Everybody remembers their favourite teacher at school ….right? The one that made you really enjoy the subject, the one that brought the subject to life, the one that you could really relate to and engage in debate with.
So what makes this select band of heroes and heroines stick in our heads? Why do their names drip off the tongue many years after we have long left the education system? In my opinion it’s because they are the best presenters of all. They know that in order to engage a room full of unruly students first thing on a Monday morning, they must plan, prepare and engage with their audience. They have a passion for their subject. These are the building blocks of what makes a great presenter.
We all know that giving a presentation is something which many people find frightening. The thought of an audience staring at you is enough to make you shake and that’s without even thinking about what might happen if anything goes wrong… like forgetting your presentation.
Here are a few helpful tips designed to help you overcome your concerns, so that you can make a confident presentation that will impress your audience and leave you feeling happy:
There are four key steps to making a good presentation:
Plan
Prepare
Practice
Present
These are known as the ‘Four Ps’ of presentations. Good presenters put most of their effort into the first three - planning, preparing and practicing.
The actual presentation is the least important - if you have put in enough work before your talk, it will all go smoothly. The other slightly more unorthodox method of being able to relax a little when giving the dreaded PowerPoint is to imagine your audience naked, but that might be just a step too far!
You see, it doesn’t have to be a tortuous process that you have to put yourself through. It can be a positive experience - where all the passion you have for your role and the reason why you are there can be shared with a whole group of people. They in turn will be enormously grateful that they haven’t had to sit through a gazillion PowerPoint slides that are far too complicated to make sense of and who genuinely want to ask questions and find out more.
So pay attention class! Notebooks at the ready, no talking at the back! It’s time to put your plan into action!