Let’s Get Down to Business – What Do I Need to Research For My Presentation!

The arrival of COVID-19 has led to an increase in interest in communication and presentation skills – both from a learner and training provider perspective. As a learner, the shift to online learning and the break from face-to-face settings means learning (and re-learning) relevant communication techniques once more. For a training provider, the field offers an exciting opportunity to provide value to eager learners. For us, the interest in communication skills is exciting! It signals a stronger interest by the world in a skill set that can help foster a more positive and cooperative universe.

With the buffet of learning options available, the process of picking out a resource for your business presentations can be daunting. You may start with friendly inputs from friends, family members, or even colleagues. These may be encouraging comments, but you may find yourself missing out on blind spots. In contrast, self-research through the internet may yield better results, but the unlimited content can be confusing!

Whether you are preparing for that one business presentation or generally improving yourself, it may be handy to have a guide on how you can approach the business of researching presentation skills. So here’s a 3-step guide to help you out!

Step #1: What is Your Context?

First, pick out the specific context you are going for – general searches of “public speaking tips” are unlikely to lead you to your learning goal. Instead, you can set out your research route and narrow your search so that you can find techniques that suit your objective. Building on this, knowing your learning context will also help reduce the suffocating urge to master as much as possible when you are just working towards a precise goal.

To build this understanding of context, you can start by extracting the elements to focus on. For example, a business presentation may be concerned with the slide design or slide delivery elements. The former may focus on the tools you need to use, while the latter brings attention to you as the communicator. Another consideration is the time available to you – if your presentation is in a week, large-scale changes will likely lead to more stress. So, before diving into the deep internet, pick out these elements and finalize your learning context!

Step #2: Identify Your Audience Goal

It is a positive habit to prioritize your audience, especially in formal settings (e.g., business presentations, pitching). These settings often come with a persuasive goal – to attract your audience and hold their attention, the challenge is to pick out the goal that aligns with the presentation direction. This can also form part of your self-research as you prepare to wow your audience members with your presentation.

Picking out your audience’s likely goal is not an exercise to be done alone in your room. The focus should turn towards the specific group that you have in front of you. If you are presenting to a senior management team, understanding their time limitations, individual interests, or historical focus can be significant. For example, knowing that your audience prefers case studies as evidence can help you narrow your research focus. You can ask around within your organization, refer to past experiences, or even check online (through resources such as LinkedIn, Quora, etc.). Identify your audience’s goal and decisively guide them to it!

Step #3: Build Your Confidence

Beyond the research focuses above, the key party in your presentation is still yourself as a presenter. While the internet or resources can offer an overwhelming supply of techniques, one important aspect that you can look into is managing your stage confidence or fear. This can touch on habit-building processes (e.g., how to start and continue a positive habit) to general stage fear/fright techniques to calm yourself down on stage.

In the realm of building confidence, you can reflect on the following three aspects to help you in your self-research. First, understand your speaking habits – think back to a high-stakes/stress communication setting; how did your body react? (e.g., hands shaking, forgetting words). Second, after narrowing down your confidence cues, prioritize 2-3 aspects to look into that best fits your presentation setting. Finally, research with the mindset of setting out a game plan for yourself – this goes beyond just memorizing a technique. Instead, identify a low stakes setting to try these techniques out before your big presentation day!

Curate the Perfect Plan!

With the wealth of information out there, navigating the resources and crafting your learning plan can be a tiring process. However, with a precise goal, an acute understanding of your audience, and a reminder to build your confidence, you can manage your own presentation preparation better. The next time you have that big business presentation to go for, try out the steps above to help you in your research process!

If you want to take your speaking skills to the next level…

If you are keen to take your public speaking skills & presentation skills (either business/corporate presentation / kids in-class presentation) to the next level so that you may communicate and deliver speeches with greater flair and charisma, feel free to check out our public speaking/ presentation skills course for adults and public speaking course for children below!

For more about our (weekly group classes) Public Speaking/ Presentation Skills Course for Adults :

https://publicspeakingacademy.com.sg/courses-and-programs/group-classes-for-adults/

If you are looking for a 2-day intensive public speaking/ presentation skills course for adults instead (for our adult learners who can’t do weekends), learn more about our presentation skills training course here: https://publicspeakingacademy.com.sg/presentation-skills-training-course-by-world-champion/

If you are looking for Public Speaking/ Presentation Courses for Kids / Children:

https://publicspeakingacademy.com.sg/group-classes-students-age-9-18/

If you are a human resources manager/ business owner in your company…

We want to help you bring out the best in your team, organization, and company. Public speaking and communication skills for the workplace, such as persuasion, remain a priority for most corporate training out there. We believe in staying ahead of the curve in sharing the contemporary communication skills to help you and your team remain relevant, competitive and nimble. Through our customized corporate training programmes, your team will benefit from an in-depth, hands-on, and potential-maximising public speaking & presentation skills training programme!

Feel free to reach out to us to curate your own public speaking corporate training programme for your team, company, or organization! Let us help you develop them into highly effective public speakers at work, empowered with effective presentation skills & storytelling skills – them giving speeches with charisma, influence and impact is something you can look forward to!

For effective presentation skills training Singapore & public speaking training for corporates/ employees: https://publicspeakingacademy.com.sg/corporate-public-speaking-training-workshop/