Perfect Presentation Coaching

What’s one of the easiest ways to become a better speaker?

Are you ready to be astounded? The answer is so obvious that many people miss it!

Just listen.

That’s right, listen.

If you want to improve, one of the easiest things you can do is listen to other speakers.

Listen to good ones, listen to bad ones, heck, you can even listen to yourself.

How does listening help you be a better speaker?

By listening to other people you will hear:

Words that work…

Ones that don’t…

Speech patterns that work…

Ones that don’t…

Speaking habits that work…

Ones that don’t…

Visuals that work…

One that don’t…

Are you beginning to see a pattern here? I hope so.

Because if you listen enough you WILL find things you do that you shouldn’t be doing, you will also discover things you are NOT doing that you definitely should be!

Take all of these things that you’ve seen and heard and examine your own speaking to see what you should add or, maybe even more importantly, what you should get rid of!

So forget about speaking for now and concentrate on listening.

I guarantee that if you listen (haha) to this pointer you will become a better speaker!

Are you successful?

What do you mean, am I successful?

I guess what I really want to ask you is what does success look like to you?

As you know, I’m a teacher. I’ve found that success means different things to different people.

For some success is nothing less than perfection.

Some find success in a “B”.

For others, it’s a “C”.

I’ve even seen some who feel successful with a “D”, and yes, amazingly enough, some even feel that way with an “F”

Now, I will never argue that a failing grade is success.

BUT, and it’s a big one. (That’s why I capitalized it!)

Failure can equal success

What? You’re kidding right? You’ve totally lost it , Mike!

I can hear you thinking it. Bear with me for a second and I’ll explain.

Think back to the first time you had to do something by yourself. Riding a bike, walking, standing in front of people and speaking, anything.

Were you perfect? My bet is that you failed!

I also bet that as time went on, you got better.

In fact, I bet you got so good, that you would consider yourself a success!

Your initial failure led directly to your eventual success.

The key is to not give up and, and this is huge, to keep learning and improving every time you fail at something!

So my advice to you today is this:

Go ahead and fail, it will help you succeed!

Are you an organized person?

I am. Sometimes.

How about when you have a presentation to do?

Do you stay organized or do you just fire up Powerpoint and start slamming out the slides?

A good friend of mine teaches business people how to grow their business by design. He teaches his clients to have a goal and a purpose for everything they do concerning their business rather than just letting it happen by accident.

I want you to look at your presentations the same way.

I have seen too many people throw together some slides and say “I made a presentation!”

Of course, when they actually have to show it to someone they usually see that there is a little more to it than just putting some bullets and a couple of pictures into Powerpoint.

GET ORGANIZED.

Do it before you start to make any slides.

Write down all your ideas.

Write down everything you want your audience to get from your talk.

You may even want to sketch out some slides on paper.

Work out in your mind or on paper what you want your visuals to look like before you make them.

GET ORGANIZED.

Use Powerpoint last, not first!

Use a pad of paper or a word processor first.

Make an outline.

Write your story.

Then make the slides.

GET ORGANIZED.

Make it happen by design.

I guarantee you will be much happier with your end product if you organize first.

GET ORGANIZED!

Do you ever feel creative?

When you do, do you take advantage of it?

I know sometimes I don’t.

That is a mistake, and it is one you should try to avoid!

Here’s why.

Presenting or speaking in public, is at its heart, a creative endeavor.

It is fine and dandy to have all of your facts correct or in the right order.

BUT…. notice I capitalized that? That’s because its important!

Your listeners will not care that all your facts are right if you bore them to death!

So use your creativity and make your words and your visuals interesting.

Do whatever you can to make your content engaging, add some pictures, avoid using millions of bullets, do what it takes to spice it up a little.

If you are not using any visuals, put some effort into finding some stimulating and thought-provoking words and phrases.

A little creativity will go a long way towards making your presentation a success!

It can be a difference maker between success and failure.

So the next time you feel a spurt of creative energy, channel it towards whatever project you are working on. You won’t regret that you did.

I know you don’t always have to get it right.

What the heck does that mean, you don’t always have to get it right?

It means just that; it is OK to sometimes not get it completely correct.

Let me explain a little.

How many times have you had a project where you were so concerned about getting it exactly right that you snapped? I don’t mean that they had to send you to the loony bin, what I mean is that you caused yourself so much stress that the quality of your work actually went down!

Or, even worse, you didn’t get it done at all?

I’ve been there, done that.

I once had to write a paper about blueberries (Yes, blueberries. Don’t ask…) I spent so much time making sure that it was 100% right that I ran out of time and had to turn in my rough draft!

So you see, trying to get it right all the time is sometimes counterproductive.

I don’t mean that you should accept mediocrity.

I don’t mean that leaving mistakes uncorrected is OK.

I don’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to details.

What I do mean is that you should not allow yourself to get bogged down in the pursuit of perfection.

Too many people get so concerned with making it perfect that they don’t even start! How many times have you seen a perfectionist fail because they couldn’t get it exactly right?

Trust me, it is much better to have some mistakes than to have nothing at all!

The important thing, as my coach says is this: “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going!”

Mistakes will happen. Errors will be missed.

But….

Perfection will come. Quality work will happen if you focus your efforts. Don’t force it, just get it done!

I know that all of you are capable (some of you are probably even more capable than I) of creating some fantastic work!

So go get started!

Do you know how to relax?

More specifically, do you know how to relax when you are in front of people?

I know, I know, its hard.

Relax. I can help.

The other day I wrote that you need to relax when you are in front of people. Several readers wrote and said: “That’s nice Mike, but how?”

Fear not! I have some simple things you can do to help you relax.

First, though. You need to realize that you will always feel a little bit of tension. That’s a good thing! Really, it is! A little tension will make you focus! A little tension means you care, if you care you will do what you can to make it work.

Ready to relax?

Let’s start with the obvious; make sure you are as prepared as you possibly can! The more you prepare in advance the less likely it is that you will get flustered before or after you speak. Along these same lines make sure your public appearance is not the first time you have gone through your material, practice, practice, practice! Do not memorize, you need to be able to “go with the flow,” you just need to be so familiar with your material that you can modify if needed.

Another thing you can do to relax is to ignore the fact that you are talking to more than one person. No, no, I don’t mean completely ignore your audience. What I do mean is that you should focus on one or two people at a time. Make it a conversation between you and them, then move on to another person or group. Talking to one person or a small group is a lot easier than talking to a roomful of people.

One more; you have to believe in yourself! Believe that you know your material! Believe that you can speak successfully! Believe that what you have to say has a value to your audience! Sounds simplistic, but it really is true, the power of belief is amazing! I believe you can do it, you should to!

Ok, just one more. Realize that it gets easier the more you do it. If you want to get better you have to take every chance you get to be in front of people! Sign up for an organization like Toastmasters, their whole purpose is to help people get better at public speaking.

I speak in front of people every day and I am still nervous on occasion, I use these things to help me relax, they help me, I know they can help you you as well.

Can you learn from a 12 year old?

Actually what I really mean is; are you willing to learn from a 12 year old?

I bet you’re probably wondering what you can learn about presenting from somebody whose voice hasn’t even changed yet!

As I started thinking about what to write for this message, I sat at my desk and thought about the presentations I had seen from my 7th grade students.

Most of them had one thing in common.

Tension!

Tension?

Yes, tension. Well, not tension like people are angry at each other but rather the tension that comes from nervousness.

12 year olds are not natural public speakers, add to that some nervousness, shake well, and what do you get?

A poor presentation.

So, the lesson from a 12 year old is this.

RELAX!

Sounds simple doesn’t it?

Well it is.

IF!

If: you believe

If: you prepare

If: you practice

I truly believe that you have a great presentation (or 2 or 300) inside of you.

Think back to a time when your own tension caused you to do worse than you know you were capable of.

Now imagine yourself in the same situation but relaxed instead of nervous.

I bet you see yourself doing better.

That is what I’m talking about.

Success in presenting (and life, for that matter) is not really all that hard.

Sometimes all it takes to bring it out is one simple word.

So, take a deep breath and relax. I know you can do it!

Don’t be afraid?  What I mean is don’t be afraid to be dumb!

Huh?

What the heck is that supposed to mean, Mike?  (I can see most of you saying that to yourself right now.)

Do you  have to be smart to be a great presenter?

Take a minute and really think about it.

Are you ready for the answer?  The answer, and I hope its obvious, is no.

Sure, you have to be smart enough to understand your purpose and your material, but you do not have to be the smartest person in the room.

Let me repeat that, its important!  You DO NOT have to be the smartest person in the room.

Here’s an example that I hope will help.

I’m a teacher and every year I have to sit through a presentation given by an attorney.

Attorney’s are smart.  They may not be smarter than you, but I’m pretty sure that they are smarter than me.  (I took the LSAT twice…messed with my head, it wasn’t pretty)

The problem is this:  That really smart lawyer shows us slides chock full of bullet points.  And then on top of that, she reads them to us!

Now, I don’t know about you, but after about the 3rd or 4th bullet I completely tune out.  I look around the room and I see the same glazed eyes and blank stares from just about everybody.

Not very smart.  The presentation that we were watching concerned a topic that is amazingly and extremely important to teachers, but we didn’t hear it just because of the presentation.

The attorney completely lost all of us when she started reading to us.

Every.

Single.

Bullet.

On.

Every.

Single.

Slide.

She lost us because she was not smart enough to take the time to make her presentation interesting and engaging.

All of you are smart, heck, some of you may even be smarter than that attorney.  But don’t be so smart that you forget one of the most important parts of a presentation.

Your audience wants to find a reason to be interested in what you have to say. It is your job to make their search easy.