How Effective Are Your Presentation Skills?

We all need to present at some point or another in our careers – whether it is to our boss, our colleagues, the entire department or the leadership team. The ability to present effectively is essential to long term success and to being seen as a leader in your organization.

Presenting information effectively means conveying confidence in what you are presenting and communicating information in a way that works effectively for others. This requires using a combination of charts, graphs, words and emotions to convey your message; just the right amount of detail to keep others engaged and interested and sway them in your direction. It also requires conveying the message to show the value/benefit to the other party to whom you are presenting.

Individuals who are skilled at presenting to others are:

• Effective in a variety of formal and informal presentation settings
• Commands attention and can manage the audience
• Can adjust his presentation if she notices the audience is disengaged
• Prepares for every presentation by:
  • Understanding the audience
  • Developing and delivering the presentation in a way that works for the audience
  • Connects with the audience during the presentation – keeps them engaged and holds their attention
  • Effectively manages her time enabling for sufficient two-way conversation and questions

The following two questions should be answered in order to ensure you design a presentation that enables you to meet your objectives and the objectives of your audience, while keeping them engaged throughout the presentation:

Question: Who is the audience?

Understanding your audience enables you to be audience-focused; meaning – you will better be able to tailor the presentation to the specific audience. Consider the following additional questions in order to determine who the audience is to whom you are presenting:

• What is the general demographic information for the audience?
  (This may include, gender, age, job title.)
• What is the audience’s level of knowledge about the topic?
• What is your relationship with the audience?
  (Are you a peer? The boss? A subordinate?)
• What is the audience’s relationship with each other?

Question: What should be included in the presentation?

Consider the following prior to building your presentation deck:

• What information does the audience need to know to understand the topic and be persuaded by the arguments presented?
• What information is most relevant to the audience?
• What information would be most interesting to the audience to keep the engaged?
• What information is needed to support the specific purpose of the presentation?

How effective are your presentation skills?