5 tips for even better spoken presentations

5 tips for even better spoken presentations

• Practice. Read through your entire presentation before presenting - and say it aloud. This may sound simple, but it’s very effective. It helps you to find the right and important words to say on the day, and it gives you a better sense of timing for your presentation (keep in mind that you might speak 10% faster than you think).
• Establish your presence in the room. Stand up in front of your audience. Plant your feet solidly on the floor. And take a deep breath. Once you've established your presence in the room, you’ll feel a sense of calm within. And when you feel this sense of calm within, there will in turn be a sense of calm to the message you are about to deliver. 
• Hold your documents in your hand. It’s easy for people to lose concentration when listening to a spoken presentation. To ensure that you have the full attention of your audience during your presentation, it’s important to show them what you’ve explained in order to give them a clear picture of the scope and topics of the presentation. Or you could summarise after each topic.
• Make use of silence. It doesn’t have to be an awkward silence, or filled with the sense of ‘oh no’. Silence can be transformed into a positive tool. Stay quiet for a moment. This will allow your message to be digested by your audience while you’re preparing your next sentence. The more comfortably you work with silence, the more comfortable you’ll feel in the room. 
• Repeat your points. This comes back to concentration - chances are that your audience has missed the points you’re making once or twice along the way. And that’s fine. Just make sure to continuously repeat 2-3 main points from your presentation. That way, there’ll be a much greater chance that everyone will remember them when you leave the meeting.