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Your mouth is diy, your voice trembles, your hands shake and you can hear your heart thudding - yes, you are making a presentation. No matter what job we do, most of us will sooner or later have to make one, whether it is delivering a goodbye speech, explaining a project to basses, or trying to get new business. Khalid Aziz, of the Aziz Corporation, which teaches senior executives to communicate, says: *About 60 per cent of the effectiveness of a spoken presentation is nothing to do with the words. It's to do with style, confident body language and the right speed of delivery. Management consultant Terry Gillen says: Your presentation should have a main theme, a single powerful message. It should have a clear structure, with each point leading lo the next. Human brains automatically try to organise information received, so if your presentation does not have a structure, your audience will create its own. Attention will wander and listeners may get the wong idea. And if you structure your presentation, it will be easy for you to remember." But Mr Gillen warns: "Reading from a document, whether it's the whole speech or detailed notes, sounds formal and stiff, and switches the audience off.'Presenters should encourage passive and active audience participation to personalise the messace and keep people listening, Mr Gillen says: "Use phrases such as *What would you think if …." Encourage them to ask questions or if you are deronstrating something, get them to join in. They'l do this only if you look friendly and smile. Make eye contact and maybe enter the aucience's temtery rather than staying stuck behind your desk. He adds: The audience want to enjoy the presentation and are more Rely to do so if the presenter also appears te be enjoying it. Nerves and anxiety often show. Audiences notice uncomfortable body language and hesitant speech. Mr Aziz says. "Minimise panic by steering clear of coffee for at least two hours before. Practise and rehearse, and vist the venue to remove the fear of the unknown. Beware of complex visual aids which confuse and cistract attention from the message, and add extra information with your voice. NatWest corporate ranager Deborah Buckle, 32, learned to Present with Passion' after attending one of Khald Aziz's courses. Deborah, of Surrey, says: "Knowing your stuft is not enough. You have to enthuse your audience. I also learned that, unless you're careful, the message received is not always the one given.