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Positioning yourself as a thought leader in your area of expertise through presenting and speaking is a tremendous way to enhance your profile, build your personal leadership brand, extend your reach and attract more clients .

Recent research by Wesley Hills and Deltek amongst professional services firms found that presenting and speaking was the second most successful method of generating new leads, building brand awareness and attracting more clients. The most successful lead generation strategy was networking and referrals.

But how can you ensure that you are effective in presenting? Here are 7 tips to enhance your professional presentations.

1. DO YOUR RESEARCH – If you have been approached to speak at an event, make sure that you check with the events organiser who has been the most recent speakers and what they talked about. You need to make sure that you provide value to the attendees and do not repeat what others have spoken about.
2. PREPARE FOR SUCCESS – As the group you are speaking with will probably have had other events, ask the event organiser what success will look like for their attendees. Make sure that you have an understanding of the details of the location and room layout. And check where your presentation will come in the running order of the event.
3. MAKE IT RELEVANT – Once you know who your attendees will be and the backgrounds they have, make sure that you customise your presentation with case studies that are relevant to their industry, geography and background. That way you will be more impactful and your audience will consider you more credible to listen to.
4. BE TECH SAVVY – Try not to rely on PowerPoint slides to keep your audience engaged through your presentation. As they say, “less is more” – so the fewer slides and the fewer words on the slides the better. If you plan to include video and audio clips in your presentation, make sure that these are of a high quality and that launching the audio or video clips runs smoothly – only use technology you are proficient in using.
5. SEEK SIGNALS – As you start your presentation, be aware of signals you are getting back from your audience. Different groups will react to your same materials in different ways. A truly successful speaker will be able to adapt their style on their feet – just because your style of engagement may work with one audience, you need to remain open and flexible if you find that your audience is not responding as you might expect.
6. ADD VALUE – Prepare some hand out materials that your attendees can use to write their notes on as you speak. This is a great opportunity to put documentation into their hands that not only is branded with your corporate identity, but also to have resources listed that they will find relevant ideally which they have to access through your website.
7. REVIEW AND REFINE – After the event, seek feedback from the event organisers on your presentation. Also take time out to review your own performance. You might consider recording the event with the event organisers permission so that you can review your own performance. Take the time to capture thoughts and amend your presentation to incorporate your learnings on what went well and what you would like to improve for your next speaking gig.

YOUR BIZ GROWTH ACTION STEPS:

• If you are not experienced in professional speaking, search on the Internet for your local branch of “Toast Masters”, a global not for profit organisation whose goal is to help their members become more proficient in public speaking.
• Review communities where you might be able to speak to reach more of your ideal clients and set yourself a goal of finding at least one speaking engagement to take place in the next 90 days.
• Use the tips above to help you prepare to wow your audience and power up your presentation.

Speaking and presenting is a great way to reach an extended audience and enhance your credibility as an expert in your field. Power up your presentations to build your brand and attract more of your ideal clients.

NOTE: If you enjoyed this article, you may be interested in accessing more articles about branding and business development strategies to grow your practice. If so you can register to join our weekly newsletter and weekly no-cost workshops at Biz Growth Live.

TERMS OF REPRINT: You are welcome to publish this article in your own online ezine or news letter, providing the article is printed in its entirety and is left unedited and you include the copyright notice and the following statement:

©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2007. All rights reserved. Reprinted from ‘Biz Growth News’ (http://www.bizgrowthnews.com/), a Oneocean Ltd publication for leaders in professional services practices, featuring inspiration, strategies and tips to build your brand, attract your ideal clients and enjoy greater success with less stress.  Subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com/ .