Introduction and Overview

• Characteristics of outstanding presentations
• Creating a framework for success
• Making a positive impact on your audience
• Enhancing your confidence as a presenter

Developing Key Presentation Skills

Attention-getting openings and closings

• Creating a positive first impression
• Capturing the audience with a compelling question, anecdote or statistic
• Motivating your audience with a strong closing

Fundamental presentation skills

• Enhancing vocal delivery: volume, articulation, modulation
• Making eye contact
• Adding positive body language

Communication modes

• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinesthetic
• Matching communication modes to audience learning styles
• Multimodal presentation techniques

Building an Effective Presentation

The construction and design process

• Setting objectives
• Matching purpose and point to the audience
• Creating the storyboard model

Mind mapping as a presentation design tool

• Rapidly capturing presentation ideas
• Structuring content for clarity
• Converting mind maps into presentations

Shaping the presentation

• Applying learning theory for optimal information transfer
• Employing the 7+/-2 rule to aid comprehension
• Volume vs. retention

Designing high-impact slides

• Making text, colour and graphics work together
• Limiting content to increase effect
• Employing information graphics to simplify complex data

Communicating the Main Points

Preparing to present with confidence

• Telling the presentation "story"
• Identifying the key points
• Constructing the narrative by linking the key points
• Reducing your dependency on speaker notes
• Dealing with stage fright: stress reduction techniques

Applying high-retention techniques in your presentation

• Starting powerfully
• Linking content to increase impact
• The power of the unexpected
• Getting the audience to discover key points

Making your message "stick"

• Increasing information recall
• Emphasizing content with visual reinforcement techniques
• The power of repetition
• When to use handouts for maximum impact
• Closing the loop: checking for audience comprehension

Adding Interactivity to Your Presentations

Audience-centred delivery

• Benefits of audience feedback
• Increasing audience involvement
• Establishing two-way communication
• Combating passive listening

Energizing presentations with questions

• Leveraging questions to achieve the impact you want
• Turning your main points into questions
• Structuring questions to involve the entire audience
• Designing "safe" questions to initiate interaction

Handling audience interaction

• Rewarding responses
• Managing questions from the audience
• Keeping to your timeline