Tips on Presenting

Recently I completed over 10 presentations in 3 days. It can be a bit nerve wrecking, but presentations is always something that I loved. I love the idea of talking people, keeping them interested as well as imparting some knowledge to them. Also how, for 20 minutes or less, you can completely transform your persona. Over the weekend I was interviewed on my presentation as well as on presenting and it got me thinking about how I present. So I'm going to go through 7 main points that allow me to have good presentations and also help me feel comfortable.

1. Know your presentation and its topic. There are no two ways about it. The only way you are going to have good presentation and feel comfortable and confident is if you know everything there is to know about the topic and your presentation.
2. Use examples when possible. People are better able understand your presentation if you can give real world examples they can relate to.
3. Keep your slides clean and simple. Slides should be used as visual cues as opposed to information(exception;info graphics and numerical data). I like to use the slides for visual cues for both my audience and myself. Remember you are the focus of your audience not the slide. If the slide is full of words they will spend more time reading it than listening to you.
4. Practice but don't rehearse. The worst thing you can do when you present is to try and rehearse exactly what you want to say. What would happen is with the added pressure of a real audience you will become nervous and may forget tiny details which my fluster you. However it is important to actually say the presentation out loud when practising as it helps build confidence, and also allows you to really critique your presentation.
5. Be confident. How an you expect the audience to embrace what you said if you haven't?
6. Don't present. It might sound weird I know. But something that I try to do is not actually present but rather engage. You need to talk to your audience. You need to connect to them so that each person in the room feels that you are talking to them and not a crowd. This also helps you gauge the reaction of people in the room, to know when to emphasis on a point or when to move on. (Tip – During your presentation pick out two people who appear interested in what your saying. Make regular eye contact with them and it will help your confidence. Also nothing is wrong with having one or two of your good friends in the crowd to just nod and give you confidence, I did it for my first one:)).
7. Lastly you need to have fun. Unless your presenting on a topic that is socially bad(example crime), try to be happy, laugh, smile, make jokes, and have fun. It's no secret a smile in contagious. A smile helps you feel relaxed, at ease, and helps pick up your mood. Not taking yourself too seriously also does wonders. So if your up there, might as well have fun:)

Like everyone I have my flaws in presenting and have a lot to still learn. These are just some pointers that have helped me with my presentations. I've attached a small clip of my presenting “Flow's World” after the jump.

An Amazing weekend

Just completed one of the most interesting weekends of my life. I was involved in a open fair put off by Flow Trinidad(an internet, cable, and telephone company). I helped launch a new product that my family's company launched,(http://ilearntt.com/). It was the first time I presented to the public, first time I was on Tv, and also the first time I've ever been interviewed. If my writing flow seems a bit off my apologies, it's the result of 3 days of intense energy:) I'm off to bed now and would provide more details and links tomorrow.

Low Financial Risk

In my last blog I spoke about a good way to get started with a business. In this entry I would speak about one of the benefits of this type of start up. The first one is low financial risk. Its no secret that many start ups no matter how small require a certain amount of financial capital. However investing quickly into these business ventures can be disastrous.
People have been known to misread business and market trends which leads to failed businesses. Young entrepreneurs have also been known underestimate the financial costs and benefits that come with the services or products they offer. This is why a sort of organic growth is beneficial as it allows the entrepreneur to get first hand experience with the potential customers as well as the potential pit falls that might be unseen so far. This may help the business in one way or another. A possible outcome of this approach would be the realization that a slight change of the product is the difference between success and failure.

Life is a journey not a destination, so is a start up

Everyone loves launches. Free giveaways, lots of hype, and publicity. It's like showing people a finished painting of your idea. Having a launch and starting your business with all the bells and whistles has its benefits. Customers find out about all the services you have to offer, get an idea of what the intended brand is, and you benefit from that initial boost in publicity. However it does have its downfalls. There risk of losing the financial investment by misreading markets and trends, and the host of other little problems. The biggest problem though is it might never happen.

People who dream of owning a business, small or big, spend a lot of time thinking about it. We spend time thinking about what services we can offer, all the investment and equipment needed, marketing, and even the lifestyle owning a company would bring. However thinking about all these things and planning an 'official' launch tends to make the whole venture daunting and sometimes causes us to keep pushing it off.

The solution? Start small

Start thinking you are already in business and work with what you have. Starting small and just doing odd jobs that relate to your bigger business plan would help you take the first plunge into the world of entrepreneurship. Slowly you would start to see your company becoming more of a reality rather than a distant dream, allowing the company to grow organically. Who knows it might even take your idea down a different path your originally planned. There are a number of benefits to this type of start up, lower financial risk, quicker start up, and better customer knowledge. In my next blogs I would go on to shortly explain each benefit.