The three golden rules of formal presentations:
1-practice, practice, practice
2-time yourself
3- get feedback
Today’s post deals with Golden Rule #3:
3- Get Feedback
This ties back to golden rules #1 and #2. If you practice, practice, practice in front of someone else, get feedback from that person. Give them specific points on which you want feedback:
Maybe you get nervous and talk too fast or too quietly.
Maybe you look down instead of out at your audience. Ask your practice audience to monitor you for those quirks.
If your practice audience can’t follow your presentation, the real audience won’t be able to either so ask for specific feedback:
- Were you confused by any part of my presentation?
- Was there a part that required more explanation or details / examples?
- Was there a part with too many details or where it seemed to be a tangent?
- When did you zone out during my talk?
- How long did the presentation take? (Feedback on golden rule #2!)