Skills to Present with confidence

One of the key presentation skills that is lacking today is how to present with confidence. So what is it about presenting confidently that makes it so difficult for people to achieve this when standing in front of their audience? Is it lack of practise? Lack of training?

Typical reactions you may experience when presenting without the desired confidence are nerves / butterflies, mumbling, being inaudible, dry mouth. The list is probably endless but its actually quite normal. The strange thing is that many seemingly confident presenters also suffer from some of these symptoms!

So how do we create the confidence required to control these nervous habits? presentation skills? What can we do to get into a more positive state?

Lets be clear, there are many different strategies that people use to become more confident. You need to try them out and then choose which work best for you. Below are 3 key tips that probably everybody can use.

Be prepared. Know your audience, what makes them tick.Research your audience thoroughly. Then ensure that your presentation is designed with them in mind.

Create a clear structure to your presentation. Keep it straightforward with a definite beginning, middle and end. And limit your key ideas to 3 wherever possible. It will help you to remember what you have to say and make it simpler for the audience to understand what you’ve got to say.

Try and speak more slowly. Lots of people speed up when they present ? when the nerves kick in. So be conscious of this and make an effort to keep in control. The temptation is always there to rush through things. But if you think ‘slow down’ when you first start you will then be more in control and this will give you more self confidence.

If you dont already use these tips – why not try them out. And hopefully you’ll be more in control and of course more confident throughout!

Get more help on how to present with PowerPoint.