What’s this new site? Makes Me Think (.com). Unlike FML, MMT really shows how generosity, hard work, and kindness goes a long, long way. Surprisingly for me, it gave me an incredible amount of motivation to finish everything I’ve started which I’m more than grateful for.

1. Make it different!

Why are presentations so boring? Because you’ve seen it already! Completely change it up and do something different. This will keep viewers engaged and willing to listen.

2. Try different approaches

If you are in a position where you give a lot of presentations, try changing your approach and maybe you’ll find one you’re most comfortable with. An added benefit to this is that if anyone in your audience has seen a presentation of yours before, they will be surprised with the new technique. School is the perfect time to try this. Do anything and everything.

3. Use humor

People like to laugh! People also listen more intently when they’re looking forward to your next crack. Use this as an advantage to getting across key points. You’re not funny? Sure you are! Even a small chuckle works, but avoid using inside jokes that others might not get or laughing at the expense of another. This might leave a bas taste in people’s mouths.

4. Dress nicely

When you dress nicely, it makes you feel more confident about yourself and that gets relayed into your voice and actions. You tend to stand up straighter, use more power and conviction in your voice, and move more smoothly. These all give off positive vibes to the audience who feels like they need to listen to what you have to say.

5. Don’t read off your slides. It’s boring and insulting.

Having a paragraph on a slide and reading it to the viewers is painstakingly slow and arduous, especially if it was plagiarized and the speaker can’t read it! Nothing sets you up for failure quicker than not understanding what you put on the slides as your “own”. By reading the slide you are also suggesting that the viewers are illiterate or are incapable of handling visual stimuli. Just don’t do it.

6. Engage the audience. Use them as examples.

If you notice somebody drifting off or their eyes are glazed over, start using them in an example. This will wake them back up rather quickly and keep them (and everyone else) engaged. People hate to be called on and put on the spot, so if you let them know it could happen, they’ll be sure to pay close attention as to not look stupid inn front of everyone else.

7. Make eye contact!

Have you ever caught the glance of someone and immediately looked away? Try keeping eye contact with them until they look away – it’s hard! A lot of people avoid eye contact since it can be quite intimidating, so if you stare straight into people’s eyes whilst giving a speech, it will make it seem like you know what you’re talking about and it gives you an added level of confidence in their eyes.

8. Know what you’re talking about

All too often I’ve seen people give a presentation only to completely balk at a question that was answered in there presentation. Was it nerves, or a lack of understanding? Could have been a bit of both, but it still makes you look useless. Part of a presentation is teaching the audience something you know. If you don’t know it, what’s the point?

9. Move around!

Have you noticed when you lay in one spot for a while you begin to get sleepy? Well, same thing happens when you stand in one spot. People enjoy being stimulated and if you’re constantly moving around the room it keeps them alert.

10. Other tips

There are hundreds of tips that can be beneficial to speakers, like taking everything out of your pockets (so you have nothing to play with), placing an agenda in the first slide so people know what to expect, use hand gestures, innovative entrances, etc. The list goes on. The fact is, in order to be a great presenter you need to practice and try new approaches. If you’re having particular difficulty, consider hiring a coach (most of the great speakers we know of have them) to assist you in gaining more confidence. The fear never really goes away, but it becomes completely manageable.

11. Here are some of my experiences using the above techniques

During freshman year of college, my group was preparing for a final presentation on the spot. Our program was not functioning at the moment, so one of my group-members was performing last-minute fixes while I told the rest of the class a wonderful story about our trek to completion, complete with ancient warlords and damsels in distress. I completely personified programming, but it kept the audience engaged, focused on me, and not our technical difficulties in the background. I set myself up for disaster, however, since the teacher congratulated me on an excellent presentation and proceeded to tell the rest of the college about how great I was at speaking. The tone was set for the next three years.

The next year, the same class (plus one year) had a very large final project that we were to be doing throughout the year. It was our choice as to what we wanted to do, but it had to be accepted by the professor. By the end of the semester, we had nothing substantial to show and it was looking rather bleak for our group who had been through a lot in the three months prior. The other groups had made a 3D game engine and walked around a map for a little bit, the second a Tetris game, the third – well that was us. We got up there and had nothing to show at all. Dismal, right? Wrong. I gave a speech about what our program was, the problems we had, but most notably how we learned more through failure than a success. The rest of the class (including my group) snickered at the thought that I was trying to make something good out of a bedraggled program, but that evening we all received an email stating that I saved the group from a failed grade and that I was right on the mark about needing failure in order to achieve success. In fact, we all got As.

During the subsequent years, I never gave the same type of presentation twice (with the exception of one). My first attempt was an infusion of television techniques to powerpoint. I knew that the average attention span for a person was ~7 seconds, so I never kept a slide visible for more than five seconds. I had prepared a speech with carefully underlined words that cued me to change the slide where a corresponding picture would be shown. The professor and students ate it up and I’ve noticed a few people in my classes tried that technique for themselves – good for them.

Around this time I was getting into watching Steve Jobs perform his keynote speeches. What was so different about his than mine? Despite the great graphics, using only images, and carefully chosen words, what was different? Well, exactly that was different. My next presentation I used a very simple background with very large pictures and/or headings. From there I would explain about the topic in my own words taking the focus off the projected image to me. I didn’t rehearse at all since I wanted to keep it candid, but I did make sure I researched the topic well enough to speak comfortably about it. There’s something terribly convictive about someone not referring to notes and speaking with authority in his/her voice. People remained engaged, and if they weren’t, I’d use them in an example.

By my senior year I had given plenty of speeches on varying topics that I knew a lot or a little about. I was running out of ideas and was desperately trying to find something new. That’s when I decided to give a presentation on giving presentations. As I explained it to my brother, he immediately stated I was setting myself up for disaster – he was right. I needed to be careful. Real careful. For this I researched how to give great speeches, I watched video after video, and fervently took notes about what they were saying, but also what I had observed. By the end I thought I had a pretty good list. When I gave the presentation I knew everyone was watching my every move and criticizing me more than ever before. I was more nervous during this speech than I had ever been, but I spoke with confidence and vigor, gave a lot of examples, used humor, engaged the audience and moved all around the room making eye contact with everyone and never looked at the projection screen once. Once I was done, I didn’t want to know how I did, but the professor just said “wow”.

The thing that always kept me going was that after every single presentation I gave, someone came up to me and said “Boy am I glad I don’t have to go after you!”. I was always just as nervous as the first time and terrified of what people would think, but by knowing two things it allowed me to excel over the rest. One was that everybody had to give these presentations, not just me so have fun with it. Secondly was knowing what I didn’t like about the other presentations and changing it.

Conclusion

We all hate public speaking, but it’s definitely not beyond us. Everybody can be taught to be more confident in themselves. Sure it’s hard to get past the involuntary shaking of voice and limbs, but nothing in life is ever easy, is it? Keep at it and believe in yourself. If you want it, you can definitely achieve it.