Giving a presentation at work - tips please!

[hollyblueivy]

What are you like for giving presentations? They fill me with dread!

I question how I talk, how I look, if my mind will go blank, if I'll sound silly, if I'll get asked a question that I won't know the answer too, if I'll look as scared and embarrassed as I feel.

I have to give a presentation at work and I'm pleading with you for your top tips on how to forget all the worries and deliver a half decent talk?

Would love to hear from anyone that perhaps used to be like me and has somehow overcome the fear?

Thanks

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!

In person

Room full of people half I know and half I do not.

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.

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 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.

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 😁

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

Thanks for the no more than one slide per minute tip - hadn't heard that one before.

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

you can do it!

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

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!

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 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.

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 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!

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 always try to explain a few of the information with humour, e.g. speaking about the difference between criminal prosecutions and civil prosecutions, it's then, "so imagine, Knackeredback was driving along the A1, singing along to Rick Astley, but the police had been following"....etc. Make them picture a scene. Good luck

Know your material and where you're going with it. Make that point with your audience.

Keep your slides short and to the point.People tend to look or listen so the less they have to focus on the more attention you'll get.

Leave room for Q&As.

PS remember to breathe, you'll be fine!

I used to dread presentations, but in my current post I have to do loads of them, so am fine now

My best advice is don't try to be someone else. Just talk as if you are having a conversation. If you have to explain something, imagine you are telling a friend about it

It's also the way I like to hear presentations - friendly, passionate and approachable, rather than austere or impressive, or even trying to be funny, which can really be painful

This.

Use your slides as prompts for what you are going to talk about. When I was a brand new graduate, I used to have to do a presentation in a staff mtg once a month. I was basically given these tips, and also to never put more than 24 words on a slide.

This has stood me in good stead for 30 years.

My best advice is don't try to be someone else. Just talk as if you are having a conversation. If you have to explain something, imagine you are telling a friend about it

I second this advice. My other tips would be:

Practice out loud at home - my cat has heard plenty of my presentations. Helps you spot bits where you might trip over yourself, and come up with simpler ways of saying things.

If you have a friendly colleague in the audience, keep them in your eyeline and address some points to them. I've done it for my team and I make a point of quietly smiling and nodding to encourage them.

Remember: it’s not school! The audience are not examiners, there to trip you up. They are there to learn about the subject about which YOU are the expert.
speak up, don’t use Ums and Ahs, every so often ask, is that clear? Any questions? It gives you a moment to gather your thoughts, and possibly an opportunity to talk around the subject that you know really well and are passionate about.
and practice, practice, practice! I used to be petrified of presenting, now I actually enjoy it. It’s enjoyable to talk about something you love!

Get some propranolol.

Make sure you are comfortable in what you are wearing. You will be standing, so comfortable shoes. Wear layers so you can take off a top layer if you get hot.
Really know your subject. Not just what you are presenting, but the bits around it that you might get questions on.
You've had some great tips on introduction, information, summarising, but don't forget to leave some time for questions at the end.
Don't put too much information on each slide - you can offer to send further information if people want it - but they should be listening to what you are saying rather than reading the slides.
I was always told not to present more than 5 slides, not including the title and closing slide.
Practice! Including timing. I did a course years ago where we had to present at the end - I took the instruction not to gabble so seriously I ended up going over time. (Still got a good mark though 😁)

Longer term - find youth local Toastmasters club.

Meanwhile - breathing. If you're nervous, you'll breathe more quickly and shallowly. Focus on your breathing - do box breathing or something before you start (google it if you don't know.) If you deliberately breathe more slowly and deeply, it will help trick your body into feeling calmer, because it's how we do breathe when calmer.

Also, just as white space on a slide helps make information clearer, so do pauses as you speak. Gives you time to think about what's next, gives the audience time to absorb what you just said before you move on. It sounds much more purposeful than um or er, though it's usually serving the same purpose - giving you thinking time. It can be learnt with practice.

Practising again and again is important if you're not used to it. (You always need practice, but experienced speakers can get away with less.) If you can film yourself in practice, it will give you an idea of things like any crutch words (so at the start of every sentence, y'know or like as punctuation, plus ums and ers.) Also if you've got any distracting body language, like rocking back on one foot - many of us develop tics like this when nervous, and we're often unaware.

Check timing on practice runs. if you're going over time on the day, it helps to know what points you can drop or summarise to catch up - or, if you're speaking more quickly because of nerves, is there extra detail you can add to pad it out?

Good luck!