Many people are uncomfortable with public speaking. Why? Modern psychological theories say that early humans formed troops for both hunting and protection. If you were a member you survived; if a member was kicked out or ostracized, it was essentially a death sentence.
We’ve evolved to be social and want to be accepted by the group. By definition people who don’t care about being socially accepted are sociopaths. The fear of public speaking is thus explained: rejection by the group is a death sentence; the worst possible consequence.
Obviously this is no longer true. Understanding where the fear originates makes it far easier to overcome. At worst you’ll be boring and might not be invited to speak again. Now that we can safely ignore our fears about public speaking, let’s see what we can do to make you great at it!
4 Tips for Presentation Success
Research Your Audience
DON’T go in blind. There have been some extraordinarily spontaneous speakers like Isaac Asimov or Carl Sagan who could simply walk in, start to speak, and hold their audience spellbound. That is very likely not you. Instead…
DO identify with your audience by doing some preliminary research. What are their pain points? Understand their problems and tune your speech to address their issues. You will have a rapt audience when you are talking about things they can identify with. Obliging them to figure out parallels between unrelated examples and their real world will just be irritating. Be relevant.
Enlighten Your Audience
DON’T go on and on (and on) about how great your company is. We’ve all had to sit through that particular horror fest. The speaker just won’t shut up about his or her company and products long enough to give us any really useful information. They seem oblivious to the fact that people are standing up and leaving no wiser than when they arrived.
DO intrigue your audience. Your job is to enlighten them; to educate them; to expose them to a new way of looking at things. Your new HRK-249 may be made of premium materials, assembled by robots, and able to withstand 4° above absolute zero, but if you can’t show them that it saves them money, increases their production speed, and will make their customers love them, then you’re wasting both your time and their time.
If you treat each fact like a magician, revealing a bit more, then a bit more, building expectations word by word, and then make it all come together at the end, you can expect enthusiastic applause and future speaking invitations.
Minimize Slide Content
DON’T put your presentation on PowerPoint slides word for word. No one, absolutely no one, likes to be read AT. Illustrations are great to help make your point but there shouldn’t be more than a dozen words on a slide. And if you’re reading from your slide you don’t have eye-contact with your audience which makes them lose interest.
DO bring your personality with you! People don’t want to listen to a monotonous robot. Memorizing your presentation if possible is great. That allows you to keep eye-contact with the audience members and grab their interest. And making mistakes is good if you trip over a word. Suddenly you have become more human in the eyes of your audience. You’ve given them something to connect with, and they will like you better, if you’re not perfect.
Follow Up with People
DON’T focus exclusively on your presentation. Your preparation should include what might be “obvious” questions that will follow. Assuming you have an intimate knowledge of your product or service, you should be able to handle most questions. But being completely unprepared for questions can make a mockery of the very best presentation that has ever been done.
DO follow up with people you met both before and after the presentation. They will appreciate being remembered, and you will build your network of contacts. The more handshaking and business card or e-card exchange you can manage, the greater the benefit both personally and for your audience members.
Don’t be scared. Easy to say, and somewhat more difficult to do, but now you understand from whence that fear originates. Dismissing the fear of public speaking because it is ancient, and no longer relevant, should now be much simpler.
You don’t have to try to be interesting. Interesting happens automatically when you’re supplying useful information. Practice beforehand, out loud, in front of a mirror. There’s nothing wrong with having notes, but the less frequently you can refer to them, the more intimate you will seem to your audience.
Finally, be ready to answer questions. Try to think of every sort of question they might ask, and have some sort of “starter” answer ready to go. You can add details as necessary to address the specific question, but having those “general” answers will make your life much easier. You can do this. And once you get past that first one, you will wonder why you were ever worried about it.
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