One of the more effective ways of communicating your business’s message to a large number of people all at once is through a presentation. They need to be able to create interest and excitement in your business along with trust and enthusiasm in you. Here are some simple tips to help you craft your presentation skills effectively:

Structuring – Think of your presentation as a story and just like any story it needs a beginning, a middle and an end. Structure the presentation around these three premises and clearly define all three as well. Try your best to provide your listeners with new information or put a new interpretation on existing information.

Relevancy– What makes your presentation and more importantly, your message relevant to the audience? Don’t let them decide if you are relevant; tell them you are. Throughout the presentation, focus on main message all times to tell your listeners why you are relevant. If it the first trial run of this isn’t on topic, trash it and start over with a new that it.
Enthusiasm– If you’re not enthusiastic about your presentation, then why should anybody else be? While it is good to show some passion in your message, try not to get too carried away. There isn’t a quicker way to lose an audience than becoming too over-the-top.
Practice– Don’t expect to walk into that room and perform flawlessly without practicing over your presentation. It will never happen. In order to nail it and convince your audience that your position is the side to be on, you better know the presentation like the back of your hand. Know how in’s and out’s of any equipment you plan on using. Have a backup plan ready just in case there are any technical problems.
Know your subject– It sounds pretty obvious to be on this list but you would be surprised with how many presentations I’ve sat in where the speaker wasn’t adequately informed as much as they should have been. No one in that room should know more about your subject matter than you. There is no getting around this step. They may know the subject as well as you do, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know a unique spin on the topic. Get clear on what message you want to convey to your listeners.

In the BM English course, we train you and make sure that you follow the 8 important rules of delivering an effective presentation.
How Can You Have Effective Presentation Skills?

Effective communication is all about conveying your messages to other people clearly and unambiguously. It’s also about receiving information that others are sending to you, with as little distortion as possible.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it’s a process that can be fraught with error, with messages muddled by the sender, or misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn’t detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort, and missed opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.

By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you actually send do not necessarily reflect what you think, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals – both personally and professionally.

In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Business School, points out that communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success.

In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many individuals continue to struggle, unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively – whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace and stands in the way of career progression.

Being able to communicate effectively is therefore essential if you want to build a successful career. To do this, you must understand what your message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context.

In the BM English course, we train you and make sure that you follow the 8 important rules of delivering an effective presentation.

Questioning as a Presentation Skill

We find questions and answers fascinating and entertaining – politicians, reporters, celebrities, and entrepreneurs are often successful based on their questioning skills – asking the right questions at the right time and also answering (or not) appropriately.

Although questions are usually verbal in nature, they can also be non-verbal.  Raising of the eyebrows could, for example, be asking, “Are you sure?” facial expressions can ask all sorts of subtle questions at different times and in different contexts.
Being an effective presenter has a lot to do with how questions are asked.  Once the purpose of the question has been established you should ask yourself a number of questions:

• What type of question should be asked?
• Is the question appropriate to the person/group?
• Is this the right time to ask the question?
• How do I expect the respondent will reply?

When actually asking questions – especially in more formal settings some of the mechanics to take into account include:
Although the following list is not exhaustive it outlines the main reasons questions are asked in common situations.

• To Obtain Information:

The primary function of a question is to gain information – ‘What time is it?’

• To help maintain control of a conversation

While you are asking questions you are in control of the conversation, assertive people are more likely to take control of conversations attempting to gain the information they need through questioning.

• Express an interest in the other person

Questioning allows us to find out more about the respondent, this can be useful when attempting to build rapport and show empathy or to simply get to know the other person better.

• To clarify a point

Questions are commonly used in communication to clarify something that the speaker has said.  Questions used as clarification are essential in reducing misunderstanding and therefore more effective communication.

• To explore the personality and or difficulties the other person may have

Questions are used to explore the feelings, beliefs, opinions, ideas, and attitudes of the person being questioned.  They can also be used to better understand problems that another person may be experiencing – like in the example of a doctor trying to diagnose a patient.

• To test knowledge

Questions are used in all sorts of quiz, test and exam situations to ascertain the knowledge of the respondent.  ‘What is the capital of France?’ for example.

• To encourage further thought

Questions may be used to encourage people to think about something more deeply.  Questions can be worded in such a way as to get the person to think about a topic in a new way.  ‘Why do you think Paris is the capital of France?”

• In group situations

Questioning in group situations can be very useful for a number of reasons, to include all members of the group, to encourage more discussion of a point, to keep attention by asking questions without advance warning.  These examples can be easily related to a classroom of school children.
Most importantly remember that “It is not over till it’s over, goes the saying. And it is not over till you’ve successfully handled whatever questions may come up during or after your presentation”.