by Richard Smith

Created on: July 19, 2008

At some point or other in our lives we could all find ourselves having to make a presentation. It may be as part of the selection process for getting into university, getting a job or as part of working life seeking to get a proposal accepted or communicating a strategic message.

A presentation is effectively a means of communication, usually it entails using both verbal and visual means to convey a message. The audience for a presentation can be anything from a couple of people to a room containing hundreds. Sometimes it is not the number of people that can make a presentation nerve wracking but who is in the audience. I'm pretty relaxed if I'm presenting in front of a group of new recruits to the company however put me in front of a group of directors and the pulse quickens to an alarming rate. Anyone who has seen Dragons Den on the TV where entrepreneurs pitch to a panel of four businessmen their funding requirement will have witnessed how easy it is to fall flat on your face with a poorly planned and delivered presentation.

I have been both the presenter and the receiver on numerous occasions and here are a few of my tips that I always follow.

Know your objective

Sounds obvious but you must understand exactly what outcome you want at the end of your presentation and also how you will know if you have achieved it. If it is part of a selection process usually you are being measured against certain competencies and your presentation must be the means in which you demonstrate these to the prospective employer. Remember on its own a presentation will not get you the job but a bad one can certainly stop you getting it. If the purpose of the presentation is to get business from a prospective client then you need to make sure that you ask for that business at the end of the presentation and agree a next point of contact.

Preparation

This goes without saying but you must prepare your presentation to the best of your ability. Knowing your audience is key always put yourselves in their shoes and imagine what they will want to know from your presentation rather than just thinking about what you want to tell them. If in a selection process you want to stand out from the crowd, I have spent a lot of time recruiting graduates for a bank and to be honest telling me about a gap year spent traveling is all well and good but is also pretty common these days so it needs to have an angle to it.

You also need to have planned the presentation to fit within the time frame you have been

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