Effective presentation skills are a must have. Not only will you need them as a student, you will also need them in the workplace; whether that is presenting ideas to management, to your colleagues, or on a larger scale such as at a conference. Having good presentation skills will help you glide through life much smoother.

When you present, the whole rooms attention is on you, solely you. That means you need to be looking your best and hold your nerve with confidence. This blog will help you quickly improve presentation skills so that you can start looking forward to presenting rather than fearing it.

10 effective presentation techniques:

• Focus on your audience – every presentation you do should be tailored to your listeners, this will keep them interested and engaged. What do you want your audience to think, feel and do? Plan how you will achieve this.
• Keep your presentation slides simple – be as clear and concise as possible. Your listeners cannot concentrate on what you are saying if you have lots of text on slides. Try to use imagery to supplement what you are saying instead of text. 
• Be passionate and emotive – humans are more interested when emotion is involved. Think about how you can make your presentation personal and relatable. 
• Practice, practice, practice – the saying is true, practice does make perfect and there is nothing worse than forgetting what you were going to say in your presentation. First practice aloud to yourself, then practice in front of your friends, family or colleagues. Then ask them for feedback, improve, and practice again. 
• Have an open and inviting body language – having an open body language shows you are confident and believe in what you are saying. Great presenters always perform with their hands open and palms facing towards the audience. Try this yourself, it helps the audience to connect with you better.
• Smile and make eye contact – this shows you are friendly and builds rapport with the audience. It also helps keep you calm and concentrated as you will feel like you are talking to individuals rather than a room filled with people. 
• Dress for the occasion – check what the dress code is; if in doubt we would always advise you to dress smartly as this will look much better than being under-dressed. 
• Prevent getting sweat marks – there is nothing more embarrassing than getting sweat marks whilst presenting. Avoid this scenario by using dandi® patch, a discreet underarm patch that absorbs all sweat and odour.
• Don’t rush, keep your speech at a slow and steady pace – this is a common fault with presenters, it especially happens when people are nervous. Try to be aware of the pace you are speaking at and speak slower than you think you need to; trust us this will be a perfect speed.
• Banish the nerves – if you struggle with confidence whilst presenting then adopting a persona can help. Acting helps your brain achieve things you wouldn’t usually feel comfortable with, breaking down those usual barriers. 

We hope these presenting techniques will help!

As a thank you for reading our blog we would like to offer you an exclusive 20% off discount code 'PresentationAced20' for your entire dandi patch basket! 

If you have any questions or comments, please write them below. We wish you the best of luck with your presentation!