4 Essential Skills A Great Presenter Should Possess In The Corporate Setting

Communication skills are some of the must-have factors that everyone should possess. They help one relay information to other parties without any unnecessary misunderstanding. However, many people find it difficult to engage in public speaking simply because they’re not used to being the main focal point in a room. As such, they struggle to get their ideas out or even complete a simple presentation in a boardroom. 

Fortunately, these things can be learned and nurtured by anyone. If you’re a business person or looking to join the corporate world, it’s imperative that you master presentation skills because they’ll come in handy during business training and sales meetings. Being comfortable speaking to a group of people and letting them know about your objectives can go a long way in winning your new clients. 

Of course, creating sales presentation PowerPoint slides using various templates before every meeting will help in your preparation, which is an important part of every successful presenter. But your slides are going to be futile if you’re not confident in speaking to an audience. Are you looking to capture the attention of your audience in your next corporate meeting? Here are some of the skills you should look to cultivate:

If you’ve ever tried your hand at public speaking, then you know that it can be an intimidating experience, especially for a first-timer. And if you show any kind of nervousness during the process, your authority will automatically go out the window. (1) That’s why it’s important to build your confidence before mastering anything else in public speaking. As mentioned, even if you have a full set of well-designed PowerPoint slides, you can easily mess up your presentation if you’re not confident enough to speak in front of the people. 

Apart from maintaining your authority, confidence also helps you focus on helping the audience rather than the possibility of your messing up. It also gives you the ability to speak clearly and pass your message concisely. But clarity isn’t entirely dependent on your confidence. Instead, it’s a whole other skill that you should look to build. 

Being fully prepared for your presentation is the key to appearing as a confident speaker. It doesn’t mean that you have to write your speech and repeat it until you know it by heart. Just highlight the principal points of your speech and consider the main message you want to convey to the audience. Also, try to avoid time overruns so that you don’t use the audience’s attention with all the meaningless details․ Consider participating in training programs held by the executive presentation and speaking coaches who will help you lay the foundations for an excellent presentation and take your presentation skills to the next level. 

A rambling speaker can be irritating to the audience and people will tune you out as soon as you begin showing such signs. Therefore, clarity is an important skill that should be practiced by any presenter. 

Clarity is all about the content structure of your thoughts and choosing the right and logical sequence of words to use in your presentation. It’s an aspect of communication that’ll ensure there’s no confusion in whatever you relay during your public speaking. For instance, some words may have different meanings depending on the tone and how you pronounce them. 

Having clarity when speaking allows your audience to understand exactly what you’re trying to express. At the end of the day, the goal is to ensure that at the end of the meeting, everyone is on the same page, or at least has a clear idea of what you were covering. (2)

Are you planning to nurture this skill and have a clear speech in your next presentation? Well, the first thing you should do is train yourself away from the audience. Use tongue twisters to test your clarity and speed. Reading different paragraphs loud will also help train your mouth and brain. During the presentation, it’s recommended that you slow your speaking down, but not too slow to a point where the audience will be bored. Also, avoid mumbling and shortening vowel sounds as this could lead to straining on the part of your listeners. 

Corporate presentation and public speaking aren’t all about what comes out of your mouth but also what your body communicates to the audience. You’ve probably seen people use their hands during such instances and wondered whether that adds anything to their speech. Well, it does! The presenter’s body language plays a crucial role and is one of the most important delivery skills that you should learn.

Some of the most effective factors to consider here include your eye contact. Maintaining eye contact with your audience shows a high level of confidence. Hand gestures are also important because they represent your unspoken thoughts. This makes it a lot easier for the listeners to understand what you’re telling them. (3)

Knowing the significance of your body language is one thing, but learning how to do hand gestures and other movements is another. Using open palm gestures, for instance, helps build your audience’s trust while descriptive hand movements help expound further on what you’re presenting. Some things you shouldn’t do, though, include pointing and drawing attention to the wrong places as these can easily distract your listeners.

Being in a corporate meeting doesn’t mean everything should be 100% based on seriousness. Cracking jokes here and there will warm up your audience and make them even more attentive. One skill that you should cultivate, though, is storytelling. Stories have a way of capturing the attention of your listeners while at the same time educating them. 

In a business setting, there are many things that can be difficult to explain even to the most experienced business owners. However, using stories – whether real-life or fictional – can make it easier for your audience to understand the point you’re trying to pass across. As you do this, make sure that all the stories you use are relevant to the subject to avoid digressing. 

It doesn’t matter whether it’s webinar marketing or a traditional business presentation, public speaking is an important aspect of any corporate setting. Of course, you can’t learn all the basics overnight, but you can practice essential skills from time to time. 

Confidence and clarity in your speaking, for instance, are some of the things you should look to cultivate even before you stand in front of a real audience. Reading paragraphs loud and using tongue twisters to train your speech can go a long way in making you a successful presenter. Storytelling is another skill that you must integrate with your presentation to capture the audience's attention and make sure that the message is home.