Posted on July 12, 2018 by Jenny Cromack

Ieuan’s Top Tips for Giving Confdent Presentations

Most of us at some time in our lives will have to give some form of presentation. Whether this be leading meetings, public events, conferences, or weddings etc. It is not an easy thing to do and is very nerve racking. The thought of looking stupid and being judged or challenged is extremely daunting. The following article aims to provide you my anecdotal top tips for giving confident presentations that will help reduce those “pre-match” nerves.

What Do I know About Presenting?

I am no expert in presenting, but my experience over the years has really developed my public speaking skills. Before doing my BSc I was extremely nervous and avoided any form of public speaking. My course at University, however, built presentation assessments into all our modules. This encouraged me to have to develop these skills. Whistle stop through my career so far and I have needed to continue going through oral assessments at MSc and PhD level, lecture to large cohorts of students on a weekly basis, and present at many national academic conferences. My continued enegament in public speaking has provided me with several tools and tips for making presenting a much easier task.

So What Can You Do?

I have written a blog on confidence previously and think the current blog and some simple tips would supplement that and aid your own development. The following tips are simply my ideas and thoughts that have stemmed from my own experiences.

Present, Present, Present!

I appreciate it is very daunting, but the only way you will build your confidence and capabilities is to get involved in public speaking. Grasp at opportunities to talk in front of people; take over conversations in social situations, lead meetings, or just grab your family and talk about your favourite series on TV. Anything that gets you talking infront of groups of people.

Start Small and Work Up!

Grasping opportunities is great, but we need to not jump in at the deep end and scare ourselves off. Start by presenting something you are interested in (this can be anything) to people you fell comfortable around. Family, friends, and partners are perfect for this as you will feel less judged. As you become more confident you can build to larger groups and less familar individuals.

Know Your Content!

Make sure whatever you are presenting on is something you know to a good depth. You do not have to know everything under the sun about this topic, but being able to engage in critical conversation about your subject will only make your presenting life easier. This will also make you more able to act confident as you will have less doubts in your knowledge base. You may not always be required to present something you are passionate about so make sure you leave plenty of time to do some reading, which brings me onto the next tip.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail!

Make sure you have read around your subject is key, but preparing everything else that makes up your presentation is also important. Design and construct your slides, resources, and any scripts well in advance. Having these in order early means you can start to practice and create mental action plans for how you will deliver your talk. By being prepared with these will also reduce any unneccessary stress in the lead up to your big day!

No Death by Powerpoint!

Having sat through many mind numbing, soul destroying, and sleep inducing presentations I have grown to appreciate the need for an engaging talk. When preparing your talk, if you use slides, do not lose your audience in text. If you fill your slides with reems of text it doesn’t matter how great you are at delivering presentations, you will lose your audience. This is where tip 3 comes in. If you know your content using visual images, videos, graphs, or charts will simply cue a discussion around them. The audience can then absorb your presentation, whilst listening to your valuable discussion around it. If you can talk around some engaging slides your audience will then have more faith in what you say and will devote more attention to you.

Take Home Message

These are just my homegrown tips that I have learned and developed over my career as a student, coach, and lecturer. If you can get yourself involved in public speaking, sufficiently prepare yourself in terms of knowledge and resources, and consider what you would like from a presentation (e.g., engaging slides) then you will start to become a great confident presenter.

Good Luck!