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Watch out for the irritators. They can be repetitve gestures or fidgets, or a phrase like OK, basically or in terms of. But they can kill off your presentation in a few minutes. Practice time should create the awareness and experience will eliminate them if you focus consciously...

Ever considered where vocal sounds come from? It’s the muscles in and around the diaphragm pushing air out of the lungs, through the trachea, over the vocal chords and out through the mouth. We’ve become so skilled at using our voices that we can fashion sounds to...

Carrying on from last week, if you haven’t been videoed doing a presentation lately (or don’t practice your talks in front of the mirror) you may not be aware of what your body language is telling your audience. Your popularity will be determined 55% by this factor...

Question time is the death of many a well intended presentation for mainly two reasons: 1. The presenter positions question time at the end of the presentation 2. The presenter is drawn into an argument and becomes defensive. Here are two simple remedies. First, allow yourself...

We worry about the content, we tweak the structure, we spend hours on the slideshow, we lose sleep, and we may even make the time for practise. But we forget this: Most times when you do a presentation, you do it on your subject of expertise. So you need not worry about the...

If someone asks you a question you are unable to answer, admit you can’t, endeavour to find out the answer and then get back to them. Release yourself from the burden of having to know everything, and sieze the opportunuity to demonstrate your honesty and sincerity.

Before you start, ask yourself this question: Why did they come to listen? When you have answered this, you have discovered what it is you need to do. When we present our focus is all too often on ourselves – it shouldn’t be. Your focus needsto be on the needs of your...

You only really find out the true value of backing up your slideshows when you get stuck without a backup. Here are some suggestions: 1. Back up your most frequently used presentations on a disc (CD or flashdrive preferably) 2. Keep a set of overhead transparancies with you (they...

All the preparation in the world will not save you from unpleasant stress if something goes wrong with your set-up for a presentation and you’re running out of time. I strongly suggest one or both of the following: 1. Give yourself an “additional time cushion”...

Nervousness is displayed by different people in different ways. Some sweat and shake, others fidget, some use repeated irritators (like “basically or “OK?”) and some people shuffle their feet. One of the keys to eliminating the irritators is to remain aware of...

For some reason we all seem to feel a sense of being under scrutiny when we speak in front of people, that they’re just waiting for us to “mess up” so that they can fall about laughing at us. If you were an audience member, is this the way you would approach a...

In truth it’s an Oscar Wilde quote that touches the heart of what we’re all afraid of, but desperately need – constructive criticism. “A true friend stabs you in the front.” – Oscar Wilde. Others will see what we can not see objectively no...