Whether you're asking your boss for a pay rise or updating an entire department on a project, presentations are often a nerve-wracking experience. Follow our 10 tips to ease the pain of presenting

1. Know your P.A.L.

• Purpose: Know what your purpose is in giving your presentation. Is it to inform? To persuade? To entertain?
• Audience: Who is your audience? What age group are they, where do they live, what attitudes do they have?
• Logistics: These are things that have to be organised. You should know how much time you have to speak, what time of day it will be and how the room will be set up

2. Pay attention to timing

Plan, prepare and practice to fill 75 per cent of the allotted time you're given to speak. If you end early, no one will mind, but ending late is poor planning. If you expect audience involvement, plan on speaking for 50 per cent of the time and using 25 per cent for audience participation.

3. Keep it relevant

When preparing your speech, consider the ‘must know’, ‘should know’ and ‘could know’. Limit your presentation material according to your allotted time and the audience’s interest.

4. Push emotional buttons

Include stories, anecdotes, analogies and metaphors to reinforce the key points of your presentation. You’ll have more impact than by just using pure data.

5. Create user-friendly notes for yourself

As Winston Churchill said when asked why he carried notes but seldom used them, 'I carry fire insurance, but I don't expect my house to burn down.' Use bullet points instead of sentences. Make the text easy to read (use a felt tip pen or print out your notes in at least an 18-point font and make it bold). Only use the top two-thirds of the page to avoid having to look down, and use highlighter pens to indicate the must-, should- and could-know information.

6. Practise out loud, and say it differently each time

As management guru Peter Drucker says, 'Spontaneity is an infinite number of rehearsed possibilities.' Follow the example of great sports people, and practise.

7. Channel your adrenaline into enthusiasm

Stage fright is a negative term for excitement. No football manager tells his team to be calm just before kick off. Instead, control the physical symptoms of stage fright by breathing deeply from your diaphragm and by going through your presentation in your head imagining a positive outcome. Being well prepared will also boost your confidence.

8. Deliver with passion

It's amazing how catchy enthusiasm is. If your voice is expressive and your gestures animated, you will appear confident and passionate.

9. Think ahead about all the questions you might be asked

The question-and-answer part of the presentation may be more important than the actual presentation -- particularly the questions that could throw you. Remember to paraphrase the questions before answering them and take into account the questioner’s reasons for asking. When answering, keep looking around the audience – others may have had the same question. Treat all questions and questioners with respect.

10. Remember it’s about the audience

Avoid appearing too cocky or unprepared. As long as you stay focused on the audience, in preparation and delivery and during the Q&A session, you should be successful.