Giving a presentation is an opportunity to showcase your knowledge, talent and expertise. And in today’s competitive and financially challenging world, it is a great way to market yourself and your organization--whether you are speaking to two or 200 people.

As someone who has been giving presentations for over 15 years, here’s my list of favorite tips to help you prepare and deliver your next presentation:

1. Banish negative thoughts. Self talk is very powerful and you want to mentally prepare yourself to succeed, not fail. Tell yourself positive things. Before every presentation I will say, “I can do it. I can handle it.”   

2. Mingle with the audience. When you can, introduce yourself to audience members before your presentation. It will help you feel more comfortable and the audience members feel more connected with you. A recent participant at one of my talks wrote, This is the first time ever that a speaker has actually introduced herself to me. It was great. Thank you.  

3. Practice out loud. You want to hear how the words sound. If they don’t sound right to you, change them.

4. Make sure your credibility has been established. You need to let others know why you are qualified to speak on your topic. If you haven’t been introduced, have a prepared self introduction you can use.

5. Use stories to illustrate your points. People remember the stories; therefore they remember your point. Make sure the story is relevant to your topic. 

6. Repeat the question. Repeating the question before answering the question helps everyone hear the question, provides a couple of seconds to get your thoughts together and allows you to rephrase the question and eliminate any negativity in it. Anticipate the tough questions and know how you will respond.

7. Don’t turn your slides into eye charts. When showing slides, do not say, “I know you can’t read this, but…” Make sure your audience can read the slide. Use a large, readable font. And remember to talk to the audience, not the slide.

8. Pay attention to your nonverbal communication. Use good posture, don’t sway. Walk around a little if you can. Look at people in the audience. And speak loudly enough to be heard.

9. Dress to impress. A general guideline is to dress one level above the level of your audience. You want to create an aura of credibility and what you wear can help you achieve that image.

10. Ask yourself: Does the audience know that I am nervous?

If you do not show or tell the audience that you are nervous, they will not know. And if they don’t know, why should you be nervous?