The life of a manager is always busy. Not only must you complete a number of tasks on your own, but you must coordinate projects your team has been assigned as well. During the course of your job you may end up having to give a training presentation to your team, or you may have to present a completed project to a group of superiors. No matter who your audience, there are a few things you can do to make sure your presentation goes off without a hitch.

1. Prepare in advance. By “in advance” I mean days or weeks before your presentation. The night before or the morning of will simply leave you frazzled and unorganized. Preparing in advance will give you plenty of time to make changes, if necessary. Besides, preparing in advance is an excellent time management exercise.

2. Visualise your presentation. Visualisation is an incredible way of creating success for yourself. Visualisation gives you the opportunity to practice your presentation before you are in front of a large group. Use your imagination to see your presentation the way you want it to appear to others and you’ll be one step closer to presenting it that way.

3. Don’t forget about eye contact. I remember the first time I had to give a presentation in public. I was so nervous I had no idea where to look. Up at the ceiling? Down at my shoes? Directly at my notes? All wrong. Making eye contact doesn’t mean you have to look at each person in the room individually. Choose one or two friendly faces and alternate your focus between them at different points during your presentation.

Of course, you’ll want to use a few visual aids and summary documents so that your guests walk away with a clear understanding of what was discussed, but we’ll talk about how to put those things together at a future date.

Just remember, as a manager, presentations may pop up out of the blue. Make sure you’re always as organized as possible so that, in the end, it’s never too difficult to give a presentation or report on your current projects or goals.

Thanks again,

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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