Perfect Presentation Coaching

Don’t ignore me!

That’s what your audience is saying to themselves as you speak.

Ignore them? What the heck does that mean?

Rather than going straight to the answer, let’s take a little trip back in time.

The year is 1985, the class is… heck, I don’t remember what the class was, but I do remember that there was about 400 hundred people in it.

Here’s how a typical class session would go. We’d walk in and find a seat in the huge auditorium, get out our notebooks (not laptops, actual notebooks!) and get ready to write.

The professor would walk in and start talking.

And talking.

And talking.

He paid absolutely no attention to us. His job was to get his information to us and that is what he did. Or, that’s what he would say he did if you asked him.

But if you asked us, we would say that he did not do what he was supposed to do.

He would talk, we would furiously write, and I imagine that he would have used exactly the same words if the room had been empty of students.

Was he being an effective communicator?

NO!

I want you to avoid being ineffective.

So, number 6 on our list of things to avoid is ignoring the audience.

Whenever you speak, remember that you are not there to satisfy your ego, you are there to effectively communicate your material to your listeners!

If you ignore them, you are forgetting an important part of your presentation.

Stop occasionally and check for understanding, make eye contact and modify if it looks like people don’t understand, do whatever it is you have to do to get your message across.

Do I mean that you should completely cater to your audience’s needs? No…..but.

But, you do need to recognize that they are there and that part of your job, the most important part, is to help them understand what you are saying.

And that may require you to change what you planned.

Don’t just change willy nilly, pay attention to your audience and modify to meet their needs.

“I hope he doesn’t ignore me like the last guy!” You will never hear that from your audience if you are willing to deviate from your plan – maybe just a little – it doesn’t have to be a big change.

Sometimes all it takes is one word here and there. The correct modification may be all that it takes to win over a reluctant or disinterested audience.

That’s what you want!

So make sure that you don’t ignore them!

Do you get nervous when you speak in front of people?

Did you know that public speaking is the #1 fear Americans have? Death is way down on the list at number 7!

If you have to speak in public, there are many things you could do to alienate your listeners. (See Parts 1-4 of this series)

One thing that I’ve seen from many beginning speakers is number 5 of things to avoid.

Ready? Here it is.

Speaking to the screen.

Speaking to the screen? What the heck does that mean?

It means exactly what it sounds like. Turning your back on the audience and actually talking to the screen where your visuals are projected.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if a speaker did that to me, I would be tempted to quit listening.

In fact, I would be more than tempted.

Why do people do this?

There’s many reasons, way too many to talk about right now, so I want to focus on just a couple.

The first reason is that many presenters are not using their visuals to support their words.

Instead they are using them as a script. What do you have to do with a script, especially if you haven’t taken the time to memorize it? You have to read it! When you read you have to face your screen and not your listeners.

Another reason is lack of confidence. For one reason or another many speakers suffer from a lack of confidence.

Maybe its due to lack of experience.

Maybe its because they are not familiar with their material.

Maybe its fear of failure.

Whatever the reason, lack of confidence will result in a poor presentation.

There are a multitude of things you can do to increase your confidence in yourself, but a quick easy one is to make sure that you prepare yourself as completely as you possibly can.

Bottom line is this. If you talk to your visuals rather than your audience you will lose them!

Your coach,

Mike

P.S. Are you in need of a confidence boost? Schedule your free consultation now and lets start working on it!

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So far we’ve discussed lack of preparation, failure to practice, and using a lot of bullets as things you need to avoid when giving a presentation.

Today’s topic is short and sweet.

Number 4 on our list of things to avoid: Reading to the audience.

Unless your audience is a group of 6 year olds and its story time, you should almost never read to them!

Got it?

Good!

Just to reinforce, DO NOT read to your audience!

Here’s why. Its insulting!

Yes, a sure way to lose your audience is to insult them. And that is what you do when you read to them.

You are insulting them by wasting their time and by indirectly telling them that you don’t respect their intelligence enough to get your point!

Let’s do a small experiment.

Here’s some subject matter from my 7th grade science class.

Take a moment and read the following sentence to yourself.

There are four basic kinds of volcanoes; composite, cinder cones, shield, and lava domes.

Got that? Did you understand it? I’m sure you were able to figure it out.

Would my reading that to you out loud improve your understanding? I doubt it.

Ok, now read it again, this time, once to yourself and then out loud. Time yourself.

Which one took longer? I bet it took longer to read it out loud than it did to read it to yourself.

Now expand that by several points per slide and then add more time for the rest of the slides that the presentation will contain.

Imagine that you were in a presentation where the speaker did that with each and every point they were making. Begin to see the problem?

Don’t do it!

Yes, its easier than having to actually think of a different way to say something, but keep in mind, easier is not always better!

Put the words on the screen and DISCUSS them, do not read them!

Does this guarantee success? No. But it does make success much more likely.

Remember, a speaker should never insult their listeners!

Now, go out there and stop insulting people!

Not preparing, not practicing. Two things that will ensure a failed presentation.

The third thing on our list of things to avoid is much simpler.

Bullets.

Yes, bullets.

No, not the kind that come from a pistol!

I mean the ones that people use on Powerpoint slides.

How are these a problem? Well, in and of themselves, they are not.

The problem comes with the way they are used. How many slides have you seen with what seemed like hundreds of bullets on them?

How much did you learn from that? Or, did you do like everyone else does and tune out after the first few bullets?

I bet you did the latter.

And that’s the problem. Many people think that the more information they put on a slide the better.

In fact, that is exactly the opposite of what you should do! Research has shown that people remember information best when it is presented in small chunks of 3 or 4 pieces at a time.

So, the next time you get tempted to cram your slides full of bullet points, DON’T!

If you have to use them, use them sparingly. Its okay to have a few more slides if the extra slides help your audience retain your information better.

Remember, just because you have bullets, doesn’t mean you have to fire them!

In the last post I discussed how many beginners don’t prepare themselves enough.

This time, I want to talk about something that everybody needs, but many people ignore.

Onward to the second thing to avoid! Lack of practice.

Everybody knows they need to do it.

But nobody likes to do it. Its much easier to just get the glory and not worry about all the work that is required beforehand.

I know that I used to think that way!

Let’s take two examples, an actor and an athlete.

At first glance they may not seem connected at all, but if we dig a little deeper we will find similarities.

Let’s start with the actor. He didn’t get his start on Broadway, his first role wasn’t in the summer blockbuster.

No, he worked his way up from the bottom, with lots of hard work and, yes, lots and lots of practice!

Great actors make it look easy. They easily convince you that they are somebody they are not. Do you really think Tom Hanks was alone on that island with the volleyball? Of course you didn’t! But….

He convinced you that he was! How did he do it?

You guessed it, lots of practice!

Ok already, Mike, we get it. An actor has to practice.

Athlete’s practice all the time. In fact, an athlete spends most of their time practicing.

Kobe Bryant is probably the best basketball player on the planet. Did he get that way without lots of work?

No.

Did he get there by sheer luck?

No…

So how did he get where he is?

Get ready…. he practiced!

Ask any player in the league and they will tell you that he works extremely hard on improving his skills and abilities.

He hones his natural abilities by practicing and practicing and practicing.

Tom Hanks and Kobe Bryant. Two excellent examples of the power of practice.

They practice so much that they make it look easy.

How does this apply to you and your presentations?

It should be obvious by now. You need to practice enough that your presentation or speech, or whatever it is you need to do is easy.

Does that mean you have to memorize everything you are going to say?

No.

Does it mean you have to know the exact words to say and when to say them?

No.

Enough with the no’s, already! It means you need to practice enough that you can go through what you have to say with ease, handling distractions, answering questions, and working all of that stuff into your presentation.

So you see? The thing that we don’t want to do is just the thing we need to be as successful as we can.

So go practice already!

Are your presentations as successful as you want them to be?

The next few posts are going to focus on some practical tips to help you succeed by avoiding some common mistakes.

Today’s topic: Preparing to fail by failing to prepare..

Not preparing? You mean there are presenters who don’t prepare?

Yes, there are. You probably even know one.

Think back to school. How many times did you “kind of” prepare for a test?

How did that work for you?

My guess is that even if you did well on the test, you immediately forgot what you had just supposedly learned.

Don’t make the same mistake with your presentations!

A presentation is an everchanging and alive thing.

If you are not ready, if you did not prepare yourself, you will eventually come to a point where you don’t know what to do.

And when that happens….. you fail!

How to prepare?

Take a little bit of time every night and go over a small piece of your material and you will eventually, probably before you even realize it, come to the end of it all. What does that mean? It means you are ready!!!

Check your visuals before you have to use them. FInd the mistakes before your audience does. What does that do for you? It makes you ready!

Rehearse and practice your words. Don’t just complete the writing of your presentation. Say it out loud! Once again, find the mistakes and awkward moments before your audience hears them. What will that do? It will make you ready!

Don’t make the mistake of “kind of” preparing.

Get yourself ready and you WILL have success!

Talk About Success is a radio show that I was on today.

Click the link to listen. We talked about the key elements of making a perfect presentation, as well as the common mistakes to avoid.

Here’s the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Talk-About-Success/2009/06/10/How-To-Make-a-Perfect-Presentation

Its 30 minutes that will help you improve your speaking and presenting skills!

Do you believe in yourself?

I do.

Sometimes all it takes to be successful is a positive mind set.

Positive thoughts can be powerful.

Believing in yourself is a huge first step towards a successful presentation and life!

Just for a moment, forget all the stress, anxiety, and nervousness you feel when you know you have to speak in front of people.

Take that moment and focus on your belief in yourself.

Tell yourself that you believe in you! I know it sounds silly and simplistic, but…

It works!

Here’s an example: I just returned from a trip to Havasupai Canyon. Havasupai Canyon contains some of the most beautiful waterfalls you will ever see.

The cool thing about these waterfalls is that they are interactive! You can play in them, jump off them, go behind them, in short they are just plain fun!

One of these waterfalls is a couple hundred feet high and to get to the bottom of this fall you have to climb down inside a cliff. Its scary.

Now, if I took the time to focus on how I couldn’t make it to the bottom, or if I focused on the fear of failing (or falling) do you think I would be able to convince myself that I could make it?

Of course, the answer is no!

Instead, I focus my thoughts on believing that I can do whatever it is that I need to do to successfully complete the descent to the bottom.

That is what you need to do! Focus on believing!

Ok, let’s get back to your presentation. Focusing on your belief in yourself does not mean you can ignore your preparation.

The more you prepare the more you will believe, and the more you believe the more you will prepare.

More preparation equals more success!

More success means more belief!

More belief equals more success!

See how it reinforces itself?

Now go ahead and tell yourself that you believe in you. Its ok, nobody’s watching, just do it. I’ll wait.

Doesn’t that feel good? I believe you can succeed! You should to!

Waterfalls!

Waterfalls are a beautiful thing to see!

But did you know you can become a better presenter by watching a waterfall?

“What the heck are you talking about , Mike?”

On the surface this may seem farfetched, I know, but bear with me.

How does a waterfall help you with your speaking and presenting problems?

Simple.

A waterfall is a waterfall is a waterfall.

It never tries to be something that it isn’t or can’t be! Yeah, yeah, I know, it really can’t be anything else!

Nevertheless, a waterfall can teach us something.

You, also, should NEVER try to be someone you aren’t, especially when you are speaking.

If you are not by nature an excited and super outgoing person, an attempt at that sort of presentation by you can (and probably will) end in disaster.

If you are not comfortable with adding humor to your speeches, then trying to tell a joke will end badly.

There are many other examples I could go through, but I imagine that you are probably going through them in your own head right now.

Find the ones that apply to you and avoid them at all costs until you are 100% sure you have the expertise and ability to successfully use them.

The bottom line is this: BE YOURSELF!

Be yourself. Your message will get lost if your audience thinks you are insincere.

Be yourself. Your message will get lost if your audience focuses on your attempts at being something you’re not.

Be yourself. You will have success if you just be you!

Everybody has their own unique speaking style, find yours, develop it and refine it.

Only add elements when you are completely confident in your basic abilities.

This is where I come in…. get in touch and let’s find your inner waterfall.