Welcome To HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRESENTATION SKILLS (SINGAPORE) by TK Tan, Public Speaking Coach – Self Help Presentation Skills Training Guide
As a public speaking and presentation skills coach, the most common questions I get asked by leaders, professionals and managers are :
1. How to become more engaging in my presentations?
2. How can I become more interesting as a speaker?
3. How do I lose my nervous energy and gain confidence as a presenter?
(in short, how to overcome my fear of public speaking?)
4. How to improve my presentation skills?
(or how to improve my public speaking skills)
5. How to inspire my audience so that they remember my message and take action?
I have prepared the answers to the above questions through the 5 power tips below.
Presentation Skills Training Tip 1 : Focus On Your Audience, Not Yourself
Remember that your audience is there to NOT to hear you sell your ideas. They are looking for a solution through the information you present. They are vested in your success and excited about what you have to say IF you what you share is related to their problems and needs. By focusing on them, and what you plan to share, your focus becomes the audience’s needs and not how perfect your diction is or how you sound.
To prepare and improve on your presentation skills – start researching on your audience. Find out what their deeper needs are. This approach your take answers the questions : How To Connect with the Audience and How Do I Become More Engaging?
Presentation Skills Training Tip 2 : How To Be An Interesting Speaker – Live Life!
For those who want to improve their public speaking skills and become a more interesting speaker, ask yourself – are you an interesting person? Check out this video below on How To Be An Interesting Speaker :
Here comes a VERY IMPORTANT Presentation Skills Tip which many of my leaders, who are coached by me, find useful :
To be an interesting person – be bold, be daring, be adventurous. Are you living life fully? Here’s a very useful tip for you : Make it a point to try a different experience every month – be it helping out at old folks’ homes, or going skydiving. These experiences give you depth and they can be stories you use in your presentations! That’s how you improve as a presenter and public speaker!
Presentation Skills Training Tip 3 : Master Your Rehearsal Techniques
Most presenters when asked, say they spend 90% of time on preparing slides, and remaining 10% on rehearsal and logistics. This is fundamentally flawed, and it clearly shows why people lack confidence.
To answer the question : How To Overcome Fear of Public Speaking? – there are many factors to consider, but the very obvious one is the ‘under-attention’ to rehearsals and practice.
Famous sprinters, swimmers and athletes will tell you that to improve their timing by 1 or 2 seconds means many extra hours and months of practice. Yes, that’s right. There’s no short cut.
When I coach many leaders and presenters on their next public speaking assignment, one of the things I asked them to change is to increase the rehearsal time. Change the ratio from preparation time/rehearsal time to 1 : 9 instead of 9 : 1. You get that?
That’s how you can drammatically improve your presentation skills. Check out the video below on How To Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking and How To Improve Your Presentation Skills
Presentation Skills Training Tip 4 : How To Improve My Presentation Skills?
Many people who attend my publicly run courses “Dynamic Public Speaking Course in Singapore” and “Effective Presentation Skills in Singapore” – when asked, do not really know what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Whether it is how to overcome your fear of public speaking, how to be interesting as a presenter, how to improve your vocal identity and projection, how to be engaging, how to use pauses, how to improve your executive presence… many are unclear.
You need an unbiased professional diagnosis of your situation so that you need to know exactly what to improve upon in presenting.
Get a public speaking coach to be coached personally, or attend public speaking courses such as those by British Council Singapore, Toastmaster course Singapore, HighSpark Pte Ltd – Presentation Skills Training and Consulting, or Effective Presentation Skills Training Course (2 days) by 36 HR Training and Consultancy. Alternatively, if budget is a concern, get yourself recorded on video and watch yourself. Investing in yourself is the most important investment you make – so you won’t regret!
►►Recommended reading : How To Speak Like Steve Jobs
Presentation Skills Training Tip 5 : How To Inspire Your Audience – Start Telling This!
Do you know that most leaders and great speakers, like President Obama, Steve Jobs – use something that many managers might not, in their speeches to inspire?
A very senior manager I have recently coached mentioned that he prefers to sticks to the facts, as they are clear-cut, and nobody can challenge him. And he won’t go wrong. As a result, his speeches are dry, and matter of fact, with little room to connect him to the audience emotionally. Like him, many speakers might unknowingly deprive themselves on the chance to inspire their audiences.
To inspire your audience, and improve your presentation skills, start telling stories.
That’s right – tell stories. Stories connect you with audiences.
Do you know when you share facts and date, only 2 parts of the human brain are activated and engaged, BUT if you tell stories, 7 parts of the human brain are activated?
In all my Effective Presentation Skills Training workshops and Impactful Presentation Courses, I stress on telling stories. In my personal coaching sessions for leaders and professionals, I stress on telling stories. Get your stories right and you start inspiring your audience.
This article on Self Help on Presentation Skills Training – How To Improve Presentations – is written by corporate trainer, MBTI coach and public speaking coach, Tan Teck Kim (aka TK Tan – he can be reached here)
Recommended Reading : Case Studies of Effective Presentation Course Participants
Presentation Skills Training Resources
Look out for more articles on Effective Presentation Training Tips coming your way, here on 36-hr.com
►►If you would like to be coached personally – check out this page on Executive One-to-One coaching on Presentation Skills and Public Speaking
►►If you would like to attend our Public Speaking Course / workshops, check out this page on Effective Presentation Skills Training Singapore or Impactful Presentations Workshop.