Effective Presentations

Be well prepared and rehearsed - write out your text in full, reduce to note format. Rehearse your speech aloud making eye contact with your audience. Look after vour voice! - Drink plenty of water the night before - avoid red wine, cheese and anything with caffeine Remember when giving a presentation the impact that you make is mainly through body language.  Just a small percentage is attributed to what you say.  Suprising but true! So make sure you are aware of you what your body is saying. Stand up straight, face your audience and smile and make eye contact. Avoid jargon at all costs - don't let the audience play buzzword bingo with your paradigm shifts. If you are worried about the content of your presentation, keep it to 3: for example if you are presenting about yourself - keep the content to 3 things you would like the assessors to remember about you. Make the presentation interactive if you can - the assessors will remember more of what you say if you involve them.  However, sometimes the brief will ask you not to do this so makes sure your read the brief properly. Make sure you have a punchy end to your presentation, either end with humour or if that doesn't work for you use recap on what you have just said. Maintain eye contact with all members of the audience - not just one person or area. Make sure that your eye pan the room to make sure everyone feels included. If you are able, check out the room first so you know where you will be and that the equipment works. Before you enter the room, take a minute to breath deeply, open the door and look at the audience, smile broadly and walk in confidently to your place.  Remember to say Good morning/afternoon and say your name. Pause for a couple of seconds then begin.