before you perform a task. Its a combination of your skills and proper understanding of the way a task is to be performed. Presentations are no exception. To become a good presenter one needs to develop five simple things. Great presentations are a combination of passion, energy, subject knowledge, vision and the ability to communicate precisely. If you have the desire to succeed as a presenter then its not enough to be a good communicator. How to be a good communicator, this is an important skill for an good presenter. Its just a prerequisite. We need to present ourselves almost everywhere we go today. Whether its a job interview or a board room business presentation, or a public speaking forum, in all these cases , you will be at the centre and you are supposed to prove something to the others. On all the occasion, you concern is not how good yo u are; rather, its an apprehension-whether you will be accepted by the others or not! When you are on stage you are in the limelight, and people on the other side either want to learn something from you or observe your mettle. In such a scenario, as a presenter you can follow these five principles to make good presentation and learn presentation skills: Passion: Project your passion to other. People who are passionate about whatever they do have a great intensity to perform a particular task. If you present under compulsion, your performance is bound to get affected. A great presenter should always drive his presentation with full of zeal and enthusiasm. These are some positives traits that are contagious and people value them a lot. Energy: It is the ability to perform a task with vigor and the ability to energize people who are the audience. Subject knowledge: A great presenter should possess sound knowledge of his topic. By knowledge I mean the ability of a person to understand the basics and the dimensions in it. Also, the ability to simplify the concepts to the audience. Vision: having a strong vision is every important for any presenter. One should understand the occasion of the presentation and possible outcome. Ability to foresee an outcome is all about having a strong vision. A nicely described vision always helps a presenter to be on the track. Ability to communicate precisely: It is said that a great presenter speaks not for himself but for his audience. His core objective is not to show how knowledgeable he is, rather, how he can make the audience knowledgeable through the power of his simple words. Connecting with the audience in a proper way is the biggest challenge that every great presenter prioritizes. Ability to communicate precisely: It is said that a great presenter speaks not for himself but for his audience. His core objective is not to show how knowledgeable he is, rather, how he can make the audience knowledgeable through the power of his simple words. Connecting with the audience in a proper way is the biggest challenge that every great presenter prioritizes.

No one is born greatthrough your work ethics, your approach towards work with sustainable sincerity, and the zeal to improve every time will certainly make you Great! So learn the principles and practice them in real life to answer the question, How to be a good presenter and make great presentations. Remember- Greatness is never articulated by a person who strives for it; rather, its an adjective used by people who have experienced it!

1. Preparation and knowledge:

When you need to give any sort of presentation regardless field or purpose, you must to be fully prepared by clear concept for which you are going to speak and of course if you do practice for your presentation that will be an additional asset. And yes, having confidence and control over presentation are equally important!!

2. Enthusiasm:
If you want to catch audience attention, you must show enthusiasm and passion while giving presentation because these worth far more than knowledge!!

3. Entertaining:
Good presentation is all about conveying information and entertaining your audience so that they dont get bore. This is the best way to retain people in your presentation. Perhaps, you cant pre -plan humor that you may like to add but for this, you must be imaginative.

4. Solid introduction:
You can make positive impact within just 4-7 seconds of the beginning of your presentation if you give a solid introduction.

5. Be Polite and Wear Smile:

Try to remain calm and polite throughout your presentation. And yes, while giving presentation keep smile on your face this will generate interest in audience to listen you more

6. Dont start with apologize:

Do not apologize for every small mistake. Repeatedly Apologizing cast the impact of being nervous and confused so avoid it!!

7. Start your speech on time:

It is advisable to start your presentation or speech on decided time even if your audience is late, waiting too much can undermine your confidence.

8. Dont make content lengthy:

Studies have revealed that people concentrate on any particular subject for just 5-6 minutes so try to make your speech accordingly.

9. Let your audience participate:

This is an interesting and important factor to make your presentation more lively in which you can give an exercise to your viewers, by doing so they will enjoy it more and will remain more attentive. Surprise quiz can be a good option.

10. Always conclude your speech in the end:

This is the most important factor you need to do because this will help you and your audience to get the main theme, idea and message of your presentation. So, implement these points and get ready to give killer presentation. If you need templates or PPT presentations to get some inspiration, you can browse our free collection of PowerPoint templates and PPT backgrounds for different topics.