Where to Use Your Presentation Skills
As well as the obvious places – there are less obvious applications for presentation skills.
Of course, most people hearing the words ‘Presentation skills’ will think of a work context. You might have to present to clients, to your team or to the company as a whole. Perhaps you might have a network meeting coming up. Or the opportunity to speak from stage at a conference or training event – either your own or as a guest speaker.
Perhaps, as you are reading this, you are thinking – well I don’t have to do any of those things so I don’t need to work on my presentation skills.
But you would be wrong.
You see – as we have discussed in a previous blog, presentation skills are all about giving someone / many people new information in a way that is engaging and memorable to your audience.
And we all have to do that.
Anybody who has ANY interaction with another human being – at some point has to impart new information to others in a way that engages them.
For example – you are going out with your friends at the weekend. You fancy going to a new restaurant you read about this week on the internet. It’s a Chinese restaurant – but has some unique offerings not just the usual stuff. One of your friends isn’t keen on Chinese food.
What you might decide to do is mention it to a couple of people who you know will be up for it and then create a group chat where you message everyone at the same time – maybe a video message – which talks about the problems that you have as a group (going to the same old places/lack of excitement/getting stuck in a rut).
You then talk about the potential solution (trying somewhere new, where you can be ahead of the crowd). And you may tell them about the new stuff that make this different from other restaurants (handling potential objections). You point out the benefits (special offers, loyalty scheme, great location or transport meaning less cost to get there).
And if you have done the job right, the majority of your group of friends will be chipping in with positive comments/desire to go/excitement. This all makes it much more likely that the potentially ‘anti’ friend, will curb their negativity and go with the majority.
Congratulations! You have just done a presentation.
The truth is you need great presentation skills in many situations in life that are not typically thought of as “a presentation”.
Here are a few:-
Your annual appraisal at work where you are pitching for a salary increase
A job interview
Talking to your partner about your next holiday
Talking to your kids about new ‘house rules’
Talking to your kids about anything you want them to do 😊
Applying for planning permission
Getting your GP to take you seriously
Motivating the PTA to do a new type of school event
There are so many situations in life where having great presentation skills can be a positive asset. Presentation skills are definitely not just for ‘presenters’.