As a company leader, director, manager, CEO,… you regularly have to take the floor. Giving a presentation about your company, your vision, a fantastic idea, …. In addition, now and then you also have to give a presentation about yourself, and of course a great deal goes into that. Your story must be well put together and supported by a strong presentation.
But how do you make sure you stand on stage self-assured, relaxed and convincing? How do you deal with your own nerves and tensions, with critical questions and the curious eyes directed at you?
A good presentation is more than a rehearsed text and adopting a fixed posture.
Your audience wants to be captivated by your story and your presentation. Above all, they remember a presentation that is delivered ‘for real'. From yourself and therefore perhaps not even perfect according to the textbooks. People are looking for authenticity.
A few tips for presenting engagingly and authentically:
1 - Mind your breathing Your breathing governs your entire body. Your voice, your nerves, the way you stand. Be aware of your breathing just before you go on stage and control your breathing when you are on stage. This automatically makes you calmer and also suppresses the tendency to speak fast.
2 - Make real contact with your audience Dare to really look at your audience and forget the trick of looking over their heads. You are not speaking to a hall of 50 people but to one person 50 times. The audience comes for you, so give them the feeling that you are there for them too.
3 - Take your time Presenting is not the 100-metre sprint. Speak calmly (cf. your breathing) and even just a little more slowly than you normally do. This gives your audience enough time to understand better what you say. It also gives your audience the feeling that you really take the time for them.
4 - Remember the structure, not the words Of course, an engaging presentation consists of a good story. Take enough care to frame and build this clearly. When rehearsing, make sure you remember the structure and the different parts of your story and not the literal words. If you have command of your story, you will know from yourself what you want to tell at the different parts. For this you do not need to remember the exact words. Do not forget your audience is looking for authenticity and not for a robot that reels off its words literally.
5 - Creativity When you present yourself, for example, you have to distinguish yourself from others. Often you still see, for example, people presenting themselves with a standard PowerPoint. However, these days you get away with that a little less easily. In some cases it is then more appropriate to give a creative presentation about yourself. That way you make it easier for yourself to ‘make real contact with your audience' as described above. When you succeed in that, there is a greater chance that your presentation will stick.
Alongside developing the story and designing a convincing PowerPoint presentation, SmartPresentations also offers coaching to deliver your presentation in an engaging way. Searching together for the right presentation style that suits you. A person-centred guidance in presenting instead of an overload of general tips & tricks.
Approach
In a few sessions we go through the story, the PowerPoint and the right way to deliver it convincingly.
The sessions are adapted to your level and personal points for improvement.
Target group
For every CEO, director, business owner or manager where the reputation of the person themselves or the company is at stake.
More info?
Harald Dumoulin - Presentation coach harald@smartpresentations.be +32 475 671059
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