Actionable Ways to Skyrocket Your Presentation Skills

Presentation skills have been one of the must-have crafts ever since the beginning we can recall. There have been a countless number of influential people who at the end left an everlasting mark in their realms.

From Steve Jobs to Steven Covey to Tony Robins, they all had one core ingredient in common. They had their mind-blowing way of showcasing their products to the public.

For instance, one of the most influential presentations of all time famously unveiled the impressive Macintosh by Steve Jobs in 1984.

Then, 23 years later, Steve Jobs once more overtook not only the world and the market but also the entire tech future. Back then, he introduced the gorgeous, sparkling iPhone. This then revolutionized the entire experience of our mobile phone.

Back in 2009, the British-American author, motivational speaker, and organizational consultant, Simon Sinek gave one of the most viewed and influential Talks of all time. In his Talk, he answered some crucial questions such as why:

1. Apple is so influential in the Tech market,
2. Martin Luther King led the civil rights movement,
3. The Wright Brothers were able to figure out the control powered man flight,

and much much more. For more insights, watch the Ted Talk below.

Nevertheless, the list of these powerful Presentations and presentation skills goes on and on. Thus, we created a guide on presentation skills to give a hand to you to let you conquer Rome.

You can also check 10 Best Study Hacks to Skyrocket Your Memory Instantly

Master The Presentation Skills Before You Regret

At some point in your life, it is likely that you will have to give a  presentation or speech. This might be in your school, college, at work or even maybe a Ted Talk. I know the story is terrifying but it is a disturbing fact.

To be honest, we all want to nail everything. So as to this.

No matter where and/or to whom we give the presentation, we want to make sure it is impactful. Certainly, we don’t want it to be a time waste. Hence, read the article below to get all the key insights to skyrocket your presentation skills.

Lessons From Ted Talks

Ever wondered why the most influential presentations are the ted talks? Even though there is not any ted talk recipe, why do they all leave us numb in the end?

In case you don’t know what a ted talk is, TED is a media organization that looks for volunteers out there to share ideas worth sharing.

Anyways, there might not be any recipe to a great Ted talk but there are some things to learn from them.

Discover Your Idea

There is no single formula for a great ted talk or presentation but there is a secret ingredient which all of the amazing speakers possess. TED Curator Chris Anderson says:

Your number 1 task as a speaker is to transfer into your listeners’ minds an extraordinary gift – a strange and beautiful object that we call an “IDEA“.

This extraordinary gift enables speakers to connect with their audience. Then their brains start to sync with the speaker’s brain and with each other.

An idea is the most powerful force which shapes the human culture. If communicated accurately, they are capable of altering how people think about the world and shaping their behaviors and lifestyles. But what is this gift anyway?

What is an Idea?

When a few million of your neurons link with each other in a way which represents a view, we call it an idea.

Mr. Anderson says that ideas are of different sizes and shapes; some are complex and analytics while some are simple and aesthetic. For instance, your idea about cats may be like “they are cute” or even maybe “they are not cute”.

So here are some four guidelines to skyrocket your presentation skills.

1. Focus on one Major Idea

Ideas are complex things. Usually, when we plan out for a presentation, the biggest mistake we make is embracing a number of ideas in one talk.

A couple of weeks before, we were encouraged to voluntarily attend a presentation by one of our college fellows about Cyber Security. Besides an interesting topic, it was an awesome presentation. There was a lot of room to be filled, though.

However, the major problem was the speaker didn’t have one dominant idea but ideas. He had mapped out to talk about following ideas:

1. Networking and its types
2. Hacking and its types
3. 2-factor authentication

and probably some 2 more. Certainly, they all link with each other in some ways. But all these ideas created a distraction monster. As a result, the majority of us were puzzled more and couldn’t understand what in fact he was trying to educate us about.

Instead of picking multiple ideas, he could have opt-out one major idea and explained it thoroughly. Then, he could have had the above ideas as sub-ideas linking them to the main idea.

Lesson to Take Away

The lesson you should take away from this is “sort out one main idea and explain it thoroughly”. Also, don’t fancy your topic; just keep it simple and straight.

Following are some examples of Ted Talks on one major idea from TEDx stage.

1. Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity is key to our Kids’ future
2. Simon Sinek: Want to do something great? Discover your “why”
3. Elora Hardy: Building from Bamboo is beautiful
4. Cameron Russell: Looks aren’t everything
5. Chimamanda Adichie: People are more than a single identity

2. Give People a Reason to Care

Before you put your feet into someone’s yard, you should take permission. Otherwise, you will be blown out the way Elsa’s snowy guard threw away Hans from Frozen.

Thus, before building things inside the minds of your audience, you ought to take their permission to welcome you in. How do you do that?

The best tool to make people welcome you inside their world of perspective is ” CURIOSITY”. Awaken your audience’s curiosity by asking provocative questions. Use the questions to illustrate why certain things don’t make sense and need an explanation.

For instance, Simon Sinek asked questions such as why Apple is so innovative to make his audience curious about his talk.

In addition to this, Simon Sinek says:

Start with some sort of story, metaphor, or analogy that capture the idea that you are going to be presenting about.

Click here to read some powerful and inspiring short stories.

Lesson to Take Away

The key element you should take away from here is “stir your audience curiosity”. And give them a solid ground to why they should drop everything down on the floor and lend you both of their ears and minds.

3. Speak your Audience’s Language

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t learn it well enough.

Probably the genius Einstein quoted this insightful lesson.

We most of the times mistakenly choose an idea that we barely know anything about. Since we don’t know what we are going to be schooling our audience on, what knowledge they will be gaining from us. Nothing probably!

Additionally, we usually confuse our level of understanding with our audience’s level of understanding. There is a huge gap between us and our listeners which we can only omit by speaking their language instead of ours.

And connecting with them on their level.

Lesson to Take Away

Whether you are going to give a presentation to a group of students, co-workers or any other ones, practice speaking the way they do. Learn their behavior, their language to successfully deliver your idea to them.

4. Make Your Idea Worth Sharing

By now you have learned the key concept of delivering a mind-blowing presentation. But there still one more thing remains.

Before climbing on the stage where you want to rock on, ask yourself the question: “who does this idea benefit?”. Once you are ready to answer, be honest. If the answer is you and your concerns, then it isn’t worth sharing.

However, if your idea can alter someone’s view or even life for the better, or inspire someone to do something, you have the key presentation skill to a great presentation or talk.

Lesson to Take Away

Make your idea worth sharing. Your idea shouldn’t only benefit you but everyone in the crowd listening to you.

Lessons From The Master Presenter Steve Jobs

Honestly, Steve Jobs is the most captivating communicator and presenter the world ever encountered. His presentation almost has everything to offer such as action, conflict, villain, hero and more. To learn more about his presentation techniques, check out our Top 10 Ways to Present Like the Master Presenter Steve Jobs.

Essential Body Language Tips for a Great Presentation

Almost 71% of the listener’s understanding depends on the body language of the speaker. Our body language shapes who we are. Thus, it is must to learn powerful body language to skyrocket our presentation skills.

Below are some of the most essential and powerful body language tips to improve presentation skills.

1. Open Gesture

world champion public speaker Dananjaya Hettiarachchi says:

When you get nervous, you try to cover your vital organs. And that is why a lot of speakers sometimes fold their hands and bring their hands in front of them which is a clear sign of nervousness.

While great speakers keep their body open so their is no barrier between him and his audience.

Lesson to Take Away

Always have a wide and open body posture. Besides that keep your palms open. The open palms indicated that you embrace your audience. These help you and your audience connect with each other at a deeper level. It is one of the simple but great presentation skills to learn and master.

2. Eye Contact and Smile

When giving a presentation, we either always stare at a particular person we know very well or we avoid looking at our listeners well enough. Why? Probably because we either feel very bizarre or nervous.

On the other hand, looking into someone’s eyes makes him feel heard.

Additionally, a smile is one of your powerful weapons to nail your presentation. A smile conveys warmth, feelings of happiness, positivity and hopes to your listeners.

Lesson to Take Away

Don’t stare but keep a strong eye contact with everyone in the room. Additionally, a smile to spread positivity in the room and inside the minds of your listeners.

Conclusion

With that being said, we conclude. I hope these presentation skills help you learn how to give a great presentation. Yet these presentation skills are just lessons. They will be powerful only if you bring them into action. Thus, start practicing to skyrocket your presentations.  Then, be sure to let us know if they helped you truly give a great and an engaging presentation.

Also, be sure to let us know what other presentation skills you use to rock on the stage. Peace!