Over the last few weeks I have been working with a technology company on preparing their team to deliver presentations for a major showcase and road show.
It is enjoyable and rewarding work as I’m not only helping them with stage delivery but also how to deliver on screen for the videos that will be available to their clients and prospects.
Creating connection, relationships and trust, plus overall brand awareness is how you drive sales in your business. Major events are a fantastic way to do that. Presenting live to inform and educate your audiences, combined with video makes a powerful impact.
Confident presentation skills is a major requirement for leaders, emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to gain more credibility and send out your message in a dynamic way. However, not everyone is comfortable when presenting. It does take practise.
Here are a few notes to help you prepare for your next speaking presentation.
Prepare. Prepare the content you want to deliver and run through it a couple of times. Follow a structure – simply a beginning, middle and end with an opener and a call to action to finish. Write down a few bullet points of what you want to say and record it. Rehearse it. Use a timer so you are not just waffling on and be as succinct as possible.
Stories to make a point or illustrate a concept, are a way to remember your content and connect with the audience.
Projection. If you are delivering a speech, the strong and effective use of your voice is one of the most powerful presentation tools you can possess. Most people who aren’t used to presenting, need to speak up and project their voice.
Pay attention to your vocal tone – tune in to the sound of your own voice. Record yourself while reading, presenting or talking to someone. Monotone, dull delivery, excitable chatter, mumbling or sentences ending in upward inflections won’t assist in conveying verbal clarity and conciseness of a leader.
Pace. Have variety in the way you use your voice to keep your talk interesting. Try faster, slower, pausing for emphasis, drawing attention, recollecting thoughts. Volume – softer, lighter, louder and stronger. Put emphasis or accents on certain words, boom, pop, strong – ideally use a combination of all these points.
Purpose. Think about the mood or intention you want to create with your presentation. Do you want your audience to feel interactive and warm? Do you want to establish your expertise?
What do you want them to take away from your talk? Is it to energise or get them excited about your new product. Or to embrace change.
Presence. Overall stage presence and movement takes practise and intention. Wandering around on stage, moving backward and forward is distracting. If that is you, you are better off standing in one spot, centre stage, grounded on two feet and moving your upper body and making good eye contact.
Otherwise – move on purpose. I was fortunate to work with masterful presentation skills coach, Patricia Fripp who says, “Move on purpose to a point in the stage and deliver a line, move on transitions and move on “movement” words”.
There is so much more to delivering a good presentation on stage or screen. For most people it is a matter of elevating your energy. Afterall – presenting is theatre after all.
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Sue Currie is an image entrepreneur who guides and empowers business leaders and entrepreneurs to have “Spotlight Confidence”. She is passionate about helping professionals elevate their personal and professional brand through her speaking, coaching and training programs on Self Brand, Style and Speaking Skills, providing a multi-faceted approach to gain high transformation for her clients.
