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Learn the importance of practicing your presentation out loud before the big day. Adjust how quickly or slowly you speak so that your presentation fits in your allotted time.
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Before you deliver your presentation,
know how much time you will have allotted.
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If you are the one scheduling the meeting,
you have more control here, but
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be respectful of your audience's time.
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You don't wanna make the meeting so
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short that you don't have enough
time to get through everything.
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But you also don't wanna book too much
time and take over someone's entire day.
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If you have been asked by someone
else to present, for example,
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the company leaders may have invited you
to share a presentation at their standing
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weekly meeting.
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Be sure to clarify in advance how much
time you will have on the agenda.
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I would book 45 minutes to an hour for
our call center presentation.
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If you are presenting to just a few
people, you may need less time.
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If you are presenting to a larger group,
you'll wanna book a little more time, so
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that you have plenty of
opportunities to field questions.
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As your presentation comes together,
begin reading your notes and
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the content out loud.
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Consider this a dry run for now and
not a full blown rehearsal.
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Reading out loud serves several purposes.
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First something that makes perfect sense
as a written sentence or bullet point,
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may not sound as natural
when you say it out loud.
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You may decide to edit things
that you've written or
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say something differently when
you practice speaking it.
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Second, when you practice actually
saying what you going to present,
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it will give you a clear idea of how
time you'll need for each slide.
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Some slides will take
more time than others.
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And third,
practicing aloud will help with pacing or
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the rate at which your speaking
when delivering the information.
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Many of us have a tendency to
speak quickly when we are nervous.
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Or when we've spent so
much time with the information,
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we don't realize others may need
additional time for it to sink in.
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When you are practicing what you will
say for each slide speak in a steady and
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controlled manner.
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If you are addressing particular things
on the slide like a chart, or a graph,
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give your audience a moment or
two to digest the information.
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And before you move on from one slide
to the next, pause for a moment.
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This will give your audience
time to ask any questions.
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You should add in time for interactivity,
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ask your audience if they have
questions or need clarifications.
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You'll have a good idea of the types of
questions they may have based on your
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research.
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With that said, it's good practice
to keep your eye on the clock.
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You don't wanna spend all of your alloted
time on the first two or three slides, and
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then have to race through or
even skip important content later.
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Also, if someone asks a question that
you'll be covering in a future slide,
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it's totally appropriate to say,
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that's a great question, we're actually
going to get to that in a few minutes.
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Make sure to let me know then if
you still need more information.
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After you've run through your
presentation a few times on your own,
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you will know which slides
take the most time.
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Make a mental note before
you begin presenting
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that you want to get through a certain
amount of content by a certain time.
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For example, if your presentation
starts at 11:00 AM, and
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you have 30 minutes, and ten slides to get
through, you may want to stay on track
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to get through slides one
through five by 11:10 AM.
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Then, you'll want to get through slides
six through ten by 11:20 AM, and
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have ten minutes remaining for
questions and answers.
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This of course is just an example, your
presentation may be heavier on content at
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the beginning, middle, or end, so
you may distribute your time differently.
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I like to appoint someone in
my audience as time keeper.
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You could ask a trusted colleague ahead of
time to give you a signal when you have
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a certain amount of time remaining.
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It's also a great idea to let your
audience know at the beginning,
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that you want to respect everyone's time
by staying on track, leaving time for
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discussion at the end.
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And wrapping up the meeting as scheduled,
since we all have busy calendars.
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