Here are the 7 Golden Rules of public speaking to ensure a tight delivery in any situation.
Table of Contents
1. Plan and practice your talk before you go near PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a presentation killer. The reason it kills so many speeches is that people don’t use it correctly. Slides are intended to be used as a support tool for the presenter, not as the main act.
To use your slide deck as a support tool it is important that you plan and practice your talk before you create your slides. If you have planned and practiced your speech, it is much easier to create slides that support what you will say.
2. Open with a hook
Opening your speech with a “Good morning, thank you for coming” is pleasant enough, but really, really boring.
When you open your presentation you want your audience to be sitting forward and eager to hear what you have to say.
You do this by using a hook.
Instead of the regular greetings and thanks for being here, try something different. Startle the audience with a question. Empathize with an issue they are having. Connect with your audience by explaining you’re experiencing the same problems as them.
“How many times have you thought xyz process is a waste of your time?” is a far better opener than “Good morning.”
3. Push to the audience to overcome stage fright
To alleviate nerves turn the spotlight away from yourself and shine it on your audience.
When you are delivering a presentation it is normal to feel under pressure. To feel like you are being evaluated by the audience. If you turn the light on the audience you give yourself time to breath, collect your thoughts, and reduce anxiety.
Push to the audience by asking them a question. For example, “What’s your number one issue with process xyz?”
4. Use natural visual communication
The only thing worse than no gestures and stiff body language is practiced gestures and exaggerated body language.
To connect with an audience you need to talk to them the same as you would to a colleague or friend standing next to you. Speak naturally and communicate with your body language naturally.
When you are describing or explaining something to a friend you never have to think about your body position or gestures. It should be the same in your presentation.
5. Make the audience comfortable
I was in a presentation the other day which was a huge success. Not because the topic was exciting or engaging. Actually the topic was bad news. Negative company policy changes.
The presentation was a success because the presenter reiterated over and over how he was doing his best to keep the policy changes from adversely affecting the audience. The audience responded well as a result.
6. If you make a mistake or forget something, just move on
Mistakes don’t spell disaster.
Mistakes are part of life.
Making mistakes is an inevitable part of delivering a presentation.
When you make a mistake or forget something most times you are the only person that knows. So, try to avoid drawing attention to the error and just move on to the next point. If you made an obvious error, laugh it off or apologize and just move on.
7. You are the center of the presentation, not your slides
The audience are not there to see how many bullet points you can fit on each slide. Nor are they there to see what chapter you’re up to in Presentation Zen.
The audience are there to listen to you. To hear what you have to say. As such, don’t let the slides drive your presentation. Make sure you are in the driver’s seat.
Rajendra says
Since the attention span of audience is less, these points would always stay relevant who the audience are or what ever topic it is going to be. Super seven!
Allan Abraham Koki-Kaweesa says
Thanks for these tips! I agree that the slides aid your presentation and should not drive you. Being natural is key too. Have few words on your slides and let them be larger than usual font size-the slide is just aiding ur presentation. Finally, always keep your eyes on the audience- do not face the large screen- glimpse to see that the large screen has same slide as ur laptop or gadget but keep facing the audience. Thanks knce again for these tips!
Stephen Mackay says
Excellent. Totally agree all your points especially the rehearsing aspects. If I may,
P..s poor practice makes for P..s poor presentation.
Alex says
Good article.
As a tip, your can press windows key + N to black out the ppoint, so the attention focus on you.
Munir Tarar says
Excellent tips! Knowing by heart what one want to convey is far more important than reading the fancy slides. Speaking to the audience, not to the slides, can only convey the message.
I think, however, normal greeting is important. For sure, it should be conveyed in a charming way.
Laurence Houlden says
on the matter of too much content on slides – how many times have you heard the speaker say (when turning to the overcrowded slide) ” I know you will not be able to read this” or “you will not be able to see this at the back”……. so, WHY BOTHER HAVING THAT SLIDE AT ALL ! it is so infuriating
Dave Mac says
I hear you, Laurence!
Vivien Hanrahan says
Very good hints and tips. Totally agree that you are the main event and the slides are your supporting act. Make the audience focus on you. They go to the slides when you take them there. Thank you for sharing.
Roberta says
Great summary! Early on in my career I attended a Toastmasters workshop to overcome my fear of public speaking . I still remember and use those tips: 1) Your audience wants you to succeed! They are in your side. No one enjoys seeing a presenter uncomfortable with speaking . 2) Practice Practice Practice- even if I know the presentation well I practice , ideally in the venue I’ll be using to get a feel for it
Rana Pratap Singh says
Good Points!
Ramesh pv says
Good tips and good learning
Stephen Legere says
One of my pet peeves is speakers building slides with fonts too small to read. As said in the article, slides such enhance, not be your presentation. All the fancy features, when over-used are also a distraction. Finally, if you absolutely must show a screenshot of a spreadsheet, don’t apologize, but make sure your presentation clearly explains what you are showing and why it’s important.
Richard Hilleard says
Excellent advice for delivering presentations and applies equally to delivering training sessions.
Of importance also is To keep Control. This comes with experience and is harder than it sounds. When a group begins to run with a point raised during the session and discuss it among themselves or when there seem to be multiple conversations going on within the audience it is really important to stay on course and take back control of the session. Each situation is different and sometimes it can be beneficial to let them let of steam, however this needs to be done under the control of the presenter/trainer.
Some methods I find help are as follows:
1. Tell them that everyone benefits from listening to the conversation but that we can only have one going on at a time.
2. Ask a question related to the conversation and aim it at a member of your audience (Pose, Pause, Pounce!)
3. Empathise with their concerns (if any) and offer to deal with them outside of the presentation (Where possible).
4. Explain the importance of keeping to time and that it’s to their benefit if we stay on track so we can finish on time.
5. If preferred and possible explain that there will be time for questions at the end.
6. Look for an opportunity to re-focus the group on the presentation/topic by linking their conversation to a point you would like to cover in your presentation.
7. Be assertive but not aggressive or defensive. Don’t be a pushover, this is your presentation/session and you make the rules.
I hope they help.
Darren Booth says
Death by Powerpoint can easily be averted. Remember, if you’re training people, we all have a different learning style, make sure you mix up the training matter with various enriched media … videos, images, audio etc. Most important of all, keep your audience engaged through interaction with them.
Jonathan says
Thanks for the insightful post! I really like the point of putting yourself in the center of the presentation rather than the slides. I would also add that what you put on your slides is important. Too often they are crowded with all sorts of text. Stick to a few words at most – a quote perhaps or less where possible.
Sharon says
I agree! An image may also add impact to what you’re saying and inspire visual learners.