Prepare and Be Flexible: Secrets for a Solid Presentation

Speaking well in front of others doesn’t come naturally for a lot of people. It takes a lot of practice, and some people just don’t get enough opportunities to do this so they don’t get a chance to build that muscle. I chose a career path that almost entirely consists of speaking in front of people, so a lot of elements of public speaking come naturally to me now.

Leading a seminar or business presentation can give a lot of people anxiety. I kept those nerves at bay by making sure I was prepared. And "prepared" doesn't just mean knowledgeable; it means that I took the time to ensure that I knew the content of my presentation inside and out.

Understanding your audience is a big — but worthwhile — challenge

As you’re putting your presentation together, consider your audience. Who are they? Why are they there? What are they expecting? Understanding your audience helps connect the dots between your key points. Think about how you will get them to absorb what you’re saying.

Your approach here depends on the subject matter. Even if you’ve never met any of your attendees, it’s still possible to understand what’s driving them. If you are presenting on a topic that is more narrow, like a change in policy or update to a regulation that impacts your company, your audience is looking for the implication of these updates.

Topics like soft skills are broader, so you’ll need to determine your focus. What are you hoping your audience takes away? What relevant examples or experience do you have that helps your audience understand and apply the concepts?

Encourage audience participation

When you’re leading the presentation, you’re the expert – but that doesn’t mean you have to talk the whole time. In fact, audience participation can make things much more engaging and memorable. So how do you encourage audience participation throughout the presentation?

• Seek participation as soon as possible.

  If you wait until halfway through to ask a question or take a general poll of your audience, they won’t be keen to respond. At that point, they’re not expecting it. But if you ask a question and encourage engagement right out of the gate, then your talk becomes more of a conversation.

• Ask a question that doesn’t require a verbal response.

  This can be especially helpful in a virtual setting. Questions that require a verbal response can sound rhetorical to your audience. But if you ask something like, “How many of you have experience with…” and ask for just a show of hands, people will do that. And then you can find someone who raised their hand, and you can ask them a question. Now you’ve drawn your audience in. Generally, people aren’t eager to be the first one to talk. But if you approach it this way, people will feel more welcome to participate.

• Keep the conversation moving.

  Audience participation is great, but it can stall the conversation. You also may have one person who is more engaged than everyone else, making others less likely to contribute. You can navigate this by remembering who raised their hand earlier. This allows you to call on people who’ve shown a willingness to participate, as well as get feedback from multiple people. If something said is irrelevant to the conversation, acknowledge the contribution and move past it by saying something like, “I understand where you’re coming from, but that’s something we’re probably not going to discuss today.”

When your audience gets to share their expertise and knowledge in conjunction with yours, it creates a collaborative environment, and people get more from the training. Sometimes people just won’t want to talk, and that’s okay. You don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable. But encouraging collaboration can help people feel safe to contribute.

Prepare — but don’t memorize

The biggest mistake that people might make when they’re getting ready to make a business presentation or conduct a training session is trying to memorize their material. This takes away the ability to adapt and respond to questions.

You want people to be actively engaged in what you’re saying, and for that to happen, they’re going to ask questions. If you spend all your time memorizing your material, you’re not going to have the flexibility to adapt to a question that might approach your topic in a different way.

For a live training session, memorization feels canned and scripted, and that’s a recipe for disaster. Often, you don’t even end up memorizing the material, just your own notes. You’re not as knowledgeable as you can be here, and you’ll fail to meet the needs of your learners.

Just as history is more than simple dates and names, your topic has context. You have to explain the reasoning behind the material. Why are we talking about this? Why is this important? What are the key points of each concept within your broader topic? Think about your presentation from this perspective, and your audience will find good, tangible advice that they can apply after your presentation is over.

Ready to learn more? Check out some of SkillPath's live virtual training programs, on-demand video training or get it all with our unlimited eLearning platform.