Tiffany's Ten Piece Advice for Acing a Presentation

My top 10 pieces of advice for acing a presentation

By Tiffany Karki

I know this feeling, the sensation of your nerves feeling as jittery as a cat on a hot tin roof, and the sudden rush of adrenaline when you hear it's your turn to speak. Suddenly the room turns dark and all you hear is the rapid beating of your heart. Trust me, with a good deep breath and a few simple tips, you'll survive this. I'm no expert but from my own experience here are 10 steps to 'ace' or let's say survive a presentation:

1. Start with a hook: You want to keep the listeners interested from the beginning so start off your presentation with a funny phrase, a shocking statistic, or a personal anecdote

2. Tell a story: People are often interested in things they can relate to. Try introducing your presentation with a story that almost everyone has experienced at least once in their life

3. Use visual representations: Words, words, and more words, trust me, nothing will bore the audience more than a presentation that is just full of explanations and descriptions. Try including images, graphs, or even demonstrations to get the audience engaged and their minds racing to visualize the concept

4. Practice: Try rehearsing your presentation in front of your friends, your mirror, or even to yourself. The more you practice, the more you'll be confident and comfortable with your words

5. Use your voice effectively: Make sure you pay attention to your tone, voice, and volume to make sure it's just right. Try to keep the audience interested by changing the way you speak from time to time

6. Engagement: Try involving the audience in your presentation. Ask them simple questions or point them out during an explanation. This helps keep the audience engaged and also makes it seem like you know what you're doing!

7. Don't be a tree: I know presenting in front of a large audience can be quite scary and you often tend to stand straight and not move a muscle. However, as you begin to move around during your presentation, it helps you build up your confidence and also makes the audience believe that you're confident. So, stand up straight (don't slouch), make eye contact, and use gestures to reinforce your points!

8. Keep it concise: Don't read from A-Z about your topic, you want to make sure the audience understands the key points that are to be known. Instead, focus on a few points and leave your audience wanting to know more!

9. End with a bang: After all that speaking and explaining it's obvious that you will be incredibly tired. However, it's just as important to start your presentation with a hook as it is to end it with a memorable conclusion. This could be a call to action, a rhetorical question, or even a small quote.

10. Follow-up: It's important that you don't leave the audience hanging. So, make sure to follow up for possible questions or comments from the audience. This shows that you are ready to engage with them further and that you value their feedback!

These are the steps I would recommend for you to overcome that fear of public speaking or giving presentations. I hope they help you!

Tiffany Karki

DP2