Basic Presentation Skills

Introduction

presentation skills are very substantial and significant in many spheres of work and life. Effective presentation skills are very important in business, marketing, training, teaching, lecturing and generally entertaining an audience. Presentation skills are extremely helpful in development of confidence and personality. Why do we see a difference in cost of Barbeques in a Stall and famous restaurant? It is not the taste that makes the contrast but the way of its presentation.  It is not a herculean task to be good in presentation. Anybody can give a good presentation or deliver a speech of a very professional and impressive standard, if he will imbibe in him some specific and fundamental presentation skills. It just needs a bit of organized preparation and practice. There can be numerous kinds of presentations, for example: oral speeches, multimedia speeches (using audio visuals, etc), power point presentations, lectures etc; but every successful presenter or speaker uses some basic presentation skills, which are briefly summarized as under:

Before the delivery: The speaker should organize his speech keenly before its delivery. The speech must have three parts, Introduction, Core and conclusion. There should not be repetitions in the speech. The most important thing in organizing the speech is that it should be kept under the time limit. Before a speaker commences its talk, he should give a brief introduction about himself and also a general briefing of the topic. He must keep the “KISS” rule in mind, which suggests that a speaker should Keep It Simple and Straight. He should be very well aware about his ethical responsibilities like; his talk should not hurt the sentiments of audience. He should overcome his fears and phobias before the speech. He should train himself to avoid the distracting mannerisms, like playing with the buttons of his shirt or scratching his head, again and again.

Basic manner techniques (Presentation Skills)

Facial expression

The most impressive tool of a speaker is his face. Facial expression determines how much a speaker is confident. Smile is suggested as one the general effective facial expression. If the speech is not asking for a smile, one must not wear then. Sometimes, the semantics of the word is delivered by your facial expressions and not by the word itself.

Eye contact

The connector between the spectators and the audience are the eyes. If a speaker ignores the eye to eye contact, he loses the attention of the audience. Public speakers have suggested that most important tool for a speaker to make his speech winsome and peachy is his eye contact with the audience.

Body Language

The hardest part in the delivery of speech is to maintain the language of your body. The language of body or body language is termed as Kinesis. It is very substantial for a speaker to keep his body still while delivering a speech. His movement of hands or hand gestures makes a great impact on the onlookers. The position of hands is very important to learn. One can keep his hands on dais, if available, but his body should stand upright. It he is holding a free mike, he should walk at a very low pace and should try to mingle with the audience.

Voice Modulation, Pauses and intonations

These are the calligraphic tools of the speech. While writing text, we use many tools to highlight, bold, italicize or underline; but, in a speech we don’t use such things. In alternative we are blessed with tools like our voice. We can play with its pitch, high or low, as per our need. If we are supposed to give stress on any word or sentence, we can intonate that word. And at times, if we have to grab the attention of the audience, what better we can do than doing a pause for a while, as Martin Fraquhar Tupper says, “Well-timed silence has more eloquence than speech.”

Language and Grammar

We must be very well aware about the usage of grammar and language. If we are assigned with a formal speech, then we must use formal language and grammar. For example: we cannot use ‘Where it comes from?’ but ‘Where does it come from?” Similarly, we cannot use words like ‘Guys and Gals’ but ‘Boys and girls’ or ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’. We must be quite known to the nature of speeches. If a speech is entertaining, then we should not bother about the formality of grammar or language.

Pronunciation and Accent

If we are second language speakers of a particular language, we must keep in mind to use a neutral accent and proper pronunciation. We shouldn’t try to imitate the native speakers of that language. It can cause irritation to the audience. For example; if we have to deliver a speech in English, which is our second language, we should not copy the accent and pronunciation of English; rather we should use our accent ‘Hinglish’ with proper articulation of words.

Motivation and sense of Humor

These two human skills are very essential for a speaker to imbibe in his speech. This presentation skill decides how much long lasting effect of your speech is going to be on your audience. The speaker should make it sure to himself that his audience must leave with something to remember. Motivation toils there to do that task. Your sense of humor is one more effective exercise to make your audience to remember you for a longer period. The more your delivery is entertaining, the more successful your purpose of speech becomes.

In conclusion, I wish to leave reader with quote to ponder over,

“Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel” - Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Social Aims,” 1875