presentation skill goal sheet comments

Presentation Skills Self-Appraisal Comments Examples

Related Self-Evaluation Phrases

Presentation Skills Self-Appraisal Phrases Examples To Examine Yourself

Presentation Skills: 40 Practical Performance Feedback Phrases

Presentation Core: Uses these sample phrases to craft significant output evaluations, drive change and motivating your workforce.

Presentation Abilities are useful in got your message or opinion out there in many aspects of life and employment, when they can largely used in businesses, sales, educating, lecturing, and training. Step-By-Step Constructive Criticism Examples on Performance Reviews

Presentation Skills: Outstrip Expectations Phrases

• Immersive prepares well before making anyone form of presentation about ceremonial or non-formal.
• Gives a clear and well-structured delivery when making a presentation.
• Exhibits excellent skill at she comes to voice ideas and opinions with clarity.
• Knows the viewer well enough to use true language and terms.
• Engages well with viewer before, during and after delivering a presentation.
• Gives the audiences ample and appropriate time to ask questions.
• Creates adenine very lively and positives looking when delivering adenine presentation.
• Adjusts super well till of new surrounding and exhales a great aura away confidence.
• Knows how to get both service the attention of the audience.
• Responds well at questions furthermore issues rises by the viewing.

Presentation Core: Meets Expectations Phrases

• Arranges a good, balanced and dynamic presentation using high impact results.
• Exhibits good ability to use visually aids most appropriately at presentations.
• Speaks in a good speak rate not so fast and at the same time not too slow.
• Explains each point to the fullest and only tries to emphasize of key points.
• Demonstrates a good logical order when presenting ideas not to disorient aforementioned viewers.
• Application non-verbal forms of communication such as facial print with a good way.
• Does proper research on the topic to be presented to assemble all updated the and figures.
• Delivers shortcut and mighty presentations that create interest and excitement.
• Knows how toward usage true stories in with the presentation to walk across a point or to grab the audience's care.
• Makes right eye contact with the audience from the start of the introduction the the end.

Presentation Skills: Needs Development Phrases

• Does not make good the consistent eye contact with the audience.
• Has low movement on stage and does not run around one presentation room.
• Does not talk in a very engaging and positive way something that produces an dull presentation.
• Does not exude confidence and poise when delivering adenine presentation.
• User old the and images when presenting in a result of not doing enough research.
• Gives long presentations and does little to getting the attention of the audience.
• Does not use the visual serves to helps ship a powerful entertain.
• Does not know the hearing well and uses hard words is they do not understand.
• Rabbits not give audiences ample time up raise questions and to seeking educating if need be.
• Presents ideas in a non-logical manner that creates confusion to the hearing.

Presentation Skills: Self Evaluation Questions

• Have yourself everly gone to performance without preparing well? How doing the performance go?
• How frequently do it engage your audience during any lecture?
• That was the highest score or zeitschriften you received for any presentation that you have made so way?
• Give an instance owner presentation buckled and what made owner backup plan?
• Methods do you normally completing your presentations and how can you rate it?
• How fountain execute thou deal at related and issues rises by the audience?
• When this upcoming to nervousness, how do you manage or deal with it before hand?
• Whereby can to course your experience level when it comes to giving presentations?
• What what thou same or dislike most about giving presentations?
• What presentation method go you like and why do you favorite it?

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80+ Helpful Self-Appraisal Comments for Your Performance Review

Preparing for your review can be a valuable chance to reflect on your work and set goals. We’ve gathered more than 80 helpful self-appraisal comments to assist you in this process.

Whether you want to highlight your accomplishments, recognize areas for improvement, or plan for the future, this list is designed to help you express yourself clearly and confidently during your review.

Table of Contents

What is self-appraisal.

Self-appraisal is when you take a close look at your own work, skills, and behaviour. It’s like giving yourself a report card. You think about what you’ve done well, where you could improve, and what goals you want to achieve in the future. It’s a chance to reflect on your performance and set new targets for yourself.

What is the purpose of self-appraisal?

The purpose of self-appraisal is to help you understand how well you’re doing at your job and how you can do better. It’s like taking a step back to look at your work and behaviour from a distance. By doing this, you can identify what you’re good at and where you need to improve.

Self-appraisal also helps you set goals for yourself and figure out what you want to achieve in the future. It’s a way to take control of your growth and development in your job.

1. Understanding Your Performance

By self-appraisal, you should be able to view your performance critically. Ask yourself how you felt when you completed certain tasks successfully and where you had some difficulties. Through analysis of your performance, you can picture more vividly your strengths and weaknesses.

2. Identifying Areas for Improvement

For your own benefit, self-evaluation allows you to find out your areas of improvement and where you can advance. Taking note of your lack of expertise or where you could be better would give you the motivation to do something about it. This could be in the form of attending other classes, polishing some skills and amending how you approach doing certain tasks.

3. Setting Goals

Self-appraisal helps you set goals for yourself. Once you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you can establish objectives to work towards. These goals might relate to improving specific skills, taking on new responsibilities, or achieving certain outcomes in your role.

4. Personal Development

Self-appraisal is a crucial tool for personal development. It enables you to take ownership of your growth and progress in your career. By actively engaging in self-reflection and assessment, you can continuously strive to become better at what you do.

5. Communication

Self-appraisal also plays a role in communication between you and your manager or employer. When you have a clear understanding of your performance and goals, you can effectively communicate this information during performance reviews or discussions with your supervisor. This helps ensure that you and your employer are aligned in terms of expectations and objectives.

How Self-Appraisal work?

Self-appraisal is like taking a good look at yourself at work. You think about what you’ve done well and what you could do better. First, you look back on your work and think about what you’ve accomplished and what was tough. Then, you think about your skills and behaviour to see where you’re strong and where you need to improve.

After that, you set goals for yourself, like learning new things or getting better at certain tasks. Finally, you talk about all of this with your boss during your performance review. Self-appraisal helps you get better at your job by giving you a chance to examine and set goals for yourself.

Now let’s dive in and see how to write a helpful self-appraisal for yourself.

How to write a self-appraisal

Writing a self-appraisal is like writing a report about yourself at work. It’s a chance to talk about what you’ve done well and what you could improve. Here’s how you can do it.

• Think About Your Work: Start by thinking about what you’ve accomplished in your job. What tasks have you completed? What goals have you achieved?
• Identify Strengths and Weaknesses: Next, think about your skills and behaviour at work. What are you good at? Where could you do better? Be honest with yourself.
• Set Goals: Based on what you’ve thought about, set some goals for yourself. What do you want to achieve in the future? How can you improve in areas where you’re not as strong?
• Write It Down: Finally, write down your thoughts in a clear and organized way. Use simple language and be specific about examples of your work.

By following these steps, you can write a self-appraisal that helps you understand your performance and set goals for yourself.

Important things to keep in mind during the self-appraisal process

These are the few points you need to keep in mind during the self-appraisal.

• Be Honest: It’s essential to be truthful about your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t exaggerate or downplay your achievements
• Give Examples: When you talk about what you’ve done, give specific examples from your job. This makes it easier for your manager to see exactly what you’ve achieved.
• Focus on Improvement: While it’s good to highlight your successes, also talk about areas where you can improve. This shows that you’re committed to growing in your role.
• Be Positive: Even when discussing challenges, maintain a positive tone. Focus on what you’ve learned from setbacks and how you plan to overcome them.
• Establish Achievable Goals: When you’re planning for the future, ensure your goals are realistic and related to your job. Break them into smaller tasks to make them easier to handle.
• Request Feedback: Feel free to seek input from coworkers or your supervisor. Their viewpoints can offer valuable insights into your work performance.

Example of Self Appraisal

Let’s have a look at a self-appraisal for example,

I worked as a cashier this year.

I greeted customers with a smile and made sure their purchases were rung up correctly.

I have also helped train two new employees, showing them how to use the cash register and handle customer inquiries.

One thing I want to improve on is handling busy times more efficiently.

Sometimes, I felt a bit overwhelmed when many customers were waiting in line.

Next year, I plan to practice staying calm under pressure and speed up my checkout process.

80+ Outcome-Oriented self-appraisal comments

Self-appraisal comments on communication.

1. I ensure that my expectations are communicated clearly to all stakeholders.

2. I stay in touch with department heads and actively participate in team meetings.

3. I offer constructive feedback and tackle challenges through effective communication.

4. I present my ideas professionally and skilfully.

5. I share relevant information with my team members to ensure everyone is well-informed.

6. I proactively communicate any changes to stakeholders as soon as they occur.

7. I publicly appreciate the excellent work done by my team members.

Self-Appraisal comments on job performance

8. I genuinely enjoy my job and strive to perform at my best each day.

9. I often take the initiative to address issues beyond my assigned tasks that impact the team.

10. I prioritize fostering a collaborative work environment.

11. I have surpassed my performance goal (specify goal) by (mention percentage).

12. I approach my work without bias or favouritism.

13. I continuously seek ways to enhance my performance.

14. I am consistently available to answer questions and support my colleagues.

Self-Evaluation Comments on Growth and Development

15. I actively establish goals to foster both professional and personal growth.

16. I am committed to enhancing my skills and expertise through continuous learning.

17. I embrace opportunities to learn from peers and colleagues, becoming a self-driven learner.

18. I seek connections and insights from experienced professionals in my field to broaden my knowledge.

19. I maintain a clear vision for my career path and proactively pursue it.

20. I demonstrate agility by quickly adapting to changes in my work environment.

21. I have a genuine enthusiasm for learning, recently acquiring (specify details).

Self-Appraisal Comments on Attention to Detail

22. I diligently review my work multiple times to ensure accuracy before submission.

23. I maintain a comprehensive task list to prevent overlooking any important details.

24. The majority of my submitted work is of high quality, with minimal errors.

25. I am deeply committed to delivering projects with meticulous attention to detail and excellence.

26. My track record demonstrates consistently high-quality work, with over 90% of projects meeting stringent quality standards.

27. However, when managing multiple tasks, I occasionally miss important details.

28. Under time constraints, I may unintentionally overlook minor errors.

29. Occasionally, I may neglect to proofread my work thoroughly.

30. I recognize the need to enhance my prioritization skills to avoid errors and improve efficiency.

31. I am dedicated to developing my organizational skills to manage tasks effectively and maintain attention to detail.

Self-Evaluation Comments on Job Knowledge

32. I possess a clear understanding of my role and responsibilities.

33. I recognize the significance of my contributions to the organization’s success.

34. In the previous quarter, I successfully achieved 80% of my objectives.

35. I stay updated on the latest developments in my field to maintain proficiency.

36. I prioritize regular training and upskilling to remain current and competent.

37. However, due to the diverse nature of my responsibilities, I may occasionally struggle to grasp specific requirements.

38. Sometimes, I find it challenging to explain my role or expertise to others.

39. I am eager to make a meaningful impact within the organization.

40. My goal for the next quarter is to surpass job expectations by achieving at least 70% of my objectives.

41. In areas where I lack proficiency, I plan to enrol in relevant courses to bridge the knowledge gap.

Self-Appraisal Comments on Customer Success

42. I adeptly address customer inquiries and concerns.

43. I prioritize understanding customers’ needs through active listening before offering solutions.

44. I consistently exceed expectations to provide customers with the information or assistance they require.

45. (Specify percentage) % of customers have rated my service with the highest satisfaction score.

46. I am committed to enhancing the overall customer experience through continuous improvement efforts.

47. I make it a priority to empathize with customers’ perspectives and tailor solutions to meet their specific needs.

Self-Evaluation Comments on Innovation and Creativity

48. I actively seek opportunities to enhance our work processes.

49. I demonstrate adaptability by swiftly adjusting to new situations.

50. I tackle challenges with a problem-solving mindset.

51. I enjoy collaborating with colleagues to generate ideas.

52. My focus remains on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems.

53. I strive to consider the perspectives of others and find solutions beneficial to the entire team.

54. I actively seek out learning opportunities and value insights from those around me.

Self-Appraisal Comments on Performance Improvement

55. I realize the significance of increasing transparency within my team moving forward.

56. Though skilled in customer support, I acknowledge the necessity to enhance follow-up procedures.

57. I tend to avoid difficult conversations, often favouring a positive demeanour.

58. Enhancements are needed in my communication within larger groups or across departments.

59. While inclined towards traditional methods, I remain receptive to new perspectives.

60. Recognizing the importance of active participation, I aspire to contribute more ideas during team discussions.

61. I admit instances of inadequate communication regarding leave and aim to improve in this area.

Self-Evaluation Comments on Ownership and Initiative

62. I find satisfaction in undertaking tasks and projects that extend beyond my designated Key Result Areas (KRAs).

63. I have assumed responsibility for approximately 40% of the new projects delegated to our team.

64. I am often the first to express interest in exploring new opportunities within the team.

65. Approximately 15-20% of my time is dedicated to overseeing projects from initiation to completion.

66. Notably, last quarter, upon assuming responsibility for our largest client, I successfully increased sales by 10%.

67. I tend to prefer contributing to projects rather than assuming full responsibility for their management.

68. Looking ahead, I aspire to take ownership of at least one new project in the upcoming quarter.

69. I plan to seek guidance from my manager to address any apprehensions I may have about assuming additional responsibilities and meeting expectations.

Self-Audit Comments on Teamwork

70. I am committed to leaving my home earlier to ensure punctuality at the office, considering various factors.

71. Empowering my team members to excel is a primary focus of mine.

72. I prioritize soliciting input from all team members in every project.

73. Actively participating and contributing ideas during team discussions and brainstorming sessions is a regular practice for me.

74. I actively encourage other team members to share their perspectives and viewpoints.

75. Maintaining a positive rapport with the majority of my team members is essential to me.

76. I am currently working on familiarizing myself with all team members to foster better collaboration.

77. Improving my confidence to express ideas comfortably within the team is a personal goal of mine.

78. I am actively addressing my tendency to overlook ideas shared by others and strive to be more attentive.

79. My focus remains on optimizing the effectiveness of delegated tasks by ensuring appropriate assignment and follow-up.

80. I am committed to attending most team meetings and actively engaging in discussions to contribute to team success.

Self-Evaluation Comments on Attendance

81. Any planned time off is communicated to my team well in advance, maintaining transparency and minimizing disruptions.

82. I refrain from unnecessary breaks during working hours, maintaining focus and productivity.

83. I am committed to maintaining steady employment and addressing any gaps in my work history proactively.

84. Moving forward, I aim to plan vacation days ahead of time to facilitate better scheduling and coordination.

Sample Template for Self-Appraisal

In the past year (or a specified period), I have achieved several significant goals, including [mention specific achievements and results]. These accomplishments have positively impacted my work by [provide details on how they have influenced your job performance and productivity , or contributions to the team/organization]. However, I also recognize that there are areas where I can enhance my performance. Areas where I aim to enhance include [mention areas of improvement]. To address these areas, I plan to [briefly outline solutions or strategies you have in mind to improve in these areas].

In conclusion, self-appraisal comments for performance reviews help individuals talk about what they’ve done well, where they can improve, and what goals they have. These comments are important for having productive discussions with supervisors during evaluations. They give employees a chance to take charge of their own growth and make their work environment better.

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A self-appraisal comment is a statement where you evaluate your own performance, highlighting achievements, areas of improvement, and goals.

Self-appraisal comments help employees reflect on their work, provide insight into their contributions, and open avenues for constructive discussion during performance reviews.

You can use this resource as a reference to formulate your own self-appraisal comments. Tailor the examples provided to align with your experiences, achievements, and areas for improvement.

Yes, the resource includes a variety of self-appraisal comments across different job roles and skill sets, making it adaptable for individuals in various professions.

Absolutely! Feel free to customize and modify the self-evaluation comments to accurately reflect your specific achievements, challenges, and goals.

By engaging in thoughtful self-reflection and articulating your accomplishments and areas for growth, you can take proactive steps to enhance your skills, performance, and career path.

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Blog > Effective Feedback for Presentations - digital with PowerPoint or with printable sheets

Effective Feedback for Presentations - digital with PowerPoint or with printable sheets

10.26.20   •  #powerpoint #feedback #presentation.

Do you know whether you are a good presenter or not? If you do, chances are it's because people have told you so - they've given you feedback. Getting other's opinions about your performance is something that's important for most aspects in life, especially professionally. However, today we're focusing on a specific aspect, which is (as you may have guessed from the title): presentations.

The importance of feedback

Take a minute to think about the first presentation you've given: what was it like? Was it perfect? Probably not. Practise makes perfect, and nobody does everything right in the beginning. Even if you're a natural at speaking and presenting, there is usually something to improve and to work on. And this is where feedback comes in - because how are you going to know what it is that you should improve? You can and should of course assess yourself after each and every presentation you give, as that is an important part of learning and improvement. The problem is that you yourself are not aware of all the things that you do well (or wrong) during your presentation. But your audience is! And that's why you should get audience feedback.

Qualities of good Feedback

Before we get into the different ways of how you can get feedback from your audience, let's briefly discuss what makes good feedback. P.S.: These do not just apply for presentations, but for any kind of feedback.

• Good feedback is constructive, not destructive. The person receiving feedback should feel empowered and inspired to work on their skills, not discouraged. You can of course criticize on an objective level, but mean and insulting comments have to be kept to yourself.
• Good feedback involves saying bot what has to be improved (if there is anything) and what is already good (there is almost always something!)
• After receiving good feedback, the recipient is aware of the steps he can and should take in order to improve.

Ways of receiving / giving Feedback after a Presentation

1. print a feedback form.

Let's start with a classic: the feedback / evaluation sheet. It contains several questions, these can be either open (aka "What did you like about the presentation?") or answered on a scale (e.g. from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"). The second question format makes a lot of sense if you have a large audience, and it also makes it easy to get an overview of the results. That's why in our feedback forms (which you can download at the end of this post), you'll find mainly statements with scales. This has been a proven way for getting and giving valuable feedback efficiently for years. We do like the feedback form a lot, though you have to be aware that you'll need to invest some time to prepare, count up and analyse.

• ask specifically what you want to ask
• good overview of the results
• anonymous (people are likely to be more honest)
• easy to access: you can just download a feedback sheet online (ours, for example, which you'll find at the end of this blog post!)
• analysing the results can be time-consuming
• you have to print out the sheets, it takes preparation

2. Online: Get digital Feedback

In the year 2020, there's got to be a better way of giving feedback, right? There is, and you should definitely try it out! SlideLizard is a free PowerPoint extension that allows you to get your audience's feedback in the quickest and easiest way possible. You can of course customize the feedback question form to your specific needs and make sure you get exactly the kind of feedback you need. Click here to download SlideLizard right now, or scroll down to read some more about the tool.

• quick and easy to access
• easy and fast export, analysis and overview of feedback
• save feedback directly on your computer
• Participants need a working Internet connection (but that usually isn't a problem nowadays)

3. Verbal Feedback

"So, how did you like the presentation?", asks the lecturer. A few people in the audience nod friendly, one or two might even say something about how the slides were nice and the content interesting. Getting verbal feedback is hard, especially in big groups. If you really want to analyse and improve your presentation habits and skills, we recommend using one of the other methods. However, if you have no internet connection and forgot to bring your feedback sheets, asking for verbal feedback is still better than nothing.

• no prerequisites
• open format
• okay for small audiences
• not anonymous (people might not be honest)
• time consuming
• no detailed evaluation
• no way to save the feedback (except for your memory)
• not suitable for big audiences

Feedback to yourself - Self Assessment

I've mentioned before that it is incredibly important to not only let others tell you what went well and what didn't in your presentation. Your own impressions are of huge value, too. After each presentation you give, ask yourself the following questions (or better yet, write your answers down!):

• What went wrong (in my opinion)? What can I do in order to avoid this from happening next time?
• What went well? What was well received by the audience? What should I do more of?
• How was I feeling during this presentation? (Nervous? Confident? ...)

Tip: If you really want to actively work on your presentation skills, filming yourself while presenting and analysing the video after is a great way to go. You'll get a different view on the way you talk, move, and come across.

Digital Feedback with SlideLizard

Were you intrigued by the idea of easy Online-feedback? With SlideLizard your attendees can easily give you feedback directly with their Smartphone. After the presentation you can analyze the result in detail.

• type in your own feedback questions
• choose your rating scale: 1-5 points, 1-6 points, 1-5 stars or 1-6 stars;
• show your attendees an open text field and let them enter any text they want

Note: SlideLizard is amazing for giving and receiving feedback, but it's definitely not the only thing it's great for. Once you download the extension, you get access to the most amazing tools - most importantly, live polls and quizzes, live Q&A sessions, attendee note taking, content and slide sharing, and presentation analytics. And the best thing about all this? You can get it for free, and it is really easy to use, as it is directly integrated in PowerPoint! Click here to discover more about SlideLizard.

Free Download: Printable Feedback Sheets for Business or School Presentations

If you'd rather stick with the good old paper-and-pen method, that's okay, too. You can choose between one of our two feedback sheet templates: there is one tailored to business presentations and seminars, and one that is created specifically for teachers assessing their students. Both forms can be downloaded as a Word, Excel, or pdf file. A lot of thought has gone into both of the forms, so you can benefit as much as possible; however, if you feel like you need to change some questions in order to better suit your needs, feel free to do so!

Feedback form for business

Template as PDF, Word & Excel - perfect for seminars, trainings,...

Feedback form for teachers (school or university)

Template as PDF, Word & Excel - perfect for school or university,...

Where can I find a free feedback form for presentations?

There are many templates available online. We designed two exclusive, free-to-download feedback sheets, which you can get in our blog article

What's the best way to get feedback for presentations?

You can get feedback on your presentations by using feedback sheets, asking for feedback verbally, or, the easiest and fastest option: get digital feedback with an online tool

Related articles

About the author.

Pia Lehner-Mittermaier

Pia works in Marketing as a graphic designer and writer at SlideLizard. She uses her vivid imagination and creativity to produce good content.

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The big SlideLizard presentation glossary

Co-located audience.

Co-located Audience means that the speaker talks to the audience in person. It is used verbal and non-verbal methods to communicate a message. The speaker makes gestures with their hands, changes their face expression and shows images.

Keynote is a programme which, like PowerPoint, is used to create digital screen presentations. It is mainly used by Apple users.

External Communication

External communication is the exchange of information between two organisations. For example, it can be an exchange with customers, clients or traders. Feedback from a customer also counts as external communication.

PowerPoint Online

PowerPoint Online is the web version of PowerPoint. You can present and edit your PowerPoint presentation with it, without having PowerPoint installed on your computer. It's only necessary to have a Microsoft - or a Microsoft 365 account.

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100 Examples: How to Write Performance Review Comments

By Status.net Editorial Team on December 18, 2023 — 18 minutes to read

• Setting the Right Tone Part 1
• Positive Phrases That Can Be Used in a Performance Review Part 2
• How to Highlight an Employee’s Strengths with Specific Examples Part 3
• Example Comments to Include to Provide Constructive Feedback Part 4
• Structuring Your Comments Part 5
• Using Examples in Comments Part 6
• Encouraging Continuous Development Part 7
• Avoiding Common Pitfalls Part 8
• Wrapping up the Review Part 9

Performance reviews are evaluations of an employee’s work performance, usually conducted periodically by a supervisor or manager. These assessments typically focus on an employee’s achievements, strengths, areas for improvement, and goals for the future. You might receive a performance review as a formal annual assessment or as periodic informal check-ins with your manager.

Part 1 Setting the Right Tone

Using positive language.

When writing performance review comments, it’s vital to use positive language. This not only makes the receiver more receptive to your feedback but also helps create an empowering experience. For example, words like “improve,” “achieve,” and “progress” are encouraging and can boost the employee’s motivation.

Instead of saying, “You failed to meet the deadline,” try using a more positive approach: “Although you didn’t meet the deadline, we appreciate your hard work and believe you can do better next time.” This simple change in tone shows that you recognize their effort and are confident in their potential for growth.

Constructive Criticism Techniques

To offer constructive criticism, focus on specific behaviors and outcomes rather than making personal judgments. For instance, avoid general statements like, “You’re not a good team player.” Instead, provide actionable feedback, such as, “During team meetings, try to engage more with your colleagues by asking questions and sharing your ideas.”

When discussing areas for improvement, pair them with related strengths or achievements. This way, you’re not only pointing out the problem but also acknowledging their effort and capability. For example, “Your creative ideas have significantly contributed to the project; however, working on time management will help you deliver even better results.”

Part 2 Positive Phrases That Can Be Used in a Performance Review

Using positive phrases can help boost employee morale and encourage growth. Here are some examples:

• 1. “Your creativity has brought fresh ideas that have driven innovation within our team.”
• 2. “You have shown exceptional growth and learning in your role.”
• 3. “Your dedication to meeting project deadlines contributes to our team’s success.”
• 4. “You have a positive attitude that positively influences the workplace environment.”
• 5. “You demonstrate strong problem-solving skills that help us overcome challenges.”
• 6. “Your commitment to excellence is evident in every task you undertake.”
• 7. “You effectively manage your time and prioritize tasks efficiently.”
• 8. “Your communication skills have been pivotal in maintaining clear and effective dialogue between team members.”
• 9. “You have shown remarkable initiative in taking on new responsibilities.”
• 10. “Your work ethic is an inspiration to those around you.”
• 11. “You consistently produce high-quality work that exceeds our standards.”
• 12. “You have a knack for building strong, collaborative relationships with clients and co-workers.”
• 13. “Your flexibility in adapting to change has made a significant impact on our team’s performance.”
• 14. “You have demonstrated leadership qualities that have guided our team through various projects.”
• 15. “Your ability to stay calm under pressure has been a stabilizing force for the team.”
• 16. “You are a reliable employee who colleagues can always count on.”
• 17. “Your analytical skills have contributed to more informed decision-making processes.”
• 18. “You consistently set a great example with your professional demeanor.”
• 19. “Your positive energy is contagious and boosts team morale.”
• 20. “You have a keen eye for identifying areas for improvement and implementing effective solutions.”
• 21. “You are proactive in seeking feedback and using it to enhance your performance.”
• 22. “Your technical skills have been a valuable asset to our team’s operations.”
• 23. “You have effectively mentored other team members, enhancing their skills and confidence.”
• 24. “Your strategic thinking has played a key role in our department’s planning and success.”
• 25. “You have a unique ability to turn challenges into opportunities.”
• 26. “Your contributions to the team often exceed the scope of your role, showing your commitment to our goals.”
• 27. “You maintain a high level of professionalism in all interactions, which reflects well on our team.”
• 28. “You have a continuous improvement mindset that helps elevate the entire team’s performance.”
• 29. “Your enthusiasm for your work is infectious and motivates others to strive for excellence.”
• 30. “You handle complex projects with ease, ensuring smooth operations and delivery.”
• 31. “You consistently go above and beyond expectations.”
• 32. “Your ability to adapt to new challenges has been impressive.”
• 33. “You are an excellent team player, and your colleagues value your support.”
• 34. “Your strong attention to detail ensures high-quality results.”

Remember to support these positive statements with concrete examples from the employee’s work.

Part 3 How to Highlight an Employee’s Strengths with Specific Examples

When discussing an employee’s strengths, try to be specific and use examples from their recent work. Focus on their skills and accomplishments, tying them to the overall success of the team or the company.

1. “I’ve noticed how effectively you manage your time, particularly during the (…) project when you delivered your part ahead of schedule without compromising on quality.”

2. “Your ability to lead the team was evident in the way you stepped up during the (…) event, ensuring that everyone was motivated and on task.”

3. “Your creative problem-solving skills really shone when you found a workaround for the budget issue on the (…) project.”

4. “Your attention to detail didn’t go unnoticed on the (…) report, where your thoroughness prevented potential errors.”

5. “Your technical skills are a huge asset, as seen when you implemented the new software that increased our team’s productivity.”

6. “Your communication skills have improved significantly, especially when you presented the quarterly results and received positive feedback from the stakeholders.”

7. “Your commitment to professional development is commendable, like when you completed the advanced training in (…) and immediately applied those skills to benefit our team.”

8. “Your teamwork has been outstanding, particularly when you assisted a new team member with onboarding and helped them become productive quickly.”

9. “Your initiative to organize the weekly brainstorming sessions has greatly enhanced our team’s creativity and collaboration.”

10. “Your customer service skills have consistently been exceptional, as evidenced by the glowing reviews from clients like in the (…) project.”

11. “Your sales performance has been remarkable, especially when you exceeded your targets by 20% last quarter.”

12. “Your adaptability was clearly demonstrated during the transition to remote work, where you maintained high productivity levels.”

13. “Your positive attitude has been a morale booster for the team, like when you encouraged everyone during the tight deadline for the (…) project.”

14. “Your strategic thinking was key in identifying new market opportunities that led to the (…) initiative.”

15. “Your reliability is something we can always count on, as you’ve never missed a deadline and always deliver quality work.”

16. “Your mentorship has greatly benefited your colleagues, such as when you guided your peer through the complex process of (…).”

17. “Your ability to communicate with clients has been outstanding, as seen in the successful onboarding of the (…) project.”

18. “Your analytical skills have helped us understand customer data better, leading to more targeted marketing strategies.”

19. “Your dedication to the company’s mission was evident when you volunteered to lead the corporate social responsibility program.”

20. “Your conflict resolution skills have been instrumental in maintaining a harmonious work environment, especially during the team restructuring.”

21. “Your writing skills have been invaluable, particularly in drafting the clear and persuasive proposal that won us the (…) grant.”

22. “Your resilience is commendable, as seen when you managed to keep the team focused and productive even amidst several unforeseen challenges.”

23. “Your organizational skills are top-notch, which was clear when you coordinated the successful industry conference last month.”

24. “Your ability to work under pressure was evident during the end-of-year audit, where you managed to deliver accurate reports within tight deadlines.”

25. “Your financial acumen saved the company significant costs by renegotiating vendor contracts effectively.”

26. “Your hands-on approach in the training of new hires has ensured they are fully equipped to perform their roles successfully.”

Part 4 Example Comments to Include in a Performance Review to Provide Constructive Feedback

Constructive feedback should be clear, specific, and actionable. Instead of saying, “You need to improve your time management,” try offering suggestions like, “Consider using a calendaring tool to better organize your tasks and deadlines, which will help ensure projects are completed in a timely manner.” Focus on behaviors that can be improved and support your feedback with examples.

1. “I’ve noticed that you excel in client interactions, consistently providing thoughtful and helpful responses. To further enhance your client management skills, I suggest participating in advanced communication workshops.”

2. “Your ability to work independently is impressive; however, I encourage you to engage more with the team during collaborative projects to contribute your valuable insights and learn from others’ perspectives.”

3. “You have shown great initiative in your role, but there have been instances where attention to detail could be improved. Double-checking your work before submission could help mitigate any minor errors.”

4. “Your creativity in problem-solving is commendable. To foster this skill, I recommend documenting your processes to share with the team, which could inspire innovative approaches across the department.”

5. “While you meet most deadlines, I’ve observed that some tasks are completed at the last minute. Prioritizing your workload and setting earlier internal deadlines might help reduce last-minute rushes.”

6. “You have a strong grasp of our project goals, yet sometimes there’s hesitation in decision-making. Confidence can be built through seeking mentorship or additional training in areas of uncertainty.”

7. “Your technical skills are outstanding, and to complement them, I suggest working on developing your presentation skills to effectively communicate your ideas to non-technical team members.”

8. “I appreciate your dedication to the team, but I’ve noticed that work-life balance could be an area for improvement. Managing your time to leave the office at a reasonable hour could benefit your overall well-being.”

9. “You often contribute innovative ideas in meetings; to take this further, I encourage you to lead a brainstorming session, which could help refine and implement these concepts.”

10. “Your project management is generally strong, yet there’s room to enhance your delegation skills. Trusting your team with more responsibilities can improve efficiency and team development.”

11. “You consistently produce high-quality work, though sometimes at a slower pace. Implementing productivity techniques, like the Pomodoro method, might help increase your output without sacrificing quality.”

12. “Your punctuality and attendance are commendable. To build on this, setting a personal goal to contribute at least one key point in meetings could further demonstrate your engagement.”

13. “You are very responsive to feedback, which is great. To take it a step further, actively seeking out feedback periodically could provide you with more opportunities for growth.”

14. “Your reports are always thorough, but they can be quite lengthy. Learning to condense information without losing clarity could make your reports more accessible to readers.”

15. “You show great enthusiasm for new projects, and I’d love to see you carry that energy through to project completion by setting and reviewing progress milestones.”

16. “Your teamwork is a strength, but taking on a leadership role in group tasks could help you develop management skills and provide valuable experience.”

17. “You’ve shown you can handle routine tasks well; now, challenging yourself with more complex assignments could further your expertise and career development.”

18. “Your sales numbers are impressive, and to enhance your performance even more, consider adopting a CRM tool to track customer interactions and follow-ups systematically.”

19. “You are very organized in your work, which is excellent. To improve efficiency, you might explore new project management software that could streamline your processes.”

20. “You handle customer complaints with patience and empathy. Enhancing your skills with additional conflict resolution training could make you even more effective in these situations.”

21. “Your ability to adhere to the budget is a real asset. To build on this, developing forecasting techniques could help you anticipate financial challenges and opportunities.”

22. “You are a reliable employee who often assists others. To further your development, I suggest you mentor a newer team member, which can help you hone your leadership abilities.”

23. “Your written communication is clear and concise. Expanding your skill set to include technical writing could open up new opportunities for you within the company.”

24. “You have a knack for identifying risks early on. Developing a formal risk assessment process could benefit the entire team by mitigating potential issues before they arise.”

25. “You’ve taken on additional responsibilities well. Now, focusing on strategic planning could help you understand how these tasks fit into the company’s broader goals.”

26. “Your proactive approach to learning new software is commendable. Sharing your knowledge through a short training session with colleagues could enhance team productivity.”

27. “You make sound decisions most of the time; however, incorporating data analysis into your decision-making process could provide a stronger foundation for those decisions.”

28. “You are very good at following up with clients. To improve even further, you might consider developing a standardized follow-up protocol to ensure consistency across all client interactions.”

29. “Your public speaking skills have improved, which is great to see. Joining a professional speaking group could provide you with even more opportunities to practice and refine these skills.”

30. “You have a strong understanding of our products, and to leverage that knowledge, you could create informational materials to help educate the rest of the team on product features and benefits.”

Part 5 Structuring Your Comments

Highlight achievements.

When discussing achievements, make sure to acknowledge your employee’s hard work and dedication. Start with praising their accomplishments, and then specifically describe what they did well. For example:

• “You successfully increased sales by 15% this quarter, which is an impressive accomplishment.”
• “Your attention to detail in project management led to a more efficient workflow.”
• “You’ve consistently shown strong leadership within the team, fostering a positive work environment.”

Don’t forget to include any metrics or data that showcase their success.

Addressing Areas for Improvement

When addressing areas for improvement, ensure you are providing constructive feedback and actionable advice. Be supportive and empathetic, framing the conversation as an opportunity for growth. For example:

• “Although you’ve made progress in time management, there’s still room for improvement. Setting daily priorities and using a scheduling tool might help you better manage your tasks.”
• “Your presentations are engaging, but sometimes you speak too fast. Practicing your pacing can help your message come across more clearly.”
• “Working on improving your written communication will make it easier for colleagues to understand your proposals.”

Focusing on Behavior and Results

When providing comments, ensure you focus on observable behaviors and results that can be measured or quantified. This helps to keep the feedback objective and avoids misunderstanding. For example:

• “You’ve demonstrated a strong ability to negotiate, which resulted in a larger budget for our team.”
• “Working on being more patient with new team members will help foster a supportive environment. Offering guidance and encouragement can go a long way.”
• “Your ability to collaborate effectively with other departments has contributed significantly to the success of our projects.

Purpose of Effective Comments

Effective performance review comments serve to support your growth and development in your job. They provide you with constructive feedback that can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas where you can improve. Well-written comments are:

• Specific – They offer precise examples of what you did well or need to improve.
• Actionable – They provide guidance on how you can enhance your performance.
• Relevant – They relate directly to your job responsibilities and objectives.
• Balanced – They consider both your achievements and areas for improvement.

For example, instead of vaguely saying, “You need to improve your communication skills,” helpful comments might go like this: “When presenting to clients, try to make eye contact and speak more confidently. This will help you build rapport and better convey your ideas.”

Part 6 Using Examples in Comments

Describing specific instances.

When providing feedback in performance reviews, it’s important to use specific examples to illustrate your points. This helps the employee understand the exact situations you are talking about and shows that you have paid attention to their work. For instance, instead of saying, “You need to communicate better with your team,” you could say, “I noticed at last week’s project meeting that you didn’t share updates about your progress with the rest of the team. Sharing this information can help everyone stay aligned and avoid duplication of work.”

Adding concrete instances of behavior or results allows your comments to carry more weight, making them more useful for the employee. They can then focus on these instances to learn and improve. For example, instead of saying, “You are a great problem solver,” mention a specific situation when the employee went above and beyond to address a challenge, like this: “You did a fantastic job troubleshooting the server issue last month, finding the root cause, and resolving it within two hours. That saved the company from significant downtime.”

Relating Examples to Goals

Aligning your feedback and examples to the employee’s goals helps to clarify how their actions affect their progress towards meeting their objectives. This demonstrates that you are invested in your employee’s growth and success. When discussing accomplishments, point out how they contributed to meeting their goals. For instance, “Your dedication to completing the new client proposal led to it being both well-received and signed, which was a crucial part of reaching this quarter’s sales target.”

On the other hand, when addressing areas that need improvement, emphasize how the observed behavior may hinder the employee’s progress towards their goals. For example, “Your tendency to miss weekly status update meetings has made it difficult for other team members to keep track of your projects, which can delay their own work and impede reaching our team goals.”

Using examples tied to their goals highlights the direct impact of the employee’s actions, whether positive or negative, on their overall performance and success. This encourages employees to take ownership of their development and strive for improvement in their day-to-day activities.

Part 7 Encouraging Continuous Development

Setting goals for the next period.

Help your employees grow by setting clear and achievable goals for the next period. Instead of setting a vague objective, try to make it specific and measurable. For example, rather than saying “Improve your sales skills,” you could say “Increase your sales numbers by 10% in the next quarter.”

When you provide feedback on their performance, explain how they can improve and discuss the steps needed to achieve their goals. For instance, if your employee needs to improve their presentation skills, suggest that they attend a workshop or take an online course. This way, they’ll have a clear direction to follow, and it will be easier to monitor their progress.

Offering Resources for Growth

Supporting your employees in their professional development is an important aspect of their career growth. Offer resources that can help them learn new skills and refine existing ones. These resources could include training programs, online courses, mentoring, or even access to relevant conferences and seminars.

Part 8 Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Steering clear of vague language.

To write effective performance review comments, avoid using vague language. Instead, get specific about the areas in which the employee demonstrates success or needs improvement. For example, instead of saying “You have great communication skills,” say “You are excellent at explaining complex ideas in simple terms during team meetings.” This specificity allows employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses and work towards improvement.

Avoiding Personal Critiques

Performance reviews should focus on an employee’s job performance, not their personality traits. Critiquing someone’s character can create a negative environment and perception of bias. Focus on tangible actions and behaviors to offer constructive feedback. For example, instead of saying “You are too emotional and disorganized,” say “It would be helpful if you work on keeping a more structured approach to your projects and manage your emotions during tense situations.”

Balancing Feedback Across Teams

When providing feedback, ensure that it is consistent and fair across all team members. Avoid comparing employees to one another during individual reviews, as this can cause resentment and competition. Instead, use benchmarks and objectives to evaluate their performance. For example, say “Your sales numbers have consistently surpassed targets for the last quarter” or “You have taken on extra responsibilities within your role, such as managing the new interns, which has shown great initiative.” By maintaining a balanced, objective approach, you can support your team and help them grow in their roles.

Part 9 Wrapping up the Review

Summarizing key points.

When you’re ready to finish the performance review, take a moment to recap the main points discussed. This can help reinforce important issues and ensure that both you and the employee understand what has been covered. For example:

• Highlight the employee’s strengths and achievements, such as meeting or exceeding targets, demonstrating leadership, or showing exceptional teamwork.
• Address areas for improvement or development, such as time management, customer service skills, or goal-setting. Offer specific suggestions, like attending a training or finding a mentor.
• Reiterate any action items or goals that have been set during the review, and discuss how progress will be monitored and evaluated.

Closing on a Positive Note

End the performance review on a positive note to foster a sense of motivation and enthusiasm. Show appreciation for the employee’s efforts, and express confidence in their ability to continue growing and succeeding in their role. Some ways to do this include:

• Offer words of encouragement and support, like “I believe in your potential to make a real difference” or “Your dedication to improving is evident, and I’m excited to see what you can achieve.”
• Reflect on any positive changes the employee has already made, emphasizing the impact this has had on the team or the organization.
• Discuss future opportunities for growth, such as potential projects, promotions, or new responsibilities that align with the employee’s skills and aspirations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you give examples of words that effectively describe employee performance.

Here are some words that can help describe employee performance:

• Goal-oriented
• Collaborative
• Detail-oriented

When using these words, make sure to include specific examples, so the employee understands the context and the impact of their work.

How can a manager identify areas for improvement in a performance review, and can you provide examples?

When pointing out areas for improvement, focus on specific behaviors or skills that need development. For example, if an employee struggles with delegating tasks, you could say, “To help improve your team’s efficiency, consider working on your delegation skills by identifying tasks that others can take on and providing clear guidance.” Stay supportive and offer solutions to help the employee grow.

What are the key elements to writing a summary for a performance appraisal?

Writing an effective performance appraisal summary should include:

• A brief recap of the employee’s accomplishments and strengths.
• Specific examples of their impact on the team or company.
• Areas for improvement, with clear and actionable suggestions for growth.
• A reiteration of your support and confidence in their ability to succeed.
• Flexibility: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Initiative: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Productivity: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Listening Skills: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Conflict Resolution: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)
• Strategic Thinking: Performance Review Examples (Rating 1 - 5)

Home Blog Education Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Getting the perfect presentation design is just a step toward a successful presentation. For the experienced user, building presentation skills is the answer to elevating the power of your message and showing expertise on any subject. Still, one can ask: is it the same set of skills, or are they dependable on the type of presentation?

In this article, we will introduce the different types of presentations accompanied by the skillset required to master them. The purpose, as always, is to retain the audience’s interest for a long-lasting and convincing message.

Table of Contents

The Importance of Presentation Skills

Persuasive presentations, instructional presentations, informative presentations, inspirational presentations, basic presentation skills, what are the main difficulties when giving a presentation, recommendations to improve your presentation skills, closing statement.

Effective communication is the answer to reaching business and academic goals. The scenarios in which we can be required to deliver a presentation are as diverse as one can imagine. Still, some core concepts apply to all presentations.

 We define presentation skills as a compendium of soft skills that directly affect your presentation performance and contribute to creating a great presentation. These are not qualities acquired by birth but skills you ought to train and master to delve into professional environments.

You may ask: is it really that evident when a presenter is not prepared? Here are some common signs people can experience during presentations:

• Evasive body language: Not making eye contact with the audience, arms closed tightly to the body, hands in pockets all the time.
• Lack of interest in the presenter’s voice: dull tone, not putting an effort to articulate the topics.
• Doubting when asked to answer a question
• Irksome mood

The list can go on about common presenter mistakes , and most certainly, it will affect the performance of any presented data if the lack of interest by the presenter is blatantly obvious.  Another element to consider is anxiety, and according to research by the National Institute of Mental Health, 73% of the population in the USA is affected by glossophobia , which is the fear of public speaking, judgment, or negative evaluation by other people.

Therefore, presentation skills training is essential for any business professional who wants to achieve effective communication . It will remove the anxiety from presentation performance and help users effectively deliver their message and connect with the audience.

Archetypes of presentations

Persuasive presentations aim to convince the audience – often in short periods – to acquire a product or service, adhere to a cause, or invest in a company. For business entrepreneurs or politicians, persuasive presentations are their tool for the trade.

Unless you aim to be perceived as an imposter, a proper persuasive presentation has the elements of facts, empathy, and logic, balanced under a well-crafted narrative. The central pillar of these presentations is to identify the single factor that gathered your audience: it could be a market need, a social cause, or a revolutionary concept for today’s society. It has to be something with enough power to gather critiques – both good and bad.

That single factor has to be backed up by facts. Research that builds your hypothesis on how to solve that problem. A deep understanding of the target audience’s needs , concerns, and social position regarding the solution your means can offer. When those elements are in place, building a pitch becomes an easy task. 

Graphics can help you introduce information in a compelling format, lowering the need for lengthy presentations. Good presentation skills for persuasive presentations go by the hand of filtering relevant data and creating the visual cues that resonate with what your audience demands.

One powerful example of a persuasive presentation is the technique known as the elevator pitch . You must introduce your idea or product convincingly to the audience in a timeframe between 30 seconds and less than 2 minutes. You have to expose:

• What do you do 
• What’s the problem to solve
• Why is your solution different from others 
• Why should the audience care about your expertise

For that very purpose, using engaging graphics with contrasting colors elevates the potential power of your message. It speaks professionalism, care for details, and out-of-the-box thinking. Knowing how to end a presentation is also critical, as your CTAs should be placed with care.

Therefore, let’s resume the requirements of persuasive presentations in terms of good presentation skills:

• Identifying problems and needs
• Elaborating “the hook” (the element that grabs the audience’s attention)
• Knowing how to “tie” your audience (introducing a piece of information related to the hook that causes an emotional impact)
• Broad knowledge of body language and hand gestures to quickly convey your message
• Being prepared to argue a defense of your point of view
• Handling rejection
• Having a proactive attitude to convert opportunities into new projects
• Using humor, surprise, or personal anecdotes as elements to sympathize with the audience
• Having confidence
• Be able to summarize facts and information in visually appealing ways

You can learn more about persuasive presentation techniques by clicking here .

In the case of instructional presentations, we ought to differentiate two distinctive types:

• Lecture Presentations : Presentations being held at universities or any other educative institution. Those presentations cover, topic by topic, and the contents of a syllabus and are created by the team of teachers in charge of the course.
• Training Presentations : These presentations take place during in-company training sessions and usually comprise a good amount of content that is resumed into easy-to-take solutions. They are aimed to coach employees over certain topics relevant to their work performance. The 70-20-10 Model is frequently used to address these training situations.

Lecture presentations appeal to the gradual introduction of complex concepts, following a structure set in the course’s syllabus. These presentations often have a similar aesthetic as a group of professors or researchers created to share their knowledge about a topic. Personal experience does tell that course presentations often rely on factual data, adequately documented, and on the theoretical side.

An example of a presentation that lies under this concept is a Syllabus Presentation, used by the teaching team to introduce the subject to new students, evaluation methods, concepts to be learned, and expectations to pass the course.

On the other hand, training presentations are slide decks designed to meet an organization’s specific needs in the formal education of their personnel. Commonly known as “continuous education,” plenty of companies invest resources in coaching their employees to achieve higher performance results. These presentations have the trademark of being concise since their idea is to introduce the concepts that shall be applied in practice sessions. 

Ideally, the training presentations are introduced with little text and easy-to-recognize visual cues. Since the idea is to summarize as much as possible, these are visually appealing for the audience. They must be dynamic enough to allow the presenter to convey the message.

Those key takeaways remind employees when they revisit their learning resources and allow them to ruminate on questions that fellow workers raise. 

To sum up this point, building presentation skills for instructional presentations requires:

• Ability to put complex concepts into simpler words
• Patience and a constant learning mindset
• Voice training to deliver lengthy speeches without being too dense
• Ability to summarize points and note the key takeaways
• Empathizing with the audience to understand their challenges in the learning process

The informative presentations take place in business situations, such as when to present project reports from different departments to the management. Another potential usage of these presentations is in SCRUM or other Agile methodologies, when a sprint is completed, to discuss the advance of the project with the Product Owner.

As they are presentations heavily dependent on data insights, it’s common to see the usage of infographics and charts to express usually dense data in simpler terms and easy to remember. 

Informative presentations don’t just fall into the business category. Ph.D. Dissertation and Thesis presentations are topics that belong to the informative presentations category as they condense countless research hours into manageable reports for the academic jury. 

Since these informational presentations can be perceived as lengthy and data-filled, it is important to learn the following professional presentation skills:

• Attention to detail
• Be able to explain complex information in simpler terms
• Creative thinking
• Powerful diction
• Working on pauses and transitions
• Pacing the presentation, so not too much information is divulged per slide

The leading inspirational platform, TEDx, comes to mind when talking about inspirational presentations. This presentation format has the peculiarity of maximizing the engagement with the audience to divulge a message, and due to that, it has specific requirements any presenter must meet.

This presentation format usually involves a speaker on a stage, either sitting or better standing, in which the presenter engages with the audience with a storytelling format about a life experience, a job done that provided a remarkable improvement for society, etc.

Empathizing with the audience is the key ingredient for these inspirational presentations. Still, creativity is what shapes the outcome of your performance as people are constantly looking for different experiences – not the same recipe rephrased with personal touches. The human factor is what matters here, way above data and research. What has your experience to offer to others? How can it motivate another human being to pursue a similar path or discover their true calling?

To achieve success in terms of communication skills presentation, these inspirational presentations have the following requirements:

• Focus on the audience (engage, consider their interests, and make them a part of your story)
• Putting ego aside
• Creative communication skills
• Storytelling skills
• Body language knowledge to apply the correct gestures to accompany your story
• Voice training
• Using powerful words

After discussing the different kinds of presentations we can come across at any stage of our lives, a group of presentation skills is standard in any type of presentation. See below what makes a good presentation and which skills you must count on to succeed as a presenter.

Punctuality

Punctuality is a crucial aspect of giving an effective presentation. Nothing says more about respect for your audience and the organization you represent than delivering the presentation on time . Arriving last minute puts pressure on the tech team behind audiovisuals, as they don’t have enough preparation to test microphones, stage lights, and projector settings, which can lead to a less powerful presentation Even when discussing presentations hosted in small rooms for a reduced audience, testing the equipment becomes essential for an effective presentation.

A solution for this is to arrive at least 30 minutes early. Ideally, one hour is a sweet spot since the AV crew has time to check the gear and requirements for your presentation. Another benefit of this, for example, in inspirational presentations, is measuring the previous presenter’s impact on the audience. This gives insights about how to resonate with the public, and their interest, and how to accommodate your presentation for maximum impact.

Body Language

Our bodies can make emotions transparent for others, even when we are unaware of such a fact. Proper training for body language skills reduces performance anxiety, giving the audience a sense of expertise about the presented topic. 

Give your presentation and the audience the respect they deserve by watching over these potential mistakes:

• Turning your back to the audience for extended periods : It’s okay to do so when introducing an important piece of information or explaining a graph, but it is considered rude to give your back to the audience constantly.
• Fidgeting : We are all nervous in the presence of strangers, even more, if we are the center of attention for that moment. Instead of playing with your hair or making weird hand gestures, take a deep breath to center yourself before the presentation and remember that everything you could do to prepare is already done. Trust your instincts and give your best.
• Intense eye contact : Have you watched a video where the presenter stared at the camera the entire time? That’s the feeling you transmit to spectators through intense eye contact. It’s a practice often used by politicians to persuade.
• Swearing : This is a no-brainer. Even when you see influencers swearing on camera or in podcasts or live presentations, it is considered an informal and lousy practice for business and academic situations. If you have a habit to break when it comes to this point, find the humor in these situations and replace your swear words with funny alternatives (if the presentation allows for it). 

Voice Tone plays a crucial role in delivering effective presentations and knowing how to give a good presentation. Your voice is a powerful tool for exposing your ideas and feelings . Your voice can articulate the message you are telling, briefing the audience if you feel excited about what you are sharing or, in contrast, if you feel the presentation is a burden you ought to complete.

Remember, passion is a primary ingredient in convincing people. Therefore, transmitting such passion with a vibrant voice may help gather potential business partners’ interest.  

But what if you feel sick prior to the presentation? If, by chance, your throat is sore minutes before setting foot on the stage, try this: when introducing yourself, mention that you are feeling a bit under the weather. This resonates with the audience to pay more attention to your efforts. In case you don’t feel comfortable about that, ask the organizers for a cup of tea, as it will settle your throat and relax your nerves.

Tech Skills

Believe it or not, people still feel challenged by technology these days. Maybe that’s the reason why presentation giants like Tony Robbins opt not to use PowerPoint presentations . The reality is that there are plenty of elements involved in a presentation that can go wrong from the tech side:

• A PDF not opening
• Saving your presentation in a too-recent PowerPoint version
• A computer not booting up
• Mac laptops and their never-ending compatibility nightmare
• Not knowing how to change between slides
• Not knowing how to use a laser pointer
• Internet not working
• Audio not working

We can come up with a pretty long list of potential tech pitfalls, and yet more than half of them fall in presenters not being knowledgeable about technology.

If computers aren’t your thing, let the organization know about this beforehand. There is always a crew member available to help presenters switch between slides or configure the presentation for streaming. This takes the pressure off your shoulders, allowing you to concentrate on the content to present. Remember, even Bill Gates can get a BSOD during a presentation .

Presentations, while valuable for conveying information and ideas, can be daunting for many individuals. Here are some common difficulties people encounter when giving presentations:

Public Speaking Anxiety

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, affects a significant portion of the population. This anxiety can lead to nervousness, trembling, and forgetfulness during a presentation.

Lack of Confidence

Many presenters struggle with self-doubt, fearing that they may not be knowledgeable or skilled enough to engage their audience effectively.

Content Organization

Organizing information in a coherent and engaging manner can be challenging. Presenters often grapple with how to structure their content to make it easily digestible for the audience. Artificial Intelligence can help us significantly reduce the content arrangement time when you work with tools like our AI Presentation Maker (made for presenters by experts in presentation design). 

Audience Engagement

Keeping the audience’s attention and interest throughout the presentation can be difficult. Distractions, disengaged attendees, or lack of interaction can pose challenges.

Technical Issues

Technology glitches, such as malfunctioning equipment, incompatible file formats, or poor internet connectivity, can disrupt presentations and increase stress.

Time Management

Striking the right balance between providing enough information and staying within time limits is a common challenge. Going over or under the allotted time can affect the effectiveness of the presentation.

Handling Questions and Challenges

Responding to unexpected questions, criticism, or challenges from the audience can be difficult, especially when presenters are unprepared or lack confidence in their subject matter.

Visual Aids and Technology

Creating and effectively using visual aids like slides or multimedia can be a struggle for some presenters. Technical competence is essential in this aspect.

Language and Articulation

Poor language skills or unclear articulation can hinder effective communication. Presenters may worry about stumbling over words or failing to convey their message clearly.

Maintaining appropriate and confident body language can be challenging. Avoiding nervous habits, maintaining eye contact, and using gestures effectively requires practice.

Overcoming Impersonal Delivery

In virtual presentations, maintaining a personal connection with the audience can be difficult. The absence of face-to-face interaction can make it challenging to engage and read the audience.

Cultural and Diversity Awareness

Presenting to diverse audiences requires sensitivity to cultural differences and varying levels of familiarity with the topic.

In this section, we gathered some tips on how to improve presentation skills that can certainly make an impact if applied to your presentation skills. We believe these skills can be cultivated to transform into habits for your work routine.

Tip #1: Build a narrative

One memorable way to guarantee presentation success is by writing a story of all the points you desire to cover. This statement is based on the logic behind storytelling and its power to connect with people .

Don’t waste time memorizing slides or reading your presentation to the audience. It feels unnatural, and any question that diverts from the topic in discussion certainly puts you in jeopardy or, worse, exposes you as a fraud in the eyes of the audience. And before you ask, it is really evident when a presenter has a memorized speech. 

Build and rehearse the presentation as if telling a story to a group of interested people. Lower the language barrier by avoiding complex terms that maybe even you aren’t fully aware of their meaning. Consider the ramifications of that story, what it could lead to, and which are the opportunities to explore. Then, visualize yourself giving the presentation in a natural way.

Applying this technique makes the presentation feel like second nature to you. It broadens the spectrum in which you can show expertise over a topic or even build the basis for new interesting points of view about the project.

Tip #2: Don’t talk for more than 3 minutes per slide

It is a common practice of presenters to bombard the audience with facts and information whilst retaining the same slide on the screen. Why can this happen? It could be because the presenter condensed the talk into very few slides and preferred to talk. The reality is that your spectators won’t retain the information you are giving unless you give visual cues to help that process. 

Opt to prepare more slides and pace your speech to match the topics shown on each slide. Don’t spend more than 3 minutes per slide unless you have to introduce a complex piece of data. Use visual cues to direct the spectators about what you talk about, and summarize the principal concepts discussed at the end of each section.

Tip #3: Practice meditation daily

Anxiety is the number one enemy of professional presenters. It slowly builds without you being aware of your doubts and can hinder your performance in multiple ways: making you feel paralyzed, fidgeting, making you forget language skills or concepts, affecting your health, etc.

Meditation is an ancient practice taken from Buddhist teachings that train your mind to be here in the present. We often see the concepts of meditation and mindfulness as synonyms, whereas you should be aware that meditation is a practice that sets the blocks to reach a state of mindfulness. For presenters, being in the here and now is essential to retain focus, but meditation techniques also teach us to control our breathing and be in touch with our body signals when stress builds up. 

The customary practice of meditation has an impact on imagination and creativity but also helps to build patience – a skill much needed for connecting with your audience in instructional presentations.

Having the proper set of presentation skills can be quite subjective. It goes beyond presentation tips and deepens into how flexible we can be in our ability to communicate ideas.

Different presentations and different audiences shape the outcome of our efforts. Therefore, having a basic understanding of how to connect, raise awareness, and empathize with people can be key ingredients for your career as a presenter. A word of advice: success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes dedication and patience to build communication skills . Don’t condition your work to believe you will be ready “someday”; it’s best to practice and experience failure as part of the learning process.

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by TED Masterclass Team • May 12, 2020

Getting useful feedback can be a critical step in developing an effective presentation - it can also be harder to find than you might expect. Honest feedback calls on you to be vulnerable, and forces your feedback partner to sometimes deliver difficult constructive criticism. The good news is that this type of deep and authentic feedback can encourage personal growth and a willingness to take creative risks.

Get high-quality feedback that elevates your presentation skills by putting in a little extra preparation and focus.

First, decide who to ask for feedback

Feedback can feel personally risky if it’s coming from a close friend or colleague. Because these relationships are so important to us, honest feedback can end up feeling critical. In these situations, it can become tempting to give non-critical feedback, but that’s not helpful.

The person you work with to give you feedback should be someone:

• You want to learn from, who pushes you to think creatively
• With a different perspective - it can help to look beyond the people you spend a lot of time with personally or professionally
• Who shares your enthusiasm for acquiring new skills and is excited for you to become a better presenter

Then, prepare to receive feedback

Just as important as deciding who will be giving you feedback, is creating an environment and mindset where giving and receiving constructive feedback is easy.

• Create a distraction-free time and space for getting feedback. Ideally both of you should be present, focused, and open. If we’re feeling stressed or pressed for time, it’s hard to be a good feedback partner. That’s why it’s wise to tune in to how you’re feeling before you schedule a session.
• Remind the person that you’re looking for honest feedback to be the best presenter you can be.
• Before getting started, tell the person if there are any specific aspects of your idea or talk that you’d like them to focus feedback on.

Finally, ask the right questions

Giving feedback can be overwhelming for your partner if they don’t know what they should be focusing on. Decide on these areas ahead of time, and let your partner know. Then follow up with questions that will help them hone in on the most helpful feedback points for you.

Get overall feedback using these three questions:

• What works?
• What needs work?
• What’s a suggestion for one thing I might try?

Get specific feedback using these questions:

• Delivery: How is it landing for you overall? Are there places where your attention is wandering? What’s distracting?
• Content: Do you get this - will the audience? What questions do you have? Where are you engaged? Surprised? Moved? Is there a clear takeaway for the audience? Do you have any clarifying questions?

Good feedback is a gift that can really elevate your presentation skills. Make the most of your feedback opportunities with a little preparation.

© 2024 TED Conferences, LLC. All rights reserved. Please note that the TED Talks Usage policy does not apply to this content and is not subject to our creative commons license.

Presentation Skills: 15 Examples for Setting Performance Goals

Presentation Skills: Use these examples for setting employee performance goals. Help your employees master this skill with 5 fresh ideas that drive change.

Presentation Skills are useful in getting your message or opinion out there in many aspects of life and work, though they are mostly used in businesses, sales, teaching, lecturing, and training.

Presentation Skills: Set Goals for your Employees. Here are some examples:

• Show the willingness to learn new ways of delivering presentations.
• Know my audience well enough and to use proper language and terms that suit them.
• Conduct proper research and careful preparation before delivering any presentation.
• Build and show high confidence at all times when delivering a presentation.
• To prepare and use visual aids more appropriately while making presentations.
• Attend more presentation meetings and seminars to try to learn from others.
• Speak with great clarity and in a concise way that the audience can comprehend.
• React to the concerns and questions raised by the audience in the right way.
• Carry out proper audience analysis to have an effective presentation.
• Create a very lively persona always before, during and after delivering any presentation.

Presentation Skills: Improve and master this core skill with these ideas

• Keep the message and the purpose clear. Ensure that your message is presented with clarity passing the central message as it should be to eliminate any reason for sharing non-relevant information.
• Understand your audience. It is highly critical to understand who your audience is, ensure you understand who your audience is before you address them.
• Structure your presentations properly. Poorly presented presentations reflect a lack of understanding. Make sure your presentations are well presented to make it easy to read and share them easily.
• Practice your delivery. Delivery of your services and products is what determines if you will or lose your customers.
• Be comfortable with the use of PowerPoint. This is a presentation tool that allows one to include videos and photos to make an attractive presentation. Learn its basics to create presentations that educate.

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37 innovation and creativity appraisal comments

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Innovation and creativity self-appraisal comments

Innovation performance review comments for outstanding creativity.

Suggested appraisal comments to improve creativity

Appraisal comments to boost creativity and innovation

When it comes to innovation and creativity, we know it's a skill that many possess. But sometimes, it's not widely recognized or appreciated.

To help foster a sense of belonging and recognition in your teams, consider using some of these feedback phrases. Whether it's positive feedback or constructive feedback , you can start to empower your team's success. 

• I regularly practice imagination and propose new innovative processes to help streamline our work.
• I'm committed to my professional development and I regularly work to learn through taking online courses or training programs. 
• I take the initiative to connect and network with others and learn from their experience. 
• I stay up to date on industry trends and find inspiration to help innovate different areas of my team's work. 
• I have goals for my future and continuously think about my long-term vision for success. 
• I'm receptive to feedback and can adapt to change quickly. 
• I value learning new things and regularly try to learn something new to help contribute to the team's work. 

You do a great job at leading by example. You’re someone others want to follow. Well done!

You often place others' needs before your own. This is great for becoming an effective leader, as you focus on the development of others rather than your own. Great work!

You do a great job at providing the necessary structure, direction, and feedback to all your employees. Well done!

You’re really good at recognizing and rewarding staff achievements.

• You have no problem allowing staff to assume responsibility for their actions, often encouraging them to take calculated risks.
• You fully engage when listening to someone speak. You give your full attention by maintaining eye contact, nodding your head, and often smiling. I really enjoy conversing with you.
• You create a culture of mutual trust and caring by always acting with integrity, accountability , and transparency. Well done.
• You’re really good at being able to transform our strategic vision into attainable action plans. You've adopted the practice of strategic foresight well. 
• You respect others and others in the highest regard. This makes it really for you to earn the respect of others. Well done!
• You often hold yourself accountable for your staff's performances. This can be good, however, it may also prevent your staff members from learning from their mistakes.
• You tend to isolate yourself quite often. Try to engage more with the team or be more approachable.
• Remember it’s ok to take negative actions sometimes, not every decision is going to be liked by everyone. Making a decision is better than letting tasks linger without an end result.
• As a manager, it is expected that you are decisive. Try to be the one who ultimately makes the decision.
• You tend to use your position as a way of dominating and intimidating others. Try putting yourself in your employees' shoes to understand ways of being less domineering and arrogant.
• You seem to struggle with communicating to your thoughts to your direct reports. If you struggle with this try set up one on one meetings to discuss how you could improve.
• Being self-conscious about what people say or think may not be conducive to making decisions or making a stand. Remember not everyone is thinking about you as much as you think they are. Try to accept who you are.
• You tend to give too much work to other team members and you end up not having enough work for yourself to do. Maybe delegate what you feel is the most important work to yourself before delegating other work.
• You seem to have a manager style that instills fear in your employees. Try to be less hostile and accepting of others.
• You often allow employees too much room for excuses. Try to adopt more of a hardline approach if you think they are not performing
• Setting high expectations can be good, but if these expectations are not attainable don’t expect to always see results. Try lower the bar a bit and gradually get to the result you wish.
• If an opportunity presents itself, try to network at much as possible. Building key alliances could be vital for the business well being.
• Try identify and partner with the key business stakeholders of the company. This could lead to greater things for your department.
• Communicating with other departments is important to the development of the company as a whole. Try cross pollinate your communication so you get a really good sense of what's going at the company as a whole.
• Try encourage and nurture an environment of trust and respect amongst your teammates. If the budget allows it, try take them out on virtual team building activities.
• Encourage ideas by inspiring your team members to be more innovative and engaging.
• Make people want to seek your advice about matters concerning them. Become the leader people feel comfortable with.
• Learning other people’s leadership preferences and adjusting your leadership style to them can be important for their personal development .
• You need to appreciate that things can be accomplished in many different ways. if the goals are accomplished, it doesn't matter how they get there.
• You have a fantastic work effort and people often wonder how you get to spend time on the things you love in your personal life. Try to balance your work hours with your personal life . 
• When you see leadership opportunities in the industry or at charity events, try to put your skills to good use and volunteer for these events.

8 tips for giving feedback on innovation and creativity

Giving feedback isn't easy. Here are eight tips to keep in mind. 

1. Try to avoid the feedback sandwich  

2. Be clear and direct 

3. Allow the space for follow up questions 

4. Consider cultural differences when giving feedback 

5. Use coaching where possible 

6. Recognize when employees are doing something well 

7. If you have the opportunity, give real-time feedback  

8. Ask for feedback from your employees , too 

Does your organization cultivate a culture of feedback? If you're looking to improve the ways your company practices feedback in the workplace, BetterUp can help. 

With personalized support from virtual coaching , your workforce can feel empowered to give and receive feedback effectively . And with the creative juices flowing, you'll be better equipped to reach your full potential . 

Elevate your team's creativity

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Madeline Miles

Madeline is a writer, communicator, and storyteller who is passionate about using words to help drive positive change. She holds a bachelor's in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies and lives in Denver, Colorado. In her spare time, she's usually somewhere outside (preferably in the mountains) — and enjoys poetry and fiction.

Teamwork skills self-appraisal comments: 40 example phrases

Learn how to appreciate a team with these tips, 10 examples of principles that can guide your approach to work, investing in leaders to fuel growth: ryan weber, vp of talent activation and growth, servicenow, use the relational leadership model for well-rounded leadership, what’s the halo effect 4 examples in the workplace, top-down vs. bottom-up management: what is the best fit, discover the benefits of leadership training: why you need it, spread the gratitude: how to thank your team with a letter, similar articles, the ultimate guide to motivating a team — and why it matters, experimentation brings innovation: create an experimental workplace, 31 examples of problem solving performance review phrases, 30 communication feedback examples, what the abilene paradox is and ways to minimize it, 17 positive feedback examples to develop a winning team, why creativity isn't just for creatives and how to find it anywhere, new data shows poor mental health impedes creativity, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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Presentation Skills

Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill in getting your message across. Today, presentation skills are required in almost every field, and most of us are required to give presentations on occasions. While some people take this in their stride, others find it much more challenging.

It is, however, possible to improve your presentation skills with a bit of work. This section of SkillsYouNeed is designed to help.

Many people feel terrified when asked to talk in public, especially to bigger groups. However, these fears can be reduced by good preparation, which will also lay the groundwork for making an effective presentation.

There are Different Types of Presentations, but They’re All Presentations

There are any number of occasions when you may be asked to speak in public or to a group of people. They include:

• Presenting or making a speech at a conference or event.
• Objecting to a planning proposal at a council meeting.
• Making a speech at a wedding.
• Proposing a vote of thanks to someone at a club or society.
• On behalf of a team, saying goodbye and presenting a gift to a colleague who is leaving.
• Seeking investment or a loan to help you set up a new business.

These can all be considered presentations.

They do not, however, all require the same approach. You would not, for example, use PowerPoint to thank a colleague who was leaving. It would be unusual (though it has been done) to use it in a speech at a wedding. However, a conference audience would be somewhat surprised NOT to see slides projected onto a screen.

It follows, therefore, that there is no single set of rules that apply to all presentations. There are, however, some things that every presentation opportunity has in common. These include:

You will present better if you have prepared effectively . This does NOT necessarily mean that you have written out your speech verbatim and rehearsed it until you know it off by heart—although that might work for some people. It does, however, mean that you have to be confident that you are saying the right thing, in the right way, to the right people.

You need to be clear about your audience and your message . Every presentation will be better if you have clearly considered the message that you want or need to convey, and how best to convey it to your audience. These two pieces of information drive your style, structure, content, and use of visual aids.

You must never overrun your allocated time .  In other words, don’t outstay your welcome. Almost every speech or presentation is better if it is shorter. Nobody minds going for coffee early or finishing before they expected to do so. Everybody minds being held up.

Generally speaking, your audience starts on your side. As a rule, your audience is there (more or less) voluntarily. They have chosen to listen to you, and they want to enjoy your presentation. The occasion is yours to lose.

An Important Point

There is one very important point to remember: if what you’re doing or saying is not working, do something else.

One of the worst feelings as a presenter is that you have lost your audience. You know that’s happened, but you continue to stumble through your remaining PowerPoint slides for the next 15 minutes, as your audience checks their phones and wishes it was coffee time. You think you have no choice, but that’s not actually true.

When you present, you are in charge of the room . The audience has effectively handed you control and is sitting back waiting for you to do something. You may have prepared a specific talk, but if you see that isn’t working, you can always change it. You are, after all, the expert.

You can, for example:

• Skip through some slides to a section that they may find more interesting;
• Ask your audience whether there is particular information that they were expecting that you are not providing;
• Suggest that everyone looks a bit sleepy, and maybe it would be better to start questions early, or have a discussion; or
• Ask the audience at the start of the presentation what they are expecting and what they want you to cover. That way, you can tailor the presentation to fit their expectations.

Just as when you are facilitating, you want to help your audience get the most out of your presentation. The best way to do that is to accept feedback—which may include smiles, nods of interest, or people getting their phones out.

Quick Guide to Effective Presentations

If you need to improve your presentation skills quickly, then a really good place to start is with our Top Tips for Effective Presentations .

This will give you some ‘quick wins’ that will help you improve your presentations. If you’re already an experienced presenter, this page should be a useful refresher, or even take your skills from good to great.

Our tips include general ideas about connecting with your audience, information about the importance of voice and body language, and detailed tips about preparing slide-shows.

The most important tip of all, however, is to remember that it's all about your audience.

Keep that in mind, and your presentation skills will almost instantly improve.

If you have more time to develop your presentation skills…

…then the Presentation Skills section of SkillsYouNeed is designed to help.

Our Presentation Skills section is split into two parts.

• The first gives you a step-by-step guide to putting together and delivering a professional and effective presentation .
• The second provides more detailed information about presenting and communicating in particular circumstances .

You can either use our step-by-step guide to walk you through the presentation preparation and delivery process, or you can focus on particular areas that are an issue for you.

Preparing for Your Presentation

The guide starts by explaining What is a Presentation?

We define a presentation as a means of communication that can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team. Effective presentations usually require careful thought and preparation—although this preparation need not take very long.

Preparation is the most important part of making a successful presentation.  Our page on Preparing For A Presentation explains what information you need before you can really start to plan your presentation and decide what you are going to say. The most important aspects include the objective of the presentation, the subject, and the audience.

Irrespective of whether the occasion is formal or informal, you should always aim to give a clear, well-structured delivery. To do so, you need to organise your presentation material . You can either do this in your head, or use a technique like mind-mapping to help you identify links and good flow.

By the time you come to write your presentation , you should know exactly what you want to say and the order in which you want to say it. You may want to use one of the standard presentation structures, such as ‘What, Why, How?’. You will also find it helpful to consider how to tell your story most effectively, and to use stories in your presentation to illustrate points. There is more about this in our page on writing your presentation .

You also need to decide on your presentation method . Presentations range from the formal to the informal. Your choice of presentation method will depend on many factors, including the audience, the venue, the facilities, and your own preferences.

Visual aids can add another dimension to your presentation, helping to hold your audience’s attention, and also act as a reminder of what you wanted to say. However, they need handling with care. Only use visual aids if they are necessary to maintain interest and assist comprehension . If visual aids are not used well, they can ruin a presentation.

See Working with Visual Aids to avoid falling into the trap of the dreaded ‘ Death by PowerPoint’ .

A particular case of visual aids is the use of data in a presentation.

There are times when using data in a presentation can really help you to tell the story better. It is, however, important not to blind your audience with statistics. You also need to remember that many people find numbers difficult to understand. Our page on Presenting Data gives some hints and tips about using data effectively in a presentation situation.

On the Day of the Presentation

There are a number of aspects to delivering your presentation on the day.

The practicalities of how you manage your presentation can make a significant difference to its success, and to your nerves! For example, turning up early means that you have will have a chance to see the room, and ensure that you can operate all the necessary equipment. There is more about how to cope, including managing sound systems, audio-visual equipment and lecterns in our page on Managing the Presentation Event .

Many people also feel very nervous before and during a presentation. This is entirely normal, and can even be helpful if you can channel it in the right way. There are some tried and tested strategies and techniques to manage your nerves so that you can concentrate on delivering an effective and engaging presentation.

See Coping with Presentation Nerves for some ideas that will help.

How you present yourself can also affect how your audience responds to your presentation.

You need to fit with your audience's expectations if they are not going to spend quite a large chunk of your presentation dealing with the differences between expectations and reality.

For more about aspects of self-presentation, see our page on Self-Presentation in Presentations .

You also need to consider how to manage your presentation notes .

Few people are able to give a presentation without notes. You will need to know your own abilities and decide how best to make the presentation. You might manage your talk by using full text, notes on cue cards, keywords on cue cards, or mind maps. There is more about this in our page on Managing your Presentation Notes .

After the presentation, you may be faced with a question-and-answer session. For many people, this is the worst part of the event.

Decide in advance how and when you wish to handle questions. Some speakers prefer questions to be raised as they arise during the presentation whilst others prefer to deal with questions at the end. At the start of your presentation, you should make clear your preferences to the audience. See our page on Dealing with Questions for more ideas about how to make the question session pleasant and productive, rather than something to dread.

Presenting Under Particular Circumstances

You may find that you need to give a presentation under certain circumstances, where your previous experience is less helpful.

Circumstances that may be new to you include:

• Giving a Speech , for example, at a wedding.

One particular special case is attending public consultation meetings.

Our pages on Attending Public Consultation Meetings , and Managing Public Consultation Meetings provide information to help whether you are a concerned member of the public, or responsible for organising a public meeting.

You may also find yourself required to organise or manage a press conference.

Although this may not strictly be what you would describe as a ‘presentation’, it is nonetheless an event at which you are required to present your organisation in a particular light.

Our page on Managing a Press Conference gives some ideas about how best to do that.

Finally, should you be unlucky enough to be involved in a serious crisis or disaster that affects your organisation, our page on Crisis Communications gives some ideas about how to manage press and public relations on these occasions.

Start with: What is a Presentation? Top Tips for Effective Presentations

See also: Personal Appearance Interpersonal Communication Skills

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50 Self-Appraisal Comments For Your Next Performance Review

Performance reviews can be jittering for anyone, particularly when it comes to self-appraisal or self-evaluation. It is often difficult to analyze what to say and what to omit while writing a self-evaluation.

This article will help you see how self-appraisal is essential to performance management and learn 50 phrases that you can use during your performance appraisal.

Self-appraisal is also known as self-assessment, and it is a popular tool used by managers to assess their employees’ performance. It is the opportunity for employees to shine and evaluate their own performance during the time of promotions or feedback. These performance appraisal processes act as a bridge between the expectations set and the performance.

These assessments create a medium for open communication, improved interpersonal skills , and opportunities and developments in the workplace. It provides employees the chance to discuss personal issues and their progress. Also, it helps an employee to showcase their skills with team members and show their managers their potential—a type of self-criticism an employee needs to maintain healthy work progress.

Now that you have known about self-appraisal comments let’s delve a little deeper into it.

Want to deliver a holistic and impactful appraisal to your employees?

Benefits of self appraisal.

Self-appraisal is a significant part of your performance review , because it reflects your self-awareness and professional development. As an employee, it is important to be self-aware because you become conscious about your strengths and weaknesses and how others perceive you. Higher the sense of awareness, higher the chances of having better self-confidence, stronger relationships, and enhanced decision-making and problem-solving skills .

Self-awareness helps you improve on an individual level and grow professionally which impacts the company’s growth as well. Research by Kerry Fong Institute shows that employees working in poor-performing organizations had 20 percent more blind spots than employees who work at financially equipped organizations.

50 Self Appraisal Comments to Use in Your Next Performance Review

First and foremost, when you are writing a self-appraisal for yourself, you must keep the following factors in mind.

What you must continue doing- Remember to mention your contributions towards the team, your accomplishments, time management, and work efficiency.

Recognize your blind spots- Understand what affects your peers or managers negatively with your specific doings.

What you must start doing- Now is the time to start doing new projects to come out of your comfort zone.

Once you've done this analysis, you are ready to write your self-evaluation comments.

Now, without further ado, let’s take a dig at 50 sample self-appraisal comments you can use on your next performance review.

Communication

• With strong communication skills , I communicate my expectations to my team without being imposing.
• I can communicate effectively on various levels in our company.
• I can take and give constructive feedback and deal well in sensitive situations.
• I convey my ideas and opinions effectively to different teams and individuals.
• I share information transparently with peers for team success.
• I can communicate with clients with a convincing speech.
• If my peers have done an excellent job, I never fail to appreciate them, either personally or publicly.

Job Performance

• I am proud of my job, and I value my responsibilities.
• I never hesitate to participate in challenging tasks and go above and beyond.
• I take my job responsibilities seriously and believe in working in a team-oriented work environment.
• With sheer dedication, I have exceeded my (mention your goal) performance goal by (mention the numbers).
• I have decreased (e.g. costs and customer churn) by (insert specific number here) percent.
• I always challenged myself to become a better performer every day.
• I gladly help my peers by collaborating and assisting them in difficult situations.

Reliability

• I never fail on my commitments and continuously keep them informed about the challenges I incur.
• I have completed (Add numbers) percent of my decided deadlines.
• I refrain from procrastination and possess good time management skills .
• I tend to plan and prioritize my meetings with clients and the team.
• I am always on time and always start my day with enthusiasm and positivity.
• I never hesitate to seek guidance from my leaders whenever necessary.
• I follow proper email etiquette while replying to customers and peers.

Customer Orientation

• I can very well handle irate and hostile customers by (explain your tactics).
• I actively listen to customers to decipher their point of view.’
• I never fail to update our customers about the recent ongoings and products.
• I have achieved a total of (specify numbers) on my customer service survey.
• I work continuously to enhance the customer experience (mention the examples)
• I always try to think from the customer’s point of view to understand their psyche and perspective towards us.

Would you like to send meaningful appreciation messages to your teammates?

Innovation and creativity.

• I keep looking forward to improving our work processes continually.
• If you noticed, my idea of (mention the idea) has been a success, showing my creativity.
• I have an eye-for-detail and always think out-of-the-box while looking for solutions.
• I still collaborate with the team while brainstorming and come up with new ideas.
• I faced multiple challenges like (mention the challenges), but I successfully tackled it by (mention the solution).
• I try to think from everyone’s perspective and find solutions that benefit everyone.
• I can adapt to new predicaments quickly and open to possibilities.

Growth and Development

• My personal goal is my priority, and I set my personal development.
• I keep myself updated with recent trends and apply them in my work regularly.
• My commitment to my work adds to my personal growth, and I believe in training to improve my skills.
• I continuously seek opportunities to connect with employees from various fields.
• I take progressive steps towards achieving my goals and visualize my long-term plans.
• I am a quick learner and can quickly adapt to changes.
• I am curious and always tend to learn new things.

Opportunities for Improvement

• Even though I am transparent, I have noticed my team doesn’t think I am, and I will work on it further.
• I have a knack for customer service, yet I need to follow up more often, and I am continually working on it.
• I always have positive thinking, yet some people find it difficult to hold a conversation with me, and I want to break this misconception.
• I have good communication skills, but I need to work on my public speaking skills as it gets difficult to interact with large groups sometimes.
• Sometimes, I tend to get stuck with only one task; I need to enhance my multi-tasking skills.
• I have many ideas to share, but sometimes I feel shy to share everything.
• I know my team’s needs, yet sometimes I fail to work according to the work calendar.
• Even though I am a happy-go-lucky person, people still mistake me for being arrogant and rude. Even though I value my peers, I can sometimes come across as unapproachable.
• Sometimes, I forget to probe and ask for suggestions and keep working solo; there, I need to improve and become more proactive.

Writing self-appraisal comments can sometimes become tedious and lengthy, but it holds immense importance in one’s personal growth and company growth. For your next performance review, remember to put some of these phrases into practice and let us know if it was helpful.

This article is written by Gautam Gayan . He works as a Content Marketer at Vantage Circle . Apart from being a passionate content creator for HR services and employee engagement, Gautam is a theatre enthusiast, an avid reader and an aspiring poet. For any related queries, contact [email protected]

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The List of 50 Effective Self Appraisal Comments

You are your harshest critic, but can you really appraise yourself the right way? Here's how you thoroughly aid yourself with these self-appraisal comments.

You are your harshest critic, but can you really appraise yourself the right way? Here's how you thoroughly aid yourself with these self-appraisal comments.

Table of Contents

• Why Is Self-Appraisal Important?
• How to Write Self-Appraisal Comments?

Benefits of self appraisal for the team and manager

• 50 Self-Appraisal Comments and Phrases

Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)

Self-appraisal comments or self-evaluation mostly form the first step in a performance review program. While this offers an excellent opportunity for an employee to accurately evaluate their performance elaborate on their achievements and areas of improvement, most of us do not do complete justice to this step.

As a result, we misrepresent our work by either overestimating or underestimating our efforts. To do complete justice to oneself, an employee needs to use the art of writing with the science of data.

If done correctly, this exercise can provide meaningful data that can help reward the right attributes, plan training interventions, re-assess the need for realignment with organization objectives at regular intervals, and help employees in their daily and long-term performance projects.

Here you will find 50 self-appraisal comments and phrases that will help you write a performance review for yourself.

While self-appraisals are meant to be our best friend and help us in getting a crisp, clear understanding of our work and learning, it somehow does not come on our priority at all.

This could be because of:

• Lack of time.
• Sheer laziness.
• Feeling that your work is anyways known to your manager.
• Unable to recall the information while doing self-appraisal.
• Not seeing the importance of doing it elaborately.

Influence of others and pre-set notions such as whatever we write, managers will anyways give the score they want or let me write only good things about me as the manager will anyways criticize or as I am aspiring for promotion or good hike let me only write thoughts that show me in good light can also hinder the objectivity of this exercise.

This blog will take you through the importance of self-appraisal, how to write self-appraisal comments, and 50 examples for performance reviews to clear any doubts.

Why is self-appraisal important?

For an organization to continue succeeding, it is important that all its employees precisely know what they are doing. At all times, there must be an alignment of individual efforts towards the organization's objective.

There must be a sense of accountability, a will to introspect and learn, and a sense of accomplishment at each level. Hence, an employee must assess themselves correctly with supporting data points.

As an individual, it is every employee’s responsibility to do justice to the work they have made and their contributions by presenting it in the best possible manner they can.

We also hear that the managers didn’t provide the right or constructive feedback . They didn’t gauge an employee’s performance correctly or were not fair in their scoring – well, it may be impractical to expect the managers to remember all your accomplishments and then score you.

The foundation for a great review process starts with writing a performance review for yourself.

How to write self-appraisal comments?

Here are the steps following that can teach you how to write your self-evaluation and help write a performance review for yourself.

1. Track your work regularly

Get in a regular habit of making your notes. You surely would not remember it all when you get down to writing your self-appraisal.

Keep track of your improvements from the last feedback, your contributions, the training you did, and the challenges you faced.

In an ideal scenario, it would be good to start maintaining a performance document at the beginning of an assessment period and record your performance under the following categories month on month.

• Contributions and achievements
• Areas of improvements
• Extra initiatives
• Feedback received and action taken
• Training and certifications and so on

2. Prepare a draft

Do not be in a hurry to click on the ‘Submit’ button in your self-appraisal form. Working in the draft mode will allow you to read, review, amend your inputs and refer to data points.

Remember, presentation matters! Be sure to check on grammar, sentence formation, and overall presentation of your thoughts.

3. Take time to complete it

Usually, the tendency is to start working on self-evaluation when HR sends reminders. The priority then is to complete the exercise and, in an attempt, to meet the timelines – the quality of content is compromised to a great extent.

The 1st two points can come in handy if you are crunched on time. If you do not follow this practice, it surely will be good to start early to have ample time to refer to historical data and prepare your write-up.

4. No achievement is a small achievement

We often don't understand how to do self-appraisal assessments. While working on self-appraisals, there is always a dilemma – how much self-praise is a lot?

Would it look better if I were more critical of myself? Will it be considered arrogance if I write about every achievement of mine – big or small?

Well, the whole intent of self-appraisal is to provide an avenue for an employee to express and share their inputs. Utilize it to the best.

You can probably consider the style of writing – see what works best – paragraphs or bullet points. Would you want to make a list of small ones and describe the big achievements?

Find ways to make your data crisp yet cover all the details you want to present.

5. Be realistic

Do not under or overestimate yourself. Be realistic about scoring your work. Remember to do this exercise to benefit your learning and intellectual growth first.

There is no fun in over-rating yourself and then having an unpleasant discussion during review stages and getting demotivated about your final rating.

Self-appraisals, also known as self-assessments or self-evaluations, can offer several benefits for both team members and their managers. Here are the advantages of self-appraisals:

Benefits of self appraisal for the team members

• Increased self-awareness : Self-appraisals encourage employees to reflect on their own performance, strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. This self-awareness is a crucial component of personal growth and development.
• Ownership of performance : When employees are actively involved in assessing their own performance, they tend to take greater ownership of their work. This sense of responsibility can lead to improved job satisfaction and commitment to achieving goals.
• Goal alignment : Self-appraisals help team members align their own goals and objectives with those of the organization. This ensures that individual efforts contribute to the overall success of the team and the company.
• Open communication : Self-appraisals often include opportunities for employees to provide feedback to their managers . This fosters open communication, as team members can express their concerns, suggestions, and ideas for improvement.
• Professional development : Self-appraisals can identify areas where employees wish to improve or acquire new skills. This information can be used to create personalized development plans , leading to professional growth.
• Recognition of achievements : Employees can use self-appraisals to highlight their achievements, contributions, and milestones. This recognition can boost their self-esteem and job satisfaction.

Benefits of self appraisal for managers

• 360-degree evaluation : Self-appraisals provide managers with valuable insights into how employees perceive their own performance. This information complements the manager's perspective and can lead to a more comprehensive evaluation.
• Efficient performance reviews : Self-appraisals can streamline the performance review process. Managers can review employees' self-assessments in advance, allowing for more focused and productive discussions during review meetings.
• Identification of skill gaps : Managers can use self-appraisals to identify skill gaps and training needs within the team. This information can guide decisions about training and development initiatives.
• Goal setting and alignment : Self-appraisals help managers understand employees' career aspirations and goals. This enables managers to align team members with roles and responsibilities that match their interests and ambitions.
• Enhanced engagement : Involving employees in self-appraisals can lead to greater engagement and commitment to their own performance improvement. Employees who actively participate in their evaluations are more likely to be motivated to achieve their goals.
• Feedback loop : Self-appraisals create a feedback loop that promotes regular communication between managers and team members. This ongoing dialogue can lead to better performance and a deeper understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses.

In summary, self-appraisals benefit both team members and managers by fostering self-awareness, open communication, goal alignment, and professional development. When conducted effectively, self-appraisals contribute to a positive work environment and can lead to improved individual and team performance.

50 Self-appraisal comments and phrases

With data in place and time set aside to write self-appraisal, it is time management to get creative in writing the review. You may have the best of work to write about.

Still, if you cannot articulate your thoughts and express them in a crisp, engaging, and data-based manner, you may see a repetition of content and an excessively lengthy yet less impactful self-review.

Here we will take some commonly known functional and additional skills and suggest fifty self-appraisal comments and phrases for your reference, which can be used in conjunction with your project details to describe your work.

Note that these phrases will be meaningful when used along with crisp data points/supporting instances.

Let us now look at a couple of self-appraisal comments examples that can help in self-evaluation for performance review.

Customer support

1. I have handled X tickets and resolved Y% of tickets in Z amount of time.

2. Service SLAs maintained for Y% of time.

3. I have received appreciation from the client for handling the critical case [mention the details].

4. While my interaction with A client is seamless, I need to strengthen my working relationship with B client.

5. Based on my rapport and team delivery, I pitched in for a new assignment, and we received [provide the details on the new assignment].

6. I was selected as the KT point of contact by the client for the X project.

Business communication

7. I am always polite and respectful during my written and verbal communications.

8. I set my expectations with other stakeholders.

9. I document the meaningful discussions for later reference.

10. I have handled escalation emails with ease and composure.

11. I participate in team collaboration and idea-sharing forums and contribute ideas. [if you have any ideas that helped in process improvements, you can add them here].

12. I share feedback constructively that helps in acceptance, assimilation, and action.

Team handling and collaboration

13. I deal with my team respectfully and acknowledge everyone’s presence.

14. I invite fresh ideas of process improvements from the team.

15. I encourage open dialogue in the team.

16. In absence of my Team leader, I take the team huddle every day.

17. I planned a team outing and team bonding exercise that involved [can share the details here].

18. I collaborated with other departments on the recent RFI and sales pitch.

19. I work with the support teams in driving their initiatives in my team.

20. I am the engagement POC for my team and plan for team celebrations and budget utilization.

21. My team participated in inter-corporate sports/cultural events.

Learning and development

22. I attended X training on the following subjects [mention the issues].

23. I have incorporated the following learning in my daily task, which has helped [enter the details on how it has helped your work].

24. I encourage my team to indulge in self-learning and attend training constantly.

25. In X duration, L&D penetration in my team is at Y%.

26. I introduced the concept of cross-training and upskilling within the team, thereby enhancing the team’s learning and ensuring business continuity.

27. As part of IDP (individual development plan), I am participating in a leadership job shadowing and mentoring program.

Process improvements and innovations

28. I worked on X projects and made a saving of Y person-hours.

29. I constantly strive to add more quality by automating manual processes.

30. I constantly contribute fresh ideas within the organization beyond my scope of work too.

31. I am undergoing Quality concept training [providing details and certification level].

Additional initiatives and responsibilities

32. I took X number of initiatives beyond my regular task in Y duration.

33. For the “A” initiative, I also received appreciation from the Business head.

34. I could not devote time to X initiative taken due to [add details].

35. Due to a lack of resources and understanding, I could not complete the Y initiative.

36. I participated in the DD/MM/YY CSR drive and helped [detail the contribution].

37. I am part of a corporate cultural group.

38. I volunteered to [provide details].

Improvement areas

39. I need to improve my time management and problem-solving skills.

40. I can work on enhancing my people management skills.

41. I can get more proactive in gauging my team sentiments.

42. I delegate tasks within the team but eventually, I get down to doing it on my own. I need to hence work on upskilling and supporting my team.

43. I can further improve my interviewing skills.

44. I identify the need for advanced excel and presentation skills training.

45. I need to work on balancing between work and personal time.

Discipline and compliance

46. I am punctual, always log in on time, and complete my work timings.

47. I ensure I follow IT and data security safety guidelines.

48. I do not indulge in password and access card sharing.

49. I contribute to the safety of the organization by reporting matters.

50. I participate in compliance projects run by various departments.

Self-evaluation is a must. Unless you know your actions, how can you expect to improve yourself? Self-appraisal comments can be an overwhelming experience as we usually do not know how to do self-appraisal assessments.

You can opt to take the help of some self-help books, contact your training department for assistance, and then try this technique of looking and evaluating yourself as a third person.

But the key for this technique to work will be that you stay honest in capturing the accomplishments and improvements correctly.

Taking periodic feedback from your stakeholders will also help you gather the correct data and aid in a constructive self-appraisal.

Writing self-appraisals might bore you at some time, but it's the need of the hour because it's you who know about your strengths and weaknesses better than the others.

Self-appraisal is not just about evaluating your actions but is more about looking at things from a different point of view.

Remember, if you articulate and present the data in a correct, precise, and accurate manner, you will be able to do justice to your work and carve a learning and upskilling path for future growth.

How do you write a comment for a self-performance appraisal?

• Be honest and objective.
• Highlight key achievements.
• Discuss challenges and how you overcame them.
• Mention any areas where you're keen to improve or develop.
• Reflect on feedback from peers, managers, or clients.
• Align your comments with job responsibilities and goals.

What do you write in a self-appraisal comments?

• Start by reviewing your job description and your objectives for the review period.
• Discuss key projects, their outcomes, and your role in achieving those outcomes.
• Discuss any new skills you’ve acquired or areas where you’ve expanded your expertise.
• If you faced any setbacks, discuss what you learned from them and how you'll approach similar situations in the future.
• Mention any training or development you'd like to undertake in the next review period.

How to write self-appraisal comments sample?

• Achievements : "Over the past year, I successfully led the team in the XYZ project, which was completed 15% under budget and 2 weeks ahead of schedule. This success was a direct result of collaborative team efforts and proactive problem-solving."
• Challenges : "I faced challenges in integrating the new software into our workflow. However, by seeking additional training and collaborating with IT, we streamlined the process and improved productivity by 10%."
• Skills & growth : "I have honed my skills in data analytics and successfully applied these in forecasting our Q4 sales. I also initiated a bi-weekly knowledge-sharing session within the team, which has been beneficial for all."
• Areas for improvement : "One area I'd like to focus on in the coming year is improving my public speaking and presentation skills. While I've grown more comfortable in internal meetings, I recognize the value of being able to present our work effectively to larger audiences."
• Feedback & collaboration : "Feedback from peers indicates that they appreciate my collaborative approach. I'd like to continue fostering this team spirit and also seek feedback more proactively to ensure continuous alignment with team objectives."
• Future goals : "In the next year, I aim to take on more leadership roles within the team and actively mentor newer team members. I also plan to complete the advanced certification in ABC, which I believe will be beneficial for our upcoming projects."

What is self appraisal?

Self appraisal is a process wherein employees evaluate and assess their own work performance, achievements, challenges, and areas of improvement over a specified period. It's an introspective look into one's strengths, weaknesses, achievements, and areas for development.

This can be a formal process as part of an organization's performance review system, or it can be an informal personal exercise for self-growth.

How to write a self appraisal?

• Begin with achievements : Start by listing down the key milestones and accomplishments you've achieved during the appraisal period. Be specific, and where possible, quantify your achievements (e.g., "Increased sales by 15%")
• Assess strengths : Identify the key strengths and competencies you've displayed. This could include technical expertise, soft skills, or any specific qualities that have helped you excel in your role.
• Recognize areas for improvement : Honestly evaluate areas where you believe you can do better or skills you need to develop. Be constructive and think about the next steps or trainings that can help you grow in these areas.
• Set goals : Based on your self-assessment, outline clear and achievable goals for the next period. These could be related to your job responsibilities, skill development, or personal growth.
• Gather feedback : If possible, incorporate feedback you've received from peers, supervisors, or clients during the period. This adds a comprehensive view of your performance.
• Be honest and constructive : Avoid downplaying or inflating your achievements. Being honest gives a more accurate representation of your performance, helping in further development.

How to write self appraisal comments?

When commenting on your own performance:

Be Specific: Instead of writing "I did well in project management," you could say, "I effectively managed the XYZ project, ensuring it was completed two weeks ahead of the deadline."

Stay Balanced: While it's great to highlight successes, also acknowledge areas where you faced challenges and how you overcame them or plan to address them in the future.

Use Positive Language: Even when addressing challenges, frame them in a positive light, e.g., "While I faced challenges in team communication, I've enrolled in a communication workshop to enhance this skill."

Link to Business Goals: Whenever possible, tie your comments back to broader business or team objectives. This shows alignment and understanding of company goals.

Why is Self Appraisal Important?

• Self Awareness: It encourages employees to reflect on their strengths and areas of development, promoting self-awareness.
• Professional Growth: By understanding one's areas of improvement, it becomes easier to seek relevant training or mentorship.
• Goal Setting: Self appraisals provide a foundation to set measurable and achievable goals for personal and professional development.
• Feedback Loop: It opens up a channel of communication between employees and managers. Through self appraisal, managers gain insights into an employee's self-perception, which can be a basis for constructive feedback.
• Recognition: Acknowledging one's own achievements boosts morale and reinforces positive behaviors and outcomes.
• Accountability: By evaluating their performance, employees take ownership of their work, outcomes, and areas of growth.

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11 SMART Goals Examples for Your Public Speaking Skills

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Public speaking is one of the most common fears. It is not easy to get on stage with people looking straight at you, and give a speech.

But by working on your public speaking skills, you can get better at it, and start to appear more comfortable when on stage.

One strategy that can help is to set SMART goals that provide milestones you can use to overcome the specific challenges you have related to public speaking. 

So, in this article, we will briefly discuss what smart goals are, why they are important for public speaking, and finally we’ll look at 11 SMART goals that you can apply to improve your public speaking .

Let’s get to it.

Table of Contents

What Are SMART Goals?

If we don’t have a compass or a compass that is constantly spinning around, we will probably end up getting nowhere. SMART goals help us set a target and draw a roadmap to get there. The clearer our vision of the target, the easier it is for us to achieve them.

We hear about SMART Goals nearly every day; everyone talks about them. Setting goals is one of the most crucial steps to achieving what is important for you in life; they help us acknowledge and define our objectives, give us a sense of direction, and help us align our compass.

Not All Goals Are as SMART as They Seem

Have you ever made a list of vague goals that ended up in your drawer, never to see the light of day again? How about a list of goals about getting organized that you found in your huge pile of papers lying on the floor beside your desk?

According to  Jack Canfield , an American author, “Vague goals lead to vague results.”

Take one common goal that many people set, chase them for a few days, and eventually give up on; “I want to be a better public speaker.” Before we get on stage and speak our hearts out, we need to have a specific objective. Being a better public speaker is a term that is too vague to be a SMART goal.  

Without a precise and clearly defined objective, all our plans are likely to fail. SMART goals help us define our objective and allow us to focus on it. The acronym SMART expands into:

• S pecific: Must be narrowed down, focused, and clearly defined
• M easurable: Must have some quantitative factors that help track progress
• A ttainable: Must be achievable
• R elevant: Must be important and have a significant value in our life
• T ime-Bound: Must have a timeline and a deadline

If you are looking for a more detailed overview of SMART goals and how to set them with a few easy steps, then be sure to check out our step-by-step build for setting and achieving SMART goals.

Why SMART Goals Are Important for Public Speaking

Public speaking is a vast field. Setting a goal like “ I want to be a better public speaker ” is too vague to address and work on.

Every public speaker has some room for improvement. So if you want to get better at speaking in front of crowds, then you could set SMART goals that help you focus on:

• Confidently delivering the message
• Maintaining eye contact
• Stop using filler words such as um, ah, like, actually, etc.
• Improving  body language
• Improving vocality
• Making your presentations more engaging

Each one of these goals will make you a better public speaker. Working on these more specific tasks will be much easier than working on a vague goal of becoming a better public speaker.

Public speaking  is a skill that will take time and practice to improve. If your goals aren’t in the right order, you will not make much progress, exhaust yourself, and eventually give up. It is important to be specific with what you want to achieve.

So let’s dive into 11 examples of SMART goals you could set.

11 SMART Goals Examples for Public Speaking

1. improve stage confidence.

I want to improve my stage confidence and learn how to deliver my message more confidently. I will record my speeches and make it a habit to go over my presentations the next day and list all confidence flaws I find. I will try to eliminate them in my next presentation and aim to have less than five flaws in all my speeches by six months.

Specific:  Improve stage confidence, and reduce confidence flaws to less than five

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by counting the confidence flaws, and when the flaws drop below five, I will know that I have achieved the goal

Attainable:  Using the recordings from the speeches, I can determine if the goal is attainable or not. Also, there is good room for error, and adequate time has been provided to practice and improve.

Relevant:  I want to deliver the message more confidently because it will persuade more people. I will also feel better after presenting confidently.

Time-Bound:  Since I have set a deadline for this goal, I know that I have to reduce the flaws to less than five in six months.

2. Overcome Stage Fright

I have a big presentation coming up in three months. I want to learn how to manage my nerves. I will practice speaking to small family audiences to overcome my nerves and increase my speech time from 3 minutes to 15 minutes by the end of two months.

Specific:  Overcome stage fright and increase speech time to 15 minutes

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by measuring the time I stayed on the stage

Attainable:  With the help of the family audience, I will be able to speak more easily, and

Relevant:  I have a big presentation coming up and want to do well in it

Time-Bound:  I have set a timeline that I want to get comfortable by the end of two months and also increase my speech duration to 15 minutes by then.

3. Control Filler Words

I want to eliminate the use of filler words like uhh, umm, so, etc. I want to sound more confident on stage. I hope to minimize the usage of filler words by rehearsing my speech at least five times before delivering it. I plan to have a maximum of two filler words for every ten minutes of presentation by the end of four months .

Specific:  Sound more confident by eliminating filler words

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by counting the filler words in the speeches. When they are down to two for every ten minutes of speaking, the goal will be achieved

Attainable:  With ample time, and room for error, the goal is made attainable

Relevant:  I want to sound confident and not waste my efforts in preparing and delivering the speech

Time-Bound:  The timeline is clearly defined at four months

4. Build Rapport with Audience

I want to refer less to my notes during my presentation because I would like to build a rapport with the audience. I will rehearse my speech six times before it is due in two weeks.  

Specific:  Build rapport with the audience, minimize the usage of notes, and rehearse the speech at least six times.

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by counting the times I referred to the notes.

Attainable:  With proper rehearsals and practice, it is attainable

Relevant:  I would like to build a rapport with the audience and make a good impression.

Time-Bound:  The timeline is clearly defined at two weeks.

5. Improve Posture

I want to improve my posture and look more confident when on stage. I have to stop myself from slouching when standing up during my presentation. I will consciously correct my posture every time I slouch over the next 30 days .

Specific:  Stop slouching and maintain a good posture.

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by checking the number of times I slouched during the speech. And also, by the number of times I had to correct my posture consciously.

Attainable:  Since the slouching habit can be eliminated within a few days, this goal is attainable

Relevant:  I want to look confident and leave a positive impression on the audience

Time-Bound:  The timeline is defined as 30 days

6. Control Purposeless Movement

I want to control purposeless movement on stage as it distracts the audience. I will work with my friend and ask them to count the times they think I unintentionally fidgeted on stage. I want to control and eliminate purposeless movement with practice over the next ten presentations .

Specific:  Control purposeless movement.

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by checking the number of times I fidgeted or moved unintentionally on stage.

Attainable:  With practice, purposeless movement can be eliminated, as many novice public speakers have done.

Relevant:  I want to look confident and not speak to a distracted audience

Time-Bound:  The timeline is ten presentations. This means that I hope to have significantly minimized purposeless movement by the time I start my eleventh.

7. Improve Audience Engagement

I want to improve the audience engagement by adding humor to my speech. After every ten minutes of my forty-minute presentation, I will add a joke to keep the audience alert and engaged. 

Specific:  Improve audience engagement

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by checking the reaction of the audience and the number of times a joke was told during the presentation.

Attainable:  Several speakers add humor to their presentations to keep the audience engaged  

Relevant:  I want to keep the audience engaged and not feel like a television or a radio.

Time-Bound:  The timeline is defined as a joke every ten minutes during a forty-minute presentation

8. Improve Eye Contact

I want to improve my eye contact with the audience and improve my credibility. I will practice making eye contact with every audience member for five seconds. I will start by practicing with small audiences of 8-10 people and hope to be comfortable with larger audiences by six months. 

Specific:  Improve eye contact

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by checking the number of times I stared blankly at the floor, ceiling, or wall. It can also be measured by the audience size that I am comfortable with

Attainable:  Several speakers can make eye contact with their audience members. If they can, so can I.  

Relevant:  I want to improve my credibility with the audience

Time-Bound:  The timeline is defined as six months’ worth of practice

9. Design Eye-catching Slides

I want to be able to design eye-catching and intriguing presentation slides. I plan to attend an online course on presentation design for two weeks and hope to make professional-looking slides by the end of the course.

Specific:  Learn how to design eye-catching slides

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by the number of days the course has been attended and also by comparing previous slides to ones after the course

Attainable:  The goal is easy to attain

Relevant:  I want to impress the audience and keep them intrigued with my presentations

Time-Bound:  The timeline is defined with the course of two weeks

10. Improve Voice Modulation

I want to work on adding voice modulation to my speeches. My monotonous voice often causes the audience members to doze off. I will work with a public speaking coach for two months to learn and apply modulation. I will also keep an eye on the members dozing off to know how effective the coaching is.

Specific:  Improve voice modulation and keep the audience alert.

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by checking the number of audience members who doze off during the presentation and comparing it with previous presentations.

Attainable:  The goal is easy to attain with a public speaking coach

Relevant:  I want the audience to listen to what I am saying

Time-Bound:  The timeline is two months to minimize the number of dozed-off audience members.

11.  Improve Hand Gestures

I want to add emphasis to my speeches by adding proper hand gestures. I will take an online public speaking course to learn the skill. I will then record myself during rehearsals and on stage to determine how much I am improving during the course. I hope to be fluent with the gestures within four months .

Specific:  Improve hand gestures

Measurable:  The progress can be measured by checking the number of times hand gestures were used

Attainable:  The goal is easy to attain with practice

Relevant:  I want the audience to understand the importance of what I am saying

Time-Bound:  The timeline is defined as four months.

Final Thoughts on SMART Goals for Public Speaking

Public speaking is a broad topic. So it’s essential to narrow down the areas you want to improve related to the current challenges you’re facing.  Hopefully these 11 examples will provide that spark of inspiration for setting goals that will help you become a more effective public speaker.

Just remember that the key to accomplishing SMART goals is to have them written down and revisit them every day. To get started, you can use one of the SMART goal worksheets and templates that are provided on this page .

And if you want more SMART goal ideas and examples, be sure to check out these blog posts:

• 5 SMART Goal Examples for Your Musician Career
• 6 SMART Goals Examples for Event Coordinators
• 7 SMART Goals Examples for Churches or a Ministry

Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals .

Linda DeLuca

| Poking brains since 2007

Presentation Skills Self Assessment

This assessment is designed to help you identify areas of strength and opportunity for growth. It is also valuable for selecting the right course of action either on your own or with your coach.

The Quick 10

This is the kick-start 10 item assessment to get you started in identifying areas that you are strong, and areas you want to strengthen with experiential learning, research, and tips and tools from PresentationYOU.

Kick-Start Assessment

Use the following 10 factors of effective presentations (and meetings) to get a sense of your skill level. This will get you started in determining your strengths and areas for learning.

Circle the appropriate skill level for each of the 10 statements. Each statement should have only one level circled.

• Basic Skills – still have much to learn
• Good Skills – improving but can learn more
• Great Skills – ready to begin fine tuning

Add the number of circled items in each column to determine your totals. You should have a number from 1 to 10 for each: Basic , Good , and Great . The total of all three columns will equal 10. The column with the highest number is your overall assessment level. For example if you have: Basic 3 / Good 5 / Great 2, your overall assessment is ‘Good’ presentation skills.

Take Action Toward ‘Great’

Now that you have an idea of your current skill level, it’s time to take action to move you from a good presenter to a great presenter.

Any items in which you did not select Great as your skill level is an opportunity to explore.

• Wander through the tools and tips articles under How to Communicate

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