To ensure you can deliver your message effectively and in the way you envision, taking the time to get to know your presentation venue is a must.
If there’s one thing you’ve taken from our Tip Of The Week series, we hope it would probably be that preparation is key to giving a successful presentation. Carefully preparing your slides and your script, and repeatedly practicing your delivery, are crucial to ensuring your presentation is engaging, impactful and successful in achieving its aims.
However, no matter how much you’ve rehearsed your presentation, or how well you know your script, you can never be truly prepared for your presentation if you don’t know the ins and outs of the venue you’re presenting at.
So, go and check it out.
Don’t leave it to chance
To ensure your presentation goes off without a hitch, check out the venue ahead of time. Whether your ‘venue’ is a large conference centre or just another room in your office, the principle is the same. Visit the location, check out the room’s facilities and get to know your presentation space to avoid any surprises on the day.
Taking the time to familiarise yourself with the location you’ll be presenting at will help you to avoid technical issues, calm your nerves, and present confidently and under the perfect conditions for you. Wherever possible, try to visit your venue in advance.
Check the technicals
Whether you’re a presenter or an audience member, there’s nothing worse than experiencing technical problems in a presentation. Sometimes, it’s unavoidable. However, if you are planning to use any electrical equipment in your presentation, there are steps you can take to make this situation less likely.
Check your equipment. It’s as simple as that. Check your laptop, screen, microphone and any other device you use is working properly in the space you’ll be presenting. If possible, set everything up in advance too. This way, you’ll avoid the nightmare of having to frantically set up on the day while everyone is waiting for you to start your talk. This situation doesn’t look particularly professional.
A little bit of technical preparation is key for your presentation to go off without a hitch.
Present with confidence
If your presentation is particularly important to you, or public speaking isn’t really your thing, you’re likely to be a little nervous. It’s only natural.
To help you achieve your presentation goals, presenting with confidence is key. It’s therefore important to take any steps possible to help alleviate these nerves. Getting to know your venue will help you do so.
Visiting your presentation space and making any necessary alterations in advance will remove the stress of finding out on the day that there’s not enough chairs, or that you don’t have the right cable for the screen, or the air con doesn’t work and it’s absolutely boiling.
These are the last things that should be occupying your mind on the big day. Instead, you should be focussing on smashing your presentation.
Preparing your presentation space in advance gives you time to make any changes, and it will do wonders for settling your nerves. Visiting and rehearsing at the venue will help you feel more comfortable, prepared and confident that your presentation will run smoothly.
Be prepared to impress
If you really want to achieve your goals in your next presentation, be prepared to impress. This means preparing your slides, your script, and also your presentation venue.
Getting to know the room where you’ll be speaking should always be part of your presentation preparation. Taking the time to check out your space will help you to avoid embarrassing technical difficulties and present with confidence in the knowledge that you know (almost) exactly how it’s going to go.
By familiarising yourself with your venue, along with perfect slide design and frequent rehearsals, you will be in with the best possible chance of achieving success in your presentation.
If you need help putting together that killer presentation, get in touch with us today. From expertly designed slides, to damn-clever PowerPoint development, no one does presentations like we do.