Become A Better Presenter Part 6
Preparation and Practice
I attended a conference recently where 15 minutes before the presentation was scheduled to start the presenters were still creating slides and writing the words they were going to say!
Most people spend more time preparing and practising a ‘best man speech’ than they do a business presentation. Which one will have most effect on your finances? So which one should you take more care preparing and practicing?
When preparing a speech remember to start with an objective. What do you want the audience to do after your presentation as a result of what you’ve told them? Then, when you are writing the content make sure that everything you say is leading your audience towards that objective.
I always start with a brain storming session where I write everything that is related to the subject on one large sheet of paper and connect all the pieces of information that are related to each other. Once I have everything down on one sheet I can pick and choose which parts I’ll actually use and decide the order I’ll be saying them.
One method of preparation is to divide your presentation into 3 sections; the opening the middle and the closing section. The opening should be designed to grab people’s interest and get the audience on your side, the middle section is where you give them the full story (probably in 3 or 4 key points) and the close will be where you ask the audience to take some action.
A top athlete will do more than 10,000 hours of practice of their sport before they are good enough to perform at an Olympic games and yet most people think that doing one or two run throughs of their speech will be enough to make them sound brilliant.
Great presenters aren’t born they’re made – by practice. Nothing will improve a presentation more than 10 – 20 practices. By practicing you will find that, if your nervous, you’ll begin to relax into a conversation style, which is what your audience will enjoy.
Practice on your own, practice in the shower, practice in front of a mirror, practice while driving to work, practice in front of your cat and then, when you’re ready, practice in front of friends or family to get some feedback. When you’ve finished practicing then practice some more – you can never do too much practice.
I always suggest that people learn their opening 2 or 3 minutes ‘off by heart’ because this is the time when nerves affect us the most. If we know it well enough we’ll be able to say it even though our legs are shaking and our brow is behaving like a waterfall!
In the next section we’ll discuss WHAT TO WEAR for your presentation.
For more information about John’s one day POWERFUL PRESENTATIONS course click here