You can talk to them using the same voice you would use when you are with your family. By focusing on their human side, you can also identify possible ways to connect with them by telling the right stories or making the right remarks.
When it comes to presenting in business, expectations are unfortunately still somehow low. Nevertheless, your presentations don’t have to be boring, too long or irrelevant. You need to take a conscious decision not to be mediocre and instead make an extra effort.
- Your voice is important. You will recognise this particularly when you make a pause.
- Be very clear about your intentions. Make people feel something and decide well in advance what it is you want them to feel: you will then choose the right words accordingly. Everything needs to be aligned and fit together well.
- Don’t sabotage your own efforts by using poorly prepared slides. If there are too many words or numbers, people will just suffer when you are trying to read everything. Present only what people really need to hear – and make it visual, bold and compelling on your slides.
- When you speak, your voice is a very important tool. Develop your voice by doing vocal exercises. Listen to your own speech on a regular basis to identify what you should focus on.
- Move your hands and entire body – not because of nerves, but because movement induces energy. Don’t just sit or stand in one place the whole time; don’t be a talking statue. This cautionary advice comes from the business2community.com website.
- Provoke the audience. Give them some thought-provoking questions. Challenge the way they think. Be open and encourage them to challenge your way of thinking.
- Less is more. Don’t fall for the curse of knowledge, namely the idea you have to tell the audience everything you know: they neither want nor need that. So just quickly get to the point.
-jk-