Successful Business Presentations and Seminars

Here’s how to make any audience enjoy your business presentation, business seminar or business workshop:

If you’ve been asked to give a presentation for your business (for example at a BNI Educational session) here are five pointers to help you make your business presentation a real success.

1) Body language: read your audience’s body language and react to it; be expressive with your own body language: gestures and use props; analogical use of a physical symbol (eg. a combination lock) can be very powerful memory tool for your audience to take away.

2) Pace: if you spend longer than a few minutes on any topic–you’re getting too academic about it. Let them inquire for more after. This is similar to copywriting techniques when writing your website content.

3) Time: stick to your time; be prompt; don’t wait 15 minutes to start–it encourages people to be late.

4) Rhythm: mix it up; do one thing quickly, and a second thing more slowly; do something on one corner of the room, than in another (eg. move from the whiteboard to the middle of the room). Then give your audience some paper to write or think on. Give them time to think. Make the audience move their eyes around to follow you and the conversation.

5) Breathe: taking in air is essential — for your audience! Don’t feel like you need to react the entire time. Your presentation is about your audience. Taking a breath gives them time to react. And you’ll benefit not just from their added attention, but you’ll feel calmer. (Especially if technology is failing you at the exact moment you need it.)

The only thing any audience really expects from a presenter is their listening experience will be comfortable. Uncomfortable presentations are monotonous, unchanging, uninteractive events. If you do these five tips, you’ll already be far ahead of the game.

What else makes a business presentation successful? If you are interested in building effective presentations for your own business, why not come to our Business Presentations Seminar?

PS. When you subscribe by RSS feed or Twitter, you’ll be stay up to date on upcoming posts like “How failing technology doesn’t have to ruin your business presentation”.

PPS. Interested in Building your Business Blog? or Improving your Website Content? Or Creating a Better Sales Letters? Come to one of our business seminars-we are now presenting across Ontario.