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It does not take a genius to be aware that, when it comes to the delivery of perfect presentations, the amount of time you spend preparing and practicing has a dramatic impact on your end results.  You should never be tempted to substitute substance for style.  Yet, whilst content is king, delivery that is either too laboured or too fluffy results in the most brilliant of messages being lost on audiences.

So, start with a study of content first.  Research your subject matter on the internet.  Read books and industry publications.  Take note if your subject matter is currently in the news, and consider if your presentations can be given directly relevant topical slants.  It is also good to talk, so speak with people who are authorities on your subject matter, and also people who are not.  Different angles give you a rounded overview that influences your own unique standpoint.

With key content under your belt, you have not yet won the war, but can momentarily rest on the laurels of having a major battle in the bag.  Your best organisational game face now needs to emerge in order for you to pre plan a script that flows logically and naturally.  Many experienced speakers build their presentations upon initial frameworks of 15% introduction, 70% main body and 15% summary, although there are no specifically dictated hard and fast rules.

Undertake practice runs of your presentations, to yourself, a colleague, a friend or your cat.  Tape record or video yourself when practicing your presentations.  Be open to taking constructive criticism on board and act as your own toughest critic, identifying and addressing your own strong and weak points when listening to and watching yourself back.

When your big day dawns, stay calm at all costs.  It is, admittedly, easier said than done.  Yet you can go some way to remaining grounded before the delivery of your presentations with plenty of deep breaths and a steady intake of water.  Dress comfortably but formally.  Smart suits are preferable for both male and female presenters, always accompanied by ties for men and minimal accessories and jewellery for women.

When taking to your stage, engage, engage, engage!  Adopt a natural and open manner, let your energy and enthusiasm shine through infectiously and never forget to smile.  Involving audiences at the receiving ends of your presentations from the get go is essential to creating satisfactory working partnerships between you and them.  You can build instant rapport by posing searching questions to capture their attention, a public speaking ploy regularly implemented by the pros. 

Do not speak in an uncharacteristic or unnatural way.  This will only give your presentations – and yourself – airs of insincerity.  Get in to a groove that is right for you, which should be neither too fast paced nor too slow moving.  By all means harness appropriate humour.  Self deprecation can be disarmingly endearing, so a laugh at your own expense is perfectly acceptable during presentations.  Yet do avoid laughing at the expense of audience members.

Stick with what you intrinsically understand and avoid what you do not.  Throwing in ‘big talk, for the sake of trying to sound clever is a no go area.  Those listening to your presentations may have genuine questions that you are foolishly unable to answer.  With job almost done, redress queries raised during your closing summary with care, patience and tact. 

Always bear in mind that the due diligence you invest in your preparation for public speaking holds they key to leaving favourable lasting impressions long after your final thank you has been delivered.   

You share the company of hundreds of thousands of other professionals around the planet if the thought of public speaking fills your mind with dread, and your stomach with butterflies.  Public speaking is often a daunting enough prospect in its own right.  What if you are coerced in to giving presentations at the very last minute? 

You know all about failing to prepare and preparing to fail.  You are correct in assuming that even the most competent and experienced presenters remain steadfastly true to the mantra of preparation.  In that respect, being expected to deliver presentations with only 24 hours notice, or even half an hours notice, spins sideways what you have been taught to trust.  Yet happen it can and happen it does.  Just like mastery of the art of public speaking in general, impromptu public speaking challenges are tackled head on with practice, plus a few common sense ground rules in your back pocket.

1)    Plan To The Power Of Three
You need to grasp your subject matter and logically organise it when preparing to deliver presentations happening upon you at the eleventh hour.  The notion of a beginning, a middle and an ending is nothing new you to you.  It is a primary basic that you were taught to apply to story writing during your school days.  The same applies to impromptu presentations.  Your clarity of thought is enhanced and your panic reduced by arranging what you need to say in to an orderly opening, a main body, and a closure.

2)    Start Well To Continue Well
Your opening gambit should pack a powerful punch.  Bear in mind that last minute presentations are not usually random, but are required to address specific issues somewhat urgently.  Direct questions usually make attention grabbing headlines.  Try getting off on a good footing by stating the task at hand -  for example, this is what we are working on, this is where we are currently at, and this is where we intend to be, so how do we go about getting there as efficiently and quickly as possible?  Bingo!  Isn’t that the very essence of what your audience is there to find out?

3)    Remain Committed
Regardless of the duration of your short notice presentations, hark back to the power of three in the main body by breaking it down according to your introductory statements.  Reiterate the current position.  Expose and clarify potential concerns and impediments.  Confirm the plan of action moving forward, addressing the points you have already raised.  This provides your audience with a situation, issues and solutions.

4)    Wrap It Up Potently
The closing statements of any presentations need to be as potent as the openers.  In fact, they become one and the same thing when you bring your closing section right back to start and reiterate your opening gambit.  This is your check back to ensure that all concerns have been addressed and that your audience understands the journey you have just taken them on.  Furthermore, closing questions, and calls to action, give both presenter and audience ample opportunity share their views, clarifying that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and are ready to move cohesively forward.   

Your first tentative steps in to the art of public speaking are often taken from school age as a youngster.  You may be required to fine hone these initial skills throughout the rest of your educational and professional life.  Like with the evolution of most skills, practice makes perfect, as you go through many stages of the learning curve, from novice to expert.

Classroom presentations about books on the curriculum are very different to presentations you might be required to give when pitching yourself at a job interview to a panel of employees.  Likewise, interview presentations differ substantially from public speaking as an authority on your subject matter to audiences.  Yet your lifetime’s worth of presentations, as a student, an executive or an academic, is given the edge by the application of a few basic principles. 

Regardless of your age, your level of public speaking experience and your audiences, these tips form bases from which you can continuously improve from good to better to best:-

1)    Prepare To Succeed
Knowledge always equates to power, yet words are often hollow.  Audience members do not want to be bored by presenters reading out what can already be scanned on an overstuffed screen.  Minimising your materials, and maximising your knowledge of the subject at hand, are imperative to the proficient preparation quality presentations, thus enabling you to deliver them with authority and aplomb.

2)    Critique Practice Run Throughs
Video yourself doing dry run presentations, and critique yourself firmly but fairly.  Ask a trusted confidante to sit in on your rehearsals and be prepared to take their feedback on the chin.

3)    Look Them In The Eyes
Aim to gain rapport with your audience by looking directly at them - not at your laptop, your notes, or your feet.  However, avoid the unintentional temptation to make a particular audience member your focal point when public speaking.  It makes an innocent participant feel self conscious and uncomfortable.

4)    Speak With Then, Not Just At Them
Encourage audiences to interact with you during your presentations.  Allowing them to interject with doubts, questions and relevant comments is testament to the fact that they are engaged with you.  Your competent feedback further enhances their confidence in you and what you have to say.

5)    Clock The Atmosphere
Let your emotional intelligence guide you.  At certain points during your presentations, the mood of your audiences might get confrontational and heated, or down tempo and low on energy.  Drop in anecdotes or jokes at such junctures, to lighten any tension or regain waning engagement.

6)    Avoid Useless Fillers
Whether you have a tendency to “um” and “ah”, or use particular turns of phrase over frequently when you speak, weaning yourself off them will improve your public speaking.  They are often more irritating to audiences than you realise.

7)    Answer Questions Accurately
When preparing your presentations, put yourself in your audience’s shoes and anticipate the questions they might fire at you.  This is a great way of forearming and forewarning yourself.  Besides taking audience questions throughout the duration of your presentations, make sure you leave plenty of time at the end for closing questions.  The answers you provide should confirm and amplify the messages you deliver throughout the session.    

You might know or work with certain individuals who approach the delivery of presentations with unbelievable gusto – we all do.  Never fear that you are some sort lost cause if you, on the contrary, are totally daunted and flawed at the prospect.  In fact, they are in the minority and you are in the majority, as public speaking ranks highly as a universal worst case scenario, striking untold terror in to millions of people worldwide.

However, like or not – and let’s be honest, in most cases we are definitely talking about like it not – you are more than likely to be called upon to give a number of presentations throughout your personal and professional life.  Confident and proficient public speaking is realistically within your grasp when you learn to believe in yourself and aim to master your craft.  Just like any other skill, it comes naturally to a gifted few, yet requires fine honing for most mere mortals.

You can and you will beat the palpitations caused by looming presentations.  Those ‘in the know’ have done so by learning about what are known as the five Ps of public speaking and by incorporating the wisdom of these simple lessons in to their codes of conduct and plans of action.

1)    Passion
It is imperatively important that you are passionate about the subject matter of your presentations.  If you are not fired up about it, why on earth would anyone else be?  Think about the know-like-trust theory.  The more you know about the topic at hand, the more you will hopefully like it.  Consequently, the more you know and like it, the more you will not only trust it, but you will also trust yourself to share your views about it, cojently and enthusiastically, with your audiences.

2)    Persistence
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again”.  Have a little mettle and do not get too down in the mouth if your first few presentations fall slightly short of the triumphs you had envisaged.  Keep your chin up and aim to deliver your presentations repeatedly if you can, noting the vast improvements you make each time.

3)    Positivity
Just before the delivery of your presentations, focus in on your ‘can do’ rather than your ‘can’t do’ mindset. Tell yourself that you can and you will knock your audience’s socks off with your dynamic presentations and deft delivery skills.  Glasses half full are infinitely more appealing than glasses half empty, so inspire yourself to go for it and spread some joy.

4)    Practice
Going overboard with the practicing of your presentations simply does not exist, as practice makes perfect.  Go through your presentations out loud to yourself, and also in front of trusted colleagues, family members or friends who will offer you firm yet fair feedback.  Then go back to the drawing board to redress any issues with your flow and wording.  If at all possible, it is also a great nerve soother to have a practice in the actual rooms in which your presentations will be delivered.  The environments will feel less hostile and more familiar to you.

5)    Preparation
Comprehensive preparation offsets a multitude of sins.  Once your subject matter has been agreed upon, your first port of call should be your own experience, backed up by copious research.  The coupling of what you know and what you have learnt will make preparing for your presentations much easier, free flowing and logical.  Your preparation also extends to a pre-understanding of your audiences.  Knowing about their age groups and levels of proficiency in the topics under the microscope gives you the competitive edge to pitch your content and style just so.

When you think about it, the end goal of most presentations is to convince, whether that means convincing your audience to agree with your point of view, or convincing them to take the action you want them to take.  Professional presenters with vast amounts of public speaking experience are usually great story tellers.  In order for your presentations to come across convincingly to your audiences, they require the focus, logic and sequence of any engaging story.

You might or might not be aware of falling victim to some or all of the common mistakes that initially trip up novice presenters.  Most of these learners’ mistakes relate directly back to the ethos of story telling in presentations – or lack of it.  When preparing for forthcoming presentations, or looking back retrospectively at old ones, you might give yourself a confidence boost by answering a few hypothetical questions honestly.

Are you prepared to offer appropriate answers to the broad range of questions that might be posed by your audience?
If not, might your inability to appropriately answer audience questions be due to a lack of flow in your presentation?
Are your slides truly sequentially ordered?
Are you sometimes guilty of randomly leaping from one aspect of your subject matter to another without any logical connection between the two?
Do you put yourself in danger of leaving gaping holes in your presentations by trying to sound too clever, for example, by presenting answers and conclusions that lack supporting evidence?
Do you try too hard to amplify your knowledge of your subject matter by including information that is indirectly related but not directly relevant to your presentations?

Searching questions indeed and you might be wondering how they relate to the harnessing of your story telling skills to enhance your public speaking effectiveness.  They do, as they are all about focus, logic and sequence:-

Focus – keep to the point.  Identify information that seem interesting and smart, but realistically bears little relevance to the core messages you aim to send.  Once you have identified these curveballs, eradicate them, even if you desperately want to include them because you think they sound good.

Logic – tempting as it is to provide answers and conclusions first, followed by rhyme and reason afterwards, it is illogical.  Notice how the stories contained in your presentations flow so much more smoothly when you simply reverse the order of certain slides.  Questions first, arguments and evidence in the middle, answers and solutions last but not least.

Sequence – stories lacking in sequential orderliness are confusing, often to the degree that they might initially capture attention, but ultimately fail to retain it.  It is impossible for you to over check that your presentations are sequentially correct.  When going to the time and trouble that preparation for successful presentations demands, it is a crying shame if your subject matter is right, but the sequence in which you present it is erratic and disjointed.

Your ability to recognise the mistakes you are prone to making, coupled with your willingness to improve your public speaking performances, equates to half your battle being won.  So sit tight with a copy of your presentation in front of you and see how you can make instantaneously dramatic differences.     

Even the most competent and experienced of professional presenters admit that their nerves, at times, emerge to the forefront and threaten to get the better of them.  So, if presentations are new to you, or something that you are just tentatively starting to get used to, your public speaking fears are far from irrational.  Yet they are something that you need to learn to control.  Otherwise, you might find that your pre-presentation jitters gather insidious momentum and manifest themselves in unnecessary stress levels that can ultimately impede your performances.

Agreed that words can come easily and that the conquering of public speaking fears can be easier said then done.  Yet you can wave your worries permanent farewells by talking yourself in to a more positive mindset and adopting optimistic behavioral patterns.

1)    Convince Yourself That Presentations Are Nothing Stressful
Give yourself a talking to from the head rather than the heart.  It is estimated that an average human being speaks anywhere between 7,000 to 20,000 words per day, so talking is no more a new phenomenon to you that breathing and eating.  Putting it in to logical perspective, there is no reason why presentations should pose more problems that the conducting of everyday conversations.  The major differences, of course, are that presentations are organised, not spontaneous and delivered to audiences rather a few familiar faces.  The shifting of your mindset from stressed to unstressed cannot be expected to happen overnight.  You can, however, expect to ease yourself from one extreme to the other by concentrating on your messages, rather than getting fraught about how you are going to send them.  This will help to make your style increasingly more conversational and relaxed.

2)    Forget About Public Speaking Perfection
Try not to bog yourself down with preconceptions about what makes presentations perfect.  Is there actually such a thing as perfection, or is it simply in the eyes of the beholders?  You are understandably anxious about not wanting to make a fool of yourself in front on an audience.  Offer yourself consolation in the thought that their main focus is on what you have to say.  They are not there to judge and rate your public speaking aplomb.

3)    Focus On Your Purpose
Amidst the hand wringing and brow wiping that you might endure before delivering presentations, endeavour with all your might not to lose sight of your purpose.  Your ability to build and maintain audience rapport is undeniably important.  Yet your inability to banish the nerves that blight your public speaking engagements can result in the shifting of the onus from clear and concise subject matter to over thinking your delivery techniques.

4)    Believe You Are Good – And Become Good
During your novice experiences of giving presentations, you will pick up many ‘what to do’s’ and ‘what not to do’s’ as part of the natural learning curve.  If you have put all of your background work in before you deliver your presentations publicly, there is little reason for you to be unconfident.  Methodical organisation of your subject matter, and due diligence to practicing, goes hand in hand with the refining of your end delivery.  Your back of office labour is half of your battle won.  When front of stage, you will already be well on your way to winning the war and reaping the applause and rewards.

If you have ever been tasked to prepare and deliver presentations, at intimate internal meetings or large industry gatherings, you will understand nervous energy.  The jitters are generated by your acknowledgement that you will not only be judged on what you say, but also on how you say it.  Thankfully, there are tried and tested steps that can help you conquer the collywobbles, before you arrive on the public speaking stage, and whilst you are performing on it.

Step 1 – Planning
Improve the flow and organisation of your presentations by carefully targeting and pre-planning your content.  Aim to address the specific needs of your audiences by understanding that the content you include in a sales pitch is totally different from what you use for an industry conference. 
Rather than simply offering rafts of generalisations, hone your subject matter in to the theme of the event at which you are presenting, or address any topical issues that are currently big news.
Once you have decided on the main ideas you wish your presentations to impart, incorporate them in to storylines.  Make your stories audience focused and develop them in accordance with your overriding theme.  Go to great pains to ensure that your stories flow logically and sequentially, so as not to confuse your audiences by skipping backwards and forwards.  Ensure that your stories pack potent punches by embellishing them with human examples, whether they are your own, your colleagues, your clients or suppliers, even famous or historical figures.

Step 2 – Choosing Words
Avoid the temptation to throw in words and phrases simply because you like the sound of them.  They are rendered inadequate if they do not directly correlate to the core of your presentations.  Public speaking is doubtlessly enhanced by the use of richly descriptive language, but it is equally as diminished by poor word choices.  By all means make dynamic choices, but stick to the point when saying what you mean.  Your audiences will not be foiled if they are unconvinced that you do not mean what you say.

Step 3 – Cutting Jargon
A small amount of ‘industry speak’ is acceptable if your presentations are delivered to audiences who solely operate within a particular sector.  If you find that your presentations are intentionally or unintentionally peppered with jargon, ask yourself if you have included it to simply enhance your stature as an authority on your subject matter.  Will anything be lost by ditching them and speaking plainly and cojently?  Likewise, avoid using slang in a bid to sound ‘down with the kids’.

Step 4 – Avoiding Pauses
Reduce your tendency to slip annoying “Ummms” and “Errrs” in to your presentations by giving yourself alternative stalling devices.  Instead of mumbling and fumbling, take a sip of water or ask your audience if they have any questions at this stage whilst you recover from momentary concentration lapses.

Step 5 – Practicing
The spoken word is a powerful thing and, whilst practice may not immediately make your presentations perfect, it will certainly set you on the right track to getting there.  After choosing your words carefully, practice delivering them with charisma and passion.

Step 6 -  Empathising 
Your carefully planned presentations will be dead in the water if you are unable to empathise with your audiences and kindle immediate rapport with them.  From the get go, make and maintain eye contact.  Be open and smile.  Gauge their reactions by spotting if they are glazing over in confusion or nodding in concurrence. 

Step 7 – Being You
It is only natural to want to put your game face forward when public speaking.  Yet do not confuse this with false airs and graces or a feigned style of speaking.  You have been asked to speak and your audiences largely want to learn from your presentations, so do not forget to be the way you are.  Anything else is false and unnatural.

Step 8 – Performing
A natural and relaxed style is an important contributory factor to friendly and well received presentations.  You might, however, check that you do not become too casual and forget that you are under public scrutiny.  Maintain a strong and open posture, respond to your audiences, but do not allow yourself to get unnecessarily sidetracked.  Do not scratch unless you absolutely have to, fidget, mess with your hair or shuffle your papers.

Step 9 – Enlisting Humour
By all means include a few jokes if you have confidence in your ability to pull them off.  If you are naturally quick witted, a little appropriate humour will complement your presentations.  However, carefully avoid anything that audience members have the remotest chance of finding embarrassing or uncomfortable.

Step 10 – Having Confidence
Confidence inevitably grows with experience, but it is also a product of positive mental attitude.  Allow your passion for your subject matter and your enthusiasm about sharing your knowledge to shine through when public speaking.  Imagining that your audience will be inspired by what you have to say translate in to an enormous confidence boost.

All presenters have their own styles and preferred delivery methods, yet, when pondering public speaking in academic and corporate environments, it is almost impossible to hark back to life before PowerPoint.  This ingenious invention has transformed the way in which presentations are both given and received.  However, PowerPoint presentations, just like old school lectures and speeches, run the risk of audience disengagement if you are not well versed in a few common sense and easy to follow tenets:-

1)    Definition
Never fail to keep the essence of the subject matter you hope to convey at the very forefront of your mind.  Your audiences, after all, look upon you as the authority.  Any ‘wishy washy’ glossing over of aspects you do not intrinsically understand can expose your lack of definitive knowledge.  You can, however, give your PowerPoint presentations enhanced definition by using complementary handouts and visual representations.

2)    Style
Getting your style and tone spot on is key to unlocking the engagement and respect of your audiences.  If you are public speaking to students or young professionals working in a trendy sector, acknowledge that one cap does not fit all.  Use different PowerPoint animations, colours and templates than those you would select when giving presentations to traditional sectors and senior personnel.

3)    Animation
You will be aware of the cliché appertaining to pictures painting a thousand words.  The same adage applies to all presentations and can be executed particularly effectively in PowerPoint presentations.  Take the time and trouble to source relevant images, soundtracks and video clips.  They confirm and amplify your subject matter and additionally entertain your audiences.

4)    Minimalism
The overstuffing of slides is a cardinal sin of PowerPoint presentations, albeit a trap that it is all too easy to fall in to.  Too much animation is as tedious as too little and too many points and words are nothing short of a bore.  As a rule of thumb, try including between three to seven points per slide and encapsulating each point in between three to seven words.

5)    Rehearsal
When preparing for any types of public speaking, including the delivery of PowerPoint presentations, practice is king.  Carry our informal rehearsals in front of trusted confidantes, take their constructive criticisms on board and amend your PowerPoint presentations accordingly.

Dependent upon individual circumstances, you might be required to distribute your PowerPoint presentations amongst your audiences, either before or after delivery.  There are a variety of different ways of successfully doing so, each befitting to various scenarios:-

1)    Laptop Storage
Many presentations that you give for a broad spectrum of reasons often require you to simply save your PowerPoint presentations on to your laptop before ultimate delivery.  If so, you might consider erring on the side of caution and having alternatives on standby to safeguard yourself against unexpected file corruption, viruses and internet connection problems.

2)    Email Distribution
Pre or post emailing your presentations is a great way of electronically sharing.  Yet it is worth having a back up plan in mind for recipients who may be unable to open up your presentations.  Not everyone will have the same version of PowerPoint on their computers as you - or any version at all.  If sounds and videos are included in your presentations, check and double check that your have safely zipped them in to your folders before emailing, to ensure that you send comprehensive versions.

3)    Video Conversion
The giving of online presentations is an evolving phenomenon.  Likewise, you can share your PowerPoint presentations either before or after you have delivered them publicly by using the same methods.  You will need to buy in to relevant software, such as PowerPoint to Video Converter, but will then have the luxury of uploading your presentations on to your blog or website, MySpace or YouTube.

4)    DVD Burning
Burning on to DVDs effectively offsets any of the potential issues you might encounter by the simple saving your PowerPoint presentations on to your laptop.  DVDs additionally offer you an alternative way to share your presentations, and your audiences a simple and efficient way to view and refer back to your work.

5)    PDF Conversion
Hard copy printing of PowerPoint presentations is much less laborious and stressful when you print from PDF files rather than directly from PowerPoint.  PDF files are also often easier to transmit via email, although your recipients will only be able to access your PDF files if they have Acrobat Reader or PDF Viewer on their computers.