Tips to ace your Interview Presentation
Posted on July 16, 2017 by Shirrin S Patwa, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Increasingly candidates are asked to prepare a presentation on a specific topic as part of the interview process–specifically for client facing roles
Increasingly candidates are asked to prepare a presentation on a specific topic as part of the interview process – specifically for client (internal or external) facing roles.
An interview presentation is done to test the candidate’s ability to inspire an audience with confidence; the ability to persuade; to demonstrate the ability to marshal thoughts and structure something that sounds really impressive. It’s about showcasing, convincing, persuading and getting the message across.
These presentations offer you a terrific opportunity to shine. Just keep the below rules in mind while presenting:
- – Be Prepared
Nothing beats practice and knowing your content confidently.
If asked to prepare a presentation, careful planning beforehand will help you to deliver it with greater poise and success, as does preparing for an interview in all other situations too.
- 2 – Understanding the Audience
Do your research on the company to get a good understanding for the corporate style and culture of the company. This will help you to tailor your presentation to the needs of your interviewer(s). Profile the audience. Find out who is on the interview panel, their backgrounds and their needs. This information is vital in helping you pull together the right amount of material, pitching it at the right level, and ensuring you have enough supporting materials to hand. Once you’ve established these details, you can get to work on the all-important structure.
- 3 – Presentation Structure
You should always have one clear message that runs through your presentation. This is like the spinal cord of the presentation – it helps hold the presentation together.
Limit yourself to three sections: introduction, development of your argument (body), and summary. Any more than that and your presentation will lose focus.
Introduction: Your opening should capture attention at the start. It should clearly communicate your key message to your audience. Keep it succinct and punchy, using short sentences. A long rambling opening gives the impression that it is going to be a long rambling presentation
Body: The use of specific examples, illustrations and anecdotes rather than bullet points help your audience understand. When it comes to presentations, stories are an essential way to make the conceptual understandable.
Ending: You ending should also be memorable. Use the opportunity to re-emphasise your key message and leave a lasting impression.
- 4 – Good Visual Aids
Most of us have experienced ‘death by PowerPoint’ at some time – that sinking feeling that comes from seeing ‘slide 1 of 60’ up there on the screen, or staring at densely-packed slides as the presenter reads the text out word-for-word. Make your visual aids, helpful, clean and neat. Use them for the emphasis, they should not be used for the narrative or to prompt yourself.
- 5 – Delivering with Impact
Stand and command the room – Standing indicates confidence and control. It, also, enables you to inject more energy into your presentation. If you think of some of the great orators that you have heard, they did not sit behind a desk and mutter.
Clear diction and adequate volume – Speak slowly and with purpose; avoid rambling or making digressions. To help sound more confident (even if you are not feeling it) take your time over each word you say, so that you don’t rush or snatch at any words. This will help you to speak at a steady pace and allow your interviewer to follow easily.
Make eye contact – The key time to look at someone is at the end of your sentence as this helps cement the message in that sentence. If you look away at that moment you may appear hesitant and your words will lack conviction.
Smile – a sign that you are pleased to be there. Sometimes a touch of humour can help you build rapport with the audience, but how much you can use this will depend on the situation. But your smile needs to be on the mouth and in your eyes and your eyes need to meet theirs.
- 6 – Leave a lasting impression
Focus on your audience, identify your objectives, make it interesting, understandable and memorable, prepare well, and if you can, enjoy it. You can also prepare for the impromptu presentation, by giving yourself some topics to speak on and then allow say 2-3 minutes of preparation time for each one. Then try presenting on each of about 3 minutes.
It’s always a good idea to practice delivering your presentation out aloud beforehand. Don’t just go over it in your head.
To be memorable you need, great, relevant content delivered with conviction and style.
- 7 – Taking questions
Dealing with questions gives you the opportunity to further demonstrate your knowledge of your subject. Let your audience know in advance that you will be willing to take questions at the end so they don’t disrupt the flow of you presentation.
Take your time to answer, be ready to defend yourself and don’t argue with a questioner.
Perform at the highest level possible in your interview and you’ll give yourself the best possible chance of getting the offer.
