At some point in your career, it’s obvious that one would need to present a plan for their work depending on the type of job they are doing. It’s however essential that one starts as earlier as possible to find out what it is that they need to communicate to their audience. And for this reason, it’s important for one to be clear about what they want to present and start doing it or practicing before doing a final presentation. Eric Niyitanga, author and CEO of Genius Africa says becoming better presenter requires one to always balance details with clarity, irrespective of your audience. Also, he says that one needs to figure out if the people you are addressing already know what you are doing. For instance, putting yourself in the audience’s shoes. If they may not understand technical terms, it’s then essential to keep these to a minimum, and in case you happen to mention them, make sure everyone is on the same page. Another technique of having a good presentation Niyitanga says is to be always prepared to explain some things especially when you are highlighting or mentioning some points. “It’s just fair that a presenter is aware that while you might have a passion in a certain domain, your audience may struggle to follow or just not be as interested in the mechanisms of your solution. For this reason, ensure that you have clearly outlined the problem you are solving,” he says. Wendy Gatoya Uwase, a medical student says for any presenter, it’s essential that they also pay much attention to the tone they are using to pass the information across. She says the tone should of course, be formal depending on the kind of work you are presenting, adding that most of the time adding some humor spices up the presentation. “When starting to present your work, I still believe that breaking the ice first is important as it helps the audience release tension. Also, since sometimes presentations can be long, throwing some humor here and there can help break the monotony and keep the audience alert throughout the presentation,” she says. In addition to this, Uwase says when in doubt, avoid language that could lead to misunderstandings and cause offense where possible. Niyitanga, on the other hand, believes that doing research prior to your presentation also helps sharpen your skills. He says this could involve gathering all the information that you need to include. For instance, creating a list of ideas to identify what type of information you plan to use is important. After this, he says considering where you can source this information is important as one might be able to gather some from your coworkers and other information from online articles or research journals. “Once you have all the information you need, compile it and take time to interpret the information,” he says.
