Four Super Secret Presentation Tricks

I’m by no means a presentation pro, but I like to believe that I’ve mostly mastered the basics of presenting.

Some examples of simple, but critical things I always keep in mind when presenting include not swiveling in my chair or fidgeting with my hands, being conscious of uh’s and um’s, making sure content is organized and standing with my feet a comfortable distance apart with my hands at my side. Useful habits like these will help you appear credible and on-point during presentations.

However, there’s a lot more to engaging and persuading your audience. I really respect people who can pace a presentation well, modulate their voice to make what they’re saying sound spontaneous and conversational, set a rhythm of highs and lows to keep their audience focused on the content and strategically support their talking points with visuals.

There’s always room for improvement when it comes to presenting. Below, I’d like to share with you some of the ways I’m pushing myself to give my presentations to clients, prospects and colleagues some spirit.

• Using Props Effectively
  • Too often, PowerPoint decks (or Keynote, for Mac users) become scripts to accompany a speech. Although displaying a lot of text might provide my audience with some interesting reading, I want their attention to be on what I’m saying. With that goal in mind, I’ve been working on improving my use of visuals when presenting – looking at visuals as an accessory to, rather than the focus of, my content. I believe that slides should only shine a light on your main points, using very brief text and images to help convey what you’re talking about.
• Treating Presentations Like Performances
  • I’m a performer at heart and believe that delivering a great presentation is like putting on a great performance. Presentations are not just about delivering information: they’re about telling a story. Therefore, like an actor in a play, I’ve been focusing on delivering emphasis on words in the right places, infusing dialogue with breaths at the right spots and finding a rhythm for myself and my teammates. All the while making adjustments based on the tone of the room and nuances from the audience. I try hard to recognize when there’s a need to elaborate on a point, or move more quickly through a section than intended. I also aim to bring a level of intensity and engagement, and as a result, people in the room end up wanting to engage.
• Memorizing Content
  • Everyone has their own approach to learning their content. Here are two approaches that I’ve picked up and work really well for me:
    1. I prepare an outline of the key points I need to make and read through it a few times to get comfortable with the content.  When I’m practicing, I picture the outline projected in front of me on a wall or other visual point to remind me of what comes next or certain points to make.
    2. Don’t write a script. In my experience, it’s really, really hard to memorize a script and easy to get distracted during a presentation and lose your place. Worst of all though, you run the chance of actually sounding scripted. Focus on absorbing your content and knowing it well (and if you don’t, you need to learn it) so that you don’t need to memorize lines. I work on remembering key points or phrases and when practicing, take cues and notes from rehearsals and make the necessary adjustments when the time comes to present. We’re each unique so find the number of run-throughs that works for you – I prefer one to two. I’m careful to not over-rehearse because it often makes me nervous and I tend to sound scripted.
• Maintaining Zen
  • It’s easy to feel the pressure of a big pitch or presentation; so I remind myself that this is really no different than having a conversation with clients or talking with colleagues in a team meeting. If I have nervous energy, I get it out with a technique a colleague I worked with dubbed ‘Bitzercise.’ It’s essentially just jumping up and down and sort of dancing, to get that nervous energy out. It REALLY helps me. And now the next time you meet with me, you’ll know what I’ve probably been doing for the past five minutes in private.

I hope these tips help those of you who, like me, are working on your speaking skills. Do you have any good tips on memorization, or other ways to enhance your presentations? I’d love to hear them.

For more presentation advice, check out our 1st Take video with Matthew Black, Director of Learning and Development for Weber Shandwick.

Image courtesy of wheat_in_your_hair.