One of the things that new managers are usually most concerned about is the possibility that sooner or later, you can have to present. Without doubt, a little bit of nervousness is a good thing. It keeps you sharp, but too much can get in the way. So you need some good skills. And here are the basics. And the first, which will not only give you a better performance, but help you to feel more confident, is to prepare well.

And I think of preparing for a presentation as being a bit like defusing a bomb. And bomb, in this case is an acronym that stands for benefits, outcomes, map and background. Firstly, ask yourself, what are going to be the benefits to my audience of listening to me present, you're going to be asking them to give up their valuable time. So you have to know what's Gonna be in it for them to listen to you. When you plan your presentation around that, then your audience will be truly grateful. But it's important to also know what the outcomes need to be for you.

Why are you doing this? What are you hoping to achieve? So the second planning constraint for your presentation is to plan it around making sure that you get the outcome you need. We'll come back to that in a moment. The aim of Bom stands for map, map out the structure of your presentation so that you know what you're going to say when you're going to save, and how you're going to build up a logical structure that compels your audience to keep listening. And finally, be for background.

Do your research and not just your research into the topic you're presenting about. With I do have a simple rule of thumb which is never present more than about 20% of what you know. And that Make sure that you've got real depth. But also, do your research into your audience know who's going to be there, what they're going to be expecting and how they're likely to think. So, the first tip is to defuse the bomb, prepare well. This The second is to structure your presentation well, because when you have a well structured presentation, it compels your audience to follow along from the beginning to the end.

And a good structure starts with a clear introduction, a hook that gets people listening. It sets out the question you're looking to answer, and it puts forward a clear point of view. You can then structure the body of your presentation into something like three, maybe four or possibly five chunks. And these three, four or five chunks are going to answer one question in mind Be how, in which case, you've got three steps in a process, or three ingredients to success. Or it might be why, in which case you've got three or four solid justifications. And once you've laid out these three or four answers to the question, you can then go back and look at each one in some depth, and give it some structure and some supporting evidence or detail.

The other important elements of structure is to summarize all of this towards the end of your talk, and then close strongly, close with something like a thought or a question. an injunction, or most strongly of all, a call to action, asks something of your audience and this is where your outcome comes to the fore. You ask your audience to do something that links to the outcome that you wanted to achieve in your presentation. My third tip is a power, pause. All too often, people come on stage a bit like this. Hello, I'm Mike Clayton, I'm going to present something to you, you're going to have a fantastic time listening to me.

The problem with this and I'm not talking about the self centered presentation. The real problem with this is that I got straight on stage and went straight into it, and I have no permission from my audience. What do you need to do is to take control of your audience. The way we do this is a power pours. Let me demonstrate. Good afternoon.

My name is Mike Clayton, and I'm going to talk to you about four important factors in presenting well For a new manager What did I do there? I paused. And in a real situation, I might pause for three 510, even 20 seconds. And in that time, I'm going to scan around my entire audience. I'm going to take in everybody and I'm going to wait explicitly till I have everybody's attention. Know how I know that I've got everyone's attention because I've got silence.

Power pause will allow you to own space. It will be the point at which you gain permission from your audience to start speaking. And my final tip is peace pace. Slow down Too often, new, inexperienced presenters will talk as quickly as they can, it's almost as if they will get it over and done with before they even start. Of course, some people can follow a very quick delivery, it's the way their mind works, and they're very happy with that. But most of us, we find that we get breathless, and we can't keep up with what we're hearing.

So slow down. Take your time. And as you take your time, then you become in control of what you're saying. And you can speed up when you want to and you can slow down when you choose to. And that variety gives your speaking texture and richness. And most of all, it gives you control not just over how you speak, but the time to think about what you're going to say.

So, for a new manager for things to bear in mind. Firstly, prepare well. Second, structure your presentation effectively. Thirdly, a power pause before you start speaking. And fourth, slow down. Take your time.

Good luck with your next presentation.