The position you take up in the room during a presentation is important for being understood well and being able to convey your message as strongly as possible. Presenting in a large hall is of course different from presenting in a meeting room. In a large hall you have a stage where you are visible and on which you can move. But in a meeting room for a smaller group it is also important to take up the right position in relation to the people at the table. A great deal depends on the layout of the room and the location of the screen on which you present.

A few tips to make the introduction go as powerfully as possible:

• Always stand up. You do not give a presentation sitting on a chair. By standing up, attention is automatically directed at you, your voice carries further and you are better seen by everyone.
• Stand next to the screen on which you present. If you stand in front of the screen, your audience cannot see the presentation. Also do not stand too far from the screen, so that people do not have to keep turning their heads from left to right.
• Make sure you can operate the presentation remotely so that you do not constantly have to walk to your computer for the next slide. This takes up time and causes unnecessary interruption in your presentation.
• Depending on the layout of the room and the table your audience sits at, stand to the left and right of the screen now and then. That way everyone regularly has a good view of you as the speaker and you bring some variation into the presentation.
• Do not walk around. If you start walking around during your presentation, you force the audience to turn along with your walking direction. That is awkward to do while seated and you take attention completely away from the screen and the presentation.
• If you use a flip chart to illustrate things, make sure it stands next to you too. The screen in the middle, you to the left or right of it and the flip chart next to that. Or you to the left of the screen and the flip chart to the right of the screen.
• Make sure you can darken the room sufficiently when using a beamer. Do not make it too dark, so that you as the speaker remain clearly visible to your audience.
• You only sit down again once the entire presentation has finished. That includes the questions that may possibly be asked after the presentation.
• Mind your posture: stand up straight, make clear gestures, speak just a little more slowly than usual and make contact with the people around the table.
• Provide a powerful, attractive and above all clearly supportive PowerPoint presentation. This presentation has a powerful beginning and a summarising closing slide.

Best of luck with your next presentation.

Harald

Sales presentation - Company presentation - Keynote Presentation - Events