Koz twittered this link a few days ago about how to improve your presentations.

I hate giving presentations, but have learned a few tricks in the past to avoid falling too flat on my face and the article basically covers them all in really fine detail. It got me reminiscing about lessons I have learned every time I’ve been standing sweaty and shaking, about to open my mouth (even the thought makes me nervous… that’s why I hide behind my blog ;))… Anyway here are my pearls of wisdom:

• Speak reeeaaalllyyy slowly, and then you will probably come across at your normal speed or just a bit quicker (funny how you go into sonic mode when there are people watching)
• Imagine everyone naked. This is a popular one. It has never worked for me. Some people swear by it.
• Pretend you’re already 5 minutes in. I got this from my dad who has been regularly thrown in front of tv cameras and spoken at some fairly high profile, high pressure events. It’s quite true, the start is the worst, then you relax into it, so pretend you’ve already been going a bit.
• Keep it snappy. Dunno about you, but I hate waffling, I get bored, especially if I’m not the waffler.
• The biggest one is BE PREPARED. It’s so true. My biggest fear is forgetting what I have to say and no one likes looking at screeds of notes. No one, for that matter likes listening to someone reading them screeds of notes. So practise, practise, practise and make sure you feel confident

Ok, so it’s not quite Steve Jobs, but the article is really good.