You have to give a presentation to a group of people, inside or outside your company. Is the blood already rushing to your head and do you feel sweaty armpits? You are not the only one who suffers from this. Many people dread giving a presentation. They lose sleep over the thought that the presentation will go wrong and that they will have a total blackout during the presentation. Your fear of presenting is not necessary. Because you can learn to present. We will help you get started with 5 tips to improve your presentation skills.

1.State the purpose of your presentation

Start your presentation by stating your goal. What should the audience know, think or do after you have finished presenting? Everyone wants to know in advance what to expect, so tell them what your goal is at the beginning of your presentation. End the presentation by repeating your goal. By repeating it, the audience remembers your goal and the central message sticks better.

2. Good preparation is half the job

Make sure you are well prepared. What do you want to say? Write out your story completely so that you know exactly what you are going to tell. Always do this in your own words. Nobody wants a boring standard chat. So make it your own story. Provide a story with a clear introduction, body and conclusion. If you don't structure your story, people won't be able to follow your story. Have you written out your story? Then it's time to practice, practice and practice. Don't memorize it completely, but make sure you know the main points. When you start to memorize it, it is a static story and it seems like people are listening to a robot. By telling your presentation spontaneously with new additions, your audience will continue to listen to you with fascination

3. Realize that you are the expert

Be aware that you are the expert. You prepared and created the presentation and can tell a lot about the subject. By realizing that you are an expert in that field, you can tackle the fear and uncertainty. No one will notice if you forget to say a certain part. Did you forget to tell an important part? See if you can add this part directly to your story or bring it up later.

4. Interact with your audience

You want to teach and inspire your audience. Involve your audience in your story by adding interaction to your story. It is best to choose fixed moments when you seek interaction. Ask questions, be interested in the opinions of others and provide space for interaction. When giving your presentation, think from your audience rather than yourself. Does your audience have a passive attitude? Get them involved by asking a yes/no question followed by raising fingers. Or appoint someone to answer the question.

5. Keep it short and sweet

The average attention span of people is twenty minutes. Keep your presentation short and sweet, otherwise people will drop out. Don't say too much and limit yourself to what is necessary to convey your central message. Repeat the most important topics a few times so that it sticks in your audience's mind. Research shows that people remember knowledge better if it is repeated three times or presented in groups of three. So repeat your central message three times, talk about a maximum of three topics and give 3 reasons, etc.

Presenting training convincingly

In this blog we have given you 5 tips to improve your presentation skills. Would you like to practice to improve your presentation skills? Then follow a training course present convincingly. During this training you will learn, among other things, how to deal with stage fright and how to give a convincing presentation. The group size is a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 participants, so you have plenty of room to take your presentation skills to a higher level.