Key Presentation Techniques

Hi. I'm Simon Bucknall and in 2008, I won the European Championship for Public Speaking. In the Art of Connection, we help ambitious professionals to connect with their audience and we do it by bringing world-class communications expertise into the training room to enable our clients to persuade, influence, and inspire others.

How many presentations techniques are there? Answer…as many as you want! We've got time here just to cover three of them but they're three powerful techniques that helped me to winning six nationals and international public speaking titles. I hope they will be of help to you. Certainly if you used it, you will achieve far greater impact in front of your next audience.

The first is all around body language, and what it does is help you to project confidence even if you don't feel it. You may know people, certainly I know plenty of people, who experience real nerves when going in front of an audience to give a speech. They're terrified! But, if you can at least project confidence even if your heart is pounding at a million miles an hour, you'll come across well, and that's really what it's about.

So, what's the key? Well, it's this, to identify your firm foundation. Now, what does that mean? Well, think of it as being like neutral gear in a car. It's the stance you have when you're not doing anything else in front of the audience.

You may have seen people with hands in the pockets, scratching their head, arms folded, picking the nose, they're distractions. If you want to ensure that you project confidence to your audience, you need to be conscious of what your body language is saying, and the best way to do that is to identify your neutral stance. Here's one option.

It feels weird but trust me, it works. Have your weight balanced, arms down by your side, and just talk. It may feel weird, but at least, it ensures tha there are no distractions.

The gestures will come but the audience will be impressed by the fact that you're not crossing the arms or scratching the head. Try watching newsreaders. You never see a newsreader fidgeting.

So, that's tip number one, your firm foundation. Tip number two is more about your content. Bill Gove was the father of the professional speaking industry in the United States, a hugely successful and high-profile speaker.

And when he was asked for his top presentation skills tip, he said "Tell a story. Make a point." Simple, tell a story, make a point.

Because stories are powerful, whether it's on Hollywood films, parables in the bible, or perhaps even Aesops fables. Because audiences, we love stories, and of course, your audience remembers the story that you tell. They're more likely to remember the point that you're making.

What stories could you tell? In my case, in the competitive speaking world, I've told stories about all sorts of subjects to do with my personal life. In one case, I talked about a former girlfriend of mine and our relationship but it was linked to a point and the audience connected with the point because of the story. What stories could you tell to illustrate the points that you make? And there is no better place to look for stories than in your own personal experience.

Tip number three is all about clarity. Many people fail to get crystal clear on what that presentation or speech is really about, and if you ask any professional speaker or professional presentation skills trainer what the most important thing they need to achieve with their clients, many of them will answer helping the client get clear on what they're trying to say. Now, that may be easier said than done, and it may be a painful process, but one useful way that you can do this is to try to summarize your presentation or speech, whatever the situation is, whatever the content is you're looking to deliver, to summarize it in, say, a minute, or give yourself 300 words and then try it in 30 seconds or perhaps 100 words and then 15 seconds or perhap