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Presentations Tips and Tricks

Last week I had the opportunity to participate to a presentation training in London. The workshop was organized by Body Talk team. This was not the first time when I attended to this kind of workshop, because of this I thought that the content was similar.
But I was IMPRESSED about what things we learn and only one day. I came from London with a lot of new tips and tricks about how you should present content and speak in public. In one world I was impressed about the content and the format of the workshop. GREAT JOB Body Talk Team.

Below you can find a part of the ideas that I consider very important:

Slide content
If you have text on slides, make a short break when you switch to that slide. People need time to read the content. They cannot read it and in the same time to pay attention to the talk.

People Feeling
If you want to have a great session, beside the content that you share with them you need to think about that the FEEL. Yes, what they feel. People from the room have feelings and you need to find a way to be able to stimulate their feeling. This is the only way how you can win their trust and attention. And trust me, even a technical presentations can touch people feeling.

Posture
Your posture needs to be on both legs, avoid unnecessary movements of your hands or body. Even if you don’t trust in your own power, you should create an image where people think that you trust in your own powers. Don’t forget that gravity should be your best friend.

Arms
Are very important. The default position should be in front of your body. When you ask a question where you expect an answer, your hands should be oriented upwards. For rhetorical question, the arms should be oriented downwards.

Tension
Energy and tension are very good. But you need to find the right balance of it. If you have too much than the presentation will be too hard, if you don’t have enough energy than the presentation will be to boring.

First and Last impression
Don’t forget that first and last impression are the most important thing. Because of this you should smile at the beginning and at the end of presentation. You need to transmit energy in that moments, because usually remember the intro and the end of a presentation.

Eye Contact
Eye contact is one of the most important thing. You need to keep eye contact with all the room to be able to be sure that all people will pay attention. You can scan the room in a Z format. From last way from left to right, to diagonal and after that from right to left. During a presentation you should have around 50- 60% eye contact with attendees.

Voice
Remember that a high voice peek is a sign that you learn something new, but a low voice is a sign that you know what are you talking about. When you want to attract attention use a high voice. The same thing is with the voice peace. A slow peace means that it is very important, but when you speak fast, it will motivate people.
Making pauses helps you to control the people and their attention. It will help attendees to process the information and will amplify the message. You should project in each world a lot of energy and passion. Passion in voice can make people pay attention to you.

Presentation Content
The presentation should contain 4 parts:

  1. Why?
  2. What?
  3. How?
  4. What Now?

In the first part you need to win people credibility and explain them the context. The second need to present the main benefits and not features. The benefits of attendees and not for you. Don’t forget that by benefit we understand MONEY, TIME and VALUE.
The third part is dedicated to the solution. Say the name of the solution and present the features. You should group the facts (features) in 3 main group. Don’t forget to enumerate them before starting to present them.
Last part is dedicated to next steps and action. In this moment you should summary the content and specify a specific action that people should do. Don’t forget to say ‘Thank you’ X2. Between them you should specify the action.

In conclusion I would say that this tips can help us a lot to deliver better presentations. Good luck.

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