Today was the last day of the YNPN Conference. While many folks are sharing some of the brilliant strategies and resources discussed at the conference, I realized something:
These people know how to give a presentation!
In addition to mastering their material, the presenters were engaging, fun, and humorous. While I scribbled down lots of ideas on how to strengthen YNPN-NYC I also couldnt help but take note of how so many presenters mastered the art of presenting. Here are some of the key characteristics of the stellar presentations I saw:
1. Discuss your experience with the topic, good and bad: One thing I have learned is that while an education is important, experience makes you an expert. Why are you best positioned to talk about this topic? Sharing the work you have done related to a topic and what you have learned increases audience trust. You are living proof, so harness that experience to connect with the crowd and make your material more accessible.
2. Focus on the tangible: The major theme of this conference was what we can do NOW as leaders. In that sense, it isnt enough to talk about vague ideas and approaches. What is one thing we can do now to move towards our goals? Rosetta Thurman took the complicated process of career development and broke it down into six key steps. What are some strategies you want the audience to walk away with?
3. Make the audience interact: Allison Fine has a great phrase for the way she presents “Sage on Stage,” that almighty wise person who just drops knowledge and walks away. Even simple questions or opening up opportunities for folks to ask each other questions goes a long way to helping the audience understand and own the information you are sharing.
4. Add a little pizzaz: Sarah Percoulis incorporated live text message polling into her presentation on being a nonprofit newbie and Adaobi Okolue and Chris Oien of YNPN_TC used Prezi.com to make their presentation about blogging come alive. There is nothing wrong with adding a fun trick to the presentation that makes the audience go “wow.”
So while I’ve got some best practices on blogging, networking, and growing our chapter, I also walked away with some new ways to give a presentation. #win.
What other techniques make for a great presentation?
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