Skills to Present with confidence
One of the key presentation skills that is lacking today is how to present with confidence. But why is confidence such an elusive quality when standing up and giving a presentation?
If this is like you at all, how do you feel when you’re in front of an audience and getting ready to present? Very nervous? Palms sweating? Shallow breathing? Heart pounding? The list is probably endless but its actually quite normal. And you might be surprised that many now confident presenters also suffered at one time from these same problems.
OK then just how can you become more confident when presenting? presentation skills? What effective confidence building techniques can you use to help you move into a more confident state when you are about to present.
Lets be clear, there are many different strategies that people use to become more confident. You need to try them out and then choose which work best for you. Some of the more obvious ones are:
Prepare. Prepare. Prepare! This includes knowing your audience and what matters to them. So that you can select the most important material in your presentation that is relevant and will be of interest.
Create a clear outline to your presentation. Keep it straightforward with a specific beginning, middle and end. And limit your key ideas to 3 in total. It will help you to stay on track and make it easier for your audience to understand.
Try and speak more slowly. Lots of people speed up when they present ? when the nerves kick in. So be conscious of this and make an effort to keep in control. The temptation is always to rush through things. But if you think ’slow motion’ when you begin you will actually feel in more control and this will give you more self confidence.
Try to use these three tips the next time you present. And hopefully you’ll be more in control and of course more confident throughout!
Click the resource link if you want to find out more about confident presenting and how to create a presentation.