It was the perfect setting for a timely conversation on health care reform. The audience, a group of fifty seasoned human resource managers, was eagerly awaiting the speaker’s tips and strategies that would help them make sense of the new health care reform bill. Each manager had their PowerPoint handout in front of them and was poised to take notes when the following tragic words were spoken by the presenter, “I don’t know how to get my PowerPoint presentation to show on the screen!”

The audience was dumbfounded to learn that the speaker had waited until her start time to discover that she could not get her computer to connect with the room’s projector. The room fell silent as the speaker and meeting planner struggled to get her presentation visible to an audience that was growing restless. Needless to say, this first mishap set the stage for a number of presentation blunders that would be made throughout the rest of the workshop. It quickly became evident that the speaker did not know some of the basic fundamentals of a great presentation and that audience would experience a less than exciting presentation.

While there are hundreds of ideas for delivering a great presentation, here are a few tips that you can implement immediately:

1. Know Your audience: This is the most important step before accepting to speak in front of a group of people. Simply stated, if you do not know what your audience wants to hear, how will you meet their needs? Having a topic that is relevant to your audience’s needs and is a topic that you are knowledgeable in, is the magic equation that will add to the likeliness of being invited back. This was not the case with the speaker mentioned above. This speaker asked questions of the audience that should have been addressed to the event planner in the form of a pre-conference questionnaire. Instead, the presenter asked for a show of hands as to how many audience members were employees of companies with less than fifty employees. When half of the audience raised their hands, she realized that the remaining companies had no use for her employee health benefits software system because it could not protect the identities of companies with fewer than fifty employees. She essentially wasted the time of twenty five very busy Human Resource managers. During your presentation is not the time to find out that half of your audience does not pertain to your topic.

2. Know Your Equipment: Knowing how to operate your audio and video equipment can make or break a successful presentation. This includes your microphone, your PowerPoint slides, your handouts and any other extras needed. It is so frustrating for the audience when a presenter is not familiar with the technology that they supposedly work with every day. This amateur speaker was relying on the words on the screen to guide her in the order of discussion points, but not only that, she read each slide word- for- word to the audience that could read these same words in their handout. In addition, her handouts were in a font size that could not be read by an audience in their 40’s and 50’s. The rule of thumb here is to anticipate the age of the oldest member of your audience and use a font size that is half that person’s age. For example, if you know there will be people in the audience in their 60’s you will need to have your presentation font in size 32.) The speaker then chose to speak away from the microphone every time she glanced at her PowerPoint to read her slides. When possible, ask for a lavaliere or hand-held microphone so your voice does not weave in and out based on the direction of your head. The audience wants to feel connected to you and you must give them eye contact ninety percent of the time you are talking to them. Ditch the podium as it creates a barrier between you and your audience which keeps you from connecting with them.

3. Become an Expert of PowerPoint: This is absolutely essential if you are planning on using PowerPoint in any of your presentations. Nothing wastes more of the audience’s time than a speaker who does not know how to use their own PowerPoint presentation. It shows the speaker’s lack of competence, preparedness and professionalism. After ten long minutes the hostess of the meeting found a way to help the speaker find her PowerPoint presentation on the laptop that the speaker uses every day. It is okay and smart to have a tech support person stand by to help with any projector or sound issues, but if the laptop is yours, but you need to be able to operate it better than the person hosting the event!

4. Know Your Time Allotment: In the world of business, time is everything. Your audience has decided to take precious time away from their urgent tasks in order to hear your message. This speaker ended her presentation forty-five minutes before she was scheduled to finish because she had a topic that half of her audience did not care about. Because most of the audience was uninterested in her topic, she did not receive any questions from them when prompted, and therefore, finished early. While this speaker was not being paid, it still left a poor impression on the company that she represented. If she had been paid, her client would not seen much return on their investment. While it is unprofessional as a speaker to go over your allotted time, finishing a presentation a few minutes early is usually appreciated by audiences as they have a chance to visit at their tables or with partners before leaving the meeting or conference.

5. Get Feedback to Continually Improve: Last, but certainly not least, is having a process for audience feedback. What is most frustrating about not having an evaluation process is the uncertainty by the speaker and meeting planner as to how the audience reacted to the presentation. So, the uninformed speaker will likely repeat the same mistakes again with a different audience. Evaluation responses can be brutal to read as a speaker but they are absolutely essential for improvement. A speaker must make sure that a paper or online evaluation will be used for quick feedback. This speaker had a sense that her presentation was not well received but she will never know the specific reasons because there was no evaluation process.

There are hundreds of other tips for delivering a successful presentation but if you start with these five easily applied steps, you will find yourself making a difference with your audience and ultimately being invited back which is really the best indicator of success.