presentation skills exercises

• Presentation Hacks

10 Public Speaking Games and Activities to Try

• By: Kelly Allison

Public speaking is a skill like any other—to become great at it, you need to practice. But if you’re like most, then you probably don’t have a room full of people at the ready that you can speak in front of every day. Don’t let that stop you from practicing, though.

There are actually a ton of games and activities you can take advantage of that’ll help you hone your chops and become the best presenter you can be without the need for a formal audience.

Speak Nonsense According to research , an excellent presentation is 38% your voice, 55% non-verbal communication and just 7% your content. In other words, your delivery matters even more than what you say, and this exercise helps you refine it. Find a paragraph online in a language you don’t understand or simply write down a few lines of jibberish, and practice saying it aloud as though you’re giving a speech. Pay mind to your tone, inflections, and generally how you can use your voice to create more interest.

Learn From the Pros Look online for speeches that are widely accepted as exceptional. The most popular TED Talks of all time is a great place to start. Pick a talk that you’re interested in and watch it through a critical lens. Analyze the narrative structure the speaker uses, what makes their delivery effective, how their visuals enhance their talk and other components that make their speech extraordinary.

30 Seconds Filler-Free Filler words like “uh” “um” and “y’know” not only make your talk more difficult to listen to, but they also make you seem less prepared and authoritative. For this exercise, record yourself giving a talk on any topic for 30 seconds, taking care to omit all filler words. Whenever you use a filler word, start over and try again. Do this exercise ten times, filler-free.

One Minute Off-the-Cuff For this exercise, you’ll set a timer on your phone for one minute and record yourself giving an impromptu speech on any topic that interests you. The only rule is that you can’t prepare for it in any way. This is designed to get you more comfortable speaking off-the-cuff and minimize the anxiety that comes from being afraid you won’t have anything to say.

Tell a Photo Story Storytelling is critical to engaging your audience and helping them retain the information you’re sharing. To practice developing narratives, find an interesting photo online and record yourself presenting a story about it. Discuss what you think the backstory is, who the people are, their dreams, their motivations, and anything else that’ll tell a compelling story about them.

Make Up a Definition No matter what your presentation is about, you should always seem like you have authority over the topic. For this exercise, choose a word you don’t know the definition of and record yourself saying, with authority, what you think it means. Pay attention to how you can use your voice and intonations to have more command and seem more authoritative.

Q&A With an Expert You’ll need to find a friend for this one. Choose a topic or job that you don’t know much about. Ask your friend to interview you about it and answer their questions as though you’re a well-informed expert. This will help you with both your delivery and authority.

Gush About Something You Don’t Love Enthusiasm is contagious. If you want your audience to be excited about your topic, then you need to show enthusiasm for it. Choose something you’re indifferent about, say, a kitchen utensil, and practice speaking about it enthusiastically. Use your voice, emphasis, and body language to make it seem like the most exciting thing in the universe.

Make a Commercial Presentations are all about selling an idea, so you should practice the art of sales and persuasion to be the best you can be. Choose an item in your home and create a one-minute commercial about it. Record yourself saying what makes it special, how it can enhance lives, and why everyone needs that item in their corner.

Where Did That Name Come From? This is another exercise that’ll make you a better storyteller on stage. Pick an item in your home, like a stapler, and tell a story about how it got its name. The idea here isn’t to be accurate, so by all means, make something up; this is just to get you in the habit of finding and developing interesting stories from anything.

Looking for more ways to improve your presentation game? Then take Ethos3’s Badge Assessment to discover your unique presentation persona.

Kelly Allison

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Ever wondered what sets a great presentation apart? It’s more than just the words you use. Think about this, voice modulation, or how you say things, plays a substantial role at 38%. Your body language like hand gestures or eye contact, or how you carry yourself, takes a commanding lead at 55%.

Surprisingly, the content—the words you speak—only contributes 7% to a successful presentation. This interesting fact reveals that being an impressive presenter is like having a special recipe. It’s not just about what you say but how you present yourself. 

In this blog, we’ll dive into the world of presentation skills, and here’s the exciting part—we’ll make the learning process enjoyable by exploring games and activities that can transform you into an outstanding communicator even in front of a large group. Let’s explore the elements that can make you a standout presenter on your professional journey!

Importance of Presentation Skills

In the professional world, the ability to deliver a compelling presentation goes beyond sharing information; it’s about creating a memorable impact on your audience.

Here’s why presentation skills are important:

1. Communication Mastery

Presentation skills are at the forefront of effective communication. It’s not just about what you say; it’s how you say it. A well-delivered presentation ensures your message is heard and understood, fostering clear and meaningful communication.

2. Professional Credibility

A skilled presenter commands professional credibility. The ability to articulate ideas with clarity and confidence instils trust and respect from colleagues, superiors, and stakeholders. Credibility is a cornerstone for career advancement and building strong professional relationships.

3. Influence and Persuasion

Presentations are powerful tools for influencing and persuading others. Whether pitching a proposal, leading a team meeting, or advocating for a project, effective presentation skills enable you to sway opinions, gain support, and drive initiatives forward.

4. Career Advancement

Professionals with polished presentation skills often find themselves on a fast track to career advancement. The capacity to deliver compelling presentations positions you as a valuable asset to the organisation, setting the stage for leadership roles.

5. Confidence Building

Mastering presentation skills significantly contributes to building confidence. The more skilled you become at presenting, the more confident you feel in expressing your ideas. Confidence is contagious and can inspire confidence in others, creating a positive and dynamic work culture.

Now that we understand the pivotal role presentation skills play in professional success, let’s dive into engaging activities that can serve as effective tools for improvement.

Activities To Enhance Presentation Skills

These activities go beyond traditional training methods, offering a dynamic and enjoyable way to refine your presentation prowess.

Explore the following activities to elevate your skills:

Activity 1: Pecha Kucha

Pecha Kucha is a unique presentation style that challenges individuals to communicate their message with precision and impact. Originating from Japan, the term “Pecha Kucha” translates to “chit-chat” in English, and the format was first introduced in 2003 by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham . Here’s how Pecha Kucha works:

20 Slides, 20 Seconds Each: 

Presenters create a slideshow with precisely 20 slides. The catch? Each slide is displayed for only 20 seconds. This strict time constraint adds an element of urgency, compelling presenters to deliver their message succinctly.

Concise and Focused Content

With only 20 seconds per slide, presenters must convey their content in the most essential and impactful points. This format discourages information overload and encourages a clear and focused presentation.

To excel in creating a Pecha Kucha presentation, consider the following tips:

Thematic Consistency: Maintain a consistent theme or message throughout your 20 slides to ensure coherence and a unified presentation.

Powerful Visuals: Prioritise impactful images, diagrams, or concise text on each slide to enhance the visual appeal and complement your spoken content.

Scripted Timing: Practise your presentation to synchronise with the 20-second time limit per slide. This ensures a smooth and well-timed delivery during the actual presentation.

Succinct Messaging: Craft concise and memorable messages for each slide, focusing on the main points to avoid overwhelming the formal audience with information.

Engaging Transitions: Plan smooth transitions between slides to keep the audience engaged. The rapid pace should feel natural and purposeful.

Feedback Seeking: Seek feedback from peers or mentors to gather insights on your Pecha Kucha presentation’s clarity, impact, and effectiveness.

Activity 2: Gush About Something You Don’t Like 

In this unconventional activity, participants are tasked with passionately speaking about something they don’t like. The challenge lies in transforming a negative subject into a positive and engaging presentation.

The objective is not to dwell on criticism but to practise the art of constructive communication and find positive aspects even in seemingly unfavourable situations.

Key Elements of the Activity:

Positive Framing: Participants must employ positive framing, emphasising constructive aspects or potential solutions related to a disliked subject. This requires creative thinking and the ability to reframe perspectives.

Expressive Communication: The activity encourages a person to maintain a passionate and expressive tone while discussing a disliked topic. This helps develop spontaneity and enthusiasm, key elements of engaging communication.

Audience Engagement: Engaging the audience is crucial in this activity, which also acts as an ice breaker. Participants must capture attention by injecting humour or providing relatable anecdotes, ensuring the presentation remains interesting despite the negative subject.

Improvisation Skills: The unpredictability of this activity fosters improvisation skills. Participants must think on their feet, respond to potential audience questions or objections, and navigate the presentation with adaptability.

Benefits of Gushing About Something You Don’t Like:

Participating in this activity provides several benefits. It cultivates the ability to find positives in challenging situations, fostering a constructive mindset. Expressive communication skills are honed through the challenge of maintaining enthusiasm, even when discussing a disliked topic. Engaging the audience under these circumstances enhances overall presentation skills, and the fun exercise sharpens improvisation skills by navigating unexpected turns.

Ultimately, this activity transforms negativity into an opportunity for growth, allowing participants to develop a positive and adaptable approach to communication challenges.

Activity 3: Photo Story

The Photo Story storytelling activity is a creative and engaging way to enhance presentation skills by incorporating visual storytelling. Participants are tasked with creating a presentation using a series of carefully selected photos as visual aids.

Each image becomes a piece of the narrative puzzle, and the presenter must seamlessly articulate the story, connecting each photo to the overarching message.

Visual Narrative Building: Participants select a sequence of photos telling a story. The challenge is to ensure that each image contributes meaningfully to the narrative, creating a cohesive and interactive visual journey.

Storytelling Skills: The activity focuses on developing storytelling skills. Presenters must describe the images and weave them into a compelling story. This enhances the ability to convey messages in a narrative format, making presentations more memorable.

Emphasis on Visual Communication: Photo Story underscores the importance of visual communication. Participants learn to use visuals effectively, recognising the impact of images in conveying emotions, themes, and key points. This skill is transferable to other aspects of presentation design.

Audience Engagement through Imagery: Engaging the audience is achieved through the power of imagery. Participants must captivate their audience by explaining the significance of each photo, fostering a deeper connection between the audience and the presented content.

Benefits of Photo Story:

Engaging in the Photo Story activity yields numerous benefits. It enhances storytelling capabilities, making presentations more engaging and memorable. The emphasis on visual communication contributes to creating visually appealing presentations in various professional contexts.

Additionally, the activity cultivates the ability to structure information coherently and captivate audiences through compelling visuals and narrative elements.

Overall, Photo Story is a versatile tool that improves presentation skills and promotes creativity and effective visual communication.

Activity 4: 30 Seconds Without Filler Words

The “30 Seconds Without Filler Words” activity is a great exercise designed to enhance public speaking skills by promoting clarity, coherence, and the elimination of filler words. Participants are challenged to speak on a random topic for 30 seconds without using common filler words such as “um,” “uh,” or “like.”

This activity aims to sharpen communication skills, encourage mindful expression, and minimise distractions to create a more impactful and engaging presentation style.

Elimination of Filler Words: The primary focus is on eliminating filler words that often diminish a presentation’s impact. Participants are encouraged to speak fluently and confidently, avoiding unnecessary pauses or distractions.

Mindful Communication: The activity cultivates mindful communication by prompting participants to recognise their speech patterns. This heightened awareness contributes to more intentional expression.

Pacing and Time Management: Participants must effectively manage their time within the 30-second limit, emphasising the importance of pacing in public speaking. This skill is transferable to various presentation scenarios where time constraints are a factor.

Enhanced Message Impact: Presenters create a more polished and professional impression for the whole room by eliminating filler words. The message becomes clearer, and the overall impact of the presentation is heightened, contributing to a more effective communication style.

Benefits of 30 Seconds Without Filler Words:

Engaging in this activity yields several benefits. It fosters an awareness of speech patterns, enabling participants to identify and eliminate filler words from their presentations. The emphasis on fluent and coherent expression enhances overall public speaking skills along with nonverbal communication, making presentations more impactful and engaging.

Moreover, the activity instils valuable lessons in time management and pacing, crucial elements in delivering concise and effective presentations. Ultimately, “30 Seconds Without Filler Words” is a targeted exercise that empowers participants to refine their communication style and deliver presentations with increased clarity and confidence.

The Power of Presentation Skills Training

Starting a presentation skills training course is like discovering a secret weapon for professional success. A skilled trainer can guide you through the intricacies of effective communication, helping you harness the true power of your voice.

Practice speaking under the guidance of experts allows you to refine your delivery, build confidence, and captivate your audience with every presentation.

Most people may underestimate the impact of a well-delivered presentation, but with the right training, you can elevate your skills to new heights.

In a presentation skills training course, you’ll discover the art of engaging an audience through various mediums. A seasoned trainer will train you on different types of presentations, teaching you to adapt your approach based on the context and audience.

Whether you write a speech, deliver a pitch, or participate in a video conference, the course equips you with the skills to excel and make your presentation successful.

A great trainer understands that effective communication goes beyond words. They emphasise the importance of non-verbal cues, teaching you to read and respond to your audience in the session. For example, when you actively listen, you can tailor your presentation to address the specific interests of your audience, ensuring they not only listen but also relate to your message.

Good presentation involves understanding these two truths: the significance of non-verbal communication and the importance of audience engagement.

In presentation skills training, every session is an opportunity to refine your abilities and unlock your full potential as a communicator.

So, if you’re interested in making a lasting impression and mastering the art of persuasive communication, a presentation skills training course is your pathway to success, offering opportunities for public speaking activities and discussion.

By Rishabh Bhandari

Books on presentation skills: essential books and resources for effective communication, unlocking effective oral presentation skills and public speaking proficiency.

Understanding What is Presentation Skills: Definition and Explanation

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Home Blog Education Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Getting the perfect presentation design is just a step toward a successful presentation. For the experienced user, building presentation skills is the answer to elevating the power of your message and showing expertise on any subject. Still, one can ask: is it the same set of skills, or are they dependable on the type of presentation?

In this article, we will introduce the different types of presentations accompanied by the skillset required to master them. The purpose, as always, is to retain the audience’s interest for a long-lasting and convincing message.

Table of Contents

The Importance of Presentation Skills

Persuasive presentations, instructional presentations, informative presentations, inspirational presentations, basic presentation skills, what are the main difficulties when giving a presentation, recommendations to improve your presentation skills, closing statement.

Effective communication is the answer to reaching business and academic goals. The scenarios in which we can be required to deliver a presentation are as diverse as one can imagine. Still, some core concepts apply to all presentations.

 We define presentation skills as a compendium of soft skills that directly affect your presentation performance and contribute to creating a great presentation. These are not qualities acquired by birth but skills you ought to train and master to delve into professional environments.

You may ask: is it really that evident when a presenter is not prepared? Here are some common signs people can experience during presentations:

• Evasive body language: Not making eye contact with the audience, arms closed tightly to the body, hands in pockets all the time.
• Lack of interest in the presenter’s voice: dull tone, not putting an effort to articulate the topics.
• Doubting when asked to answer a question
• Irksome mood

The list can go on about common presenter mistakes , and most certainly, it will affect the performance of any presented data if the lack of interest by the presenter is blatantly obvious.  Another element to consider is anxiety, and according to research by the National Institute of Mental Health, 73% of the population in the USA is affected by glossophobia , which is the fear of public speaking, judgment, or negative evaluation by other people.

Therefore, presentation skills training is essential for any business professional who wants to achieve effective communication . It will remove the anxiety from presentation performance and help users effectively deliver their message and connect with the audience.

Archetypes of presentations

Persuasive presentations aim to convince the audience – often in short periods – to acquire a product or service, adhere to a cause, or invest in a company. For business entrepreneurs or politicians, persuasive presentations are their tool for the trade.

Unless you aim to be perceived as an imposter, a proper persuasive presentation has the elements of facts, empathy, and logic, balanced under a well-crafted narrative. The central pillar of these presentations is to identify the single factor that gathered your audience: it could be a market need, a social cause, or a revolutionary concept for today’s society. It has to be something with enough power to gather critiques – both good and bad.

That single factor has to be backed up by facts. Research that builds your hypothesis on how to solve that problem. A deep understanding of the target audience’s needs , concerns, and social position regarding the solution your means can offer. When those elements are in place, building a pitch becomes an easy task. 

Graphics can help you introduce information in a compelling format, lowering the need for lengthy presentations. Good presentation skills for persuasive presentations go by the hand of filtering relevant data and creating the visual cues that resonate with what your audience demands.

One powerful example of a persuasive presentation is the technique known as the elevator pitch . You must introduce your idea or product convincingly to the audience in a timeframe between 30 seconds and less than 2 minutes. You have to expose:

• What do you do 
• What’s the problem to solve
• Why is your solution different from others 
• Why should the audience care about your expertise

For that very purpose, using engaging graphics with contrasting colors elevates the potential power of your message. It speaks professionalism, care for details, and out-of-the-box thinking. Knowing how to end a presentation is also critical, as your CTAs should be placed with care.

Therefore, let’s resume the requirements of persuasive presentations in terms of good presentation skills:

• Identifying problems and needs
• Elaborating “the hook” (the element that grabs the audience’s attention)
• Knowing how to “tie” your audience (introducing a piece of information related to the hook that causes an emotional impact)
• Broad knowledge of body language and hand gestures to quickly convey your message
• Being prepared to argue a defense of your point of view
• Handling rejection
• Having a proactive attitude to convert opportunities into new projects
• Using humor, surprise, or personal anecdotes as elements to sympathize with the audience
• Having confidence
• Be able to summarize facts and information in visually appealing ways

You can learn more about persuasive presentation techniques by clicking here .

In the case of instructional presentations, we ought to differentiate two distinctive types:

• Lecture Presentations : Presentations being held at universities or any other educative institution. Those presentations cover, topic by topic, and the contents of a syllabus and are created by the team of teachers in charge of the course.
• Training Presentations : These presentations take place during in-company training sessions and usually comprise a good amount of content that is resumed into easy-to-take solutions. They are aimed to coach employees over certain topics relevant to their work performance. The 70-20-10 Model is frequently used to address these training situations.

Lecture presentations appeal to the gradual introduction of complex concepts, following a structure set in the course’s syllabus. These presentations often have a similar aesthetic as a group of professors or researchers created to share their knowledge about a topic. Personal experience does tell that course presentations often rely on factual data, adequately documented, and on the theoretical side.

An example of a presentation that lies under this concept is a Syllabus Presentation, used by the teaching team to introduce the subject to new students, evaluation methods, concepts to be learned, and expectations to pass the course.

On the other hand, training presentations are slide decks designed to meet an organization’s specific needs in the formal education of their personnel. Commonly known as “continuous education,” plenty of companies invest resources in coaching their employees to achieve higher performance results. These presentations have the trademark of being concise since their idea is to introduce the concepts that shall be applied in practice sessions. 

Ideally, the training presentations are introduced with little text and easy-to-recognize visual cues. Since the idea is to summarize as much as possible, these are visually appealing for the audience. They must be dynamic enough to allow the presenter to convey the message.

Those key takeaways remind employees when they revisit their learning resources and allow them to ruminate on questions that fellow workers raise. 

To sum up this point, building presentation skills for instructional presentations requires:

• Ability to put complex concepts into simpler words
• Patience and a constant learning mindset
• Voice training to deliver lengthy speeches without being too dense
• Ability to summarize points and note the key takeaways
• Empathizing with the audience to understand their challenges in the learning process

The informative presentations take place in business situations, such as when to present project reports from different departments to the management. Another potential usage of these presentations is in SCRUM or other Agile methodologies, when a sprint is completed, to discuss the advance of the project with the Product Owner.

As they are presentations heavily dependent on data insights, it’s common to see the usage of infographics and charts to express usually dense data in simpler terms and easy to remember. 

Informative presentations don’t just fall into the business category. Ph.D. Dissertation and Thesis presentations are topics that belong to the informative presentations category as they condense countless research hours into manageable reports for the academic jury. 

Since these informational presentations can be perceived as lengthy and data-filled, it is important to learn the following professional presentation skills:

• Attention to detail
• Be able to explain complex information in simpler terms
• Creative thinking
• Powerful diction
• Working on pauses and transitions
• Pacing the presentation, so not too much information is divulged per slide

The leading inspirational platform, TEDx, comes to mind when talking about inspirational presentations. This presentation format has the peculiarity of maximizing the engagement with the audience to divulge a message, and due to that, it has specific requirements any presenter must meet.

This presentation format usually involves a speaker on a stage, either sitting or better standing, in which the presenter engages with the audience with a storytelling format about a life experience, a job done that provided a remarkable improvement for society, etc.

Empathizing with the audience is the key ingredient for these inspirational presentations. Still, creativity is what shapes the outcome of your performance as people are constantly looking for different experiences – not the same recipe rephrased with personal touches. The human factor is what matters here, way above data and research. What has your experience to offer to others? How can it motivate another human being to pursue a similar path or discover their true calling?

To achieve success in terms of communication skills presentation, these inspirational presentations have the following requirements:

• Focus on the audience (engage, consider their interests, and make them a part of your story)
• Putting ego aside
• Creative communication skills
• Storytelling skills
• Body language knowledge to apply the correct gestures to accompany your story
• Voice training
• Using powerful words

After discussing the different kinds of presentations we can come across at any stage of our lives, a group of presentation skills is standard in any type of presentation. See below what makes a good presentation and which skills you must count on to succeed as a presenter.

Punctuality

Punctuality is a crucial aspect of giving an effective presentation. Nothing says more about respect for your audience and the organization you represent than delivering the presentation on time . Arriving last minute puts pressure on the tech team behind audiovisuals, as they don’t have enough preparation to test microphones, stage lights, and projector settings, which can lead to a less powerful presentation Even when discussing presentations hosted in small rooms for a reduced audience, testing the equipment becomes essential for an effective presentation.

A solution for this is to arrive at least 30 minutes early. Ideally, one hour is a sweet spot since the AV crew has time to check the gear and requirements for your presentation. Another benefit of this, for example, in inspirational presentations, is measuring the previous presenter’s impact on the audience. This gives insights about how to resonate with the public, and their interest, and how to accommodate your presentation for maximum impact.

Body Language

Our bodies can make emotions transparent for others, even when we are unaware of such a fact. Proper training for body language skills reduces performance anxiety, giving the audience a sense of expertise about the presented topic. 

Give your presentation and the audience the respect they deserve by watching over these potential mistakes:

• Turning your back to the audience for extended periods : It’s okay to do so when introducing an important piece of information or explaining a graph, but it is considered rude to give your back to the audience constantly.
• Fidgeting : We are all nervous in the presence of strangers, even more, if we are the center of attention for that moment. Instead of playing with your hair or making weird hand gestures, take a deep breath to center yourself before the presentation and remember that everything you could do to prepare is already done. Trust your instincts and give your best.
• Intense eye contact : Have you watched a video where the presenter stared at the camera the entire time? That’s the feeling you transmit to spectators through intense eye contact. It’s a practice often used by politicians to persuade.
• Swearing : This is a no-brainer. Even when you see influencers swearing on camera or in podcasts or live presentations, it is considered an informal and lousy practice for business and academic situations. If you have a habit to break when it comes to this point, find the humor in these situations and replace your swear words with funny alternatives (if the presentation allows for it). 

Voice Tone plays a crucial role in delivering effective presentations and knowing how to give a good presentation. Your voice is a powerful tool for exposing your ideas and feelings . Your voice can articulate the message you are telling, briefing the audience if you feel excited about what you are sharing or, in contrast, if you feel the presentation is a burden you ought to complete.

Remember, passion is a primary ingredient in convincing people. Therefore, transmitting such passion with a vibrant voice may help gather potential business partners’ interest.  

But what if you feel sick prior to the presentation? If, by chance, your throat is sore minutes before setting foot on the stage, try this: when introducing yourself, mention that you are feeling a bit under the weather. This resonates with the audience to pay more attention to your efforts. In case you don’t feel comfortable about that, ask the organizers for a cup of tea, as it will settle your throat and relax your nerves.

Tech Skills

Believe it or not, people still feel challenged by technology these days. Maybe that’s the reason why presentation giants like Tony Robbins opt not to use PowerPoint presentations . The reality is that there are plenty of elements involved in a presentation that can go wrong from the tech side:

• A PDF not opening
• Saving your presentation in a too-recent PowerPoint version
• A computer not booting up
• Mac laptops and their never-ending compatibility nightmare
• Not knowing how to change between slides
• Not knowing how to use a laser pointer
• Internet not working
• Audio not working

We can come up with a pretty long list of potential tech pitfalls, and yet more than half of them fall in presenters not being knowledgeable about technology.

If computers aren’t your thing, let the organization know about this beforehand. There is always a crew member available to help presenters switch between slides or configure the presentation for streaming. This takes the pressure off your shoulders, allowing you to concentrate on the content to present. Remember, even Bill Gates can get a BSOD during a presentation .

Presentations, while valuable for conveying information and ideas, can be daunting for many individuals. Here are some common difficulties people encounter when giving presentations:

Public Speaking Anxiety

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, affects a significant portion of the population. This anxiety can lead to nervousness, trembling, and forgetfulness during a presentation.

Lack of Confidence

Many presenters struggle with self-doubt, fearing that they may not be knowledgeable or skilled enough to engage their audience effectively.

Content Organization

Organizing information in a coherent and engaging manner can be challenging. Presenters often grapple with how to structure their content to make it easily digestible for the audience. Artificial Intelligence can help us significantly reduce the content arrangement time when you work with tools like our AI Presentation Maker (made for presenters by experts in presentation design). 

Audience Engagement

Keeping the audience’s attention and interest throughout the presentation can be difficult. Distractions, disengaged attendees, or lack of interaction can pose challenges.

Technical Issues

Technology glitches, such as malfunctioning equipment, incompatible file formats, or poor internet connectivity, can disrupt presentations and increase stress.

Time Management

Striking the right balance between providing enough information and staying within time limits is a common challenge. Going over or under the allotted time can affect the effectiveness of the presentation.

Handling Questions and Challenges

Responding to unexpected questions, criticism, or challenges from the audience can be difficult, especially when presenters are unprepared or lack confidence in their subject matter.

Visual Aids and Technology

Creating and effectively using visual aids like slides or multimedia can be a struggle for some presenters. Technical competence is essential in this aspect.

Language and Articulation

Poor language skills or unclear articulation can hinder effective communication. Presenters may worry about stumbling over words or failing to convey their message clearly.

Maintaining appropriate and confident body language can be challenging. Avoiding nervous habits, maintaining eye contact, and using gestures effectively requires practice.

Overcoming Impersonal Delivery

In virtual presentations, maintaining a personal connection with the audience can be difficult. The absence of face-to-face interaction can make it challenging to engage and read the audience.

Cultural and Diversity Awareness

Presenting to diverse audiences requires sensitivity to cultural differences and varying levels of familiarity with the topic.

In this section, we gathered some tips on how to improve presentation skills that can certainly make an impact if applied to your presentation skills. We believe these skills can be cultivated to transform into habits for your work routine.

Tip #1: Build a narrative

One memorable way to guarantee presentation success is by writing a story of all the points you desire to cover. This statement is based on the logic behind storytelling and its power to connect with people .

Don’t waste time memorizing slides or reading your presentation to the audience. It feels unnatural, and any question that diverts from the topic in discussion certainly puts you in jeopardy or, worse, exposes you as a fraud in the eyes of the audience. And before you ask, it is really evident when a presenter has a memorized speech. 

Build and rehearse the presentation as if telling a story to a group of interested people. Lower the language barrier by avoiding complex terms that maybe even you aren’t fully aware of their meaning. Consider the ramifications of that story, what it could lead to, and which are the opportunities to explore. Then, visualize yourself giving the presentation in a natural way.

Applying this technique makes the presentation feel like second nature to you. It broadens the spectrum in which you can show expertise over a topic or even build the basis for new interesting points of view about the project.

Tip #2: Don’t talk for more than 3 minutes per slide

It is a common practice of presenters to bombard the audience with facts and information whilst retaining the same slide on the screen. Why can this happen? It could be because the presenter condensed the talk into very few slides and preferred to talk. The reality is that your spectators won’t retain the information you are giving unless you give visual cues to help that process. 

Opt to prepare more slides and pace your speech to match the topics shown on each slide. Don’t spend more than 3 minutes per slide unless you have to introduce a complex piece of data. Use visual cues to direct the spectators about what you talk about, and summarize the principal concepts discussed at the end of each section.

Tip #3: Practice meditation daily

Anxiety is the number one enemy of professional presenters. It slowly builds without you being aware of your doubts and can hinder your performance in multiple ways: making you feel paralyzed, fidgeting, making you forget language skills or concepts, affecting your health, etc.

Meditation is an ancient practice taken from Buddhist teachings that train your mind to be here in the present. We often see the concepts of meditation and mindfulness as synonyms, whereas you should be aware that meditation is a practice that sets the blocks to reach a state of mindfulness. For presenters, being in the here and now is essential to retain focus, but meditation techniques also teach us to control our breathing and be in touch with our body signals when stress builds up. 

The customary practice of meditation has an impact on imagination and creativity but also helps to build patience – a skill much needed for connecting with your audience in instructional presentations.

Having the proper set of presentation skills can be quite subjective. It goes beyond presentation tips and deepens into how flexible we can be in our ability to communicate ideas.

Different presentations and different audiences shape the outcome of our efforts. Therefore, having a basic understanding of how to connect, raise awareness, and empathize with people can be key ingredients for your career as a presenter. A word of advice: success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes dedication and patience to build communication skills . Don’t condition your work to believe you will be ready “someday”; it’s best to practice and experience failure as part of the learning process.

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Exercises to Improve Presentation Skills | Become a Better Public Speaker

Before I begin, though, there is an important point that you really have to understand. Developing public speaking skills takes time. If you have a presentation tomorrow morning and you are just now looking for exercises to improve public speaking skills, guess what? You are probably too late.

Someone called our 800 number last week looking for help with an upcoming presentation. I asked him, “How long have you known about this fear?”

He replied, “Well, I guess all my life.”

So he knew he needed help a long time ago but waited until just a few weeks before his biggest presentation to try to do something about it. That would be like a teenager just starting to learn to drive a week before taking the driver’s test. You can probably do it. However, the teen would do much better if he or she practices an hour or two every week for an entire year. If you practice the public speaking tips below a little at a time on a regular basis, you will slowly become a great public speaker. If you try to do it in a week, you probably won’t improve a lot.

Don’t Do These Things. They Will Not Help You Become a Better Public Speaker.

Before I give you my go-to tips for an effective presentation, here are a few terrible ideas that get reposted on the internet. Don’t do these things! They will not help you become a better presenter. In fact, most of these things will actually make you more nervous.

Yup. Many of the things that friends and coworkers tell you to do to become a better speaker actually cause nervousness.

Never Try to Memorize a Speech Word-for-Word.

The first thing that most people do to practice a presentation is to write it out word-for-word. (That is a huge mistake, by the way.) The second thing they try to do is memorize the presentation. These two mistakes cause more people to experience the fear of public speaking than anything else that I have seen.

I’ll give you an example. The first time I got really nervous about a presentation was when I was in college. I worked for a huge company during a summer internship. At the end of the summer, I had to give a presentation about the experience. I wrote out my presentation and read it over and over until I had the delivery down to almost exactly 15 minutes. (That was the time that was given to me.)

However, the more that I read the speech, the more canned and boring it sounded to me. So, just like most people do, I decided to try to memorize the speech. Obviously, that will make me sound better, right? Well, not exactly. Keep in mind that I was nervous already, So by increasing the complexity of the presentation (trying to memorize it,) I just made myself even more nervous.

I flew through the presentation at break-neck speed and sat down humiliated at my performance. So don’t do what I did way back then. Don’t write the presentation word-for-word and don’t try to memorize it.

Don’t Practice in Front of a Mirror.

There is another big challenge with practicing this way. You don’t get any critical feedback. The good news is that there is a much better way to practice. Ask a coworker, friend, or family member to listen to your speech. As you communicate your ideas in front of an audience just watch how they react. When you say something clearly, you will see them nod slightly. This lets you know you are communicating well.

If you see confusion on the face of your listener, that means something you said wasn’t quite understood. This lets you alter your delivery. No one is going to create a perfect speech the first time they present it. However, if you improve the presentation every time you practice, you will get better and better at delivering it as well.

By the way, if you want to increase your nervousness even more use a video recording device (cellphone camera, etc.) to coach yourself. This type of practice takes the “practice in front of a mirror” mistake to an entirely new level. (Don’t do that.)

Filler Words Are Normal. Don’t Try to Totally Eliminate Them.

Anything you reinforce you will get more of. So, if you focus on trying to reduce filler words, you will most likely — at least in the short term — use more filler words. Plus, if you totally eliminate filler words altogether, you create a bigger problem.

Have you ever watched a politician give a speech and think, “Something is just not right about that person?” The delivery may seem mechanical. You may hear the words and think that the person just doesn’t seem that genuine. Interestingly, this happens from over practice and overtraining. The speech will sound canned and robotic.

A good example of this occurred in the 2016 presidential debates. The last two candidates in the Republican Primary were Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. After the last debate, the consensus among “experts” was that Cruz handily won the debates. Trump was often seen stumbling over words and not completing sentences. Cruz, though, was an expert debater. When all the votes were counted, though, Trump won the Primary by quite a lot. The same thing happened in the Trump and Clinton debates.

When we talk to coworkers at lunch or have drinks with friends, we naturally use filler words in conversations. They make us human. When all of those filler words go away, we sound mechanical. Don’t get me wrong, when people get nervous, they often over-use filler words. The filler words become annoying. The secret, though, is not to eliminate the filler words. The secret is to reduce the nervousness. Then the filler words are reduced automatically.

The Best Exercises to Improve Presentation Skills. These Things WILL Help You Become a Better Public Speaker.

If you really want to become an effective speaker, you want to practice speaking in front of a group as often as you can. In fact, the only way to reduce stage fright is to present more and have a series of successes. The reason why most people feel nervous when they present is just that they do this skill so infrequently. For instance, if you only drove a car once every two years, you will likely be terrified every time you got behind the wheel.

Think about developing public speaking skills like dating. Both people who go on a first date will likely be very nervous, In fact, the person asking for the date will probably be terrified just before the question is asked. The second date will be equally as terrifying. However, as both people enjoy each date, the nervousness is replaced by more positive emotions. Over time, both people become more comfortable on the dates than being alone.

However, what would happen if the dates only occur once every year or once every couple of years. The person will never feel that comfort level. He or she will be starting from the initial nervousness level every single time. So the best way to improve your presentation skills is to… well… get up and present more.

The following exercises will help, though.

Speak Up in Team Meetings.

When others disagree, though, you also realize that this isn’t the end of the world. A little debate actually helps you improve your ideas. The best part about this type of presentation is that it is informal and fairly risk-free. Most ideas shared in team meetings are quickly forgotten once the meeting is over. So you get a chance to practice your presentation delivery without any long-term consequences.

If you want to lower the risk even more, try asking a simple question during the team meeting. Often, great speakers are not the people who have important things to say. Instead, they are the people who ask the right questions to get the audience thinking differently.

Obviously, don’t make the meetings drag on longer by constantly adding to the conversation. A little practice goes a long way. Your goal is to increase your comfort level speaking in front of people . That is why asking a question to get your team members talking more can help improve your speaking skills. It can also help improve your interpersonal communication as well.

Design a Better Speech.

All the exercises to improve presentation skills will fail if you create a terrible speech. If you try to tell your audience EVERYTHING you know about a topic, your speech will be terrible. Your audience will then see you as a terrible speaker.

This is why I mentioned not writing out your speech or trying to memorize the speech. Instead, try to put yourself in the shoes of the audience member. Ask yourself what you would want or need to know from listening to the presentation? Then jot down the most important points that come to mind. By starting with your audience in mind, you will be able to quickly identify just a few key points to cover in the presentation.

You can begin to practice thinking this way over time by making this a repeatable exercise.

Here is an example. Think about something you do every day at work. Pick something that you know inside and out. Because you do this all the time, you will think of it as being simple. However, someone who has never done this thing will likely have trouble doing it.

For instance, in my industry, I write a lot of articles. After writing for years, it is second nature to me. A new person may struggle with it, though.

My wife owns a bakery. She creates iced cookies that are works of art. My daughter worked at a clothing store for a while. She got really good at putting together outfits. Each of these skills can be broken down into a step-by-step process and taught to a new person.

This type of exercise can help you get practice creating compelling presentations. A simple step-by-step process is easy to remember.

The Best Public Speaking Exercise Is to Practice Personal Anecdotes.

For instance, if I am designing a presentation about how to write a blog post, one of my main points might be about creating a compelling title. I can ask myself, “How do I know this is important?” or “When did I learn the value of this tip?” The answer to that question is likely a good story.

In fact, years ago, I went to an ASTD (now ATD) convention in Atlanta, GA. The convention was HUGE. They had hundreds of different breakout meetings throughout the three days. Obviously, I couldn’t attend all of them. So, I went down the list first just looking at the titles. I quickly eliminated any title that didn’t sound interesting or informative. Then, with the titles that I had left, I crossed out a few more that didn’t match up to the quality of my high rankers. Only then did I take the time to look at the speaker bio and description.

Keep in mind, this was for breakout sessions. Your potential readers will do the same thing even more quickly when they scan your blog on a Google search. A compelling title will make them more likely to click on your post to read more.

Remember that your experience on a given topic is what your audience has come to hear. These personal stories are what peaks your audience’s attention. You can practice these anecdotes in conversations with friends or coworkers. In fact, this is an easy exercise to improve presentation skills that can become a daily task.

You Will Find a Lot of Effective Exercises in Public Speaking Classes.

If time is short and you don’t have a year or so to develop your public speaking skills, you might try a good public speaking class . The exercises in these classes break down the most important skills in presenting and give each participant the chance to master each component. For details about upcoming classes in your area, click the link above or complete the form below.

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Ten Public Speaking Exercises to Help You to Practice for Presentations

Average: 5 ( 1 vote)

They say that practice makes perfect, and that’s never more true than when it comes to public speaking. The challenge is that nothing can really make up for the time that you spend on stage, and there’s a limit to how much we’re able to get up there and talk to people.

The good news is that there’s still plenty that we can do at home to practice, and so it’s important for us to make the time to do just that. So what exactly are our options? Let’s jump in and take a closer look.

1.  Vocal warmups

Vocal warmups are usually more associated with musicians, but public speakers can benefit from doing them too. The idea is to practice running up and down scales to loosen up your vocal cords to prepare you to perform at your best. Public speakers rarely need to hit certain notes, but it’s not a bad idea to loosen up before you go ahead and deliver your speeches. Get used to doing these warmups at home too so that you can do them at conferences without feeling uncomfortable.

2. Breathing exercises

Breathing exercises can help you to manage anxiety and prepare yourself for a presentation. You can carry out a simple breathing exercise by standing comfortably, relaxing your shoulders and torso and breathing slowly in and out. Breathe deeply through your nose while counting to four, then breathe out through your mouth while counting back down. Repeat as necessary.

3. Talk to the mirror

Talking to the mirror can help you to keep an eye on the way that your movements and your body language reflect what you’re talking about. When you’re talking and you’re watching yourself in the mirror, you’ll be able to get a feel for what your audience will see when you’re presenting to them. This has been a popular trick for public speakers for as long as public speaking has been a thing.

4. Film yourself and then watch it back

This is basically the 21st century equivalent of the last tip, and it’s made possible by the fact that we all carry around video cameras on our smartphones. Prop your camera up and start it recording, then film yourself giving your presentation. When you’re done, watch it back and take notes on what works and what doesn’t. Then use what you observe to improve your performances.

5. Practice tongue-twisters

Practicing tongue-twisters can help you to loosen up and wrap your mind and your tongue around a few difficult phrases before you take to the stage. It’s a good idea if you regularly have to use complicated words or phrases, and it can also help you stop from talking too quickly. You might be surprised by how useful it can be.

6.  Practice excerpts in a foreign language

This builds on from that last point and is another great way of focusing on the way that you talk, rather than the actual content of it. In fact, it’s a good idea to specifically choose a language that you have no prior experience of, otherwise you’ll start to focus on the meaning and that’s not what this technique is about. Instead, the goal is to take the context out of what you’re saying and to focus purely on the delivery.

7. Try going filler-free

When we talk about filler words, we’re talking about words like “um” and “ah” that don’t add any value to what you’re saying. The idea behind this exercise is to talk for as long as you can without using any of these filler words. Try to get used to not using them during your regular speech so that when you go ahead and take to the stage, it’s already second nature.

8. Practice ad libbing

Ad libbing is all about speaking “off the cuff”, and it’s basically what people do for improv shows. It’s an art form that takes a lot of practice to get right, but it’s definitely worth doing. It will help you get better at talking during panel discussions and Q&A sessions, and a lot of those skills will also carry over to your regular speaking engagements.

9. Practice playing devil’s advocate

The idea behind being devil’s advocate is to argue for something that you’d normally argue against. It’s generally a good idea to keep this to something non-controversial, so perhaps leave politics and religion off the table. Instead, try arguing that your favorite movie sucks or that a band that you hate is the greatest on the planet.

10. Pick up an object and talk about it

This is another one of those techniques that are designed to help you to get used to improvising and talking about things without any practice or forethought. Set up a timer and see how long you can keep going, and consider combining this with tip number seven and talk without fillers. It’s surprisingly difficult, especially when you pick up something mundane like an orange or a coffee cup.

Now that you know a few of our top tips for practicing public speaking, it’s over to you so that you can give each of these a try. Consider setting a ten-day challenge and working through each of these, one day at a time. You can then concentrate on whichever exercises you find the most useful.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on what we’ve talked about today, so be sure to leave a comment to let us know which of these exercises works best for you. You can also follow us on your favorite social networking sites for further updates. We’ll see you soon!

Practical Strategies for Speakers Dealing with Bright Lights

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Practice Presentation Skills

About the Exercise

Effective presentation skills are essential in the modern workplace. This practice exercise allows you to practice and improve your skills in several different virtual environments, including a conference room, meeting room, lecture hall, classroom, and a TEDx-styled theatre.

After each practice session, you'll receive feedback on your performance, including on your pace, filler words, pitch, listenability, eye contact (VR only), and more. You can repeat the practice session as often as you like to improve your skills.

Topics covered

• Presentaiton Skills
• Public Speaking
• Confident Communication

Accessibility

The presentation environments can be accessed from your web browser, no installation or download is required. You can also access the scenarios from virtual reality, if you have a VR headset.

Exercise Features

Screenshots.

Conference Room

Meeting Room

TEDx Theatre

Lecture Hall

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Presentation Skills   Icebreakers and Energisers

• Complete Courses
• Course Modules
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• Case Studies
• 1:1 Coaching
• Icebreakers
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Counts as 1 download.

Creatively Speaking

Aims: • To give participants an opportunity to practice speaking in front of others, with a particular emphasis on the skills needed to think quickly.

Time: This exercise will take about 15 minutes to run. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Group Size: This module can be used with groups of up to 20 participants.

You'll Need: • A set of the Creatively Speaking Cards (one card per participant). • Blu-tac. • A stopwatch.

Notes: The timings suggested are for a group of up to 10 participants. Larger groups will need more time.

Just Beat It - Misinterpretations in Communication

Aims: • To demonstrate the dangers of making assumptions about others' knowledge when communicating. • To recognise situations where the recipient might not interpret our message in the way we intended.

Time: This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 30 minutes for completion.

Group Size: This module can be used with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need: • Nothing other than the materials provided.

Making Messages Memorable - The Rule of Three

Aims: • To explain the Rule of Three. • To demonstrate the impact of repeating three-word slogans during presentations or training. • To show the value of audience participation.

Time: This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Group Size: This module can be used with groups of up to 15 participants.

You'll Need: • A set of buzzers will add to the competitive atmosphere but are not essential.

One Man Brand - How Images Add Impact to Our Message

Aims: • To help participants get to know each other. • To encourage participants to think about their personal ‘brand’. • To understand the power of images to convey messages.

Time: This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing about 20 minutes for completion.

Group Size: This module can be used with groups of any size.

You'll Need: • Blank name tent cards and pens for your participants.

Notes: If using this icebreaker in very large groups ask participants to work in small teams and introduce themselves to those team members rather than the whole group.

Patsy’s Pie Making Challenge - Making the Message Memorable

Aims: • To explore ways to make messages memorable. • To understand why making messages memorable is essential to delivering a successful training session/presentation.

Time: This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Group Size: Suitable for use with groups of up to 20 participants.

You'll Need: • A collection of objects that your participants use as part of creating the story of Patsy’s Pie Making Challenge. • A soft ball.

Presentation Skills - Icebreaker

Aims: • To encourage participants to start thinking about what makes an effective presentation. • To identify the things to avoid in presentations.

Time: This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Group Size: This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 15 participants.

You'll Need: • Flipchart paper and pens.

Seeing Things Differently - When Messages get Lost in Translation

Aims: • To introduce different styles of information gathering. • To help participants recognise that we all have a different viewpoint or perspective. • To understand the importance for trainers/presenters to be aware of how their messages may be perceived.

You'll Need: • A single apple (or other type of fruit) for your participants to see.

Setting Up - Train the Trainer

Aims: • To help participants understand why it is important to arrive early to set up the training room. • To understand the impact of a well laid out and inviting training room on delegates. • To identify the key equipment they need to bring with them when running a training session.

Time: This exercise will take about 20 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Group Size: Suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need: • Resources to create a stimulating learning environment. A recommended list of equipment is provided on Page 2 of the Trainer Notes.

The Paper Folding Exercise - Visual Communication

Aims: • To show the importance of giving information visually as well as orally. • To demonstrate how different people will interpret the same information differently.

Time: This exercise will take about 5 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 10 minutes to complete this module.

Group Size: This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need: • Two sheets of A4 paper for each participant (and for you too).

Notes: We’d like to thank Mick Duncan of CWT-Chamber Training for contributing the idea for this exercise.

True or False? - Persuasive Communication

Aims: • To identify techniques that can make our spoken communication more influential.

Group Size: This module can be used with groups of up to 10 participants.

Notes: This exercise can be run with more participants, but additional time will be needed.

Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning

Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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14 Fun & Interactive Presentation Games for Teams and Students

So you've got an audience to energize, students to engage, or a team that needs a little extra fun — playing an interactive presentation game is an easy way to do just that.

We've done the research and found the best of these games for you: we looked specifically for games that are simple to set up, fun to play, and flexible enough to be used with a variety of presentations and audiences. Most of these activities work virtually with Zoom/PowerPoint and can also be used in person.

Which of these 14 presentation games do you like best? Take a look and let us know your favorites:

1. Live Trivia Competition

A great way to ramp up the excitement and engagement is to enable a little bit of friendly competition. Trivia is an easy way to do this—plus, it can be whole-group inclusive and large-audience friendly (if you use the right tools).

Here's a great trivia game you can run with your team, students, or any large audience. It's already created for you with questions and scoring built in to make it even easier:

Here's how to play:

• Make a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the slide deck and copy it. 
• Launch the trivia game by clicking "Start Event."
• Invite your group to join in and submit answers using their mobile devices (show the winners automatically).
• Interact and play during your presentation!

This trivia game has questions on many topics to keep your audience's attention and appeal to everyone. It only takes 10-15 minutes to play, so it's a great game for long discussions! Also, this interactive activity is free for up to ten participants and is totally customizable.

2. Sing and Swing 

To really liven up your group, encourage your listeners to play Sing and Swing. This activity is best for long presentations because it boosts energy, creates a fun, light-hearted environment, and makes people laugh a lot. 

Here's how to play: 

• Before your presentation, pick a well-known song and rewrite the chorus (replace parts of it with words and phrases from your presentation) 
• When you're ready to play, show the song on your screen. 
• Invite your audience to sing it with you!

If you have a fun group or a class of energetic students, consider adding choreography to engage your audience even more. 

3. 20 Questions

If you want a presentation game that requires your listeners to talk more than you, 20 Questions is the one to play! A classic and simple activity, this game immediately boosts engagement and gets people laughing. 

Here's how to play: Have someone put an appropriate image or word on the screen behind you (this can be an audience member you trust or a colleague or co-presenter). To make things more fun, put on a blindfold so that everyone knows you can't cheat. From there, ask 20 "yes or no" questions to guess what's displayed on the screen. Your group should respond "yes" or "no" to guide you to the correct answer. 

4. Scavenger Hunt Challenge

To get your audience out of their seats, a scavenger hunt challenge is one of the best interactive games for presentations. It'll immediately energize your audience , team, or students while giving them a fun way to learn.  

There are tons of in-person and virtual scavenger hunt ideas you can use to dive deeper into your topic or help everyone learn about one another. But if you want a ready-to-play game that you can instantly launch without having any tech skills, here's a fun one to play: 

• Use an email address and password to create a free account here: https://slideswith.com/ (a free account guarantees up to ten people can play at no charge). 
• Click the game and press "Copy and use this slide deck." 
• In the top right corner, click "Start Event."
• Ask listeners to join the game by using their mobile devices to scan the QR code. Players should continue using their mobile devices to submit answers to questions.
• Have everyone start hunting for items! 

This activity is a particularly fun game because it's a photo-hunt, show-and-tell challenge! That means your audience will not only get out of their seats to find items, but they'll also get to take pictures and share and discuss photos of what they find. This conversational element will help engage your group! 

5. Group Word Clouds

Whether you're speaking to team members, students, or conference-goers, this activity lets you ask questions and get your listeners' thoughts on specific topics. 

This game is the perfect way to start your presentation, especially if you're discussing something with a wide range of opinions or are unsure how much your listeners know about a certain subject. Group Word Clouds is also beneficial if you want to do a quick meeting pulse or know how your listeners feel going into your presentation—understanding their energy levels and mood can help you adjust (if necessary) to get maximum engagement and excitement.

To enjoy this activity, keep things simple by using a tool that already offers a ready-to-play Group Word Clouds game. Here's a popular one you can launch immediately: 

• Create a free account by entering an email and password here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the game and then copy it (the button to do so is right underneath the slide deck).
• Press "Start Event" in the top right corner. 
• Tell participants to play by scanning the QR code. 
• Create word clouds and have fun!

This interactive game only takes 5-10 minutes to play, so it's a fast, fun way to engage your audience and feel out the room. Players can use their mobile devices to answer questions. This activity is also free for up to 10 people and is easy to personalize.

6. The Get to Know You Game

This activity is one of the best presentation games if you have a small group that doesn't really know each other. The Get to Know You Game is a creative way to do introductions, and it's really simple.

Here's how to play the game: Before the event, ask group members to bring a favorite song or item to the presentation (you can do this by emailing them). When you're ready to play, ask each person to introduce themself, present their song or item, and explain why they picked it. For those sharing a song, have them play it on their phones before they explain why it's their favorite. 

7. Live Poll Questions 

When you have a large group, it's not easy to find ways to boost engagement—but poll questions are the solutions, especially when they're live and interactive. With this unique setup, large groups engage by answering questions and seeing their answers displayed in a fun way. 

Your job is to make sure you actually find a game that showcases responses uniquely to captivate your group. For a quick and great option, here's a popular icebreaker activity that promises to display responses using fun formats like word clouds, donut charts, live graphs, and per-player: 

• Create an account for free to access the game:  https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the slide deck and press the button to copy it. 
• Look in the top right corner of the deck and press "Start Event."
• Invite your group to play the game. They only need to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code. 
• Start polling your audience!

This activity is one of those fun presentation games everyone will want to enjoy, so invite all of your team members and students to participate. This game can accommodate up to 250 players and takes 5-10 minutes to complete. Tell your group to use their mobile devices to submit their responses. 

8. Assumptions 

This interactive game is a great way to break up your presentation to see who's paying attention and who can answer questions pertaining to your topic. 

• Ask your audience to stand up (for virtual presentations, make sure everyone's video is on). 
• Show true or false statements on the screen one by one. 
• Tell people to raise a hand if they think the statement is correct and sit down if they think it's incorrect.
• Continue until one person is left standing.
• Award the winner. 

This activity can be as short and challenging as you want. Also, if your presentation is long, you can play multiple rounds to break up your speaking time and test your audience throughout your discussion.  

9. Controversial Questions 

Want to see where your audience, students, or team lands on controversial topics? Then, energize your presentation with a fun, creative game called Controversial Questions. This activity has prompts that inspire lively debates, so it's a great way to get your group excited and chatty. 

However, to maintain a positive environment, make sure to find a tool that offers an office-friendly, classroom-friendly, and conference-friendly game. You don't want to sour the mood by creating uncomfortable division during your presentation. To make sure this game is fun and light-hearted, here's a popular one that's suitable for all audiences and ages: 

• Sign up for a free account by inputting an email address and password here:  https://slideswith.com/pricing  
• Click the game and press the button that says, "Copy and use this deck." 
• Press "Start Event" (the button is in the top right corner). 
• Have participants join the fun by asking them to scan the QR code with their mobile devices. 
• Get controversial and play! 

This interactive game for presentations asks fun (but appropriate) questions like:

• Does pineapple belong on pizza?
• Does the person flying in the middle seat get both armrests?
• Should the toilet roll go over or under? 

Players should use their mobile devices to submit answers. Up to ten people can play for free, and you can customize the game by updating the questions!

10. Word of the Day 

With this activity, you can keep your audience, team, or students engaged throughout your entire presentation. This  game requires listeners to be alert and recognize whenever you say the word of the day. 

Here's how to play: At the beginning of your presentation, tell your group the word of the day (it can also be a phrase if you'd prefer). Say that you'll weave the word into your presentation and that your audience must shout it out whenever you mention it. 

11. Mini Activity: Group Icebreaker

Whether you're doing an in-person or virtual presentation, you need to warm up your audience to get things started on a positive note. The best way to do that is with a quick icebreaker game. 

However, make sure your questions are fun, positive, and engaging. You can easily do this by finding a game that already has the best icebreaker questions included. Here's one that's ready to play (and requiring no tech skills to launch): 

• Input an email address and password to make a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click the deck and copy it (press "Copy and use this deck). 
• Click the button in the top right corner that says "Start Event."
• Invite participants to play by asking them to scan the QR code. 
• Break the ice to warm up your audience!

Your group should use their mobile devices to submit responses to poll questions. Also, this game accommodates up to 250 players, but only ten people can join for free.

12. Process of Elimination 

This activity is one of the best games for presentations because it's simple yet fun and great at helping listeners get to know each other. You can play it at the beginning of your presentation or in the middle to give your group a chance to stretch their legs. 

• Before your event, create a list of "yes or no" questions. 
• Once you're ready to play, tell your group to stand up (if you're doing a virtual presentation, make sure everyone's video is on). 
• Ask each question one by one. 
• Tell attendees to stand if their answer is "yes" and sit if their answer is "no." 

The questions can relate to your topic or be totally random. Also, if you'd prefer to thin out the number of people standing, you can take a creative twist and ask your questions by saying something like this: "Stay standing if (insert scenario)." When phrasing each question this way, the game will end with one person standing. To acknowledge the winner, you can give them a round of applause or award them a prize. 

13. Conference Opener Icebreaker 

If you're speaking at a big conference, you need an interactive game for presentations that can get everyone involved and ensure every voice is heard. To achieve these goals, you should create an icebreaker game that works for large groups . 

Using an easy, intuitive template is the best step to take. That way, you don't have to start from scratch or spend hours making your game. For a template that requires no code or tech-savviness to build on, here's the best option: 

• Sign up by making a free account here: https://slideswith.com/  
• Click on the game. On the next page, click the button to copy and use the deck. 
• Customize the template using the instructions HERE . 
• During your presentation, press "Start Event" in the top right corner. 
• Ask the group to use their mobile devices to scan the QR code and join the fun. (Also, make sure participants use their mobile devices to submit answers.) 
• Play and engage your audience!  

This template has fun, interactive features built in to keep your large audience engaged. Those features include polls, word clouds, and ratings. Just make sure you sign up for a paid plan to accommodate the large number of people in your group—the free account only works for up to ten players. 

14. Two Truths and a Lie 

This classic game is a fun, energizing way to help your listeners get to know one another. It's perfect for small in-person or virtual groups and is an ideal activity for the beginning of your presentation. 

Here's how to play: Pick any topic (for the purposes of this article, the topic will be "movies"). In no particular order, say two movies you've really watched and one you haven't watched. Ask your audience to guess which statement is the lie. The winner picks the next topic and says two truths and a lie. 

Be Memorable With Presentation Games

Oftentimes, people forget presentations within a week or even days, and that's because the discussions are boring. But you don't work hard preparing a presentation for it to be forgotten. If you want your message to stick, all you have to do is make it enjoyable without being corny.  

If you want to be remembered and actually get people engaged, you need to make your presentation fun and enjoyable, without coming off as corny or desperate to please. Ivan Dimitrijevic, 10 Secrets of Making Every Presentation Fun, Engaging, and Enjoyable

Luckily, the interactive presentation games in this article are unique and exciting—they're far from corny. So, use them for your upcoming presentations to make your messages compelling and memorable. 

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EnthuZiastic

13 Most Effective Games and Activities for Public Speaking

If you believe that public speaking comes naturally , then you are mistaken ! It is a communication skill that can be studied and honed.

The best public speakers have dedicated time to perfecting their art . That involves proper communication skills, body language, and polished public speaking activities . They could put in many hours of practice, engage with a tutor, or enroll in speaking classes.

The best part is that you will develop your public speaking abilities and talk more persuasively in time. Public speaking activities can significantly enhance your success. Here, we’ll go through the 13 most effective games and activities for public speaking that may teach you how to talk passionately.

1. Talk Pointlessly

A great oration is, as per a study , 38% your tone, 55% nonverbal cues, and only 7% your material . Therefore, this activity for public speaking will help you improve your presentation since it matters more than the content.

The best way to do this is to pick a passage in an unfamiliar dialect over the internet. You can also jot down a nonsense paragraph and practice reading it loudly as if you were addressing an audience.

Notice how you are utilizing the ring of your voice to arouse interest amongst your audience. Pay close attention to your pitch, mannerisms, and overall delivery. You can also do this public speaking activity in front of the whole class.

2. Study the Experts

Try looking up talks regarded as extraordinary in the public eye available on the internet. The most well-known TED Talks ever are a fantastic starting point .

Choose a speech that interests you, and then observe it critically. Examine the speaker’s use of storytelling . The use of graphics plays a vital role in making a presentation successful. Also, note the other elements that help their speech stand out.

3. Thirty Seconds Without Fillers

Filler words are brief, empty phrases or sounds that we employ in conversation to fill up short gaps as we consider what to speak next. At times, we unwittingly speak our ‘umms,’ ‘uhs,’ and ‘ers,’ which interrupt the flow of our talks.

They not only create difficulties in following you when you speak but also give the impression that you lack confidence and authority.

To do this particular activity for public speaking:

• Record yourself speaking for thirty seconds on any subject.
• Make sure you leave out the filler words.
• When an ‘um’ comes up, restart and give it another go—ten times through, without any fillers.

4. Extempore

To do this activity for public speaking, capture yourself speaking spontaneously about any subject you find interesting. The only restriction is that you cannot arrange the topic and the speech beforehand . You can use your device’s stopwatch to start a one-minute countdown .

This exercise is meant to help you feel relaxed when speaking spontaneously. It will also help lessen the stress associated with worrying that you will run out of words to convey your idea. Try carrying out this public speaking activity in front of the class. Familiar faces always help!

5. Storytelling Using Pictures

Storytelling is essential to keep your listeners interested and assist them in remembering the particulars you’re delivering.

Please talk about the characters’ backgrounds, personalities, goals, driving forces, and everything else that will help write a fascinating tale about them.

6. Construct a Meaning

Whatever the subject of your speech, you must always come across as an expert on the subject.

To carry out this activity, select a term you are unfamiliar with . Then record yourself trying to give meaning to that unfamiliar word. Pay attention to how you can use your tone of voice to project a stronger sense of authority and influence.

Find Out More About Public Speaking as a Skill

Read Is Public Speaking a Skill to find out.

7. Questions for a Professional

To do this activity for public speaking, you’ll require a friend .

Pick a profession or subject that you are unfamiliar with. Invite a pal to ask you about it, and when they do, respond to their inquiries as if you were an experienced authority. This is a great exercise that will improve your confidence and presentation .

8. Prattle on about a Subject You Dislike

Excitement spreads easily. You must be EnthuZiastic about your issue for your listeners to be as well.

Pick anything you don’t care about, like a household tool, and practice talking excitedly about it. Use your tone, intensity, and gestures to convey the impression that it is the most exciting item in the world.

9. Write an advertisement

Since speeches are all about promoting a topic, develop the craft of marketing. In this way, you will be able to convince anyone and everyone.

Film yourself describing the object’s unique qualities, how it may help society, and why each person requires it in their possession.

10. The Origin Story

One activity for public speaking that will improve your storytelling abilities on stage.

Choose a household object, such as a stapler, and share a story of its name’s origins. Create your own story if you like. The goal here is to create the practice of locating and creating compelling narratives out of anything, not to be historically correct.

11. A Different Conclusion

OTT platforms have brought countless sitcoms and movies to our fingertips. We are glued to a show if it has a good plot and a cliffhanger. But, the ending of a show is what we take home. Now imagine your favorite show having two parallel finishes!

To do this activity for public speaking, you must start by choosing a popular television program or film. And you give it a different finish . Let your creativity run its entire course!

12. One Lie and Two Truths

This one is often relatively simple to beat and has tremendous excitement. And you’ll discover that while some people are good at it, it’s highly entertaining to see others stumble whenever they attempt to lie.

Call up all your close friends to partake this activity for public speaking. Now, o ne of your friends will stand up and say three facts about themselves . The catch here is that only two of them can be genuine . The third must be a fake .

The group must then decide which of the three was false before determining whether they were right. This one is, therefore, relatively short and incredibly simple, and you are not required to go into considerable length about it, but it is delightful.

You will win this game if you keep an eye on your friends’ behavioral cues. According to scientists , nonverbal communication helps us to understand a person’s personality. Also, it is an important aspect that will help you in your professional, as well as, your personal life.

Take note of things like eye contact, expressions, posture, hand movements, and voice tone since there are many different ways that people convey information.

13. A False Vacation

This activity for public speaking is mostly made up of one photo or a collection of similar photographs. It can be a farmhouse where you see pictures of animals, the barn, or anything amusing.

You must provide one, two, or three phrases for every picture before moving to the following one. The following image must then be used to carry on the narrative. As a result, you have to keep on making up stories to carry on the narrative.

How can public speaking skill be improved?

The best way to develop the skills for public speaking is to start small and keep practicing. Study the great public speakers, especially their mannerisms and tone.

How do you teach public speaking skills?

As a teacher, you need to understand your students. Please help them be the best version of themselves by providing feedback after every session. Do not forget to be patient with them.

What makes an excellent public speaker?

Speaking confidently in front of an audience is seen as more specific, correct, informed, clever, and likable than speaking less assuredly. Feeling anxious is normal, but if you want to succeed in public speaking, you must overcome your anxiety.

How to gain confidence in public speaking?

Maintaining eye contact with your listeners, using hand gestures to highlight points, and moving around the stage will help you appear confident on stage.

Being an excellent public speaker involves delivering engaging stories. You will become a more effective public speaker if you train yourself on how you can come up with innovative ideas for storytelling in the moment.

To educate yourself on being an excellent public speaker, you should frequently practice and make it enjoyable. It is similar to learning to ride a bike. In no time at all, you will develop the necessary skills.

If you had fun practicing these fun games and activities for public speaking, let us know in the comments.

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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Public Speaking Games

7 fun-filled speech activities for kids of all ages.

By:  Susan Dugdale   | Last modified: 03-29-2022

If you're looking for fun-filled  speech activities  check these out.

There are  7 tried and tested  public speaking games  on this page - ones that have been a great 'yee-haa-hooray' splendiferous success for me.  You'll find they'll adapt easily to suit children of all ages;  from around middle school to adulthood and don't require a great deal of set-up preparation.

• Connect the dots
• Tell us the history of
• Story starters
• The big fat lie
• In the news today

More public speaking games

• Guidelines for the games

Use them in your class room, with the members of your speech club, as an extension activity for a life skills or communications program, or for home schooling with your family.

They'll help by-pass anxiety, develop and nurture competent, confident public speaking skills, and do it with a large, welcome dollop of fun!

*  If you're not sure about how to introduce games to your class or group, scroll down to the foot of the page. You'll find handy 'how to begin' guidelines there.

1. Connect the Dots

How to play

Prepare a collection of word cards each with a familiar noun on it. You'll need at least 100. They could be names of famous people, common objects, colors, animals ... For example : bird, wheelbarrow, hammer, cow, witch, moon, grass, hat, elephant, computer, book, vase, elbow, photo, green, candlestick, shoe, painting, mug, plane, eclipse, Queen Elizabeth,  operation, halo, knife, eye, storm, girl, pillow, lid, thermometer, jungle, barn, wheel, thistle, steam, mud, bike, pink, Madonna  ...

Put the word cards into box or non-see through bag.

A player picks two cards and then must immediately begin telling a story connecting both words together convincingly. The story needn't be long, (one to two minutes is enough), complicated, or true!

Once your class is comfortable with connecting two words, add to your word collection and increase the number of cards selected to three or even four.

What this game teaches

In a word - transitions!

Moving from one idea to another smoothly, in a way that can be readily understood and followed by your audience, is a must-have public speaking skill.

Connect the Dots gives people the opportunity to practice.   It doesn't matter how disparate the "dots" or ideas  appear to be, a way can be found to link them, and with practice the ability to make those connections will become stronger and stronger.

An added benefit of the game is listening and learning from each other.

Connect the Dots - an example story

I've picked my two words. They are Queen Elizabeth and bike, and here's my speech!

"When you think of Queen Elizabeth, what do you see in your mind? Do you see an older woman wearing a diamond studded tiara staring grimly into the camera?

That diagonal sash across her chest proclaims dominion over the commonwealth realms. These include countries as diverse as Canada and Barbados - 32 of them in all. That's serious leadership - around 128 million people, including Prince Phillip, her husband, their four adult children, assorted wives and grandchildren.

Her daily duties would make most of us wince. She answers letters, talks to government officials, reads briefing papers, plans her diary, makes calls to charities, hospitals, factories, schools, museums or military units, performs civic duties like openings and investitures, and tours . That routine hasn't varied for the last 56 years. The Queen is an institution, revered and respected.

But she's also a person. And despite how difficult it may be to imagine, she'll have good days, bad days and days when, in the words of Cyndi Lauper, a girl just wants to have fun.

In my imagination, she wants to poke her tongue out at all the 'must and mustn't dos', toss the tiara sideways and shuck off the designer gowns.

She'd like to walk barefoot through wet grass and float on her back down a summer stream blowing bubbles. She'd like to gallop a horse around Hyde Park without a minder and in the afternoon ride a bike. Starting at the top of Primrose Hill she'll fly down, pedals whirring, yelling 'Look Ma no hands.' It will be glorious. It will be wonderful, and she will be free.

Perhaps it was a glimpse into unfettered being that convinced her to take up sky-diving with James Bond for opening of the 2012 Olympics. 86 years old and starring in a royal performance. She showed us. It's never too late to 'get on yer bike' in whatever form it takes. God save the Queen!"

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2. Tell us the history of ...

Prepare a starter list of events or things. Write them on slips of paper.

For example: a postage stamp, birthday cake, books, a zebra's stripes, a chimney, the tooth fairy, common sayings like 'a penny for your thoughts', 'a red rag to a bull', 'a pinch and a punch for the first of the month', April Fools Day, a wheel, a Christmas tree, ice cream, a ladder, Father Christmas, May Day, a siren, shaking hands on meeting someone...

Put the topic cards/papers into a non-see through bag. 

When it's their turn a player pulls a topic from the bag. They then must give an account of the history (story) behind the thing or event they've drawn.  It needn't be factual!  Encourage imagination, outrageous lies, flights of fantasy...

The goal of this public speaking game is sustained credible fluency. Aim for 1 - 2 minutes per story.

3. End lines

You'll need a collection of endings written on slips of paper.

For example: 'Just do it', 'Diamonds are forever', 'He's fallen in the water', 'Some like it hot', 'His bark is worse than his bite', 'Love makes the world go round', 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away', 'First up, best dressed', 'King for a day', 'Funny money', 'Laughter is the best medicine'...

Put the end lines into a non-see through bag.

Each player takes a turn to take an ending from the bag. The task is to tell a 1-2 minute story ending with the line they have selected.

4. Story Starters

Write opening sentences or phrases on slips of paper. You'll need one for each member of your group and then some more. For example: 'It was a dark and stormy night', 'I wish people would not say...', 'Yesterday I saw a herd of cows ', 'My favorite activity is bird watching', 'The wisest saying I ever heard was...', 'In 20 years time I will be...', 'It made me yell', 'All I want for Christmas is...', 'Something is terribly wrong...', 'The little voice inside my head...', 'This is the secret I've never shared before', 'I never knew what happened...', 'Sometimes I just want to...', 'You know it's Summer when...', 'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you', 'The story made me want to...','I heard the best news this morning', 'The sound of people laughing...'

Put the slips of paper into a non-see through bag.

Nominate a person to begin. He/she reaches into the bag and pulls out a story starter. The starter they've drawn must be used to open their story.   A story can be built and extended however the speaker wishes.

5. Oink Substitution

In this game a commonly used word is chosen and then substituted with the word ' oink '. For example: If the selected word is  I , the speaker says  oink  instead.

Oink  can be played several ways.

Playing Oink using well-known stories

Make copies of well-known children's stories. For instance - Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man or Three Little Pigs. (You will find many of them here: american literature.com has hundreds available.)

Next choose a regularly occurring word in each piece to substitute.

Eg. The word 'she' would be suitable in The Gingerbread Man story . Here's the opening paragraph given the 'oink' treatment.

"One day, the cook went into the kitchen to make some gingerbread. OINK took some flour and water, and treacle and ginger, and mixed them all well together, and OINK put in some more water to make it thin, and then some more flour to make it thick, and a little salt and some spice, and then OINK rolled it out into a beautiful, smooth, dark-yellow dough."

Decide who is to start. Ask them to choose a story. They are to read aloud for approximately one minute making sure they use 'oink' in place of the selected word.

Repeat for each member of your group.  Try to have each new reader of the same story pick up from where the last reader of it left off rather than repeat the same passage. 

Encourage authoritative readings, full of passion and drama!   

Using Oink as an extension activity

Another way to play  Oink  is as an extension of already known games. Try it with  One Minute Speeches , Story Starters or End Lines.

Once your group is confident, add the ' oink ' factor for even more fun! You'll find substitution hones thinking-while-you're-speaking skills really well.

6. The BIG Fat Lie

This game encourages the use of the imagination, develops fluency and, it's fun. In playing it your group will learn about body language too. How do you know when somebody is lying? How can you tell?

Each speaker is to stand so that everyone can see them clearly and share 3 things about themselves on a theme you set.

Examples of theme: holidays, the future, my favorite after school activities, when I was young, my beliefs, the best books I've read, the best adventures I've had..., my family...

Two of the things they say about themselves in relation to the theme are to be true. The third is not .

When they've finished speaking, ask the class/group to identify the lie. And when they have, ask them how they knew. What alerted them to it being untrue?

PS. This makes a great icebreaker for groups getting together for the first time.

7. In the News Today

In the last activity making up of this collection of 7 public speaking games, your class/group are broadcasters, anchor people for a news show.

The news is whatever has happened during the day. It could be an event on the way to school like a traffic jam. It might be a new menu in the canteen or lunch room. It could be an announcement the principal made.

It doesn't matter how trivial the happening; encourage the big news treatment for anything at all, even a new set of pencils!

The aim of the exercise is give whatever subject they choose the standard news format. They'll need to cover who, what, where, why, when and how .

Once they've mastered that encourage experimentation; adding introduction hooks, on-the-spot interviews, switch backs and summaries.

If you liked these games ...

You'll love my ebook!

28 public speaking games (with many more variations and extensions), full instructions, PLUS printable topic, tongue twister, poem and image sheets.

A complete one-stop-select-print-go public speaking resource for busy people.

Find out more   >>

Before you begin the games with your class

Lead in guidelines.

Taking the time to set the games up will ensure they go well and go on to become an accepted and eagerly anticipated part of your classroom activities.

• If your class is new to playing public speaking games start with the simple activities first, for example, the Story Starters.
• Model or demonstrate each game before you ask them to play themselves.
• If it's too threatening to have the entire focus of the class on one person at a time - split into smaller groups of 4-6 players and have them work simultaneously. It will be rowdy but worth it!
• Establish your ground rules for positive participation. You can check out the ones I used in my teaching here: rules for public speaking games
• Include full class quickfire feedback sessions at the end of each game. I found these invaluable for drawing attention to and reinforcing what had been done well. Be sure to acknowledge any gain - not matter how small!
• Keep the timing snappy. Too much of any one particular activity will become tedious. Keep it flowing along.

For more freebie fun filled public speaking games to play with your class:

• 5 best-loved improv games
• 10 impromptu speaking practice activities
• Developing word power exercises
• And yet more public speaking activities , some of them with printables to download.

What's the difference between the freebie public speaking pages and your ebook?

The ebook has the best of all the games on my site (including the ones on the pages above) and then some more.

Plus, it has full instructions for using each of the games and printables. It is the type of one-stop-time-saving resource I wanted to find when I was full time teaching and didn't .

My freebie pages are good but if your commitment to leading/teaching a public speaking class is ongoing, the ebook is better, more complete.

Why not check it out?

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7 Presentation Skills to Wow Your Audience

We’ve all been there, sitting in a presentation or speech, struggling to keep our eyes open as the presenter drones on. Maybe the content is interesting, but the delivery is lacklustre. Or maybe the delivery is fantastic, but the content is disorganised or hard to follow. Whatever the reason, there’s no denying that effective presentation skills are critical to captivating and inspiring your audience.

So, whether you’re a seasoned speaker or a novice presenter, it’s always a good idea to brush up on your skills. That’s why in this blog post, we’ll be covering seven effective presentation skills that are sure to wow your audience. From knowing your audience to engaging with them, these skills will help you deliver powerful presentations that leave a lasting impact.

So, let’s dive in and explore these seven effective presentation skills that will take your speaking abilities to the next level. And to help you hone these skills, we’d like to introduce you to our specialised effective presentation skills training  programs.

Skill 1: Knowing Your Audience

One of the most effective presentation skills is knowing your audience. Understanding your audience helps you tailor your presentation to their needs, interests, and expectations.

Knowing your audience allows you to focus on the topics that are most relevant to them and speak in a language they can understand. Failure to know your audience can lead to a disengaged and uninterested audience, which can ultimately derail your presentation.

Tips for Identifying and Understanding Your Audience

When it comes to delivering a presentation, understanding your audience is essential. Identifying their needs, interests, and expectations can help you tailor your presentation to keep them engaged and interested throughout. Here are some tips to help you better identify and understand your audience:

1. Research your audience

Before your presentation, research your audience to understand their demographics, interests, and expectations. This can be done through social media, surveys, or by asking the event organisers for details about the attendees.

2. Ask questions

During your presentation, ask questions that engage the audience and help you understand their needs and interests. This can help you tailor your presentation to meet their expectations.

3. Analyse non-verbal cues

Pay attention to non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions and body language. This can help you gauge the audience's level of engagement and adjust your presentation accordingly.

4. Consider the occasion

The type of event can affect the expectations of your audience. If you're presenting at a formal event, your audience may expect a more polished and structured presentation. On the other hand, if you're presenting at a more casual event, your audience may appreciate a more relaxed and conversational tone.

5. Use social media

Social media can be a great tool for understanding your audience. Look for groups or hashtags related to your topic to see what people are saying about it. You can also use social media to ask questions and get feedback from your audience.

Skill 2: Storytelling

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can make your presentation stand out from the rest. It can help you engage your audience emotionally and make your message more memorable.

A well-crafted story can take your audience on a journey, creating a connection between you and them. In a world where attention spans are short, storytelling can be an effective way to hold the attention of your audience and keep them engaged.

Tips for crafting a compelling story for your presentation

Crafting a compelling story for your presentation takes some effort, but the result can be powerful. Here are some tips to help you create a story that resonates with your audience:

1. Start with a clear message

Before you begin crafting your story, identify the key message you want to convey. This will help you structure your story around the central idea and ensure that it aligns with your overall goal.

2. Use a simple structure

A simple structure can help you keep your story focused and easy to follow. Consider using a traditional story arc, which includes an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

3. Create relatable characters

Characters are an important part of any story. Create characters that your audience can relate to, and make them feel human and believable. This will help your audience connect with your story on an emotional level.

4. Use sensory language

Sensory language can help bring your story to life. Use descriptive words to paint a picture in the minds of your audience. This can help them better understand and remember your story.

5. Incorporate humour

Humour can be an effective way to engage your audience and create a memorable presentation. However, be sure to use humour that is appropriate, relevant and not sexist, ageist or ableist. 

Skill 3: Visual Aids

Visual aids can be a powerful tool to enhance your presentation and improve its effectiveness. They can help you convey complex information in an easy-to-understand way and make your presentation more engaging and memorable. 

The human brain processes visual information much faster than text, so incorporating visual aids in your presentation can help your audience understand your message more quickly and effectively.

Tips for creating effective visual aids

Now that we've covered the importance of visual aids, here are some tips for effective presentation skills :

1. Keep it simple

Visual aids should be simple and easy to understand. Avoid cluttered or complicated images, and use clear and concise language. Your audience should be able to quickly and easily understand the information you are presenting.

2. Use high-quality images

Low-quality images can be distracting and detract from your message. Use high-quality images that are relevant to your message and enhance the overall tone of your presentation.

3. Avoid too much text

Visual aids should be used to support your message, not replace them. Avoid using too much text on your slides or graphs, and instead, use bullet points or brief phrases to convey your message.

4. Use colour strategically

Colour can be a powerful tool to help emphasise important information, but it should be used strategically. Avoid using too many colours or bright colours that can be distracting.

5. Incorporate multimedia

Videos and audio can be effective tools to help engage your audience and make your presentation more interactive. Just be sure to use multimedia that is relevant to your message and supports the overall tone of your presentation.

Skill 4: Body Language

Body language is a critical aspect of effective communication skills for presentation , especially in a presentation setting. The way you use your body can have a significant impact on how your message is received by your audience. 

Your body language can convey confidence, interest, enthusiasm, and many other emotions and attitudes that can affect how your audience perceives you and your message.

Tips for using effective body language

Here are some tips for effective presentation skills :

1. Stand up straight

Good posture is key to projecting confidence and authority. Stand up straight with your shoulders back and your feet shoulder-width apart.

2. Make eye contact

Eye contact is a powerful way to connect with your audience and build trust. Try to make eye contact with different members of your audience throughout your presentation.

3. Use hand gestures

Appropriate hand gestures can help emphasise your message and make your presentation more engaging. However, be careful not to overdo it or use gestures that are distracting or inappropriate.

4. Avoid fidgeting

Fidgeting can be distracting and convey nervousness or anxiety. Try to stand still and avoid pacing, tapping your feet, or playing with objects.

5. Use facial expressions

Your facial expressions can convey a wide range of emotions and attitudes, from enthusiasm and interest to boredom and disengagement. Use appropriate facial expressions to match the tone of your message.

Skill 5: Voice and Tone

The way you use your voice can have a significant impact on how your presentation is perceived by your audience. 

Your voice and tone can convey a range of emotions and attitudes, such as confidence, authority, enthusiasm, and interest. Your tone can also indicate the level of importance or urgency of your message.

Tips for using effective voice and tone

Now that we understand the impact that voice and tone can have on a presentation, let's explore some tips for effective presentation skills:

1. Practice speaking with intention

Before your presentation, take some time to practice your speaking with intention. Think about the key messages you want to convey and how you want your audience to feel while listening to your presentation. This will help you deliver your message with a clear and purposeful voice and tone.

2. Vary your pace

Varying your pace can help keep your audience engaged and interested in your presentation. Slow down during important or complex points, and speed up during lighter or more exciting parts. By varying your pace, you can also create a sense of urgency or importance in your message.

3. Use pitch to convey emotion

Varying the pitch of your voice can help convey different emotions and attitudes in your presentation. For example, a higher pitch can convey excitement, while a lower pitch can convey seriousness or importance.

4. Pay attention to your volume

Be sure to project your voice so that everyone in the room can hear you. However, be careful not to speak too loudly, which can be distracting or overwhelming for your audience.

5. Pause for emphasis

Pausing at strategic moments can help emphasise important points and give your audience time to process your message. Take a breath and pause before making an important point to give it more weight.

Skill 6: Engaging Your Audience

One of the most important aspects of giving a presentation is engaging your audience. Without audience engagement, your presentation can quickly become boring, forgettable, or even frustrating for your listeners. Engaging your audience is a crucial skill that can help you build rapport, gain trust, and effectively communicate your message through your communication skills for presentation .

Tips for engaging your audience throughout your presentation

Engaging your audience is a crucial skill that can help you build rapport, gain trust, and effectively communicate your message using your communication skills for presentation . In this section, we will explore some tips for effective presentation skills .

1. Use storytelling

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can help you capture your audience's attention and keep them engaged. Use personal stories, anecdotes, or case studies to illustrate your points and make your presentation more relatable.

Asking questions can help you create a dialogue with your audience and make them feel like they are part of the conversation. Use open-ended questions to encourage participation and discussion.

3. Use humour

Appropriate humour can help lighten the mood and create a sense of rapport with your audience. Use jokes, puns, or funny anecdotes to break up the monotony of your presentation and keep your audience engaged.

4. Use visual aids

Visual aids, such as graphs, charts, or videos, can help illustrate your points and make your presentation more dynamic. Use them strategically to support your message and keep your audience engaged.

5. Use audience participation

Incorporating interactive elements, such as polls, quizzes, or games, can help keep your audience engaged and create a sense of excitement or competition. Use them strategically to break up your presentation and keep your audience engaged.

Skill 7: Handling Questions and Feedback

Handling questions and feedback is a critical skill that can make or break a presentation. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, address any concerns, and show your audience that you value their input.

Tips for handling questions and feedback effectively

Handling questions and feedback can be daunting, but with some practice, it can become an opportunity to showcase your expertise and engage with your audience. Here are some tips on how to handle questions and feedback effectively:

1. Listen carefully

Listen carefully to the question or feedback, and take a moment to think about your response. This shows that you respect the person asking the question and value their input.

2. Repeat or rephrase the question

This ensures that you have understood the question correctly, and it also helps the audience hear the question clearly. Rephrasing the question can also help clarify any misunderstandings or confusion.

3. Be concise

Keep your answers concise and to the point. Avoid giving long-winded answers that might confuse or bore the audience.

4. Use real-life examples

Using examples or stories can help illustrate your points and make them more relatable to the audience. It can also help keep the audience engaged.

5. Be honest

If you don't know the answer to a question, it's okay to say so. You can offer to follow up with the person after the presentation or suggest resources where they can find more information.

Wrapping It Up

In conclusion, effective presentation skills are an essential part of being a successful communicator. Knowing your audience, storytelling, using visual aids, body language, voice, and tone, engaging your audience, and handling questions and feedback are all key skills that can help you deliver a powerful and impactful presentation.

By following the tips and strategies we've shared, you can improve your communication skills for presentation  and leave a lasting impression on your audience. And if you're looking to take your skills to the next level, some.Education provides presentation skills training that can help you develop and hone these skills.

Remember, a great presentation isn't just about the content - it's also about the delivery. By mastering these skills, you can engage your audience, build your credibility, and leave a lasting impression. So go out there and wow your audience!

Useful Resources :   10 importance of speech communication |  Communication skills presentation |  Grapevine communication

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15 Fun Public Speaking Activities

Much like riding a bike public speaking is a skill that is best learned through practice. And what happens when we enjoy doing something that we do? We do it more often.

So here are 15 fun public speaking activities that you can do, either by yourself or with a group of people or if you are running a class you can use this using with your students as well. ( more public speaking activities here )

[youtube id=”4zRgNymCB7w” mode=”normal” align=”center”]

What Are The 15 Fun Public Speaking Activities?

I truly believe that making public speaking fun is one of the things that are going to take an average public speaker and give then enough practice to turn them into a good or great public speaker.

1. My Friend’s Fictional Life

In this activity, what you do is you get up in front of people (you can do it home by yourself as well) and you take one of your friends and you introduce them. However, instead of introducing them in the normal way you make up a fictional life for them.

So you say, hi this is Jane Smith, and she actually moonlights as a jazz pianist for the underground mafia. And you talk about her life, whatever it may be.

So this is fun because it makes you been creative, it’s very easy to think of these things on the spot and just roll with it. It’s generally pretty funny as well.

2. Impromtu Game

You basically just get up in front of people and somebody gives you something impromptu to run with.

It might be a topic, it might be a sentence or it might just be a single word or anything like that. But generally we run with just a certain topic.

For example: They need to talk about climate change or they need to talk about what makes a great teacher, or they need to talk about social media changes or whatever. So that the impromptu game.

3. Funny Image Game

This is similar to the impromptu game, but basically what you do is you give the speaker a funny image; you can find these easily just searching through Google and you get them to talk about that image.

You can pretend it’s their life experience and how this impacted my life or they can talk about why this image is important and what this image means or what’s the story behind this image.

4. Continuous Story

This is best done with a group of people. Each person gets up and might speak for anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute and they start telling a story.

And when their time is up, the next person has to get up and they have to continue the story.

So, obviously each person doesn’t know what the person before them is going to say and so they have to continue the story.

The goal of this is to make the story make sense. This game helps people engage in listening and learn to be creative enough to make the story continue on and make sense.

5. Something In My Wallet

You can use your own wallet or (if people are comfortable enough and happy to do it) you can get the person sitting next to you’s wallet.

Take an item out of the wallet and discuss what this item is and why its important and obviously you are trying to elaborate and make it funny as much as possible.

6. Action Story

This can be done in 2 ways.

A) You tell a story that has a whole great of actions in it and as a speaker you have to do these actions yourself whilst speaking.

B) Or the audience has to do the actions themselves while the speaker is giving their speech.

So you could say; I did a big stretch when I woke up in the morning. And everybody has to stretch. And then you say, I put on my hat, and everybody has to do the actions in line with that.

7. Make A Commercial

Get a bunch of things from your room or from your house, bring them in and you need to make a commercial about these items.

Someone is giving a random product. It might be a deodorant, might be an iphone, it could be anything. And then they are required to give a 30 second to 1 minute commercial on this product and talk about why this is so awesome and why people should buy it. So that’s a really fun one as well.

8. A Fake Holiday

This one is done with images primarily and a set of images that are related to each other.

So it could be a farm where you have images of animals, or the barn house or something funny happening on the farm.

The speaker is required to tell maybe 1, 2 or 3 sentences for each image and then you click forward to the next image.

Then they need to use the next image to continue the story.

So you are using these images as the key cards, as to where the story needs to go so the person needs to adapt the story based on the images that are given.

9. Alternative Ending

You take a well known TV show or a well-known movie. And what you do is you create an alternative ending for it.

10. Connect The Nouns

This is really a fun one, I really like this one.

You can do this by either putting nouns on key cards shuffling them up and picking 2 up at a time or you can use this  random noun generator .

You get 2 nouns and you then have to create a story that connects that 2 nouns.

So it might be ‘a sheep’ and ‘a mechanic’ or it could be ‘friend’ and ‘shoelace’.

Then you have to create a story that connects those 2 nouns together.

11. How It Got It’s Name

Take an item (for example: packing tape) and you need to create a story around a packing tape and why it’s got its name that way.

You have to make it exciting.

12. Oink Substitution

When you are giving a speech you must allocate one word that you have to replace with word ‘oink’. Or you can use ‘moo’ or you use ‘woof’ or whatever it is that you want.

So you can use the word ‘I’ and replace it with ‘oink’.

So you would say: “Oink went to the movies and oink bought some popcorn.” And so you replace that word ‘I’ with ‘oink’.

This challenges your mind, and it makes that little bit harder to deliver a presentation. And it’s pretty funny for the audience, as well.

13. Which Is A Lie?

This one is generally pretty easy to out work and a lot of fun as well. And you will find that some students do it really well, but then some students just fumble when they are tying to lie and its quiet humorous to watch.

A person gets up and tells 3 truths about themselves, but 2 of them need to be true and  one of them needs to be a lie .

So they get up and they tell 3 things about themselves and then the audience needs to choose which one was a lie and they see if they were correct.

So this one is really quick, really easy and you don’t have to go into a great detail about it but it can be really fun.

14. Definitions

Get really big words that nobody really knows what the meaning is. You can do this using  this big word generator  or another tool (just Google it). Or you can just go through the dictionary and pick some strange ones yourself.

The speaker has to get up – they are given this strange word and they need to with confidence tell the class what this word means.

Obviously they are making it up, but they need to do it confidently.

15. Endings

You give a person an ending. It could be a saying: “Diamonds are forever” or an ending to a story ‘and the man cried for 3 days’.

You give them an ending and they have to create a story that matches up with that ending.

A lot of being a great pubic speaking is about story telling. Teaching people how to creatively think up stories on the spot is going to make them a better public speaker.

I have previously talked about how public speaking rubric actually damages the progression of public speaking skills . We need to continually practicing public speaking (like riding a bike) and have it be fun if we want to teach people to be great public speakers . Technique comes along with that.

So keep that in mind, keep public speaking fun and I hope that you enjoyed these activities.

18 thoughts on “15 Fun Public Speaking Activities”

Great activities Ryan! Thank you for sharing. I will definitely be using these with my graduating seniors to help them write their speeches!

Thank you for uploading these activities, Ryan. I’ll be using it with my kids.

These are fun and practical. Thanks for sharing

Great Ideas Ryan. I am a public speaking trainer in Spain and ypur ideas helped me to mix up my classes and have some fun activities. Thanks.

Very nice activities and funny too! Shall use in my sessions with students.

These are activities are definitely doable and fun! I would love to try these with my Oral Comm students! Thank you!

This is a Supercalifragalistic piece. I already think this will work without having tried it, but I’ll definitely give it a shot. Thanks for the revelation Ryan

Great tips. I used some of them for my classes. Really enjoyed your video too! Well done!

Thank you for downloading these ideas. I will be using several of these for teaching a Speech Class. They will also be helpful for beginning Debate Class as well.

Good sharing. Im gonna use it for my pupils. Tq.

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Very practical, thank you for sharing! I will use most of them with young people with intellectual disabilities.

how these activities can lead the students to participate in big events in the school? thank you

Thank you for these wonderful suggestions. I will use them with my EAL students.

Thank you for sharing your great innovative ideas, we will definitely use for my students. THANKYOU

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