12 Do's and Don'ts for Effective Presentations
When giving a presentation, your tone of voice, facial expressions and other body language actually convey more than the words you speak. To ensure your message is powerful and on target, follow these do's and don'ts:
- Research your audience so you know what they want to hear.
- Dress similarly to the audience, but one notch higher. People are impressed when you dress up for them.
- Don't wear new clothes or shoes-you can't be sure how you will feel in them.
- Plan for the questions you'll get and prepare answers beforehand.
- Prepare handouts, so your listeners will remember your message after the presentation.
- Go early and meet your audience before the session begins.
- Match your style, voice level, tone and gestures to your audience.
- Use a mixture of presentation styles (active, visual, auditory), so that you hit everyone's learning style.
- Use humor to handle strange noises (dishes clattering, microphone hiss) or if you make a mistake (your zipper or button is undone or you lose your train of thought).
- Don't exaggerate.
- Distribute evaluation forms and ask the audience to return them before leaving.
- Use the information from the evaluations and make changes to address any consistently negative evaluations.
