The 5 Most Important Presentation Skills You Should Learn

Nowadays, delivering an impactful presentation is very important. Not only does it offer opportunities for personal development and growth, but it can mean the difference between success and failure of your business. In that sense, acquiring the right presentation skills should be a top priority for you.

The first step is to identify the skills and tools you will use in successful presentations. Only then can you focus on ways to learn these skills and practice them enough to master them. Following is a list of 5 skills that will turn you from a mediocre presenter to a person who can impact their audience:

• Train a curious mind — adding more value to your presentation is often done through better understanding the topic and including more information on it. In that sense, being curious helps big time. Having better knowledge is only achievable if you have a curious mind. Knowing a little extra and being able to communicate it to your audience has the potential to make the most difference. Better understanding the topic and the data surrounding it means that you can deliver the right information in the simplest of ways. Your audience will note this and appreciate it.
• Learn to have a servant’s heart — the difference between good presenters and excellent ones often lies with the focus of their presentations. Many people try to present well in order to reach a specific goal that will add value to them in a way. The most excellent presenters strive to add value to the audience. Understanding that presenting is a process targeted at your audience and not yourself is an important part of honing your skills. Whenever you are in front of others and need to give a presentation, tell yourself that you are doing it for them, and not for yourself.
• Simplify your presentation — nobody likes to feel like they are lacking the capacity to understand about what is being talked.
• Yet a lot of presenters allow the audience to feel this way by doing nothing in regards to the complexity of the information they are presenting. A simple message always has better odds of being understood by the audience. Learn how to streamline your presentation and divide it into small digestible chunks.
• Develop a growth mindset — people have two types of mindsets: a fixed mindset and growth mindset. Having fixed mindset means that you accept things the way they are. This can put your learning to a halt and keep you from advancing your skills. You should acquire growth mindset to develop your abilities and become a better presenter.
• Be more self-aware — if you know yourself well, you will stay best in front of a room. Knowing your strengths will help you capitalize on them and identifying your weaknesses can help you overcome them. This is a needed quality to acquire for better presentations.

Developing these presentation skills is an important part of becoming a better public speaker. Don’t disregard any of them.

© Presence Training