What do I need to be successful?
Key Learnings
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Prepare for living in a new country by researching language, climate, living accommodations, social norms, etc.
Minimise culture shock by investing time to experience your new cultural surroundings and understand local customs.
Know how to present yourself in any situation in order to make positive impressions that help you stand out and build stronger professional relationships.
To give an effective presentation, there are three elements that you need to keep in mind: have a presentation plan, know your audience, and engage your audience.
Effective visual aids can help the audience remember your messages.
Visuals should be an aid to the presentation – not the focal point.
Improving your professional skills in different areas (attitude, behaviour and presentation) will strengthen your level of professionalism and make more positive impressions.
Professionalism takes effort, commitment, and application.
Left unresolved, personal conflict can seriously affect your performance on the field.
Once you know your own natural response and understand the style of the other person with whom you are in conflict, you can adjust your response in such a way that leads to resolution more quickly and effectively.

10 Presentation mistakes to avoid

The best presentations can be ruined by a bad presenter. Here are ten of the most common presentation mistakes to try to avoid:

  1. You don’t know your topic in a substantive way
    Know your material so well that you could do the presentation without a visual aid. Use key words and phrases and include only essential information to keep the audience focused and interested.
     
  2. Your slides become your presentation
    Remember that YOU are the presentation. PowerPoint and visual aids should only be used to support your speech. Simplify the content by using bullet points for key information (no more than four per slide).
  1. Information overload
    Keep it simple when designing a presentation. Stick to three or four bullet points about your topic and then provide additional details. Through this format, the audience is more likely to retain the information.
     
  2. Poorly chosen design template
    It’s important to choose a design that is appropriate for the audience and matches the topic of your presentation. A clean, straightforward layout is best for business presentations. Typically, it is smart to use less text and more diagrams when talking to large audiences.
     
  3. Unusual colour choices
    Good contrast with the background is essential to make your text easy to read. Dark text on a light background is best for small audiences. Whereas, dark backgrounds with light text/shapes are very effective (and easy to read) when speaking with large audiences.
  1. Poor font choices
    Stick to using easy-to-read fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman. Additionally, use no more than two different fonts – one for headings, another for content (or just use one font throughout). And make sure the font size is big enough so everyone can read it easily.
     
  2. Irrelevant photos and graphs
    Photos and graphs that are not logically linked to your topic risk the audience to think your presentation lacks substance. Use them only to emphasise the key points of your presentation.
     
  3. Too many slides
    Slides can enhance your presentation, but too many can cause your audience to lose focus. Therefore, keep the number of slides to a minimum – ten to twelve slides are plenty.
  1. Animation overload
    Animations and sounds, used appropriately, can heighten interest, but be careful not to distract the audience with too much of a good thing. Design your presentation with the “less is more” philosophy and keep the animation consistent.
  1. Technological malfunctions
    Technological malfunctions can always happen so before you present, rehearse with the equipment you will use during the presentation. Also, carry an extra copy of the presentation on a separate USB in case the problem is the USB and not the equipment. If possible, also check the lighting in the room you will be presenting in to ensure the slides can be seen (and how to dim the lights if needed).