PRESENTATION SKILLS & PUBLIC SPEAKING 1.3

PRESENTATION SKILLS & PUBLIC SPEAKING 1.3

[PRESENTATION SKILLS  & ROLE OF BODY LANGUAGE]

Dress: Appearance can have a big impact on the way people respond to you. Remember the following - consider the audience, a business suit is generally acceptable but may be too formal for some audiences, personal grooming conveys respect for oneself and the audience, dress for comfort, check yourself in a mirror prior to going into the presentation.        

Posture: You need to be aware of the meanings of posture when presenting - Nervousness/Restlessness - pacing about, Formality - standing behind a desk, Informality - sitting in a chair or perched on a desk, Confidence - standing up straight, feet slightly apart. 

Gesture: These can be used in three ways; to support verbal communication, to contradict verbal communication, to be independent of verbal communication. Gestures to avoid are; hands in pockets, tapping, waving a pointer or ruler, toying with an item, fiddling with clothing or loose change. 

Eye Contact: The rules are as follows; look at your audience extensively at the start, glance around at the beginning and end of sentences, look at people's faces not bodies, don’t fix on just one person, don’t miss anyone out.

Facial Expression: Facial expression can give an inaccurate message and therefore needs to be carefully managed. The emotions that are easily distinguishable are happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, anger, disgust/contempt and interest. Try to develop your facial expressions to help you convey emotion and attitude in your presentation.                                                

Voice Modulation: By varying your voice it is possible to stimulate and increase the attention of the audience.  The way in which the voice is used can completely change the meaning of a phrase or sentence. The voice can effectively be controlled and used in various ways - volume, pitch, tone, intonation, speed, pause and volume.

Body Movement: Movement can control the mood of the audience. If you want to energise the audience, you can use faster paced, bolder and more dynamic movements. To make a serious point, you can remain relatively still and simply use eye contact with each member of the audience to emphasise your point. Try and match your movements to the energy level and mood of the audience. Often, nervous speakers move about too much to use up their nervous energy. The appropriate type and amount of movement conveys confidence to the audience. It involves the audience in the presentation and helps in gaining attention.

[to be continued...]