8 Ways To Improve Your Presentation Skills
|
8 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills
1. Join Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a organization where you will get a chance to work on your impromptu speaking skills, leadership skills, evaluation skills as well as opportunities to practice specific skills in prepare presentations (at your own pace). Clubs typically meet weekly and you can find clubs that meet in the morning, evening, lunchtime to meet your schedule. I highly recommend this! Find a club and attend to learn much more.
2. Consider the Dale Carnegie Course. The Dale Carnegie Course is about much more than speaking, but you will speak in each of the 14 weekly sessions. This workshop is more expensive than Toastmasters but is an excellent program to help with presentation skills, confidence and more.
3. Find opportunities at work. You might have limited opportunities to speak at work, due to the nature of your job, but that doesn't need to keep you from letting people know you desire that chance. Take even opportunities to talk in small meetings as a chance to practice the skills we learned together too!
4. Find opportunities outside of work. Step up in your church or civic group to present some information or be involved in committees or teams that might provide you a chance to hone your skills.
5. Get feedback. Every time you speak ask someone to give you feedback. Ask a trusted friend or colleague to tell you what they saw, heard and observed. Ask one of them to provide you feedback after they are in your audience.
6. Video yourself. You saw the value and power of seeing yourself on tape. Use this tool yourself. Practice a presentation at home and let the camera run - then, watch it and think about what you might do differently to make your message even more powerful.
7. One thing at a time. Choose to work on just one thing at a time. For example, if you want to work on having a stronger WIIFM, make that your major goal for the talk. Pick one thing to especially, consciously work on each time you present. Doing this will help you improve quickly and consciously. Be sure to tell those you are asking for feedback from to look for these key focus areas too!
8. Go Karaoke! A colleague of mine, Jeffrey Gitomer suggests this as a great way to work on your presentation skills. He says that if you can use your skills to get a bunch of uninterested, rowdy (drunk!) people to pay attention to you, you have learned valuable skills that translate to presenting "non-singing" material. I think he is right.
©2004, All Rights Reserved, Kevin Eikenberry. Kevin is the President of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps their Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. Go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/training/training.asp to learn more about customized training and workshops on Presentation Skills or contact Kevin at toll free 888.LEARNER.
|
|
|
Your Unique Point Of View
I had a chance to go to one of those big positive thinking rallies recently. I am one of those positive personal growth people that really enjoy that kind of thing. Throughout the da...(related: Presentation)
How To Prevent Presentation And Speaking Disasters
I just got back from my whirlwind speaking engagements and it occurred to me that you might be interested in these recent experiences (especially since speaking in the number one way to increase to raise your visibility and credibility in the industry). In a matter of two weeks, I spoke at two different conferences. Although the topic was the same the audience for each was different.In Florida I was the first speaker at the Prestige Products Conference. Boy, was I nervous.I was using a new and untested presentation and was the first guinea pig on...(related: Presentation)
Total Recall: How To Remember Your Speech Without Memorizing
We all fear that moment. You look out on a sea of faces and your mind goes blank. You can't remember your next point and you wish you could disappear with your memory.You can avoid blanking out when you know how to maximize your mind.These tips will help you achieve total recall of your talk:1. Rehearse out loud. You'll remember more when you hear your own voice. Tape it and play it back. Listen to it in the car or as you fall asleep.<...(related: Presentation)
Too Many Choices - Dont Confuse Your Customers
Conventional wisdom is that the more choices customers have, the more likely they will buy. That may be true when customers have very specific wants or needs, and they know what those wants or needs are. However, often having lots of choices just confuses customers and they don't buy anything.One company tested this idea this way: They put 26 flavors of jams and preserves on a table. Customers could taste any or all of them, and if they made a purchase they got $1 off. People circled and chatted, but they didn't buy. There were more choices than they could effectively process, so they withdrew.Later, the company repeated the exercise with just six flavors. This time, people sampled and they bought. After all, isn't it easier to make a choice between r...(related: Presentation)
How Storytelling Can Grow Your Business
People love stories. We love to hear about other people, and stories help us to learn, remember and put to use new concepts. Aesop knew this. His fables help us to learn life lessons through tales about others, without having to learn them the hard way.In modern times, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen also understand the power of stories to teach, motivate, and inspire. Their "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books continue to sell in the millions of copies because they tap into our primal need to connect with others through storytelling.What can stories do for you and your business? Stories can educate customers about a n...(related: Presentation)
Winning The Big Pitch - The 7 Deadly Sins Of Business Presentations And How To Avoid Them!
Are poor presentations costing you business?The ability to deliver a presentation to potential investors or clients is an essential skill for any budding entrepreneur, sales professional or consultant.Whether it's a '15-second elevator pitch' or a more extensive presentation, winning over and persuading audiences is vital in today's competitive capital raising and sales env...(related: Presentation)
Powerpoint Sales Presentations Are Boring - Stop It!
As the meeting began, the project manager of the buying committee told me that the key decision-maker would miss the first 20 minutes or so of my presentation. This was a very competitive sale that I was working on at the time. There were about a dozen or so business-people from the prospect company that I was selling to in this meeting. The presentation was scheduled to last about 90 minutes. During the first 20 minutes I had planned to cover my "persuasive arguments" (that is my company and product benefits).
So how do you think that I felt about this wonderful news?
The fact that this dec...(related: Presentation)
Tough Talk: Bad News Delivered The Right Way
Communicating Bad News The Right WayIt's the rare executive who actually enjoys speaking before groups of people, even under the best of circumstances. Public speaking routinely ranks highest on people's list of fears. Add the pressure of having to deliver bad news to good people, and even the most confident executive can stumble.Every employee has a horror story about a manager's inability to relate bad news. One new manager tried to quell questions from anxious employees about their jobs by denying the obvious: he'd been hired to make c...(related: Presentation)
Networking: How To Network Within Your Organisation
Although there are any number of different networking groups and events you can attend, some of the best networking can occur within your organisation. To build your profile and reputation internally and understand "who's who in the zoo" it is worth investing time to get to know the people around you. Here are some suggestions of activities you could try to boost your internal networking skills.Volunteer ...(related: Presentation)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved. | Presentation