Presentation skills – All about capturing your audience mind
I am trying to explain about helping to put the intellectual ornaments and rhetorical coloring in to your simple story – the stuff that will turn it from being a plot line into narrative that engages the audiences mind something with shades of colors and emphasis that would take your audiences to a new world of imaginations.

Read at breakfast time while preparing for a presentation- yes read those finance related newspapers filled with ideas and snip out any good stories. One of the things that freshens any story is that it should be contemporary, some thing that has just happened, and some thing recent that makes a point that you want to prove.

Read whatever you can lay your hands on
Read the big management papers since you have no choice as an aspiring and brilliant presenter but to be an avid consumer of the key, go through any management books from big authors whom you can search on ‘books and authors’ sites. Look out for either big picture all the time those are around us all the time but we would seldom think or have the courage to use those.

You should have a real sense of curiosity – It may have killed the cat but as sure as any thing, I know in business it makes a business presentation stand out that make it sing. You know curiosity delivers quirky insights; it is lead-in to discovering the unusual. This is in fact the story that can captivate your audience. In short, what I mean is keeping your eyes open and seeing what is changed, what stayed the same, what has died, what is born, and finally what has come into existence lately.

Keep a quote book ready while preparing
You have to keep an idea book ready in which the great quotes and insightful thinking are there for your ready references, not because you are a trained spotter but just because you never know when they would come in handy. For instance, you are talking about the importance of speed in business then you have an option of quoting a formula one driver who always thinks that you are never fast enough unless you are not rash. You can relate speed with perfect control later, if you are in perfect control you are never rash that means your speed is okay.

There is another way to describe this incident if you quote the same driver ‘he did not drive to crash’ that also says the same- he did drive to win the race by driving fast but every thing was under his control. I think I can do one entire presentation based on these two quotes, that’s how you pull the strings. Make these your punch lines and quote them often during the presentation in different ways.

Try to make an effective chart
We always made charts describing about the working process of machines incidentally known as flow-charts in detail to give our audience a clear picture what was in store for them. In addition, that made our job that much easier as when we described our machines to our audiences we had some details to prove our points. That always helped because that said more things quicker, clearly and easily. Besides which, interesting and effective visual charts are always interesting material rather than we talk a lot and never each to any point as obiviously. Too many points verbally can always slow us down.

Agenda is important
Interestingly enough or ironically (no, do not get confused if I am using two different terms) most people regard the agenda as necessary extra that is almost an asset for a presenter almost like a menu for a restaurant yes, your agenda is your menu which, you should treat as previewing how the meeting is going to take shape. Your presentation is going to take a shape according to your agenda serious, data-filled, innovative, fun about people who are going to be there, about the future of your project or past data- you name it and you have it.

Make sure you are going to handle your topic with utmost care and respect whatever is the subject or product. Make it colorful, well thought out, attention getting and important. Just include almost every thing that you feel should help your cause without hesitation.

Distribute broachers and circulars
At presentations and project seminars, effective circulars and well-printed broachers help your cause therefore keep these ready. These broachers also help your audience to relate better with your topic and take notes of your products and ideas. They go a long way with every thing printed on them including details of company profile. Never forget to collect visiting cards of every one present in your seminar that not only gives your meeting a personal touch but also helps maintain the relations.

I may sound odd but counts a bit dramatic
You know while you go out to watch a movie you sit waiting for the next scene that would catch your attention and as soon as it comes you sit on the edge of your seat when you find it most interesting. Moreover, when you discuss with your friends about the movie you always describe wonderful moments those caught your attention. In a presentation also, we always look for charismatically memorable effects those make them unforgettable. Although these dramatic effects are not that affective while the gathering is not big, enough where such dramatics would only make it look more like a juggler’s show. This would look good with larger audience where the impact of such act differs due to number of people present.

As usual : Involve your audience
You would not believe it if I told you that once it was raining hard and we had only twenty-nine people present at the beginning of the meeting where we were expecting about three hundred or more. That was a hard time for me to keep things going because this was a situation where I was in a lam whether to start the meeting. I simply asked my senior sales officer to accompany me with packs of chocolates to sit with every one for a few moments and offer them a piece of chocolate.

That idea worked and by the time I was through there were about hundred or so invitees present in the meeting hall, so no body noticed the delay. A personal touch is what we need on some occasions especially, while smaller crowd to handle, that produces the same result.

Creativity and presentation go together

We live in a world of increasing sophistication where most of us are with full of information. They used to say that information is power as the site says ‘information creates wealth’ this may be true for Yahoo, Google and Boddunan but for us presenters clarity of thought and creativity are more powerful and information is merely there to be used. Therefore, use it to take full advantage and to educate your audience according to your own way to make your presentation more fun and livelier.