Presentation Skills

Before my recent promotion in 2006 to mother/homemaker, I was a corporate/university trainer for legal and soft-skills. Presentation Skills was one course I facilitated for faculty and employees. Now that I'm teaching the 5-6 year olds, I thought I'd share some of my own ideas for teaching presentation skills to them. Obviously, after watching our Christmas presentations, this group is already well on our way. These are tips for for kids for presenting in front of any group.

1. Prepare. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice in front of a mirror, iPhone video, stuffed animals, friends and mom and dad. Create a stage at home - an ottoman, a stool, your own stage built by your parents (anything!) and speak. Articulate. Go for it.

2. Props Rock! Use props, humor, poster board, PowerPoint or handouts.

3. Sing it! Sing your presentation once at home as if you are singing in the shower. It's good practice to try to be heard over the shower water or other competing noise. We are rarely as loud as we think we are. While presenting, imagine you are having a talk with the person in the back of the room. Be loud and project your amazing voice!

4. Eyes Up! Use eye contact with all of your audience. If you are nervous, imagine they are all in their pj's and giggle to yourself.

5. Pace, walk, and talk. Move around the room - purposefully- so the left, right, and center audience get some time with you.

6. Consider a theme. Start your talk with a topic and wrap up with that topic.

7. Watch others. Watch comedians. Watch priests. Watch your CCC teachers! Note what successful presenters do. Go online together and find good examples of presentations and not-so-good ones. Discuss.

8. "And I was like...." Catch your filler words. Pause when you are moving from sentence to sentence. Avoid "like", "um", "you know", and "did you know that..." Watching yourself on a video will help you hear your filler words.

9. Be expressive. Use gestures. Clap your hands. Make 1, 2, 3 points and use your fingers. Video your practice presentation and when you watch it, turn off the volume. Watch your "filler gestures". Do you move your hand like you are waving in a crowd into the stadium? Do you mess with your notes? Do you look down the whole time?

10. Smile and have fun. We love to hear what you share.

What other ideas can you seasoned parents or children share that work for you?

See the awesome presenters below...