The Most Important Aspect of Giving a Presentation
What is the most important aspect of giving a presentation?
No, it is not eye contact, memorizing your talk, using visual aids or humor properly. Granted those are important. But if you master all of those skills and neglect this one important aspect, your effectiveness will be lost and your message will fall on deaf ears.
The most important aspect for you to focus on when preparing and giving a presentation is the audience. And this holds true whether it is a small group of 5 or a large group of 500.
The best way to focus on your audience is to answer the following questions:
What matters to the group? Why should they care? Why should they listen to you?
Once you have the answer to this question, your introduction, main points and conclusion should all tie back to this. This ensures you hold their attention because your message impacts them directly in some way.
What is the makeup of the group?
Are they a seasoned group, veterans who have been in the business for 20 years; is it a group of new comers, newbie’s, people who have been in the business for six months? What experience level do they have? How can you connect the dots in a way that will make most sense to them?
Answers to these questions will help you choose the correct vocabulary and understand where in your presentation you should focus the majority of your time.
Invest the majority of your time in understanding the audience or receivers of your message. See yourself as being there for them and adding value that can help change their life in even the smallest of ways.
When you do that, people will connect with you and they will forgive a multitude of sins in terms of their technical speaking abilities.
Be Free!
Ken Budka
Instructor
