Talk Your Way to the Top: How to Address Any Audience Like Your Career Depends On It

Do:

• Refine and hone your presentation so it’s on target, clear, and interesting. Keep it short. Ten minutes. Long will kill you; short will bring applause.

• Rehearse out loud, standing up, five times, all the way through. It will assure success. And you’ll be proud of yourself besides.

• Make your visuals interesting. Get help. Bullet points and PowerPoint slides made up entirely of text won’t do it. They’re boring. Use pictures where possible.

• Know your content cold. If you drop the ball when challenged, you’re dead. Your credibility will evaporate.

Don’t:

• Start slowly with the thought that you’ll pick up the pace later. This never happens! If you lose your listeners early, you won’t get them back.

• Hand out copies of your slides beforehand or your listeners will concentrate on those instead of on you during your presentation. You don’t need the competition.

• Stray from your prepared talk. If interrupted, ask your audience to write down their questions as they come up so you can address them at the end.

• Talk too much. Instead, surprise your listeners with succinctness, not length.