As nerve wracking as doing a presentation during an Interview may sound, it actually is a chance to show how awesome you are. Giving a presentation allows you to share your public speaking skills, knowledge of a specific topic, ability to stay calm under pressure, and more. And this is a good thing!
Another aspect of it is if the presentation doesn’t go well, your chance of landing the job gets affected. So what should you do when you are faced with the task of presenting:
- Know your audience: It’s particularly important to ask to whom you’ll be presenting. What is the knowledge or expertise level of the audience? Will they be your colleagues, your bosses, or your potential clients? Knowing this will help you determine how to pitch your presentation, what focus you should take, and what tone would be most appropriate.
- Keep your presentation structured: A presentation needs a clear beginning, middle and end. It needs an overview and a conclusion. Most importantly, stick to time, nothing annoys a panel more and tells them that you have not planned and rehearsed. A structured presentation helps you to stay on track, and also makes it easier for the audience to follow along.
- Prepare good visual aids: Make your visual aids helpful, clean and neat. If you are given a topic in advance and are using powerpoint, use it to highlight the key points you want to get across. I mean one-two sentences per slide and no more. Someone once told me that presentation slides should be like road signs. They should contain enough information to get people’s attention, but not so much that they are distracted
- Rehearse as much you can: The only way to know whether your presentation is the right length is by practicing. And, rehearsing will also build your confidence and make you more fluent for the real thing. Practice it often, in front of other people if you can, or record yourself practicing using our app. Practice using Virtual Reality can help as the mind is tricked in a virtual environment and you will get a simulated environment. Ask for feedback, and incorporate that feedback into your edits.
- Smile: It is a sign that you are pleased to be there. Sometimes a touch of humour can help you build rapport with the audience, but how much you can use this will depend on the situation.
As you’re giving your presentation, speak with confidence and authority. Make eye contact with different members of the audience to draw them in and engage them in what you’re saying. Remind yourself to take a few deep breaths at various points—this will help you stay calm, and will also naturally slow your speech a bit.