presentation coach

Dress well and smartly…

Respect your audience by looking sharp, but also be reasonable about your choice of wardrobe.

It may be the most expensive suit or ensemble you own, but if you’re not comfortable in it your audience won’t be comfortable with you.

Choose clothing that puts you at ease, with lots of freedom of movement. When you’re in front of a room full of observant people, you don’t want to have to worry about a seam or collar that’s too snug.

Don’t allow your attire to speak more loudly than you. Avoid flashy jewelry, accessories or loud ties that might distract an audience’s attention and make what you wear more memorable than your remarks.

This is not to say you should be dull and colorless in your wardrobe selection. On the contrary, stylish, colorful clothing or accessories can be a bold stroke of personality that fits you and your presentation quite well. When in doubt, though, understate rather than overstate.

Before you step onto the stage, remove name badges, conference ribbons or other ornaments. They draw the audience’s attention away from your face and your words as you speak.

Take keys and coins out of your pockets. The jingling noise inevitably will distract from even the most passionate remarks. Empty pockets also will dull your own temptation to bury your hands in them as you speak.

If you carry a pager or cell phone, turn it off.

Finally, don’t dress down to an audience. Dress up. No one need ever apologize for exhibiting a quiet sense of style and elegance, and making the audience feel special because you show respect for them.

(Bonus tip: Be mindful about assumptions you make concerning what everyone may be wearing at the off-site conference, retreat or function at which you’re speaking. Just remember the poor guy who took the “casual dress” notice too literally and stepped onto the stage for a make-or-break, career-shaping presentation wearing Bermuda shorts and exotically patterned shirt, only to discover his audience of senior executives was in slacks and blazers.)

It’s personal…

Audiences really want to like you as a speaker. It makes them feel better about being there in the first place and more forgiving of any stumbles you may make.

Help them like you by not talking at an audience. Have a conversation with them instead.

Your message comes across more effectively when you use words, rhythms and anecdotes that come authentically (or, at least, appear to come authentically) from you and your own experiences, not those of someone else.

Your tone of voice, your mannerisms, the very words you use can convey a sense that your audience is important to you and that you appreciate their time and effort to hear what you have to say.

For instance, avoid big words (especially the technical kind) you normally wouldn’t use in casual discussions.

Forget the lofty quotes if they would seem out of character.

Stay in character.

If you use your hands when explaining something to a colleague in person, why not use your hands when explaining a topic to an audience?

If you smile when you talk with your friends, why not smile when you speak to your audience?

It will help your delivery feel more natural to you, and thus to them.

You are not a robot. You are a person talking with other people. Always remember that. Because your audience never forgets it.

Show or tell…

The presenter was a senior executive with a major financial institution. A confident speaker. Articulate. Poised. Well organized and rehearsed.

His topic concerned changing standards in modern business practices. A good fit for his audience of some 250 business and community leaders.

He spoke for about 15 minutes.

A profile of a successful presentation?

In this case, regrettably, no.

Our presenter staged his remarks by standing in front of a laptop computer, a huge screen directly behind him. Okay, so far. But, as he made each of his points, he would press a key on his laptop and from an adjacent projector a bulleted transcription of his statement would appear, verbatim, on the big screen.

There were no accompanying pictures. No diagrams or other graphics. Just words on the screen. In small burgundy type on a plain white background. And then more words. And then still more words. Sentence after sentence. Bullet after bullet. Screen after screen. For 15 minutes.

It quickly became distracting. And confusing.

You see, instead of focusing my attention on his message, I found myself wondering why was he speaking to us. If he wanted us to read his presentation, couldn’t he have simply mailed it and allowed us to spend our 15 minutes doing other things?

On the other hand, if he wanted us to listen to his remarks, why was he drawing our attention away from himself and what he had to say by methodically projecting his entire script onto the screen?

Your audience can do one of two things: they can listen or they can read. They cannot do both at the same time. You do not want them to do both. Because if they try, their ability to mentally process — and thus retain — the information you are presenting is severely compromised.

Your job as the speaker is to speak, to make a point, to persuade, to move an audience to action… not to project then read aloud words the audience can read for themselves.

When you use PowerPoint or other visual aid, its purpose should be to illustrate your remarks, not parrot them. Visuals are tools for clarifying complex topics, not for complicating the process of understanding.

As for this speaker and his topic, with respect, this was presentation death by PowerPoint. A well-rehearsed recitation rather than a compelling narrative. A seamless triumph of computer projection technology over human passion and the power of personal storytelling.

In the end, as important and timely and relevant as the topic might have been, I frankly found it hard to be very interested. I was too busy trying to keep up with all the words appearing and disappearing on the screen…bullet after bullet after bullet.

Competing with yourself…

Save any handouts until the end of your presentation.

You want the audience’s full attention, which is hard to capture if you’ve given people something else to read or think about other than what you are telling them.

If you must refer to a statistic or example in your remarks, use a slide or overhead projection instead. It will have greater impact than a piece of paper in someone’s lap, and it will contribute visual interest and variety in your presentation.

If you have a summary of your presentation or other materials to hand out later, inform your audience at the beginning of your remarks so they won’t feel compelled to take detailed notes of every word you say. Enable them to listen to you instead. That’s why they are there.

Remember, the purpose of handouts is to support your case, not to make your case. That’s your job. Keep the audience focused on you and what you have to tell them.

Slow down…

Some people rush through a presentation for fear they won’t be able to cram everything in during the time allotted to them. If your presentation has been prepared thoughtfully and rehearsed thoroughly, this not only is unnecessary, it’s self-defeating.

Thinking takes time. So give your audience the time to think about what you are saying.

Pause often.

Take a breath.

Look at your audience between passages.

Remember, you are having a conversation, not a speed competition. Let the audience appreciate your remarks, not struggle to keep up with them.

If you have too much information to deliver in a reasonable period of time, rewrite your remarks. Pare them down. Keep content tight and essential. That’s a more effective — and ultimately more satisfying — approach than trying to cheat the clock.

Don't eat the microphone...

It tastes terrible and the audience doesn’t deserve the result.

Sound systems are designed to amplify. They always are more capable than people imagine.

Here are some tips on making the microphone work for you rather than against you:

Speak in a steady, normal tone of voice.

Keep your lips about six inches from the mike.

If you are behind a lectern, try to keep the microphone in front of your face when you turn your head while speaking. Turning your mouth away from the mike will make your voice instantly fade.

Your audience hears you better than you think they do. If you do doubt that you’re being heard, however, simply and gently ask them, “Can you hear me well enough?” Don’t demand to know “Is this thing working?” and don’t say “testing, testing, one, two, three…” And please don’t make a big deal out of it. You don’t want any microphone problem to be the most memorable part of your presentation. Make adjustments and move on.

Of course, if you arrived at your speaking engagement early, you would have had the chance to test the sound system and be confident that it was working properly. But that’s a topic for another post…

What's the big idea?

David Ogilvy wrote the book on modern advertising methods. The impact of his pioneering work and thinking about how to convey messages to vast audiences still register some 50 years after he began helping his clients become household names.

A core principle for great advertising is something he called the “Big Idea” and it fits spectacularly well for presentations, too, which is why I’m always keen to help guide my clients through the process.

It works like this: First, wade through all the fact and figures and themes of a subject and distill everything down to an idea that can be expressed in fewer than 10 words.

Next, shape your message around those 10 words.

We’re not talking about a topic here, but an objective. When your audience hears your presentation, what is it you want them to remember above all else?

That’s the Big Idea.

Why is this useful? For starters, it’s the core of your presentation, the reason you’re speaking in the first place. Moreover, it keeps your remarks focused, which is a great thing when there is a lot of supporting information involved.

Think of it as the bottom line of your presentation.

Audiences typically remember as little as 10 percent of a presentation, after all. Under the best of circumstances, with all the right tools and techniques put to work, retention likely will never surpass 50 percent of what you said.

That’s why an effective presentation communicates only what the audience needs to see and hear to be persuaded, nothing more.

In other words, if they cannot remember the big idea you’re trying to express, then what was the point?

Tough love...

The only person who can improve your skills as a presenter and public speaker is you. Folks like me can share insights and ideas about the tools and methods that distinguish the very best presenters, but it’s you who must do the work. Just like I can sell you the tools to grow the best garden or build the best home, how you put the tools to work is up to you.

Okay, now can you ride a bicycle? Play a musical instrument? Did you learn to do such things from a seminar? By reading a book (or a blog)? I bet you didn’t learn to drive a car by sitting in a classroom.

Public speaking is the same. It’s an acquired skill. We can talk about rules and structure, but the only way you can learn to do it (and do it well) is by doing it.

Like learning to play a musical instrument, or driving, or tennis or golf, the more you do it, the more mistakes you make, the more you improve over time.

Don’t be afraid to make the mistakes. Don’t be afraid to learn from them, either.

Beyond information...

Information alone doesn’t persuade people. If it did, no one would smoke cigarettes or drink too much alcohol or abuse drugs. No one would poison the air with toxic fumes or neglect their health or vote for inferior candidates or buy shoddy merchandise.

Want to persuade someone? Do more than give them “the facts.” Convert information—the facts and figures—into elements meaningful to your audience, enough to influence their behavior, to activate them to action.

I’m thinking about the sales manager giving his annual pep talk to his sales force, where he’s expected to detail the year’s performance quotas. Instead of simply explaining the new bonus plan and how many widgets need to be sold to qualify, he instead displays a luscious photograph of a blue-water sailboat on an idyllic sea and tells his audience, “If you want to visualize your sales objective for the coming year, visualize this!”

Only after the people in room privately connect their personal dreams of success with their bonus potential did their sales manager begin the more detailed briefing. But he had established an entirely new context, you see. He had taken raw, usually boring statistical information and given it tangible meaning and value for this audience.

He did more than motivate them; he activated them.

Why present, anyway?

Some folks would much prefer to send a memo or write a report over making an oral delivery of the same information. But think of the advantages you have when you’re in front of an audience.

When you present in person, your message cannot be dismissed with a quick scan.

Your report can’t get lost on someone’s desk.

It can’t get misfiled, stained with spilled coffee or thrown away.

Even if your written document does get read, it’s the reader who controls how and when its information is received.

When you make a live presentation, however, you control the delivery of information.

You are able to assess the audience’s level of understanding and modify your remarks instantly. You can repeat major points or skip over minor ones. You can invite questions to elaborate and clarify your key points. You can draw attention to complex data and help the audience navigate the subtleties of your topic.

When you present in person, you will know when your information is too much or too little.

You will know when to stop.

Now, how would you rather invest your time and energy reporting your work? In writing. Or in person?