Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had to address an audience of say 50 people and had no clue what you where going to say because you felt out of your league? or you are in the middle of a presentation and you discover that half the audience is either asleep or basically trying to stay awake? Ring any bells? I'm sure a good number of us have experienced similar or almost similar situations, believe you me, it can be downright demotivating

 " A Man's knowledge maketh room for him" so says the Biblical book of proverbs. Life is all about learning and honing one's skills. While it is important to have speaking skills, technology has made it imperative to have excellent presentation skills. Sit back and let's explore tested tips for having a mind blowign presentation.

Qualities of a good Presentation

A good presentation should have the following time tested qualities.

• Concise: presentations should be sharp and straight to the point and facts should not be hidden in ambiguity.
• Have an Identity: Your presentation asides having information, should have an identity. Your presentation template should be branded. Note that it is important to avoid sharp and hostile colours while choosing your template.
• Simplicty: Use simple language,do not over-do things, most times you loose your audience because a large number of them are trying to decipher the meaning of a complex word in your presentation.
• Clear: A good presentation explains itself, maps and graphs for instance are explained by the use of legends.
• Uses an array of audio-visual materials: a good presentation uses graphs, pictures, tables and even videos, words can be boring!

On the Day of the Presentation

• Arrive first: this gives you time to access the venue and demystify things, arriving early also helps you see if the seating and other equipments are as you want them.
• Act confident, no matter how you are feeling
• Do not make apologies for things you haven't done. Act as if everything is the way it should be.
• Make eye contact with the audience
• Smile
• Cut out un-necessary information
• Deliver the presentation at a pace slower than your normal talking pace.
• Talk more slowly than you feel is necessary
• Leave time for questions.

Summary

like all things in life, we get better with practice, so expect to get better as you do more presentations. My general tip for you is...

• Remember your audience
• Prepare for the presentation
• Use audio-visual aids