Tip #1: Do not begin speaking until you appear confident. Plant your feet, stand or sit up straight, if speaking in front of an audience adjust the microphone, and scan the entire audience before you begin.
Tip #2: Speak to be heard, but not too loudly: If you are addressing an audience and have not had the opportunity to check the acoustics of the room before hand, just ask the back row of the audience if they can hear you. This simple statement alone immediately establishes you as a confident speaker, and connects you with your audience. It shows you care about the audience and believe what you have to say is important. On the other hand, if you speak too loudly it's overbearing, grating and irritating to listeners.
Tip #3: Speak at an appropriate pace. Many presenters speak too fast when they are nervous. Words run together so that they're difficult to understand. Or, they speak too slowly and put their audience to sleep. Remember, we can listen much faster than we can talk, so you audience is usually ahead of you.
Tip #3: Use a tone that exudes authority. Women often have higher or softer voices, so if you fall into one of these categories, practice lowering your pitch, and raising your volume. And, be careful not to raise the pitch at the end of sentences. It makes you sound unsure of yourself.
Tip #4: Use excellent posture. Excellent posture suggests power. Stooped or bowed shoulders usually translate something negative to your audience.
Tip #5: Don't babble. Arrive at your key points quicker, and put extraneous verbiage aside. Your audience will appreciate your straightforwardness. Speaking more directly gives the perception of authority. As professional speaker, Peter Lowe says, "Chop out deadwood. Preparing a speech should be like cooking a good stew-boil it down and serve only the meat."
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Tip #6: Make meaningful eye contact. Most speakers do not hold eye contact with their audience long enough. For eye contact to be effective, you should meet eyes with individual members of your audience for 5 to 7 seconds -as if you are talking to this person, and no one else in the room.
You are not just scanning the audience. Eye contact personalizes your presentation and keeps you and your audience connected to each other.
Tip #7: Shake hands with your audience. Make your first impression
count. Involve the audience in the first 30 seconds-and also in the last 30
seconds. Use a short, simple anecdote that humanizes and dramatizes your
main point.
Tip#8: Keep it simple and brief. Make your meaning clear and your message simple. Concentrate your presentation on one central idea. If you try to say everything, your audience will remember nothing. Franklin Roosevelt gave this advice about public speaking, "Be brief, be sincere, be seated." Your audience want more!
Tip #9: Be enthusiastic and speak with conviction. If you get excited about your subject your audience will too. If you show a sense of conviction about your subject, you will be more persuasive.
Tip #10: End with a clear message. Step back from the details and give the big picture. Connect your conclusion to your introduction to give a feeling of closure. If you are giving a persuasive presentation, request action. If you need to answer questions, keep your answers brief and give a brief second close after all the questions are answered. You should always have the last word!
The above tips are by no means complete, but are basic essentials to becoming an effective presenter. Start incorporating some of these tips into your everyday real estate presentations today. The old saying "practice makes perfect" is the most important tip of all in public speaking!
