Challenges of Successful Presentations

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Please see response attached, which is also presented below. I also attached supplementary resources to consider. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

Topic A: Please discuss the following:

1. What are the challenges that you personally face in presentations?

Here, you will need to identify the challenges that you face when you present to an audience. Are you nervous? Do you speak too fast? Do you forget to use a range of tones to keep the audiences attention? Do you dress according to the target audience? Are you prepared, but yet forget essential facts due to nervousness? Are you easily distracted by questions that you cannot answer immediately?

2. What are some successes that you have had in making presentations?

The following illustrative example can act as a guide for you to decide where you successful in making presentations. For example: Did you avoid the opening jitters? Did you time your presentation? and continue through the list, identifying the successes you had according the illustrative example below. Also see the two resource attached for other points to evaluate your presenting behavior in terms of success factors.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE 1:

Easy Steps to Successful Presentations

We know you're always supposed to have some number of steps, but we didn't want to limit ourselves. The truth is that there are lots of things you can do to become a more successful presenter--here are just a few...

· To avoid the "opening jitters", practice the opening of your presentation over and over. When you are driving to the location of the presentation, keep saying the first few minutes over and over. You don't have to say it the same time each time, just practice beginning. This way, when the "real" start comes, it seems much easier. Once you get going, things will be much easier-- then it's the audience's problem to stop you!
· Time your presentation: go through the whole thing out loud at least once without interruption. You will be then get a realistic idea of how long it will take. If you are speaking extemporaneously from notes you will take longer than you plan. If you are reading (which we don't recommend, but it does work best for some people) you will probably go under your rehearsed time.
· NO presenter in the history of mankind has ever been criticized for too short a speech.
· Concentrate on knowing the content of your presentation--don't think you can just "wing it". Go through all the material at least once.
· If you will be asked questions at the end, prepare for the worst. Think of the worst possible questions, and rehearse your answers out loud. When you've prepared for the worst, the rest seems easy. Typical questions arise from concerns with process type things, sources for your data, how you calculated certain information, costs, critical dependencies, and delivery dates. Get familiar with this information, and things will flow smoothly.
· If something goes wrong, laugh with it. Things will go wrong, and audiences appreciate and are relaxed by presenters who can roll with it. I once watched a presenter give an entire presentation without his slides which he left at home in "the other briefcase"; he just gave the ...