Giving a presentation can be a relatively daunting task. At the end of the day, you’re going to find yourself the center of attention in a professional environment. Everyone else in the room is going to be listening to what you have to say and chances are that the pressure is on – you’re going to be delivering an idea, a pitch, or other information that is important enough to draw everyone away from what they are doing in order to sit down and listen to you. So, it’s not all too surprising that you’re going to want to ensure that your presentation is memorable. You may not be the only person presenting that day, but you do want to stick at the forefront of your listeners’ minds. So, what can you do to achieve this?
Make Use of Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Powerpoint is perhaps the most important piece of software that you can come across when it comes to giving presentations. When people are listening to a presentation, it can become easy for their minds to wander. They may become lost or they may not be able to quite keep up with the pace that has been set. Making a Powerpoint presentation that can be projected behind you allows you to pick out key points from what you are saying and keep them up for your audience to refer to or take notes from. You can also incorporate visual examples that support your argument or information by adding graphs, videos, or links out to websites.
Consider Sound Effects
No matter how great a speaking voice you may have, it can become pretty monotonous for someone who is having to listen to it for an extended period of time. In order to avoid losing your listeners’ attention at any point, you may need to break things up. Consider using sound effects like those at https://stockmusic.net/sound-effects/. These will add something different into the scheme of things and can snap your listeners back to attention if they happen to start daydreaming.
Prepare Handouts
It’s always a good idea to prepare handouts with all of the key information that you want to convey. You should provide one copy per listener and give them out before starting your presentation. This can help to give them an idea of what you are going to be talking about while you set up and also serves as a good reminder of your points for listeners once the presentation is complete.
Leave Time for Questions
People may have questions about what you have said when it comes to the end of your presentation. So make sure to leave sufficient time to answer these at the end. You don’t want anyone walking away confused. Q&A allows people to really get to grips with what you’re saying.
As you can see, the key the giving a great preparation that proves as memorable as possible is preparation. Hopefully, following the above pieces of advice will help your next presentation to really stand out from the crowd.
