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5 Ways To Improve Your Presentation Skills and Become An Engaging Speaker

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how to improve presentation skills training

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

How to improve my presentation skillsRemember 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

Useful Presentation Skills Training Resources

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.

How To Overcome Fear of Public Speaking and Give A Great Presentation

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Public Speaking Course Singapore Training Workshop

1. Public Speaking Training Tip 1 –
Recognise the true source of your fear. Is not knowing what will happen when you are in front of people, giving your speech or presentation?  Your fear of public speaking is not that you don’t know your topic. It is the uncertainty of outcome – not knowing what will happen when you step to the podium or stage.

  • Most of the time when I coach professionals on public speaking – the most commonly cited fear of public speaking is caused by fear of being judged, making a costly mistake,  or the lack of self confidence because of the comparisons with better speakers you see on TV.  If you are coming from an authentic place, and you cover the material with clarity and sincerity, you’ve won 75% of your inner battle with fear.

Public Speaking Course Singapore Outline

2. Public Speaking Training Tip 2 –
Be Comfortable and Share : Whenever you feel uncomfortable about a presentation, it’s invariably because there’s a slide with something on it that you don’t really believe, or that you’re putting in to achieve a certain result or reaction from the audience.  Sometimes you get stuck on phrasing things a certain way so that your listeners will think a certain way. On many occasions, I met many managers ‘inherit’ slides from bosses or colleagues and sometimes are not comfortable with certain messages but they simply keep the old sleek looking slides because the messages sound professional even though they don’t sound right.

  • My advice, for those who have attended my Public Speaking Course (in Singapore and Malaysia) and Impactful Presentations Skills Training Workshop (in Singapore and Asia) especially when you’re starting out, is to avoid keeping every slide that you have inherited, and instead adopt the mindset to share rather than to impress. The most important thing is to be comfortable with your material, and to feel like you’re genuinely sharing how you feel about whatever subject it is you’re talking about. The last thing you want to do is to be trying too hard to make sure that you phrase things in just the right way and everything is perfect. When you let go of trying to be perfect, and just try to honestly share what you know it lowers the stress level of public speaking or delivering a presentation immensely.

Improve Public Speaking Skills

3. Public Speaking Training Tip 3 –
Spend MORE Time in Rehearsing : Are you one of those who can spend hours and days or weeks to prepare the materials for your presentations or public speaking, but neglect to spend sufficient time on your rehearsals?  Perhaps the most important piece of advice I would give to professionals who aspire to improve their public speaking skills is this :

  • Don’t be fooled.
    A final note: even the best “impromptu” presentations are rehearsed. Mark Twain, as the story goes, was fond of saying, “It takes 3 weeks to prepare a good impromptu talk.” And Winston Churchill, one of history’s greatest leaders and speakers, was thought to spend as much time preparing and rehearsing his “impromptu” remarks as he did on his formal speeches.

In my Effective Presentations Training Workshop, you will learn how to rehearse using power techniques like Key Messages, Verbalisation and Visualisation

Public Speaking Training Singapore

4. Public Speaking Training Tip 4 –
Do not be Afraid To Pause frequently.  The true story of King George VI reveals that the kind suffers from stuttering.  In the movie,  “The King’s Speech,” one of the successful strategies the speech therapist deploys to help the king overcome his stuttering is the use of pauses. Pausing helped the king regain his composure whenever he was gripped by anxiety.  It is natural to feel anxious when public speaking, therefore do consider pausing more frequently.  To reduce your fear of public speaking and improve your public speaking skills – consider a few strategic pauses between key messages to experience a calming effect. 

Public Speaking Course in Singapore

5. Public Speaking Training Tip 5 –
Get Used to the audience expressions – Fast!  You will definitely become more anxious when you misinterpret the audience’s facial expression.  In daily conversations, we’re used to getting feedback from the listener – an occasional smile or a nod that signals approval. This however is different when are are presenting or public speaking, audiences listen differently.  Audiences are more likely to give the speaker an ‘unexplainable’ blank stare, which doesn’t mean they don’t like or disagree with what they hear.  More often than not, it simply means they’re focussed on listening to the message. This is especially true of audience members who are introverted.  So don’t be too affected by expressionless faces of the audience even when you think you have given your all.

Singapore Public Speaking Course

FINAL PUBLIC SPEAKING TRAINING ADVICE :
I have coached many professionals and managers in the areas of how to overcome nerves and fear of public speaking, and to improve their public speaking skills, BUT I have met a greater number of people who kept enquiring for months and took NO action to attend any Public Speaking Courses or Effective Presentations Training (Singapore, Malaysia, Asia).  They would ask a long list of questions such as – which is the best public speaking training out there, are toastmasters Singapore courses helpful, who is the best public speaking coach (in Singapore, Asia, Malaysia), how to improve public speaking, are courses offered by British Council Singapore effective for public speaking, how do Presentation Skills Training Courses offered by 36 HR Training and Consultancy compare with Dale Carnegie’s Effective Presentation Skills Training courses, and what are the best public speaking courses BUT after asking for months, they remain exactly in the status quo mode and did not take any action to attend any Presentation Skills Training or Public Speaking courses.

Best Public Speaking Coach Singapore

Stop justifying why you should delay overcoming your fear of public speaking.  Stop the excuse on why you haven’t progressed in your career because you suffer from stage fright.  Take MASSIVE action today to discover :

  • how to overcome your shyness,
  • how to overcome fear of people
  • how to fear of failure
  • how not to be nervous about public speaking
  • how to IMPROVE your public speaking skills and take your business and career to the next level

Contact Tan Teck Kim, Director of 36 HR Training & Consultancy, Public Speaking Coach (Singapore, Malaysia, Asia) to learn how to overcome your fear of public speaking, and to deliver Impactful and Effective Presentations.  Start connecting with your audience, and stop fearing them.

Email : tk36hr@gmail.com

or

Register here for the next Impactful Presentation Skills Training (Singapore) workshop

About Tan Teck Kim, Master Trainer
Tan Teck Kim is trained in NLP,  is a certified MBTI trainer and coach, and is also a certified FIRO and FIRO-B Trainer and coach.  He helps professionals, business managers, managing directors to differentiate themselves through their personal brand and ability to persuade.  He also conducts corporate in house training programmes such as : Communication Skills Training, Effective Presentation Skills Training, Team Building using MBTI, Team Building and Team Bonding.

5 Ways On How To Be An Interesting Public Speaker

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Welcome To Our Latest Series of Online Public Speaking Course Tips – 5 Ways To Be An Interesting Public Speaker (by Public Speaking Coach Tan Teck Kim) 

Public Speaking Class Singapore

Speaking publicly is mankind’s number 1 greatest fear, and many would rather die to speak on stage.  Yet, in our careers, we often have to speak publicly or present in front of large audiences.  If you have to speak publicly as a job, or as a passion, and are unsure of how you can become an interesting public speaker – the following public speaking techniques and tips, extracted from my Dynamic Public Speaking Course in Singapore (2 days), will help you :

►►Learn From Steve Jobs On How To Improve Public Speaking Skills

►►Tips To Deliver Impactful Presentations

►►How Your MBTI Assessment Can Help You In Your Presentations

Here are additional Tips On How To Be An Interesting Public Speaker

1.  Find out what your audience wants – remember WIIIFT – What’s In It For Them.
Singapore Public Speaking Workshop CourseWhy should they care about what you say? What keeps them awake at night?   Make it a point to link your message to their needs.  The more you are appear interested in their concerns (and provide a solution to your audience needs), the more they are interested in what you say too!

Case Study on Understanding Your Audience - Public Speaking Training Tip

In the book Marketing and Selling Professional Services (by Kogan Page), there was a true story about a sales pitch for which the firm of architects involved prepared slides to show to the committee of a charity for the blind. They prepared their presentation extensively only to find that the audience were all blind, and the slides could not be used, and they did not have a contingency plan.  Know your audience before your present!

2.  Make your audience the STAR!
Public Speaking Courses in Singapore - Presentation Skills Training SingaporeDon’t be only focussed on your content – think of your presentation or public speech as making your audience the star.  Engage them, connect with them.  For eg if you wish to send an email message to your most important client, you do not just click on the ‘SEND’ button.  First you must ensure your computer is ‘connected’ to the wifi before you send the message.  Likewise, spend time to connect with the audience.  One proven way to connect with the audience, as taught in my Dynamic Public Speaking Course (Singapore) is to share stories.  Share stories about famous people, or yourself, about a struggle or a problem that was solved.  People connect to the emotions of stories, more so than facts.

3. Vary something or your mode of delivery every 10 minutes.
Public Speaking Course Singapore How To Improve Public SpeakingThere are too many things that will distract your audience today – whether it’s their unfinished work/email or family issues, or a stock market crash or the next Facebook post about some new virus or bacteria that kills thousands.  Your competitors (for your audience’s attention) are extremely tough as they are part of your audience’s habits, whilst you are not.  Research suggests that audience attention will fade after 10 minutes.  To arrest this ‘problem’, the best way is to vary your mode of delivery every 10 minutes – this eliminates boredom and adds a dose of freshness.   Check out these other useful resources :

►►How To Improve Your Public Speaking Skills & Speak Confidently

►►7 Minute Guide To Impactful Presentations and Improve Public Speaking Skills

4.  Here are some suggestions on what you can VARY every 10 minutes when speaking publicly:
To improve your public speaking skills, learn to vary your Eye Contact – most beginners and even very seasoned speakers suffer from a eye contact blindspot, thus unintentionally ignoring a certain segment of your audience.  Make it a point to give sufficient eye contact to every one.

In my Dynamic Public Speaking Course (Singapore & Malaysia), I also teach you to develop your executive presence to be an interesting public speaker.  You can vary your facial expressions, body stance, gestures, movements, where you stand and how your stand.

How To Be An Interesting Public Speaker

In my Impactful Presentation Skills Training Workshop, I teach participants also how to vary their tonality – from pace to volume to using pauses (and yes, SILENCE!).

In my one-to-one personal Coaching on Public Speaking Training and Public Speaking Techniques, I also coach on the use of various media aids – from flip charts to sounds (MP3) to videos to powerpoint.  Most people underutilise sounds and videos.  Let me for eg show you one of my favourite short videos during my Dynamic Public Speaking Workshop is on why Steve Jobs is such a successful public speaker and how you can be coached on public speaking by watching his video here :

5.  Live Life Differently at least once a month
Public Speaking Training Course in SingaporeFinally, to be an interesting public speaker, you can live through different life experiences so that you have more insights to share. One of the most popular tips in my Presentation Skills Training Workshop is :
Make a point to try something different at least once a month – for eg, try that guitar lesson you always wanted but didn’t have the time, or fly to London for the meeting of like minded people to support your favourite footballer.  Or dare to hit the gym or the beach for beach volleyball.  Maybe it’s helping the needy at social welfare events. Or maybe invest in the next Dale Carnegie High Impact Presentations, or British Council Singapore or 36 HR Training & Consultancy Presentation Skills Training Singapore Course.   Whatever it is, build your experiences, think about them, and your insights will grow and make you a more interesting speaker.

Contact 36 HR Training & Consultancy at affordable rates today for an in-house Presentation Skills Training Workshop, in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Vietnam or Thailand, or for the next public run of the Dynamic Public Speaking Course Singapore.

36 HR Training & Consultancy was founded by Tan Teck Kim, who has trained and coached hundreds of professionals, executives, managers and senior managers. Tan Teck Kim is also certified as a coach and trainer in various psychological instruments such as MBTI, FIRO-B. As a public speaking coach (Singapore and Malaysia), he combines his coaching experiences and psychological instruments to bring out the best in people.  He conducts Public Speaking Workshops, Impactful Presentation Skills Training Workshops regularly for the public as well as customised in house training.

3+5 Ways To Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

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Public Speaking Course SingaporeThinking of Attending A Public Speaking Course in Singapore To Improve Your Presentation Skills?

Here are 3+5 Powerful Tips To Help You Improve Your Public Speaking Skills :

Presentation Tip 1 : Prepare A Great Speech

How To Improve In Public Speaking Skills Be clear about what you want to achieve.  Eg : – I want the audience to know why our company must trim costs by 30% to stay competitive
– I want senior management to support investing in a new technology to gain new clients
– I want my company to sponsor all front line staff for a public speaking course to improve their confidence in speaking to clients.  If you are unclear in what you want, neither will your audience be clear!  To be a winner in public speaking, be clear in what you want to achieve.

 Presentation Tip 2 : Understand Your Audience Pain Points

How To Improve Public Presentations Skills The starting point of your speech should be from your audience’s perspective.  The more you understand what their pain point is, the better you are prepared.   Connect your solution to your audience pain point – the greater the pain, the more likely they are motivated to hear you out.  The deeper the pain they experience, the more they will be willing to invest their time with your solution.  All public speaking courses (in Singapore or Malaysia) will tell you to ensure your starting point is your audience – take time to understand their needs.

Presentation Tip 3 : Arouse Interest In Your Audience In What You Say

Best Public Speaking Courses Singapore Do you know when you take centre stage and speak – you only have 18 seconds to impress the audience before they decide whether to continue to listen to you?

In my Public Speaking Course Singapore – Stand Up and Stand Out – I teach participants 10 ways to arouse audience’s curiosity and interest.  Here are a sample of effective opening statements to deliver effective presentations or impress your audience :

 

(I)  Ask Interesting Questions:

 public speaking training in singaporeThe moment you ask any questions – it’s the audience natural response to answer them, even in their minds.  For eg, for my public speaking courses teaching people how to overcome their fears, the opening questions I ask will be : “Do you know what is mankind’s greatest fear?” “Do you know that many people would rather die than to speak publicly?” “How many today are interested to conquer mankind’s greatest fear?

 

(II) Ask Good Questions : 
Improve public speaking skillsA father took his young son to the opera for the 1st time.  The opera conductor started waving the baton, and the soprano began hitting her high notes.  The boy watched everything intently and finally asked, “Dad, why is he hitting her with his stick?” “He’s not hitting her,”, answered the dad with a smile. “Well then,” asked the boy, “why is she screaming?” “Well, those are good questions the son asked and I’ll like to share some good questions with you today…”  The above is just a sample.  You can ask good questions by spending time to design them before you delivery your speech publicly.

(III) Make Shocking Facts or Statements About A Problem Which Needs Your Solution

Best Public Speaking Workshop in Singapore

One of my favourite tip in my public speaking course (Singapore and Malaysia) is to start a presentation with a shocking statement of fact that people don’t think much about.  For eg :

“Every year, 300 million people contract cancer.  Of these 1.1 million people die.  Out of 1.1 million people, less than 10% have left sufficient monies for their dependent families.  Most people don’t save, nor invest in insurance, nor write a will.”

Another example of my effective presentations training – opening starters :

“We all know that global warming is BAD for humans and our future generations.  But do we know that the following are also linked to global warming? – higher crime rates due to higher temperatures – more kids today now have asthma compared to 20 years ago – Sea levels have risen about seven inches in the last 100 years, which is more than in the previous 2,000 years combined – in short cities can sink.

 

(IV) Use An Interesting Quote

Effective Presentation Skills CourseIf you are delivering a presentation topic on Teamwork: “Individuals play the game, but TEAMS win championships.”  Do you agree? “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”  ~ Phil Jackson

The idea is to get your audience to start thinking about an important topic. Arouse their interest in your presentation!

 

(V) :  Tell A Story

Singapor Toastmaster Club CourseMost people cannot remember details and not everyone is interested in details – think about this :  Can you remember what was the last sentence said by the lead actor in your favourite movie?  But can you recall the storyline in brief?   Yes, we are all wired to listen to stories.

Make the connection with your audience through your story telling skills.  Once you have connected with your audience with a story (or stories), they are more likely to listen to what you have to say.  In fact stories are not only powerful starters, but are highly effective presentation skills strategies to keep your audience engaged throughout.

►►►Read this article on case studies and stories of participants in my previous public speaking classes.

During our 2 day workshop on public speaking and business presentation skills, we share with you secrets on how to tell stories, and how to engage and connect with your audience through different story telling techniques.  It’s one of the most exciting parts of the course!  Stories don’t have to be long! Whether you are seeking the best public speaking course (in Singapore or Malaysia) or attend hours and hours of Toastmaster Course Singapore or whether you are personally coached by the best public speaking coach – you need to practise your public speaking skills.

Remember you can’t learn football skills by merely reading.  You’ve gotta get out there and kick around!  More useful public speaking resources here :

►►► 7-Minute Guide To Impactful Presentations Our Public Speaking Courses and Effective Presentation Skills are designed to teach you practical public speaking skills and to give you feedback on your presentations practice sessions.  

Contact us for more info to improve your public speaking skills or to find out how you can enrol in our Public Speaking Course in Singapore.