1. Presentation Preparation: Feel Bigger Than You Are 
Normally people practice their presentations hunched over in front of the computer. If the main way you’ve practiced saying these words is sitting down, talking quietly to a screen, it will be hard to feel comfortable standing up tall in front of a crowd. In order to effectively command a room, you need to practice feeling bigger than you are, not smaller. An easy way to practice this is to rehearse your speech standing on a stool or chair. Notice how your perspective, posture, and vocal power change.
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2. Before You Walk Up: Tense and Release
When you are worried about a presentation, your body reacts by slowly tensing up. This tension accumulates and will affect your performance. Therefore, before your speech, as you’re sitting in your chair try squeezing your feet, legs, stomach, and hands. After about ten seconds, release. Feel that ease. By adding in extra tension and then releasing, you remind your body that it can relax. This will help your nervous system go back to neutral.

3. As You Begin the Presentation: Fully Exhale
Most people hold their breath before starting a presentation. They are so worried about remembering their content, they forget to exhale. To calm yourself down, I suggest exhaling as you walk up to give your presentation. You want to start speaking with a full breath, rather than with one you’ve been holding. You can even think of saying “Hello” as a sigh. This way, you’ve incorporated multiple ways for your body to relax before you give the presentation.

By practicing your speech standing up tall, releasing the tension in your body, and exhaling before you begin, you can start to overcome the nerves you feel before giving a presentation.

With so many people working remotely or traveling for work, they often find themselves having to give presentations over the phone. They either send their PowerPoint ahead of time for their audience to download or don’t use slides at all and give an oral update on their current project’s status. While it can be more convenient to do this, it comes with a unique set of challenges. 
Here are 3 things to help you deliver a captivating presentation over the phone.
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1. Don’t lean over to speak into a phone or mic
If you are giving your presentation into a phone or Bluetooth conference speaker set, try not to crouch down when delivering your speech. When you hunch over, it affects your posture, which in turn, affects your voice. If your voice is the main tool that you’re depending on for the speech, you want to make sure it is as clear and powerful as possible.

2. Move around  
​Since you don’t have the benefit of seeing your audience, your presentation can sometimes feel a bit static since there isn’t anything happening in the room. Therefore, try adding in movement. Pretend you’re walking down the hall with someone, or try standing up in your room as you deliver your ideas. Adding movement can help energize your presentation.

3. Visualize the person
It is very hard to give a phone presentation to someone you haven’t met. That’s because you don’t have an image in your head of what they look like. Part of your attention is focused on that unknown. One way to help this is to look up their photo beforehand. Or, if it is a large group of people, decide what a few people look like ahead of time and visualize speaking to them. Then once your meeting starts, you won’t be trying to imagine what these individuals look like, you will have already figured that out.

As phone presentations become more common, you want to be sure you have a box of tools to rely on. Keep these tips in mind next time you have to give a presentation over the phone.

During a speech, speakers use certain phrases over and over again. Unfortunately, many of those expressions do not help presenters. Below I’ve listed five popular phrases to remove from your repertoire to make your presentation more effective.

1. “Don’t look over here.”
We are all little kids at heart and the instant someone tells you not to do something, you do it. Instead of telling people not to look at a certain area, block it out. Then, when you are ready to reveal that information, you can.

2. “I have a lot of slides.”
If you know you have too many slides, edit them. Saying this notifies the audience that they are about to hear a data-dump. You are your best critic and if you think there are too many slides, take out the extra ones.

3. “I’ll talk quickly.”
People try to talk quickly so they can cover a lot of material. However, speaking fast doesn’t give your audience the opportunity to absorb your information. It’s better to distill your presentation ahead of time. 

4. “As you can see.”
While you may think the graph or information is obvious, it may not be obvious to everyone in the audience. You don’t want to risk making someone feel unintelligent. Therefore, instead of saying “As you can see”, I suggest simply describing the information. That way, in case it isn’t clear to someone, they still understand what to take away from the image.
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5. “I’ll talk about that later.”
If someone asks you a question and you plan on covering that topic later, then this is a completely acceptable phrase. However, many people use this phrase without being prompted. When they do that, the audience is reminded of how much longer the presentation will be. If you’re going to bring it up, talk about it now. Unless you’re using it as a sales tactic, it just disrupts the flow of the speech. It’s better to keep the audience focused on you and the ideas you are revealing.

Next time you are giving a speech, instead of relying on these phrases, explore if there is a more effective way of presenting your information.

No matter how hard we try, there will always be instances when we have limited time to practice a presentation. In this situation, it’s critical that you don’t panic or scold yourself for failing to carve out enough time beforehand. Instead, focus on the following game plans:
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1st Level: No time to prepare
​If you haven't rehearsed your speech, try to stay relaxed. Walk up to the front of the room, breathe and smile. Introduce yourself (if someone hasn’t introduced you). Then, look at your first slide, say the point of the slide, and then go into the details. When you click to the next slide, pause, breathe, and then say the point of the slide and then explain the details. The pattern of 1) Point of slide and 2) Details is very effective if you want to stay on track and look confident as you present.

2nd Level: A few hours of time to prepare
If you only have a little time to prepare, the first thing you should do is practice your introduction. It’s the first time people hear you and it is your premium opportunity to establish a solid connection with your audience. The second thing to do is figure out your transition sentences. When does one idea end and another begin? Plan out each transition and practice it out loud. Last, practice your conclusion. An audience won’t know you haven’t practiced very much if your introduction, transitions, and conclusion are smooth.

3rd Level: At least one day to prepare
When you have a high-stakes project that you are presenting, it is critical to leave time to prepare. For these presentations, in addition to the introduction and conclusion, I suggest knowing the first and last sentence of every slide. This will drastically help the flow of your speech sound professional. If you can look at any slide and know how it begins and ends, you are ready to present. 
For more communication tips or to book a workshop, please visit www.activatetocaptivate.com.

One of the hardest tasks when putting together a presentation is figuring out what to edit. At the start, all the information seems necessary. However, an audience can only take in so much. If you overwhelm people with too much information, they start to tune out. Therefore, in order to keep your audience’s attention, it is critical to know how to distill your message.

To help you edit, here are three questions to ask yourself:

1. What do I want the audience to remember?
Too many tangents are hard to follow. Many presenters want to impress their audience and stuff too much information into their presentation. In one sentence, answer the question, “What do I want my audience to remember?” Knowing this statement will help you clarify your message and delete unnecessary information.

2. Will the presentation make sense without this information?
Whenever I am working with a client on a presentation, I always ask them, “Do you need that?” This question helps people distill their message, as well as edit the images on their slides. Remember, wanting to talk about everything and needing to, are two different things. If a piece of information is critical for your overall message, then keep it. If it’s not, get rid of it.

3. Can I remember this without my slides?
Once you’ve done your first round of editing, go through the presentation and see if you can remember the content without looking at your slides. If there is a section that is too hard to recall, this is a good indication that you have included too much information. Because, if you have a hard time remembering your presentation, then your audience will too. Go back through and see if you can make additional changes to distill your message even more.
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When you are crafting a compelling presentation, editing is critical.

As a presentation coach, one of the questions I get asked the most is, “What do I do with my hands?” 
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While there are plenty of power poses and effective body language techniques I could explain, my first response is a little different. If you are worried about your hands, it means you are worried about YOU. How you look, how you are being perceived, how you are portraying the information. A presentation is not about you. It is about the audience. It is about trying to do something to the audience. If you are worried about yourself, it means you’ve shifted the focus inward. You need to redirect that attention out again.

Figure out what you are trying to do with your information. Why you are saying it? Do you want to excite your audience? Do you want to rattle them? What effect do you want this content to have? 
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While there are specific motions and poses people can do to help maximize the effectiveness of a point, you can’t start there. Presentations can become too choreographed and staged. I want to listen to the genuine you. That can only happen if you start by thinking about the audience first. After you connect with them, you can work on making small moments stand out.

A lot of things go into making a presentation memorable. The slides have to be designed well, the content has to be engaging and the presenter has to seem confident in front of a crowd. 
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However, there is one main ingredient that many people overlook when putting together a captivating presentation — their personality. 

I see it all the time. As a presentation coach I work with people from marketing to engineering to humanities. No matter their backgrounds, people want to seem professional. This is important, but that goal can often be taken too far. People will still take you seriously and see you as a professional if you bring your personality to a presentation. Personality adds flavor, it grabs the audience’s attention. It makes your speech more authentic, and therefore, more engaging.

If you and a colleague are given the same topic, the same script and same slides — there should be a noticeable difference in your presentation. 

​If you are having a hard time bringing your personality into a presentation, here are things to keep in mind:

1. Relax
​Giving a speech can be nerve-wracking and many people physically tense up during a presentation. Try to relax. Breathe before you start. The audience can’t get a sense of you if you are too tense.

2. Add in Vocal Variety
In real life, when you are talking to people, your vocal tone naturally shifts. For example, when you really want to stress something, your pitch changes and you pause for effect. You might switch up the pace of your speech to add in momentum. However, many people lose this variety during speeches. Let your voice sound like it does in real life. Don’t fall into the “professional monotone” trap.

3. Have Fun
When you are having fun, your real personality comes out. Smile before you begin. Show the audience you want to be in front of them. Enjoy sharing your story with the audience. If you look like you are having fun, the audience will want to join you on your journey.

Remember, if you aren't memorable — your ideas won't be either. Let your personality shine throughout your presentation so your audience can feel connected to you and your ideas.

The best presentations are the ones where you feel the presenter is talking directly to you. Where ideas flow naturally and it feels like an easy discussion. However, many presenters have a hard time making their speeches sound like this. It’s probably because they don’t think about their presentations as conversations. Instead, they think of them as formal events where they talk, uninterrupted, in front of a large crowd. Normal interactions don’t happen under these conditions. Therefore, you must find a way to change things around so you can practice your presentation as a conversation.

1. ENVIRONMENT
Practice in an a different environment. Practice giving the full speech on your couch talking to your best friend. Practice in a coffee shop. Practice while you are taking a long walk with a coworker. When you practice, don’t just go through the “talking points” but fully explain each idea, as if you were giving your presentation. Figure out where your voice goes into “automatic” and you stop sounding genuine. Or have your friend point out when it no longer sounds like you are speaking to them, but at them. By changing up the environment, you will start to notice when your tone, pitch and delivery sound out of context. Then practice giving the talk, in that natural way, in the actual space where you will be presenting. Try to bring the “genuine” and conversational tone into the formal environment.

2. VISUALS
When you are having a conversation, you are normally telling a story. You are relying on your voice to paint a picture. In presentations, people rely on their slides to tell the story and explain the concept. Instead, practice telling your story without any visuals available. Notice what changes when you have to use your words to make the ideas come to life. Or, try using a whiteboard to draw the visuals as you tell them. By changing up the visuals you usually rely on, you will find more natural ways to convey the information. 
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3. QUESTIONS
In a conversation, people can interrupt you to clarify a point, ask a question or offer thoughts. In a presentation, the speaker is the only one talking and there is no give and take. It is just one voice that continues to speak for an extended period of time. To make the presentation more conversational, practice having a friend ask a question before each slide. Then, answer their question with the information on that slide. You can even put that question in the “presenter notes” section of your talk. That way, you continue to give the information in your talk as if you are having a dialogue with the audience.

Summary
Switch up your environment, change up your visuals and practice answering questions to make your presentations more conversational. That way the audience will feel more connected to you and your content.