Public speaking is the most common of all phobias 75% of people suffer from speech anxiety, that is 3 out of 4 individuals suffer from anxiety when public speaking. I remember reading an article that said that some people fear public speaking over death! This morning I delivered an online session on presentations and gave the delegates some keys skills and techniques for effective presentation delivery. I covered the following areas: OPEN UP - This is our acronym for effective presentations: O...rganised P...assion E...ngaging N...autural U...nderstand P...ractise Structure All presentations need a structure; without structure, we have chaos. All we need is a basic structure, including: Intro - Tell them what you are going to tell them. Main - Tell them Summary - Tell them why you told them. Killer introductions – Get people on board from the outset. In the intro if we just start with my name is... and I'm here to talk to you about... People are just going to switch off. Start the presentation with a story or an interesting fact (relevant to your presentation). The internet is fantastic for obtaining key facts. This elevates you as a presenter and people are less likely to switch off. A fact that shocks and gets people thinking always works "Every 2 minutes energy reaching the earth from the sun is equivalent to the whole energy used in 1 year on earth." Stories always work too to get the group interested. Summary – Reinforce what it was you told them and why you told them. Keep the audience thinking and link into another session Body Language In all aspects of presentation delivery, we need to deliver the presentation with open body language, this should be open throughout our whole body, including the bottom part of our body language. Use of Visual Aids PowerPoint – Avoid death by PowerPoint; it is a visual aid. For a 20 minute presentation should have 2 PowerPoint slides. Pictures are best in presentations. Use B Button - To blank the slide and so we can walk in front of the projector. Font Size (40) - Minimum font size we use - stops you writing loads of information which people don't read anyway. Introduce bullets one at a time. Don't introduce them all at once Pictures Paint a Thousand Words so use them more than text. Dealing with nerves I believe anyone can deliver effective presentations and with the right skills and techniques and more importantly getting our head right. We discussed the power of asking ourselves empowering questions on our session to get us to think logically and not emotionally about a problem. If you're interested in finding out more about our presentation courses both face to face or online drop me an email at ralph.moody@targettrg.co.uk Ralph Moody is the founder of Target Training and specialises in trainer and management development.  You can read more about him here.