Tailor Your Look to the Presentation You only have one shot to make a good first impression and an audience’s first impression happens before you ever open your mouth.  The moment you take the stage the audience will take notice of what you are wearing. Whether we like it or not, appearance can heavily influence…

Using Social Media to Connect with Presentation Audiences Many presenters fear that as they are talking the entire audience is going to be ignoring them and staring down at their phones.  This is understandable, given that presenters put a lot of time and hard work into creating their presentation. The trick to solving this problem…

Promotion in Advance: Photo, Flyer, Brochure You have spent countless hours preparing your presentation, from outlining and mapping out what you are going to say to putting together an engaging slideshow.  Now you need to ensure that you have a full audience to hear it. Promoting your presentation in advance is an important component of…

Formal vs. Informal Presentation Style Presentations are a necessary part of business and there will be times when you will be asked to present about a topic.  Sometimes you are given time to prepare a structured presentation and other times you might be asked to give an impromptu presentation with little or no time to…

How Long Should Your Presentation Be? You have just been asked to put together a presentation for your colleagues.  You begin preparing your presentation material when you are suddenly faced with an important question: How long should your presentation be?  You want to make sure you include all of the pertinent information but you don’t…

When to Schedule Part II or the Sequel Presentations aren’t always a “one and done†scenario.  Oftentimes, a topic might be so broad or so complex that it takes more than one presentation to cover all of the material.  This means presenters will need to figure out how to time it right so Part I…

Print Handouts or Digital Data? As if standing up in front of an audience and delivering a presentation weren’t difficult enough, now you are faced with another dilemma…to use or not to use handouts.  Many speakers choose to use handouts to supplement their presentation but are they always necessary? Is it enough to simply rely…

Post-Presentation Follow Up- Questions, Comments, Casual Conversation Your presentation doesn’t end the moment you stop talking.  Although you might be prepared to breathe that sigh of relief after giving a smooth delivery, you must remember that the presentation itself is only part of the process.  It is important to put as much time into your…

Pre-Presentation Setup- Meeting the Audience Contrary to popular belief, your presentation doesn’t have to start the moment you begin speaking.  Your presentation can actually begin long before you take the stage. Thanks to technology, there are plenty of ways to get your audience excited long before you ever walk up to the podium.  You can…

Icebreakers can be a great way to start a meeting, training session, or group discussion, as they help to set the tone for the presentation.  They can help in relaxing the participants, which then makes them more receptive to listening and participating.  Ice breakers can also be a fun and interactive way to help participants…