PRESENTATION TIPS - 1

1. When introduced, enthusiastically rise and come to the front.
2. Express your gratitude to the audience – create the impression that you sincerely appreciate the opportunity to make your presentation.
3. Be natural – speak as you would to a person in your office. Engineers are precise by training. But if you try to make each word and sentence structure perfect, there will be pauses in your speech. Your presentation will seem stiff and your audience will be distracted. Also you will tend to use Ahs and Uhs while you are thinking about the precision of your words.
4. Never apologize - this indicates that you are not prepared. If you say
something wrong, correct it and go on.
5. Be at ease – do not view your audience as enemies ready to attack any mistake. You have created this nervous condition in your own mind and only you can erase it. Overcome this feeling and you will eliminate a lot of the fear in making presentations. You know what you are doing – you are an expert – relax and enjoy your presentation. (more on this later)
6. Use voice inflections – a soft, monotone delivery will put people to sleep. A good presenter is constantly changing the pitch, volume, intensity, and inflections of his voice. Giving your words life with expression and
inflection will enliven your audience.
7. Don’t mumble – speak clearly and distinctly. Use a recorder and listen carefully to yourself. If one is not confident with the language or feels inferior to his audience, he tends to mumble quietly. You are the expert – you are prepared – you are successful - be confident and speak up!
8. Facial expressions create an atmosphere - a smiling face conveys confidence and belief in what you are presenting. Don’t look so serious. Be relaxed and the audience will feel your warmth and be more receptive.
9. Your posture and gestures are important. Stand up straight (but don’t be stiff) and don’t lean on the podium or table. Use hand gestures appropriately – not too much (waving around) or too little (death grip on
the podium). Use your hands to help visualize your thoughts. Keep hands out of your pockets. You can move about some, but don’t pace (indicating nervousness).
10. Never read your speech. Note cards with key words are fine, but for a short speech one sheet of paper with major points to refer to should be enough. Maintain eye contact with each one in the audience. Do not
single out one person to talk to.