CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION

Presentation in Public relations (PR) can be defined as a talk or meeting at which a new product, idea, or piece of work is shown to the audience. Presentations can be a terrifying experience in Public Relations if you don’t have the confidence to present your ideas in a professional and perfect manner to your audience and the truth is that there is no way one can run away from them, especially in this very field of PR because there is no how you can be a PR practitioner if you don’t have passion in talking or addressing people.

There are three basic things to be done to overcome embarrassments during presentations;

1.confidence,

2. Thorough preparation of the presentation and

3. Your dressing code.

Confidence is the key to public speaking, thus a major part of any public relations strategy. Practice your presentation by looking at yourself in the mirror and talking to yourself it may sound funny but it helps a lot. Furthermore take your time to explain your points even if you are nervous don’t allow your audience to see it or notice it and be prepared to answer the questions from your audience’s in a professional and confident manner. And last but not the least also look presentable, the way you dress will send a message about you to the audience and leave lasting impression. The way you dress is how your audience will address you.

The other important thing in presentation(s) is to know your audience, by showing them that you know what you are talking about and being able to elaborate more than what is in the PowerPoint slides hence engage them, else your audience will be counting sheep. But again do not be over confident since this can spoil everything. So depending on how you look at it, experience is/isn’t a good teacher.

I did enjoy my presentations though such as the time I was presenting a PR plan about one of our clients. It was the same thing we usually do at school as group work just that this time it was a reality. What I like about PR is that you develop ideas and finally turn them into something big and real. Even though I was presenting to my staff not the clients I still believe it was a very good experience. It was my second presentation since I started my internship.

Confidence is the number one thing always keep that in mind.

Good luck with your Presentations.

Shiroi Bats.

LUCT