DELIVERING A PRESENTATION

DELIVERING A PRESENTATION

A well planned, and well-structured presentation can almost be ineffective because of bad presentation delivery. The delivery phase can make or ruin a presentation. There are four key factors in the successful delivery of a presentation.Timing is of crucial importance. Do not ramble or talk needlessly. Some people simply freeze, and some can not sit down when they got on their feet to talk.

Try to stick to prepared speech. Some questions during the presentation might be difficult to answer, and it is best to dispose of them politely, but quickly. If you return to your prepared speech, you are in control. If you become diverted to a detailed answer, the time may just slip away and you may suddenly find the audience looking at the clock. The amount of time required for a given presentation should be determined in advance. As a general guide, one slide needs 1 - 1.5 minutes. So, if your presentation consists of 50 slides and you allowed 30 minutes only, the delivery has to be rushed very much and you may not succeed in conveying your message. Judge your timing by practice.

The level of audience's attention during a presentation varies considerably. In general, the attention is high at the beginning of the presentation, but tends to fall after 10 minutes. Therefore, it is important to highlight or repeat key ideas during a long (more than 20 minutes) presentation. The speaker must be conscious of the attention span concept, so that the presentation can be carefully managed. Something like, "Let me summarize what I just said..." will boost the level of attention. It is also important not to simply fade away at the end of the presentation. Never leave the audience at a low level of attention. The speaker should use some clue to alert the audience to the fact that the end is coming, and that there is some summary or highlight to be expected. Try various ways to end the talk, instead of simply saying "This is the end of my presentation, thank you".