Let me start with this humorous quote – better off in the casket than doing the eulogy….Now to the theme of this article – Are you truly presenting or trying to get it over with? You have been told to present a topic in your company’s next All Hands or have been asked to share your innovation in a companywide brown-bag session or have an executive level presentation.
What are few things to help you make the right impact and make others admire you.
Preparation:
- 10X knowledge of the topic/subject: Some of the best speakers have shared that you should gather ten times more data points/knowledge on your topic, than you can present. This boosts your confidence like nothing else knowing that perhaps no-one knows your topic better than you.
- Subconscious mind: Once you have done your presentation write-up/story boarding, please leave a few days at the least, to just ponder on all aspects of your presentation and sink it in. Just keep thinking over and over about your content, story line, punch lines et all. If you do this well, it is amazing to see how your subconscious mind guides you during show time.
- Dry runs/rehearse/visualize: Please never memorize. Rather remember your key points and let the rest of talk come naturally.
Before the start your presentation:
- Channel your nervousness: One way to look at nervousness is body’s mechanism to provide you with extra energy to prepare you for emergencies. One approach is not to try to pacify your mind to keep calm but rather leverage that energy to build excitement.
- Excitement/Enthusiasm: If you truly feel excited, like having gulped a month’s supply of energy drinks in one shot (pun intended), remember that excitement/enthusiasm is said to conquer the world.
While Presenting:
- Walking up to the podium/dais/conference room: Does your audience notice a spring in your walk and a confident smile (force your mind & body even if you are feeling like it is a march to the gallows). This sets your mind and body up really well.
- Your thoughts right before you are called up: Are you flooding your mind with positive thoughts of how well you will do once you start talking.
- Watch the opening rush: The opening few lines are right on your lips and you will never fumble on them, so take a few seconds to establish yourself. Remember most people waiting to listen to you really want you to succeed. They are your cheerleaders.
- Once past the initial few mins: Once you are past your opening, your solid preparation takes over and guides you through. You mind starts getting deeper into your subject and loses the focus on your conscious self. Remember you are there to achieve an objective.
- Concentrate/power of each word: Concentrate on every word that come out of your mouth to see if it is rightly spaced and having the intended impact. If you are not creating the impact/rushing/winging, force your mind to control. Remember this is your show-time and you cannot let any distractions come in between.
- Pauses/Listening/Don’t rush to fill in the gaps: Pauses are most important to let the information sink in and audience to reconnect with you. Lesser information has a better chance of getting understood. Remember, it is your responsibility to also ensure that the information is getting understood and not just deliver your talk.
- Open questions and not just facts: Few open questions help audience to think along with you. No one knows everything about a topic however much they prepare.
Closing:
- Conclusion: A crisp parting thought/message is on the mind for long.
Remember good presentations have a long-lasting impact and people get highly impressed by your confidence and conviction.