Practise

One of the key aspects of preparation is practising your presentation.

When you practise your presentation, you should say it aloud not just in your head.  One trick I have used many times in the past is to give the presentation while I am driving to the location.  You are alone in the car and these days with hands free mobiles nobody even worries when they see someone talking to themselves in a car.  So switch off the radio or the CD and give your presentation aloud.  This is a great way to make sure you know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it, before the event.  Do not just go over it in your head, it does not have nearly the same effect.

When you practise, make a note of the timings.  It is a good idea to mark every third cue card with the time you expect to start that part of your presentation.  That way you have a guide as to how you are going time wise.

With the widespread availability of home video cameras, an ideal way to practise is to film yourself giving the presentation.  You will learn a lot about what your audience will see and hear by watching the video.

Do not cheat when you practise!  There is often a temptation to skip over sections of a presentation, because you think you already know that part of the talk.  Maybe you are re-using a section from a previous presentation.  Maybe it is a bit where you are hoping to gain some audience interaction.  My advice is to rehearse the presentation in its entirety rather than make assumptions.

Presentation Training and Coaching is available from the author of this blog. Please visit my presentation training  website.

Give me a day and I’ll change your presentations, forever

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Preparation

Preparation is the key to success.  Knowing what you are going to talk about, knowing whom you are talking to, knowing what they are interested in, and knowing how you will perform.  All this knowing comes from preparation.

If there is one single golden rule of presenting, it is:

Preparation Preparation Preparation

The more preparation you do, the more you think about your presentation, invariably, the better it will be.  You cannot rehearse too much, or know too much about you audience or the subject.

Being well prepared is one of the best ways to conquer nerves.

Preparation beats trepidation every time.

Knowing what the slides are and having seen someone else give a presentation, is not the same as giving it yourself.  If you have a corporate presentation to give, for which you did not write the slides, one of the biggest pit falls is to think you can give the presentation, just because you know the subject and have seen someone else do it.

You need to make the presentation your own.  Think up your own introduction, your own anecdotes and your own humorous asides.  The slides after all are not the presentation; they are just the visual aids.  Even using a ‘standard’ set of company presentation slides, you still need to create the presentation in you own head.

Poor Preparation Produces Perfectly Pathetic Presentations

Presentation Training and Coaching is available from the author of this blog. Please visit my presentation training  website.

Give me a day and I’ll change your presentations, forever