Power speaking: tips and tricks for presenting with confidence and style.

• Author: Thompson, Pamela
• Position: PUBLIC SPEAKING

You can't hide forever.

Everyone must address a group at some point. Whether you are speaking to prospects, customers, co-workers, family members or friends, your presentation skills can greatly impact your business, career, reputation and relationships.

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Your debut as a public speaker may be reserved for some distant date, or it may be coming up soon. Either way, there are steps you can take to improve your effectiveness as a presenter and reduce the stress and fear associated with speaking to a group.

The three keys to any presentation are objective, topic and content. The more time you spend planning and organizing these three elements and practicing your presentation, the more effective--and confident--you'll be.

THE OBJECTIVE

Many presenters overlook identifying their objective, but this should be the starting point of any presentation. Start by asking yourself: What do I hope to accomplish by giving this particular presentation? A clear objective sets the focus of your planning and presentation, and also should be the deciding factor in determining what presentations suit you best.

Your objective may be to change the audience's attitude or opinion; to convince your audience to take a specific action; or to make a favorable impression about someone or something. Your objective also should be the primary consideration when identifying your presentation topic.

THE TOPIC

In addition to helping you accomplish your objective, your topic should establish your credibility and have a favorable effect on the audience. Understanding your audience will allow you to pick a topic that will deliver insight and knowledge, while keeping their interest.

The person who asked you to speak, as well as the website and publications of any organization that represents the audience, can provide you with information that will help you choose an appropriate topic. Try to identify the age, gender, education, challenges, trends and news affecting the audience. If you are one of a series of speakers at an event, consider conflicts and similarities between your topic and the topics of the other speakers.

THE CONTENT AND DELIVERY

Once your objective and topic are identified, you can start putting together the content for your presentation. Content involves both information and delivery.

Information can come from research, surveys, interviews and your experience and knowledge about the topic. With your objective in mind, label the information...