Presenting in Business

This week we have been discussing the importance of having a good presentation when presenting to businesses, and in businesses. It is a very important skill to have. Most geeks hate to have to present to groups, and stand in front of them giving them information. People don’t like to be bored during a presentation, when they get bored they begin to tune you out, and think about other things that may be better, and more enjoyable to them to think about.

In the business world presentations are the way people get ideas and updated information to a large group of people in a group setting. Many times the presentations that you may be faced with will be to executives and others that are above you that want to hear how progress on certain projects or assignments are coming along. Although the information is important to get across, you need to make sure that you have the audience’s attention. If you lose the audience’s attention, your presentation is then wasted. In the video below are a few very bad examples of presentations and getting points across.

The video had a few examples of how not to present. each person had a different problem. here are a few points from the article 36 Ways to Make a Killer Business Presentation. You need to “Be Your Own Stage Manager,” meaning you should make sure everything is ready for your presentation before you show up to present, you don’t want anything to go wrong in your presentation. You also need to make sure there isn’t any other unnecessary information in your presentation. if you have more information that what was asked or what was necessary it will become bloated and you will lose the audience’s attention. Also be sure to present, don’t just put slides on a screen and then wait for them to read it, or read it off the screen just as they can, if you do that, then they will be bored with the way it is done because it was not engaging. you must engage your audience, each person has different ways that they become engaged in a presentation, look into your audience and find out how you can engage them personally.

Here are s few points from  8 Secrets to a Knockout Business Presentation. Practice your presentation, Each time you practice and rehearse your presentation, you get better at finding errors and learn how to present certain things in different ways. Also, avoid comedy, don;t be a stand-up comedian, be careful to possibly be semi-comical but don’t go out of your way to be funny, it won’t be if you push it.

Here is a comical comic of Dilbert of what should not happen after your presentation.