Here are my 7 tips for polishing your presentations and giving maximum value to your audience:

1. Involve the audience by asking them questions and for their own stories and experiences to support what you are saying. However, only ask a question if you know they will get the answer right! You are not there to test them and a series of wrong answers will take you off-track and begin to irritate.

2. Talk for about 15 minutes at most without audience participation, or you will lose their attention. People always start to perk up if they think they may be asked for a contribution!

3. Use plenty of anecdotes and human interest to engage your audiences imagination. Human beings love stories and they will be more inspired to think about what you are saying.

4. Dont be afraid to repeat important points several times or to allow a pause for something vital to sink in. Even the most quick-witted amongst us welcomes the opportunity to mentally catch up and really appreciate a point before you move on.

5. Use plenty of visuals, whether that be Powerpoint, props or visual imagery. Being able to see or imagine something brings it alive in a fresh and powerful way.

6. You will probably need to speak more slowly, more clearly and more loudly than you would naturally. A normal conversational pace can come across as a gabble in a presentation.

7. And most importantly of all look as though you are enjoying yourself! Moods and emotions are catching, and if you look as though you are happy to be there, talking to them, your audience will be more responsive.

Enjoy putting these tips into practice and you will become a popular presenter!

Andy Britnell

Andy Britnell has worked as a professional musician, a cheesemonger and in hotels, including Claridges and the Savoy in London. He spent 15 years with BT, latterly designing and delivering international management, sales and graduate development programmes. He now lives in Cornwall, UK, where as well as enjoying the surf and the coastal footpath, he runs a training and coaching practice specialising in sales, customer service and personal development training for the private and public sectors. He is an accredited coach and trainer of the Insights Discovery System which is a model based on the pioneering personality profiling work of Carl Jung. Using colour as a common language for better understanding of self and others, it helps people operate and communicate more effectively. Andy gains great satisfaction from helping his clients to grow and learn, and from the rapid progress they make in their business and personal lives. He works constantly on his own development and practises Ki Aikido, the ancient Japanese art of working with energy.