11 Small Ways You Can Make an OK Presentation More Impressive

There’s a whole industry devoted to presentation skills training. And many people find that proper coaching builds their confidence and presenting ability.

But if you have a presentation due later today and that’s not an option, there are still lots of small things you can do to make your next presentation leaps and bounds better than it would’ve been.

1. Memorize Your Opening Lines

You’ll feel more confident and you can make eye contact with your audience straight away. Plus, people’s first impression will be that you know the subject and are well prepared.

2. Make Regular Eye Contact

Don’t stop looking at the audience once you get back to checking your notes. Write in reminders to yourself to look up and engage with the people you’re speaking to at regular intervals.

3. Limit the Words on Your Slides

Are the pages covered with words? If so, commit to spending 20 minutes replacing sentences with any graphs, infographics, and images you already have on file. And remember this rule: If you’re saying it, they don’t need to see it. If you’re covering something out loud as part of your presentation, you don’t need to write it down on a slide as well. It often creates more of a distraction, than a reinforcement.

To read the rest head over to The Daily Muse, who were the original publishers of this post.