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Presentation Skills Training - Online Public Speaking Courses | Rule the Room Today!

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If you have any kind of fear surrounding public speaking, we've found they get even worse when you only have FIVE or less minutes up there to speak.

If you're like me, you can end up with a real physiological reaction to public speaking that actually causes you to sweat, shake, talk too fast, forget what you're going to say, or even not be able to speak at all. That too may get even worse when you only have FIVE or less minutes up there to speak.

I've got some reassuring news for you...

You really are in good company.

40% of all people in the United States report that their #1 fear is public speaking. Forty Percent! That's even higher than fear of snakes! If you're in that 40%, these are the first steps to strengthen your presentation skills, learn to really connect with your audience in 5 minutes or less, before another one of these 5 minute presentations causes one more wasted moment of panic stricken frenzy.

The first thing you should know is that it's OK to be nervous. You just can't SHOW it. Here's a 3-step plan for you to stop the sweaty palms, and rid yourself of your fear and anxiety once and for all:

Step 1: Remove the nervous habits that show your audience the fear you are secretly trying to hide.

Remember, it's not whether you ARE nervous or fearful...it's whether you SHOW it. The problem is that most presenters aren't even aware of the things they're doing that show it. ESPECIALLY in the first five minutes. (That's when you're the most nervous). To find out your nervous habits, you'll need a video recording of yourself to identify what you're doing. (Yes, a video recording...of the first five minutes.) Look for these signs:

Top Signs You're Nervous

Shifting your weight

Crossing and uncrossing your arms and (when seated) legs

Pacing back and forth

Rubbing your hands, arms, etc

Looking away from the audience

Covering or touching your face

Putting your hands in the T-Rex position, pockets, or behind back

Loosening your collar

Blinking excessively

Overusing your hands with constant hand movement

Laughing inappropriately

Smirking

Widening eyes for no reason

Raising your eyebrows for no reason

Letting your mouth hand open

Step 2: Practice to Perfection

The primary need of your audience is to feel safe with you, and among their peers, so that's what you must deal with first...once they trust you, they will feel safe. The best way to start is with a thoroughly rehearsed strong opening.

First you have to create irresistible content...

Then you have to practice it to perfection.

I suggest you run through your entire presentation at least three times in real time and in the exact circumstances of your presentation. For example, if you're not in the actual presentation room, practice in a room of similar size. If you'll be on stage, practice on a stage. If you are at all nervous, run through the opening portion.

Practice everything up to the reveal of the topics-at least six times. I am amazed so many people take such care with the content of their presentation and don't spend much time thinking about the first impression they make when they come onstage. Some presenters even start by fiddling with the mic.

The audience doesn't know if the person on stage is the presenter or the AV tech until the person says, "I guess I'd better turn the mic up. I have a very soft voice." But these openers, all of which I have actually heard, aren't any better:

Poor Openers

"Can everybody hear me?"

"I'll talk for about 45 minutes or so."

"I know your all very busy."

"I'm very glad to be here."

"I'm a graphic designer."

"All right, I just want to start with a little story..."

"Hey. So first and foremost, I really want to um, thank everybody."

"Probably the first thing I should tell you is..."

"You guys are awesome."

"Uh, all right, before I get started..."

"So I've been up here a few times today, although I have not properly introduced myself."

"All right, let's get started."

Such awkward comments are not compelling and don't make a presenter seem credible. The audience feels disappointed, its expectations are deflated. To connect with your audience, even before you say a word, you have to make an impressive physical impression. To do that, your first need to practice your presentation the right way. Prepare to take your game to the next level and even cue yourself without losing your audience. If you want to see me model and teach the exact steps to prepare your five minute presentation so well that you know the content "lights out" click here:
Five: Give an Amazing Five Minute Presentation
It's time for step 3...

Step 3: Deliver a Powerful Impression

If you tell me you have a panic attack the moment you stand in front of your audience, I'll bet I know what your problem is. And-though all these things matter-it's not because of how you're standing or that your voice is cracking or that you're talking too loud or too fast or that you're sweating.

It's not because of anything you are doing. It's what you are not doing...

You haven't kept your focus.

You've forgotten that the presentation isn't about you; it's about your audience.

When you're meeting the audience members for the first time, when you're making that first impression, how YOU'RE feeling and what you're doing doesn't matter as much as how THEY'RE doing and how they're feeling. You should be concentrating on their feelings and their needs. When you do, your audience will SEE YOU as less nervous. And THAT results in less fear for you.

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The Power of the 5 Minute Presentation! - Presentation Skills Training - Online Public Speaking Courses | Rule the Room Today!

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If you have any kind of fear surrounding public speaking, we've found they get even worse when you only have FIVE or less minutes up there to speak. If you're like me, you can end up with a real physiological reaction to public speaking that actually causes you to sweat, shake, talk too fast, forget what you're going to say, or even not be able to speak at all.

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PowerPoint is one of the most popular presentation tools. However, it lacks interactive features, without which your presentation might become boring enough to lead people to boredom. Well, that's the last thing you wish while creating a presentation, right?

Don't worry, let me introduce you to powerful yet engaging presentation makers. Using these web tools, you can create and design interactive yet beautiful presentations directly in a web browser that make your audience go wow. Let's check out the following list.

Read Also: Public Speaking: How to Nail an Interesting Presentation

Best, free presentation makers

With Prezi, you can create unlimited presentations with full privacy control. One can even share the presentations individually or download them to view offline. Moreover, it lets you upload videos in your presentations, put presenter notes, export your presentation to PDF, and avail advanced online training customized to your needs.

Note: We've compiled a list of tips and tricks for Prezi that help you get the most out of it.

Pricing: Free for basic plan else $5 - $59 per month | Sign up | More details

Pricing: Free for basic plan else $10 - $60 per month | Sign up | More details

Being a cloud-based presentation maker, you can access your projects from anywhere. Using a variety of 2D to 3D slides, you can view and edit your presentations on any device, and share it with anyone in any language using its automated translation tool. Also, you can download your presentation as PDF, and view it offline on any device.

Pricing: Free for free plan else $12.95/user per month | Sign up | More details

Surprisingly, Piktochart gives you access to its library of stock photos or lets you upload your own images and videos to make things more engaging. Not only this, you can also import data from Google Sheets and SurveyMonkey forms. And lastly, the presentation can be shared on the web and downloaded or printed as PDF, JPG, and PNG.

Similar to others, you can upload your own images and videos apart from using its media resources. Every content you create via Genially is shareable using email and social media networks including WhatsApp, and can also be embedded directly on your website. Last but not the least, you can enable analytics to monitor your content's performance.

Pricing: Free for basic plan else $11.52 - $115.82 per month | Sign up

Haiku Deck is a simple and useful tool, though its interface looks little outdated. You can choose from a range of fonts, polished layouts, image filters, and more to create professionally designed presentations. It gives you access to 40+ million stock images on varied subjects that fit in almost every project.

Your presentations are stored in the cloud, thus are available on any device. Haiku Deck offers much more features including PDF downloads, PPTX exports, etc. Additionally, it also offers a ' Haiku Deck Classroom' subscription which includes all the goodness of Haiku Deck along with access for a teacher and multiple students in a single package.

Pricing: Free for limited version else $19.99 - $60 per month | Sign up | More details

More, free and premium tools

Google Slides lets you create, edit, and collaborate on amazing presentations. You'll find a variety of templates, fonts, embedded videos, animations, and lots more in this free app. You can edit and save presentations directly inthe cloudlike above apps. However, it can't help you create as engaging presentations as Prezi and Visme.

Pricing: Free for basic plan else $5 - $20 per month | Sign up | More details

Zoho Show supports creating inspiring slides and collaborating on them. You can import multiple types of presentations and edit them. You can also insert animations and transitions, embed videos, tweets and even YouTube videos in your presentations. The presentation can be broadcasted from anywhere, and you can also publish it on your site.

Pitch Deck offers pre-built, drag-and-drop templates to create compelling presentations. You can add graphs, images, videos, and polls in your projects, and after it's done, you can share your projects with others. Moreover, you can view your presentations from anywhere, any device. And after you present them, you can view real-time analytic metrics.

Pricing: Free trial for 15 days and then$42 per month | Sign up | More details

Pricing: Free trial for 14 days and$5 - $40 per month | Sign up | More details

Which should you choose?

It depends on your requirements but I found Prezi and Emaze simply works for everyone looking to create amazing presentations to stun their audience. But if you're not ready to pay for their premium features (which are superb, by the way), then you can opt for Powerpoint Online. It's a big package having all necessary features and comes for zero price.

Which is your favorite presentation maker? Do you know about more such tools? Please write to me using comment section below or at @aksinghnet on Twitter.

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10 Presentation Tools to Win Over Your Audience - Hongkiat

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
PowerPoint is one of the most popular presentation tools. However, it lacks interactive features, without which your presentation might become boring enough to lead people to boredom. Well, that's the last thing you wish while creating a presentation, right? Don't worry, let me introduce you to powerful yet engaging presentation makers.