Teamwork always gives the best results, in most cases. Often for a meeting, you may be required to present along with your colleague, or in groups. These team presentations are crucial when you pitch your point across, as they would decide the fate of the deal or investment.
Here are some tips you could use to ace your next team presentation.
- Let everybody talk
Just because you are the leader, it doesn’t mean that you do all the talking. All the members on your team need to be actively involved and talking. Otherwise they end up looking insignificant, and this is especially troublesome if you’re raising money.
- Be well rehearsed
The last thing you want is faltering at a crucial team presentation. In team presentations, everyone plays his or her role well. You should make sure that one person does not dominate the other and speak for longer than required and hence this needs practice.
- Assign out slides
To make team presentations easier and to avoid confusion, as a leader you can assign certain topics or slides to your colleagues who will prepare only on those particular topics. This does not mean that they can’t know about the other topics covered in the presentation, but just makes the work easier for them.
- Introduce your team and topic and dress well
Even if the audience knows the presenters, it is still important as a way of kicking off the presentation. Your team should also be coordinated in their dressing sense, and be formal in their behaviour and clothing. The usual casuals will not do. You should ideally dress one level more formally than your audience, and whatever you wear must fit perfectly, be clean and pressed.
- Finish strong
Always end the presentation with a brief summary and recap of the next steps. This may be done by the final speaker or the team leader. Each presenter should know the close and be prepared to close the presentation if needed.
- Don’t over talk your colleagues
This is a complete no-no while doing team presentations. Over talking your colleagues may come across as you being too aggressive as you are stealing the limelight. Give your colleagues time to finish their presentation slides and then you can talk. If you disagree on a certain point, make a note of it and approach the colleague concerned later.
- No second-guessing during Question and Answers.
One of the easiest ways to show that you’re not a team is to second-guess your colleague as they answer questions. If someone answers a question, then everyone needs to act like that’s the team answer. No second-guessing allowed. If someone gives out wrong answers and you second-guess them, it says a lot about your team. Firstly, it says that you didn’t prepare for the questions. Secondly, it says that you don’t really trust each other as a team.
When you’re pitching as a team, it’s important not to get in your own way. With these tips , you can now make the most of your group presentations.