Art Of Great Speaking

<br>A successful presentation starts with the presenter owning the room. When you know and own the room, you will be a more powerful and confident presenter. That leads to more successful presentations for you.
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<br>Consider this
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<br>While strolling in your neighborhood you will feel more comfortable and confident than in a strange town. A sports team usually feels stronger when playing at home. Delivering a presentation is certainly a competitive sport. Why not do it on your home turf?
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<br>As a presenter, how do you own the room? “Owning the room” is a feeling that you can generate within yourself by knowing the room. How do you know the room?
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<br>Know the room
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<br>Knowing the room for your presentation might mean arriving the day before your presentation. At the very least, arrive one hour before your presentation. Don’t breeze in 10 minutes before you speak and expect to “own the room”.
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<br>Get into the room before your presentation – preferably when no one else is there. This will allow you to make the following preparations.
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<br>You can see the room and start visualizing how you will present and how your audience will look. Visualizing yourself presenting in the room is an effective way to prepare for your presentation. You will feel more comfortable and more powerful if you’ve been in the room before your presentation.
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<br>If the room is not the right size for the audience expected you can plan what to do to alter the room to make it appear to be smaller or arrange for another room.
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<br>You can check the setup of the room. Become familiar with the layout of the seating, tables, doors, curtains and other characteristics of the room. Walk around the room and sit in different seats so you understand better how the audience might or might not see you and your visuals during your presentation. Look for blind spots.
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<br>Arrange for the seating to be changed to your preferred arrangement. Sometimes this might mean making those changes yourself. (I’ve done this the night before an important presentation.)
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<br>Play with the switches. Test all the lights, AV and climate control switches. Tape the ones that should not be changed. Discover the ones that give you the settings you want so you can set it quickly or explain to an assistant how to do it.
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<br>Check all the doors to learn which ones are noisy – so you can tape the latches with duct tape. Which are the outer halls that need a “Do Not Enter” sign taped on the outside? Where are the washrooms so you can direct people? hich are the emergency exits in case they are needed?
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<br>Rehearse walking on and off the stage so you don’t trip. I’ve done it and seen it happen. It’s surprising how simple things like walking on stage can be nerve wracking when you are giving a presentation.
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<br>Stand on the stage and deliver parts of your presentation. Move about the stage to feel comfortable and find the cracks or creaky boards that you will need to avoid. Check the position of the speakers while speaking on the microphone to avoid feedback. Test the microphone when the AV people are there. Often they test the microphone with one of their staff then they disappear.
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<br>One More Presentation Tip
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<br>Change or move something to make the room yours. Close the curtains, move some chairs, put a small table on stage… It might not be much but any small change that you make can help you feel better when you take the stage.
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<br>I’ve delivered over 1,000 presentations and I’ve noticed that a good room setup can influence the energy of the audience and success of your presentation.
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<br>Know the room and you will own the room. Your audience will marvel at your confidence and presentation power.
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© George Torok helps business leaders, managers & sales professionals deliver million-dollar presentations. He offers <a href=”http://www.torok.com/presentation/coaching.html”>presentation skills coaching</a> and presentation skills training. For more free presentation tips visit<a href=”http://www.presentation-skills-success.com/”>http://www.Presentation-Skills-Success.com</a>  To arrange a media interviews call 905-335-1997<br>
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A course on how to improve communication skills was one of the best courses I took in community college. The teacher for that course kept the class interesting, engaging and informative. In fact, I can still recall the tools and techniques that I learned from that course.

I was discussing the process of clear communication with a friend just the other day. The communication process begins with the speaker sending the information to the receiver. The receiver will then take in the information and reiterate in his/her own words. The sender will then confirm that the listener received it the way it was intended to complete the communication process.

Let me share what I remember from that course to those who wish to speak in public. Now, I won’t get into the metaphysics of how information can be misinterpreted, unheard, neglected, or abused. I will stick with the basics for how to improve communication skills as I learned them and as I try to practice them.

I think that you’ll agree with me when I say that public speaking is difficult for the average person. I can remember an ad that was saying that speaking in public is the number one fear of people and death is only number two. Anyway, let’s go back to the topic of how to improve communication skills.

You should first think of the topic you will be speaking on. Then realize how much you love the subject and focus on your love for the subject. Shift your focus from how you will speak to what you will speak on. You also have to forget all about being afraid if you want to learn how to improve communication skills. The next thing you should do is to stand tall, and speak out. You should get a good thing going with the acoustics in the room if you speak out over the heads of the audience. There is no need to try to hide the notes since we all understand that notes are involved. You should hold them in your hand at chest level when you refer to them. You don’t need a podium unless you are nervous. If a podium does not relieve your nerves a bit, then you should refer back to the first suggestion on how to improve communication skills.

Taking ownership is also crucial for speaking well in public. You will learn how to improve communication skills by owning that stage, pulpit, podium space, or head of the table area in the conference room. Never forget to look at the listeners. They need you to be good, kind, and direct because you have knowledge of something they know much less about.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning How to Improve Communication Skills. Visit our site for more helpful information about How to Improve Communication Skills and other similar topics.