For a confident delivery, it is essential to spend time practicing your presentation before you do it for real. Practicing has a much higher return on investment in terms of improved presentation performance than taking extra time to improve your visual aids, for example.
Here are 3 things that can help you get the most from your practice:
1. Reality
2. Amount
3. Camera
1. Reality
Make your practice as authentic as possible. Apply as many of the elements from the real presentation as you can: use your presentation voice, body language and visual aids. In addition, if available, have some kind of an audience (just one person is better than none) and use the actual space where you present. You can even wear the same clothes that you plan to use on the presentation day.
2. Amount
Practice really does make perfect, so go through your presentation as many times as you can. From experience, at least six times is necessary to build basic fluency in your presentation.
3. Camera
Video yourself. You don’t need an expensive system; using your smartphone is enough for you to review your performance. Watching a video of yourself is a great way to find out what adjustments you need to make to your body language and voice. Doing this will help you improve your overall communication significantly.
