Are you frustrated about how your presentations are going? Do you feel uncomfortable, and sense that your audience is in misery too? Believe it or not, presenting can be fun! This is true especially if  you can overcome some of the nervousness that plagues many speakers. Here are a few tips that can change how you feel about presentations – and transform how your audience responds.
Envision Success
Before you even walk out onto the stage it’s important to envision success. Think about how well you will do and how people will be smiling back at you. Imagine the end of your talk and how important colleagues will want to shake your hand in congratulations. By taking the time to create a positive vision of how you will feel during and after your presentation – you are using your imagination in a positive way. This allows your brain to create feel-good chemicals that influence how you feel and perform.
Act Natural
Nobody wants to hear from a speaker who is stiff and dull. So remember to consider how you might speak to a group of friends and colleagues. Infuse your presentation with some of our natural, positive traits so that people know it’s you. You might try some light humor or a story that relates to your topic. This is not an open invitation to forget about formal presentation skills, but a call out to balance the formal with informal so that you can still be yourself.
Make Eye Contact
Remember that the audience wants to have some connection. They want to relate to you. So ensure that you have your remarks well organized and rehearsed to avoid reading. Look around and include everyone in the room in your comments by making individual eye contact. Hold eye contact briefly, no more than 2-3 seconds, and ensure that you look to all areas in the room.
Smile More
Facial expression is desirable as it helps your audience understand your message. If you are sharing good news, add a smile. If you are sharing bad news, show some concern. The important thing is to avoid a blank stone face which will turn off everyone in your audience that is a people-person, typically up to 50% of the room. It’s important to watch yourself in the mirror or on camera to see how your face reveals your emotions. Ask a colleague to watch a practice presentation and try adding more facial expressions for impact.
Ask Questions
No one wants to hear the speaker drone on and on with too many facts. It’s important to change up the sounds in the room by getting other people to speak. One of the best ways to do this is to learn how to pause and ask questions of your crowd. Ask them for examples or ask them to raise their hands. Even a rhetorical question where you don’t expect an answer changes the pacing and flow of your presentation.
Summary
By learning to play with all these skills you will start to realize that giving a presentation can be rewarding if not downright fun. Not only will you feel better about how you are communicating but your audience will be able to get more from your message. Overall it’s a win-win outcome and one that will definitely boost audience response to your next presentation.
