Professional communication skills are essential in today’s work environment – for team building, building trust with the team to leading an organization. Communication and presentation skills can add value to your resume or portfolio, they can also provide you a competitive advantage against those who lack the soft skills that are so valued in the workplace.
Nothing teaches like practice and practice. To improve upon your speaking / presentation skills one of the best medium could be the Toastmasters meetings. Toastmasters International is an educational nonprofit with clubs worldwide where men and women develop communication and leadership skills in a supportive environment. You can even attend these meetings during the lunch hour or immediately after work hours if they are held within your office premises or somewhere nearby. If you and others in your organization are interested, you can initiate the club meetings for your company. See the Toastmasters website for details.
Verbal Advantage is another such program which could be supported by your manager and company as part of your on-going learning to improve communication and presentation skills. It provides self-learning kits which you can go through at your own pace and time.
Once you know that you have the retargets and a team to rely on to prepare and practice, you have a strong base to build your way up. But knowing is not enough, you must do. Here are some actions that you can use to build a strong base for effective presentation skills:
Begin with passion or knowledge
When you know what you want to convey you do it well and you do it with passion. KNOW your topic and be passionate about what you want to convey. A presentation made so, comes authentic and inspiring- the true foundation of presentation that speaks to all.
Controlled voice and tone
Delivery matters. To make an impressive presentation spend a good amount of time practicing your voice projection, pace control and how you transition as the presentation proceeds from start to the finish.
Impressive body language
Control on gestures, movements and eye contact is equally important as your voice and pace. Controlled and pleasing gestures are always appreciated by the audience. However be you. Nothing beats authenticity.
Observe others
We learn a lot with experience but we cal also learn a lot through others’ experiences and speeches. There have been and there are amazing orators in the world, Internet, YouTube, TED Talks makes it so much easier for us now to observe their speaking styles and learn from the all time amazing speakers. Spend a couple of hours a week to be inspired by these gurus who know how to impress by the power of speech.
We have been and always will be inspired by how words can move and motivate us. It’s a pleasure to speak well, it’s a pleasure to inspire other – presentations and soft skills are truly essential in the workplace and everywhere else.