by Todd Pheifer

Created on: April 08, 2008

Business presenations can be nerve-wracking, particularly for people who are not comfortable speaking in front of others. Reputation, sales, profitability, and future vocational opportunities may be dependent on your ability to convey information in a presentable fashion. Therefore, here are a few tips on how to do an effective business presentation.

PREPARE

One key thing is to prepare ahead of time. Too often people think they can present "off the cuff". Or, they put together a PowerPoint and assume that the slides will be their cues. These can be lethal mistakes because in a presentation nervousness can overcome one's ability to improvise. Suddenly the presenter is talking fast, forgetting information, and reading their PowerPoint slides. All of these can be avoided if a person takes the time to go through their presentation.

DON'T GO TOO LONG

The presenter needs to pay attention to the audience. When they start to doodle, look away, or get heavy eyelids, it is time to stop. Therefore, it is often helpful to have a couple of contingencies in a presentation. If things are going well, keep going. Otherwise, be ready to summarize and close it down. Otherwise, a bored audience will start to forget anything that was good at the beginning.

USE HUMOR (IF YOU ARE FUNNY)

Jokes and humorous comments can start a presentation out right or it can keep it going in a good way. However, this is time for personal honesty because if you are not funny by nature, then humor can backfire and create awkwardness. Therefore, check with someone else before going forward with humor, unless you feel like you have a good sense of your own "funnyness". Also, remember that jokes can easily offend people so stay away from jokes that target certain groups, beliefs, or ideologies.

HAVE DIFFERENT PRESENTATION FORMATS

Another way to do a good presentation is to have multiple methods of communication. If you are a good speaker, rely on that but also have slides ready or handouts if they are appropriate. Again, use a medium that best represents what you are trying to convey. If all you have is text, then slides may not be that exciting.

Overall, the business presentation is about preparation, paying attention to the audience, and having multiple methodologies ready if they convey your message. Also, keep in mind that presentations take practice, so you may find that you get better at them the longer that you do them.

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