Tag: Tips

6 Tips for Public Speaking

PublicSpeaking

Presentations are a vital part of many career paths. It is important to be able to speak confidently in front of a group of people whether that be your co-workers or the CEO and board of a large corporation. There are hundreds of articles out there that provide different tips on how to successfully give a presentation. So we have compiled the top 10 things to help you nail your next presentation.

Prepare Your Information Ahead of Time

There is nothing worse then getting to your presentation and fumbling your thoughts and words. It is important to plan ahead of time and structure your notes in a way that can effectively get your point across. Do enough research on your topic so that you can answer any questions the audience may have. It is always better to be over prepared then underprepared for a presentation. Also be sure to run through your presentation a couple of times before the big day. Familiarity with the information and sequence of notes will help your presentation seem more natural.

Engage With Your Audience

Audience engagement is key to a good presentation. Eye contact is a great way to keep your audience engaged. It is important to not just read off of the slides or notes but to look up and reiterate your points emphasizing certain things. To make your presentation more of a conversation, feature certain points that are open ended questions allowing for the audience to answer. Engagement will show your audience that you are passionate about your topic and want to inform them in the best way possible.

Branch Out From the Typical PowerPoint

In today’s technological world there are so many different formats to create a presentation. Try and steer away from the typical slideshow and branch out with a moving presentation like a Prezi. This will keep your audience interested.

6 Tips for public speaking (1)

Don’t Over Text Your Slides

Audience members will zone out if there is too much text on your slides. It will be less affective if you put all of your points on the slide. Instead put your key points on the slide and leave out the details. Make use of white space and make sure your slides are not crowded. This will make it more visually appealing and will allow your audience to engage with you for more information.

Reiterate Your Main Point

When giving a presentation the main point can get overlooked if there is too much detail and it becomes lengthy. Make sure to reiterate your main point throughout the presentation to ensure that the audience understands the message.

Move Around Your Area

Walking around while giving your presentation will make you appear more confident in your information. It is better to walk around and engage rather than standing behind a podium the whole time. Use hand movements when necessary to emphasize certain points.

Using these six tips will ensure that your presentation is successful. Public speaking is a vital part of the corporate world and it is important to master it. It takes practice but following these tips will help you nail your next presentation.

Image via EDX

The 4 Do’s and Don’ts for practicing and writing in PR

Writing

Photo by: Tirachard Kumtanom (PEXELS.COM)

PR writing is a refined skill that takes practice to master. Public Relations is defined as a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics; writing is key to achieving this. As you try and perfect your PR writing abilities there are several do’s and do not’s you should follow to help guide your work to the next level.

Many writers fall into bad habits or practices like plagiarism, responding negatively to criticism, focusing on one medium, and waiting on building relationships. These are not effective forms of communicating in PR because they do not focus on building healthy relationships with clients and promote dishonesty.

Some good writing techniques include research, putting yourself in your audiences shoes, making sure you have good timing, and selecting the appropriate choices of mediums. These can help offset the bad habits PR professionals sometimes fall into and they also promote quality relationships with organizations and their clientele.

As you flip through the SlideShare created by Brad, Abby, Sarah, and Brooks please consider your writing style and see which technique you can apply to your work to make it extraordinary.

Wasn’t that informative? When writing for PR there are many different factors to consider!

With the knowledge you learned you should be able to tackle any PR writing piece with ease. Try and write a piece on a local event based off of the strategies you’ve read about!

Which Do or Don’t strategy was your favorite? Which was your least favorite? Why? Feel free to contribute to our community by commenting in the comments below!