19 Effective Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills

In today’s marketplace, organizations depend on people to have the presentation skills needed to share their ideas. Whether a presentation is informative, persuasive, motivational, or intended for some other purpose, developing effective presentation skills is the first step to building this competency.

Here’s a basic checklist from AMA’s Presentation Skills Workshop to help you prepare for and deliver a presentation. These steps will develop your skills in three stages:

Plan — Develop and organize the presentation content

• Know your topic
• Know what you want to achieve—the purpose of your presentation
• Research your topic and use timely information
• Keep it simple (less is more)
• Choose an organizational pattern that maximizes the impact of your presentation
• Keep media simple and to the point
• Know and adhere to your time limit

Practice — Use practice strategies and plan to create engagement

• Use notes or an outline to practice the presentation
• Highlight key words or phrases
• Pay attention to your voice: quality, inflection, volume, pace, articulation, clarity
• Check your visual presence: dress, stance, movement, facial expressions, eye contact
• Practice ways to engage and interact with listeners, such as asking questions, surveying the audience, or addressing people by name
• Practice, practice, practice

Present — Create and project a credible image

• Create a credible image by communicating with confidence
• Be energetic and animated
• Be ready to adapt
• Plan for potential questions and challenges and keep control of the situation
• Give thought to the presentation environment: room setup, equipment, logistics
• Be positive and enjoy yourself

By following this checklist, you’ll be on a successful path to developing the effective presentation skills that will help you to convey your message and engage the audience.

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