3 Tips For Delivering A Winning Presentation

We want every presentation that we give to be a winner
We want every presentation that we give to be a winner
Image Credit: Danny Munnerley

Every time that we deliver a presentation, because we understand the importance of public speaking, we want it to go well. We do our best to get ready, to deliver the speech, and then we sit back with our fingers crossed hoping that we were able to connect with our audience. The good news is that sometimes we are successful. The bad news is that sometimes we are not. What we really need is some sort of system that will allow us to create and deliver presentations that always win.

It’s All In The Delivery

Creating and delivering a speech involves you as a speaker planning, organizing, supporting, and staging your speech. However, once you have all of that taken care of, it’s time for the big show. It’s time for you to deliver your presentation. You are now officially on the hook to produce the speech that you were requested to deliver.

Unlike when you were at home practicing your speech, now you will be giving your speech to real people. These people will listen to you, take notes, potentially asking questions when you are done and if you are not careful they may even fall asleep during your presentation. During your presentation you need to make sure that you speak with both conviction and power so that you can be sure that you connect with your audience.

You Need To Interact With Your Audience

All too often, speakers who are just starting out think that a speech is a one way communication. They couldn’t be further from the truth. What you need to realize as a speaker is that you will almost never have a passive audience. That’s why when you have finished with your delivery, your audience will have questions that they will want to ask you.

As a speaker, you need to be ready for the question and answer session that your audience is going to want to participate in at the end of your speech. It is very important that you not be afraid of this part of your speech. You need to view your audience as being a critical part of your speech. The questions that they will be asking you will either support or challenge what you have told them. How you handle their questions will go a long way in determining what your audience thinks about your speech when they are walking away.

It’s Not Over Until You Follow Up

Once again, speakers who are just starting out think that when they get done speaking, it’s over and that’s when they can kick back and let their hair down. The bad news is that this is not actually the case. Once your presentation is complete, your work is actually just beginning.

Each presentation that we give is a practice for the next presentation that we will be giving. In each presentation that we give, there are specific things that we want to work on. This means that when the presentation is over and done with, we need to tally up how well we did on the things that we wanted to work on. If there are any loose ends (like questions that we didn’t have answers to) we need to get them taken care of. Finally, we need to take what we’ve learned from making this presentation and prepare to use this new knowledge when we make our next presentation.

What All Of This Means For You

If we ran the world, then every presentation that we gave would be prefect. We, of course, do not live in such a world and so some of our presentations work while other fall flat. In order to boost the probability of delivering a successful presentation and delivering the benefits of public speaking, we need to take the time to do all of the right steps that will make our next presentation a winning presentation.

A winning presentation starts with a solid delivery. We want to capture and hold our audience’s attention. We will be presenting to real people who will be making notes and coming up with questions that they want to ask us. We need to make sure that we deliver with conviction and power. When you complete your presentation your audience will have questions that they want to ask you. Make sure to allow for a question and answer period at the end of your speech. How you handle this part of the speech may determine your audience’s impression of your speech. Once you are done speaking, your work is really just beginning. You need to determine how well you did on the things that you wanted to practice and you need to use what you’ve learned to do a better job the next time you are called on to make a presentation.

The good news is that it is possible to boost the odds that the next presentation that you’ll be giving will be a winning presentation. However, in order to make this happen you need to make sure that you do a good job with the actual delivery, handle any questions, and use what you learn to prepare for your next speech. Use these tips to make your next speech one that your audience will remember for a long time!

– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™

Question For You: How long do you think that a question and answer session after a speech should be?

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Note: What we talked about are advanced speaking skills. If you are just starting out I highly recommend joining Toastmasters in order to get the benefits of public speaking. Look for a Toastmasters club to join in your home town by visiting the web site www.Toastmasters.org. Toastmasters is dedicated to helping their members to understand the importance of public speaking by developing listening skills and getting presentation tips. Toastmasters is how I got started speaking and it can help you also!

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

It’s tough work giving a speech. The one thing that we really don’t want to have happen when we are delivering our speech is to be interrupted. However, when we are giving a speech in a small setting or perhaps when we are giving an informal speech, there is the very real possibility that we are going to encounter a serial yakker who doesn’t understand the importance of public speaking and who just can’t shut up. How should a speaker handle a situation like this?