5 Empowering Tips to Present with Confidence
/We present our ideas daily: We may be suggesting a new concept or a change to an existing procedure to just one person or a handful of people. At the other end of the scale, there are more formal presentations with a larger audience. Are you aware of the way you do both? Do you make the impact you really want? Does your audience think and act differently following your presentation? Are you able to present with confidence?
For many people, formal presentations do not come easily or naturally. It can be scary and nerve-wracking: an obligation imposed on you with little tuition or support from your academic education or your workplace. This is dramatically amplified when presenting in your second, or even third or fourth, language. The fear of failure (or lack of impact) is high. This is stressful, and you may think it is unfair when you are a dedicated and high-achieving employee.
However, the good news is that good presentation skills can be learned and mastered over time.
Here are five tips that can empower you to present with confidence.
1. Structure Your Presentation
Many business professionals often make the mistake of running through their presentation from beginning to end with poor or no structure. Presentations without clear structure typically lead to a confused audience and a frustrated presenter.
Structure is critical, regardless of the topic or the length of your presentation. It is your road map on which you can order your thinking logically. If you share this framework, your listeners are more likely to follow you on your journey and remember the key points. Therefore they will act and think differently after your delivery. That is your end goal.
Each presentation may require a different structure, but often presentations are broken down into three sections:
Context/Background
The first section is about helping your audience get up to speed with your focus topic. You will want to explain any necessary background knowledge on your focus topic without going into depth. This first section helps you set up the focus for the second section.Content/Issues/Solutions/Strategy/Options
This section may be broken down into two to five subparts, but no more than 5! You do not want to clutter your presentation with too much content that your audience starts to feel confused. To present with confidence, choose one of the subpart structures below if they are relevant to your presentation.Issues/Solutions
Weaknesses/Opportunities
Current situation/Future strategy
Past/Present/Future
Why?/What?/How will we know when we have achieved our goal?
Resolution/Final proposal/Summary
Lastly, you want to wrap up everything discussed in your presentation. If you spoke about any issues or opportunities, this is an excellent section to offer solutions and strategies.
2. Cultivate a Confident Mindset
Initially, most non-native English speakers lack the confidence to Speak Up and present because they think their English level is insufficient to present well. They often believe they need to sound like a native speaker to be compelling and engaging. This needs to change immediately. Low/intermediate users of English have the capability to deliver extraordinary presentations.
Start by reflecting on your strengths:
Who is the expert on this topic?
What is your academic and/or technical background in this area and how many years have you spent learning and gaining this knowledge?
What interesting points/vision/concepts do you have for this presentation which will convince your audience?
What justifications do you have to support your ideas?
Lastly, how many languages do you already speak?
With the above in mind, you can already see that your audience wants to listen to you, learn from your expertise, and change.
3. Remember to Pause
Pause after ‘each point’, ‘each act’, ‘every key statement’, ‘every rhetorical question’, ‘every memorable story’.
This tool cannot be over-emphasised. It is simple and easy. The short silence makes your listener lean forward and listen more attentively as they anticipate what is coming next. It also gives the audience time to assimilate what they have just heard. For you, it provides an opportunity to calm your nerves, collect your thoughts and prepare yourself for your next section.
Each pause can be 3 – 8 seconds. Try breathing slowly and count “1000, 2000, 3000” in your head. The effect can be dramatic.
Above all, pausing demonstrates confidence.
4. Pace Yourself When You Are Presenting
Usually, professionals speak too fast when presenting, adopting the same pace they use in normal conversations. However, the communication goal is totally different when presenting.
See Professor David Crystal’s, Britain’s renowned Linguist, reference below:
Speech Type
Fast speech
Normal conversation
Presenting
News reading
Slow speech
Stammering, Speech impediments
Average syllables per minute in English
350+
300
250
200
150
100
A fast pace is often associated with nerves and a lack of confidence. If your presentation is going past your allotted time, reduce your content; do not speed up.
To get each word understood and your message across: Speak more slowly.
5. Focus on Your Pronunciation
Does your audience understand the important things you want to share with them? Are you confident that you are pronouncing each word that you say intelligibly?
Do you understand the difference between long and short vowel sounds? Are you aware of non-essential consonant sounds, silent letters, and the importance of word and sentence stress?
Pronunciation in English follows few rules and sadly is often neglected in schools and universities. As a result, this competence often lags behind other language competencies and yet it can be a major cause of miscommunication.
Your goal is to speak with clarity using Business English as a global Lingua Franca, not limited to a single accent from any one part of the English-speaking world.
Make sure you are understood the first time and find a language coach with pronunciation expertise. This competence is especially important as we increasingly operate in a virtual or hybrid modality, and the ability to communicate and be understood the first time is becoming a critical skill.