Have you ever found yourself needing to give a presentation but not knowing where to start? Here’s how to transform your stage presence and make your words stick ?
If you’re going to prioritize any part of your presentation, you are better off spending the majority of your energy on the first and last minutes.
Let’s focus on the first moments.
The beginning of your presentation is critical because it sets the tone—a good first impression makes you feel confident and your audience relaxed. This forward momentum will carry through your presentation where you’ll be presenting the bulk of your data/statistics/information—so if you don’t nail your first impression, you won’t gain that forward momentum you need for the rest of your presentation. So provide a juicy tip, captivating story, or funny joke.
But here is my favorite thing to do:
Make sure you offer a free goodie- and make it awesome.
Pro tip: have the attendees send you an email for you to request your goodie. Provide them with your email address and challenge them to send you a message RIGHT NOW. They get the good stuff, and you have a new contact who is excited about your offer. That is what I call a win-win situation.
Four ideas for free goodies to share:
- Cheatsheet (people love these)
- Step-by-step guide
- Case study
- Ebook (my favorite)
If you have an audience you have already established trust with, consider giving it out in the first 5 minutes of your presentation rather than keeping it until the end. This will give your audience a little dopamine boost of motivation to continue listening to your presentation!