Giving a presentation at work - tips please!

Are you using PowerPoint?
If so, the best approach is to put key facts only on the slides, and the supporting numbers and facts in the notes section.
That way you can keep the audience interested and on topic, and refer to the notes when more info is required.
After the presentation the slides and notes combined can be emailed out as required.

I did some presentation training at university yesterday (am academic) so can tell you what the trainer said!

Warm up (chew gum - as long as you bin it before you speak! - or do some stretches and even singing. Toilet is good for stretches - not sure where you’re meant to go for singing!). He said if you don’t warm up before, the first few minutes of your presentation will be your warm up. And take a deep breath before you start.

Prepare, prepare, prepare - ideal is to know your presentation off by heart but if you do this, you really really have to know it. Otherwise bullet point type notes, not a pre-written speech as we write in sentences and speak in clauses.
And NEVER read out the full text of a text slide.
Slides shouldn’t be able to work without you and vice versa (if you’re using slides) - otherwise audience will look at slides and zone out from you. So if you for eg use a pie chart, label it quite simply so you can add the detail/interpretation in what you say.
Ask rhetorical questions or ask the audience to imagine something (ie they have to get active rather than just listening/zoning out). Don’t be afraid to pause.
Try to speak naturally (not too naturally for me as I speak really fast!)

Know the reason you’re there, what you want them to take away and make sure that this message is clear and engaging. Most presentations have a lot of fluff.

Keep to time - indicate to yourself somehow when you’re halfway through so you can check that you aren’t overrunning. Finish slightly early if possible.

Q&A - as the PP said, don’t be afraid to say you don’t know. And remember if you do get some senior person man showing off their own knowledge/all round brilliance by asking an irrelevant or even hostile question (probably more a thing in academia), remember that everyone else will be rooting for you.

That’s all I can remember!

No more than 5 bullet points per slide. Use them as headlines and talk to each one, feel free to include the content of your talk in the notes section of PowerPoint and distribute the file afterwards.
However, as other people have said:

1. Tell them what you are going to say
2. Say it
3. Tell them what you said

I have. It varies much depends on the audience. My industry is fast paced with a lot of very smart people. Go too slowly and you'll lose their interest completely.

Practice.with trusted friends or colleagues

Use slides to prompt you. No one wants to.listen to someone reading slides out- they are perfectly capable of reading themselves!

Maybe change it up a bit with a fee activities to do, or a poll, or some papers to pick up and do actions with. It depends on.yoir presentation but adding activities adds participation and interest.

If you are allowed, and there's a point where it makes sense, give some free sweets out or a pen, to add fun aspect

If it.works with what you are doing, involve others in the conversation, or ask.if anyone has anything to add to parts of the discussion. Again to give yourself a breather.

Have a notepad ready to note questions you don't have the answer to and that you will follow up.

If people ask questions, call.it a good question if it is. Give something back to them.

Good luck. It gets easier.

I've never been at a presentation where the presenter talks too slowly. Most seem to think taking faster is good to day more. It isn't!

I love presenting, the bigger the group the better (but school mum chat fills me with dread, go figure).

Firstly: almost every single person you are talking to would rather you were up there than them. They'll be thinking you are a star for doing it. If you look scared, unless you are a CEO, they'll have sympathy for you.

Secondly: breathe. Slow down, like really slow down your words and take pauses to breathe. You'll be calmer, and they say that the pauses make you sound really powerful as you are the one setting the pace.

Thirdly: Do the power stance thing. By standing firmly with your feet apart it makes you more confident and grounded

I start by a big smile round the room while I say Good Morning, I'm CMOT and I'll be telling you about the joy of sausage inna bun. It centres me and lets me breathe.

If someone asks you a question you can't answer (or don't want to), then just say ' Great question Phil, I'd love to discuss that with you more after the meeting'.

Put some speaker notes in big font down on the notes tool of PP, then they are there to nudge you if you forget. If you do freeze, take a second to smile out at the room and breathe again - it will look intentional

You'll do great, just think of MN standing at the back of the room rooting for you

Not knowing everyone is better!! Just breathe. Don’t be worried about a little silence whilst you gather yourself.

you can do it!

Remember you wouldn't be asked to do it, if you weren't up for it.

Avoid filler words e.g. so, yeh, umn.

Talk slowly, breathe well.

Use your hands.

Make eye contact with random people, it makes you more personable and they'll be wishing you well.

Admit it if you don't know something

Don't worry if you aren't script perfect, they don't know that.

Make sure you know your subject

Make sure you know your topic inside out, let your enthusiasm come through, don't just read from wordy PowerPoint slides. Try and take an engaging or sightly unexpected angle to the topic, so people are less likely to get bored. Invite discussion rather than a formal q&a.
I have no issue with it but I spent years delivering psychotherapeutic group work to very high risk violent and sexual offenders, where a misinterpreted comment could escalate like you wouldn't believe, I've been threatened, had things thrown at me etc. I think once you've mastered that any other audience is a walk in the park 😁

I never did overcome it, really. The only thing that helped, the ONLY thing, was practice, practice, practice. Then, practice some more. To the point where I didn’t have to look at my notes. Until I knew every pause, every ‘off the cuff’ remark, by heart. Backwards.

Top tips:

It's a presentation not an eyetest, less words, more images/white space. By all means talk around your points in detail but no need to put all the words on the slide.

No more than 1 slide per minute. Don't rush it.

And the old 'tell ' em, tell em, tell em' structure. Use your intro slide to tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them (ie. The content), tell them what you told them (ie. Summarise)

I hated them, feared them, but by just getting on and doing them I can handle them now.

You absolutely have to practice out loud - not in your head - and I found presenting it to my DH helped a lot, especially if it is something he knows nothing about. You get used to someone looking at you (I hate this) and how to focus your points.

You'll relax after the first few mins. I find a huge difference between presenting something I genuinely know and care a lot about, and a more superficial thing.

Think about when you were learning about whatver it is - did you find anything confusing or ambiguous? Help others in the same situation.

Is this in person or on teams?

Practice is key, don’t look at anyone if it will throw you off, don’t read from slides. Try and be YOU , personality helps.

re questions - if you don’t know the answer, don’t lie. Just say ‘that’s a brilliant question, thank you. I don’t actually know the answer, but I’ll take it away and find out and I’ll get back to you’

Good luck!