In our last blog, we began giving you some tips on how to improve your presentation skills. Here at Michael Hanna Designs, your source for quality presentation design services, we can help you with custom PowerPoint templates, professional Keynote presentations, dynamic infographics, vibrant, interactive brochures, and much more! Today we’re back with some more tips to help you improve your presentation skills.
- Use positive visualization! Rather than thinking “I’m going to be so awful” and imagining yourself throwing during the middle of a presentation, try to visualize yourself getting lots of laughs while presenting.
- Remember, most of your audience is sympathetic! This is a hard fear to shake when you are speaking in public. People want to think that the audience is secretly waiting to laugh at you if you make a mistake. The reality is that the audience wants to see your presentation be successful. In fact, so many people have a fear of public speaking that the odds are in your favor that people people listening to your presentation understand how nervous it can be.
- Smile! Did you know that when you smile, endorphins are released, replacing that awful anxiety with feelings of calmness and making you feel positive about your presentation.
- Work on those pauses. It’s easy to speed up your speech and speak too quickly if you’re nervous, which in turn causes you get more nervous, run out of breath, and panic! It’s okay to slow yourself down and use pauses during your speech – your audience will enjoy it more.