I have to do a presentation thursday in front of about 75 people including my boss and his boss and his boss's boss. I need to do well. It is going to be a power point presentation, about 12 slides and should be under 10 minutes. I have the presentation prepared and feel like i'm ready, but I haven't given many presentations before in front of this many people and am a bit nervous. Can anyone with experience offer any advice?
Know your material. Don't read verbatim from the slides. Present the material confidently. Ask a coworker to review the material and think of questions that may be asked so you are prepared.
If you have a chance, scope out the room ahead of time and run through the presentation - the familiarity will make you more comfortable. Also, if you start getting nervous, look and point to something on the screen. This will deflect attention from you as eyes will be concentrating on the material. This gives you enough time to regroup and it also serves as a prompt. 12 slides in 10 minutes is not bad.
10 minutes? Bah, you'll do fine. It'll be over in no time. The thing to remember is to slow down your delivery. Most people talk way too fast during presentations because they are nervous and want to get things over with. Also don't bother feeling bad or awkward when you make a mistake. People don't expect you to be perfect, and presenters are usually their own worst critics. If you make a mistake, just move on; and if you're up for it, a little bit of self deprecating humor is always good when mistakes are made.
Project your voice. Most people think they speak louder, but underestimate the size of a conference room. Constant eye contact. Use tricks like thinking they're naked ladies. Be nice...l Look but don't stare. Try practicing in the room you're presenting in. Do it w/o cards or reference since stress makes you rely on available props. If you rely on Powerpoint, you can lose a presentation before you even begin. Make sure your slides are engaging and straight to the point. Use big fonts. Again, don't underestimate the size of a conference room. Body language is the next most important thing. Make them think you're on cloud nine without being on drugs.
Lot of good tips, but if there's anyway you can get into the room and run through it a couple of times before you have to give it to an audience, I'd definately take advantage of it. You'd be surprised how much it helps.
Eye contact is important to being a good presenter. However, if you're nervous, making eye contact often makes you more nervous. Focus on 1 particular person you're comfortable with and then slowly work your way around and if your voice starts wavering, go to the screen. Also, one thing that helps me is if I can do something active like draw something on a board or a flip chart. With 75 people, the room may be too big, but do it if you can. Lastly, don't try to change your style. I talk very fast and I joke around about how fast I talk. Talking very fast also makes it appear as though Im very knowledgeable. The ideal is to to talk slowly, loudly, only make productive hand gestures, have good posture, etc..... However, if you're already nervous, just be yourself and don't try to be Mr. Toastmaster. Use your style to your advantage. If you be yourself, you'll do much better than to try last minute presentation tactics.
The secret is - know your material! An audience can tell straight away if a speaker is knowledgeable, and it will cover any deficiencies you may have in presentation style. You will also be more confident. Try and structure the presentation so that you are "talking" about the key points in a logical fashion, not reading off the powerpoint. If you can do this, and only refer to the screen to illustrate something, you will be famous.
Chug down a 40oz 15 minutes prior to your presentation. You should'nt feel nervous at all come presentation time. Good luck.
If you can't look at people while talking, then look *between* people. Anything that makes people think you're looking at the audience. DON'T look at the slides. You'll use it as a crutch, which is hooooorrible. DON'T say what's on your slides. Say more. Really, there are so many helpful hints that you should do, but when you have little time to prepare (and little time to present - 10 min is short), the key thing is what has already been stated: Know what you're talking about. You're the expert, so be sure you project that image.
OMFG, I just spit out my oatmeal, I was laughing so hard. Why am I eating oatmeal for dinner, that's another story....
Practice in front of other people, or record yourself. Any annoying habits will be quickly identified.
