Rock your next presentation at work!

Preparing for presentations isn’t easy. Even team meetings with your colleagues can be stressful and challenging. Few of us are true extroverts, and even fewer of us are comfortable with public speaking.

Practice does make perfect but there is more to a successful presentation. Here are some tips on how you can ace that next presentation at work:

1. Prepare the Presentation. 

This is probably the most time consuming part, but it is the easiest. The key to doing it well is to determine at the outset exactly what you want your audience to take away. Often presentations can end up being just a random collections of bulleted lists. There’s no story-line or flow. No wonder the audience tunes out. The presenter tries to communicate everything and ends up communicating nothing.

2. Prepare the Setting. 

The presentation setting will either enhance or detract from your presentation. You need to think through details like what AV equipment is available, will it accommodate your specific laptop, will the projector be bright enough, will there be a stage, a boardroom table or a small conference room. The more you can control these seemingly little variables, the more likely your presentation will have the impact you desire. And if you cannot, you need to do the best you can with what you have. The more control you have over your setting, the better.

3. Prepare the Audience. 

This begins by discovering what the audience expects. Undertake some research. Maybe ask the meeting’s organizer exactly what they hope to accomplish. Part of preparing the audience involves setting their expectations. You can do this in the meeting invitation, the agenda, or just a brief here’s-why-we’re-here statement at the beginning of the meeting. Also, if it’s a board meeting or other political situation, it is helpful to “pre-sell” your project to key stakeholders before you get in a room, present your idea, and have the tide turn against you. If you prep a few key players and make sure you have their support, they can actually help you do the selling in the meeting.

4. Prepare Yourself. 

You need to prepare yourself mentally prior to the presentation. Get a good night’s sleep the night before. Don’t schedule anything before the meeting. Watch your nutrition. Don’t drink too much caffeine or eat too many high glycemic carbohydrates. These disturb blood chemistry and can make you light-headed or hyper-active. Get in a quiet place and rehearse your speech out loud. Close your eyes and consciously relax all major muscle groups. This can have a very calming effect. Take control of the narrative in your head and think positive, empowering thoughts. 

5. Prepare the Material. 

Handouts can be distractions. Never give them center stage. People learn best when they are relaxed and caught up in the moment. You want as few distractions as possible. However, your audience might expect handouts. Pay attention to how the handouts are formatted and packaged. 

6. Prepare for Questions. 

Presentations are followed by a Q&A session normally. It is handy to write out every question you can think of and then write an answer or a set of “talking points.”  It is very effective, and makes you appear to be on top of your work.

7. Prepare for Next Time. 

The best time to prepare for the next meeting is right after the last one. You should do this when everything is still fresh in your memory. Jot down as many notes as you can. Consider this a sort of personal debriefing session. The best way to do this is to ask the people closest to you for their candid assessment. You have to give people permission to be honest. Make it safe—don’t be defensive. You don’t have to act on every suggestion but you need to carefully consider every suggestion. You need to also thank people for their feedback and affirm how helpful it is to you. You can use an online survey to gather candid feedback post presentation as well. 

So, these are the seven levels of preparation and will ensure that your presentation makes the impact you desire!

Want some more information? Check out this excellent article from Forbes - The Only Way To Prepare To Give A Presentation.