Practical No: 4: IMPORTANCE AND GUIDELINES OF PRESENTATION

SKILLS

PrO: Write the importance and guidelines of presentation skills

CO: 22009.c.: Give presentation by using audio-visual aids

Points to be covered:
1. What is presentation skills?
2. Where do presentation skills have an impact in the workplace?
3. The importance of presentation skills in business
4. Guidelines of presenation skills:
 Sample Practical

1. WHAT IS PRESENTATION SKILLS?

Presentation skills are the skills you need in delivering effective and engaging
presentations to a variety of audiences. These skills cover a variety of areas such as the
structure of your presentation, the design of your slides, the tone of your voice and the
body language you convey.

2. WHERE DO PRESENTATION SKILLS HAVE AN IMPACT IN THE

WORKPLACE?
Presentation skills will help in the following workplace or professional circumstances:
1. At interviews, as the interviewer or interviewee
2. At meetings, face to face or in a conference call
3. At networking functions, meeting new people or getting to know ones you already
know.
4. Speaking to colleagues and staff
5. Delivering a presentation to clients detailing a technical topic or selling a product
6. Presenting at conferences
7. Speaking at large internal meetings
8. Speaking at Chamber of Commerce or Rotary promoting your business
9. Speaking with suppliers
10. Speaking with clients
11. Presenting training
12. Attending training
And so on …

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESENTATION SKILLS IN BUSINESS

Presentation skills are important to both individual success and business success.
Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill to get your message or opinion
across and, today, presentation skills are required in almost every field.

Even if you don’t need to make regular presentations in front of a group, there are plenty of
situations where good presentation and public speaking skills can help you advance your
career and create opportunities.

Being well presented in the workplace – in a presentation, in a meeting, during a discussion

with a colleague or client is essential. If your career matters to you – develop your
presentation skills!

A presenter or staff member is given an added advantage over someone who is less than
polished in public speaking (i.e. someone who actually avoids it like the plague), when he or
she can get up and deliver a well-constructed, confident presentation in front of a group of
colleagues.

Superiors notice the confident approach, which translates into other parts of their role. Staff
who are highly skilled in their area of expertise, but hate public speaking, will still be
appreciated, but they may just get more kudos and more accolades if they can articulate their
approaches and knowledge in a more confident manner.

4. GUIDELINES OF PRESENATION SKILLS:

Here are five ways to help make your presentation astounding and enjoy the opportunity to
bask in the limelight.

1. Know Your Audience:

Understand what the audience wants to get out of the presentation. You need to be mindful of
the people in the meeting or in the conference room. This is so your presentation will meet
and exceed the audience’s expectations, and so your audience gets what they came for.
2. Plan your Presentation
Planning the structure of your presentation – and knowing what structure works for your
audience – is very important. For your audience to absorb your information, it needs to be
delivered in an easy-to-follow format.
3. Make it Interesting
Attention spans are not long, no matter how advanced the audience is. Make sure you’ve
included some really interesting points, and vary the type of interest points, as this will help
to keep the attention of the meeting.
“A Gallup Poll found that 40% of the population have a fear of speaking in public … Does
this have an impact on their work? Potentially, yes”
4. Dress the Part
Your appearance in the workplace matters. Not only are you meant to be a thought leader in
your chosen presentation topic, you are also in competition with others wanting to advance. If
you are not well presented, with respect to clothes, hair, shoes, paperwork, etc., people will
notice and it will have an impact.
5. Show you Care
Your enthusiasm for the topic is essential. If you seem disinterested in the topic you are
talking about, your audience will pick up on this.
6. Be Organised
Your audience will appreciate you being organised for a meeting or a presentation. If there
are little changes or hiccups, your audience will understand. If you are unorganised and
you appear to have not put in an effort, the attendees will not sympathise, and they will get
annoyed.
“Make sure you’ve included some really interesting points … this will help to keep the
attention of the meeting”
7. Discuss the “Elephant in the Room”
If there is an issue, if something isn’t working, you are experiencing a problem, then make a
mention of whatever it is and then move on. If we hold back from discussing something
important (which may not have an impact on the meeting topic), then get this discussion
done, and then move on. If you don’t, the attendees will be thinking about that rather than the
actual topic at hand.
8. Get a Grip on your Nerves
Handling nervousness and building confidence is important – you will struggle to get your
message across if you struggle here. Being mindful of how you present at work will really
help with your interactions with colleagues and clients. This will ultimately impact on
whether you get that important raise, or that desired new job.

9. Subject and preparation

Research and have facts to supplement your speech. Create an outline, and once you’ve
prepared your presentation, don’t be afraid to revise.
To develop your presenting skills and increase confidence you must prepare, practice and
learn from each presentation. Rehearse what you are going to say out loud a minimum of
three times. This will ensure you’ve found your flow and help eliminate any “ums”, “ahs” or
other filler words.
10. Focus
No one is impressed by a presentation that rambles. Rambling happens when the speaker is
both self-indulgent and unorganised. Your purpose and prose must be specifically directed to
interests of your listeners or they will mentally shut you down.
11. Enthusiasm
If you’re not interested in your subject then no-one else stands a chance. You must bring
some enthusiasm to your talk. Don’t be afraid to let go, even if it feels overdone at first. Be
enthusiastic about your topic, it will help get your audience excited. Stand up and give the
best of yourself. Try and feel the adrenalin from your nerves as a positive and use it to give
yourself some energy.
12. Use Media Only to Enhance
PowerPoint, visuals and video are powerful presentation tools when used correctly. But they
can be disastrous distractions when misused. They should never replace you as the provider
of expertise. Keep your PowerPoint to a few words and never read from the screen in the
presentation. Ask yourself if a slide or video is truly necessary before adding anything.
13. Short window to grab their attention
Every audience wonders what’s in it for them, so start a presentation with a reason to listen.
You only have 45 seconds to get your audience’s attention so make it count. You don’t need
to tell jokes or do anything out of the ordinary, simply explain why your presentation is worth
listening to.
14. Don’t let the slides be your notes
Prepare the presentation slides for the audience and not for you. A good speaker will always
use their own notes to prompt them and keep them on track; a bad speaker will use the slides
as their notes. The slides aren’t supposed to be your notes or your crutch, they are for the
audience.
15. Be yourself
It’s absolutely important to remember, the more you try to act like someone you’re not on
stage, the more people will see right through you. Gestures should be a reflection of what
you’re feeling, helping convey that to your audience. They should come naturally, and should
be one of the only unplanned parts of your speech. Make sure your movements are fluid and
go along with what you are saying at that exact moment. The more you act like yourself, the
more confident you’ll seem, and the more the audience will be able to relate to you.