In fast paced business world, the most important communication skill needed by any MBA graduate is ‘Presentation skills’. You should possess the skills to successfully present any case, offer best of solutions in a professional yet persuasive manner. Presentation skills have attained so much weightage because people today do not like to read long page documents, instead welcome business concepts and enterprises presented in a crisp and well formatted form.

Here are some reliable and proven tips to polish your presentation skills. We’ve divided them in 3 four major stages to make it easy for you:

Tips On How To Improve Presentation Skills

Before the Presentation

• Planning and organizing the presentation facts and slides is the first step for a successful and effective presentation skill improvement. Go through the presentation script or slides thoroughly and make sure they are clear and appealing.

• Practice and rehearse your presentation before the final showdown. You can also practice in front of a friend or colleague or in front of the mirror. Record your presentation and go through it to make improvements wherever necessary.

• During the practice session try to finish the presentation in the given time duration by the event organizer. You can set a countdown timer and note if you are too fast or too slow. It is always impressive to finish in time.

• If you have to give a presentation during a conference, try to intreact with the other participants before your presentation. This would give you feel of the audience and also help you to work on your presentation accordingly.

• Last tip is to have a good night’s sleep so that you are fresh and energetic the next day.

During the Presentation

• Arrive early at the venue, it would give you enough time to settle down before the talk and get acquainted to the presentation space.

• Try to spend some time in the room or stage where the presentation is to be made. If possible practice at least once. Understand the seating of the audience and be prepared for any outside potential distractions.

• Do not miss any chance to chat with people before the final presentation. Talking with audience would break the ice and you would be more amicable and approachable.

• Maintain a smile on your face. In any case to do not look tensed or nervous, be calm and confident about your presentation skills. Staying positive would uplift your mood and reduce the stress level.

• Drink a glass of water before the presentation starts, it would avoid your throat drying up during the presentation.

• Best way to improvise your presentation skills is to stay focused. At least 15 minutes before presentation switch off or keep your mobile on silent mode to avoid any disruptions.

• Before starting the presentation take few seconds to look around the room, this would let your audience settle down and be attentive.

• Include natural and deserved pauses in your speech, it’s perfectly okay to slow down and emphasize on certain points that would make the talk more conversational and interactive. Focus on selected topics in the speech, do not try to cover too many topics collectively.

• Active audience engagement is the key to a successful presentation. Be prepared for unexpected interruptions between the slide presentations. You can either answer their question then and there or politely inform to ask it during Q&A session. Try to initiate some interactions with audience.

• Be entertaining. Even if the presentation is about some useful and concrete information, some light-hearted jokes would make the audience comfortable.

After the Presentation

• Engage in a healthy and open Q&A session. If you do not know any answer, it’s okay to accept it, on a more positive note you can ask the audience to catch up after the presentation and discuss about it.

• After the presentation is done stay a while longer and meet with the audience. Here you can get the actual feedback of your presentation and their opinions. Don’t forget to include a last slide saying ‘Thank You’ in your presentation.

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