How do you prepare the perfect presentation for an interview?
You may have had a first stage interview and you’ve been asked back for a second. As if it wasn’t nerve wracking enough the first time round, you’ve been requested to go back and deliver a formal presentation, based around a short brief. Where to begin? Here are some useful tips on preparing an interview presentation in order to deliver the best results…..
Learn it and practice it. Make sure you know your presentation inside out so that you can deliver it with little prompting. Try to keep as much eye contact as possible, making sure that you are engaging with the whole audience you are presenting to and not focusing on any of the material you have prepared. Stand up and try to portray positive body language. Show your interviewer that you mean business and you are a confident professional to be taken seriously.
Prepare Prepare Prepare for any questions that may come up. Make sure you know your content and try to foresee any questions that may crop up given the structure of your presentation. It can also be useful to include an ‘any questions’ slide at the end to highlight that you have finished speaking and are ready for any questions that have arisen. Questions will always be asked so try and prepare some sample answers or have a few key ideas in mind.
Make sure you understand the brief and follow what you have been asked to do. Timing is crucial to getting it right, so whilst practicing, time yourself and make sure you are within the designated time restrictions. Your assessors will be timing you, so make sure you know how much time you have per slide and can roughly judge where abouts you are.
It is also important to make sure that your slides aren’t too cluttered! Keep them simple and eye catching, something impressive for your audience to look at but not too distracting from what you are saying. Slides should include key points, with the aim of them being simple and effective – try to include some market information, evidencing that you know your market and have thought about the bigger picture.
It is also imperative that your slides are thoroughly checked for any spelling and grammatical errors – get someone to proof read your work and ensure there are no simple mistakes…small errors highlight a lack of attention to detail.
With the right preparation and practice you can deliver the best results!