Article Surfing Archive

So you*re not a professional speaker. That's no excuse for NOT giving a professional presentation.

You have a great product or service! You*ve put together an awesome presentation with great content!

You really know your stuff! You*re an expert! None of this matters if you don*t have public speaking skills.

If you don*t speak like a pro, you won*t get the results you want.

1. Introduction Bring a typed introduction and ask your introducer to read it verbatim. This will give you credibility and give the audience a reason to listen to you.

2. Audience Speak in front of an audience that can benefit from your service and can hire you.

3. Opening You only have 30 seconds to grab your audience's attention otherwise you may lose them forever. Open with a story, a question, a song, etc. that is relative to your speech or at least to the audience.

4. Body Give enough information that they will remember and want more. A common mistake for many is that they give way too much information. Leave your audience feeling good not overwhelmed.

5. Closing A good movie with a bad or disappointing ending will ruin the impact of the movie. Same with your presentation. Be sure to have a strong close in order to have impact on your audience.

6. Stories Tell personal stories in order to make your points. People remember stories more than anything else. 7. Humor Make your audience smile, chuckle, or laugh. When people have fun they remember more and will stay attentive to you.

8. Attention There are many ways to keep your audience's attention. Many are mentioned in this article. The more attention you have, the more results you will get.

9. Authenticity Be yourself. When you are sincere and show the audience who you really are, you will have more of an impact.

10. Confidence So you*re nervous sometimes. So what. You don*t have to let others know. Act confident and you will appear and feel confident.

11. Preparation The more you*re prepared, the more confidence you will have, and the better job you will do. Know your material!

12. Pausing This is a great attention getter. After saying something that you want your audience to remember, pause, be silent, and give it time to sink in. Pause instead of using ah or um. Pause when you forget what you were going to say next. It's o.k. to pause and re-collect your thoughts. 13. Vocal Variety Have your voice match what you are saying. Be expressive and show it in your voice.

14. Body Language Have your body match what you are saying. If you are telling a story about someone talking on the phone, use your hand as a fake phone and pretend you are talking into it.

15. Nervous Fidgeting Pacing back and forth, hands in your pockets, and rocking are all distractions. Be aware of your own nervous habits and stop doing them.

16. Eye Contact Look at your audience. Move your eyes from one side of the audience, to the middle to the other side in a smooth motion.

17. Time Stick to your allotted time and be prepared for your time to be cut short.

18. Connect with the audience. Find something that they can relate to you with.

19. Control You are in command of the room. Do not talk over people if others are talking among themselves.

20. Stay on Track If someone asks a question that is not relevant, tell them you will be happy to answer that question after the session. 21. Notes It's o.k. to use notes. Have them be your handouts, your flipcharts, your power point, etc.

22. Visualization Imagine yourself the way you would like to be perceived when presenting, then act that way.

23. Hand Outs Try to always have hand outs and be sure they have your contact information on them. This way you have given people a way to get in touch with you.

24. Dress Wear something that makes you feel like a million bucks and you will act and appear like a million bucks.

25. Record and/or video tape your presentations. You will learn a great deal from them.

26. Give A Ways If you have a product for sale, give a few away as prizes. This lets the audience know you*ve got stuff without having to give a sales pitch.

27. Listen Get your audience to open up and listen carefully. You may gather valuable information for your next presentation.