Presenting? Go Beyond and Wow them!
Imagine, speaking to a group and earning their ardent attention with active participation. Afterwards the excited attendees seek you out, they are energized, feel informed, and are hungry for more information; you receive invitations to speak to other teams/stakeholders; close colleagues and teammates compliment you on a job well done! You feel rewarded for the hard preparation you put into this presentation. It was an achievement!
All of us need to present at some point in our careers. I've frequently presented in my professional career and personal creative pursuits. In this article, I share the basic tips and core mindset changes that transform the way you can approach a presentation. The outcome: for those of you who feel that they are often struggling with presentations, you will come away with a framework that will transform presenting; and for those who already feel comfortable presenting, you will receive insights that will level you up!
So how does this happen? Here are the 4 steps crucial to your journey to achievement:
Shift your Mindset to the Outcome
Work Backwards on the content
Prepare to make Every Word Count
Show Up for delivery
Step 1: Shift your Mindset to the Outcome
You have likely always been asked or have volunteered to present on a topic. The organizers of a conference or a team meeting typically structure the agenda as a list of topics with a presenter next to each topic. So you begin with a topic, whether it is Artificial Intelligence, a Product, a Startup Concept, an Engineering Approach, or Managing Stress.
By re-orienting your mindset from a topic to an outcome you will create purpose, drive engagement, and make the needed trade-offs for efficiency. An outcome is the final state or consequence resulting from a process, event, or action. It is therefore what you expect to achieve. The presentation is the process, event, or action. A crucial ingredient is the audience you are presenting to. The question to ask for all presentations: What will you achieve with the audience?
Example: Dr. Pathak has been invited to speak to a group of immunologists about her research into a new virus circulating in birds. Depending on the outcome, the presentation can be vastly different. Dr. Pathak might be looking to educate the immunologists on new findings; she might be seeking to get additional funding for research; she might be looking for collaborators who can broaden the research; or, she might be promoting the adoption of a vaccine. Surfacing the expectation(s) Dr. Pathak has with the audience, and making them explicit and specific will allow her to deliver a more compelling presentation. One that can be measured for success or failure, or achievement.
The example above is deciding that the audience is educated immunologists. The context of the invite has made that clear. The possible expectations in the example above fit that audience of immunologists. Further, the expectation must be aligned to what is possible with the audience. A simple example here: if the audience is a citizen town hall, Dr. Pathak’s expectation might be to raise awareness of a new pathogen and ways to protect themselves against it.
A reality check: The audience alignment is critical to a successful outcome. For instance, if your expectation is to get your startup funded in your first presentation to new investors, chances are that your expectation is not aligned with that audience. A realistic expectation here could be that you generate interest for a follow-up measured by either an explicit or an implicit commitment on a follow-up.
Also consider complex contexts, for e.g. a webinar posted on social media might have a broad reach. In this case the webinar must inform upfront on who can benefit and what the webinar is hoping to accomplish with them.
Step 2: Work Backwards on the content
With the expectation established, you have created an end for the presentation. The task now is to create content that moves your audience from where they are i.e. the beginning, to the end. If you are not certain on the beginning with an audience, make the best possible assumption and use the actual presentation to validate. For example, Dr. Pathak might assume that her audience knows the pathogen already. She can then open by saying “How many of you have heard of…?” It is a great way to begin audience engagement and also validating her assumption.
Although presentation styles vary based on personal preferences, culture, and individual approach, I will outline one structure that effectively achieves the desired outcome. You can choose to augment the approach with stories and images based on your preference.
The Beginning: Here is what a typical beginning covers:
I conduct a simple poll to determine if I need to add context. It also generates participation and therefore engagement
I share the outcome and set expectations on what they can walk away with at the end.
I explain why I am suited to take them on this journey? With this I give them confidence that I am capable of steering them through.
The itinerary or the outline of the journey we will take.
The Journey: Here are a few tips to craft an engaging journey. You can choose to personalize these to suit your style and preference and the end of the journey.
Draft the outline first - this is the itinerary. Accounting for the available time, and the chosen end, identify the journey points (or the beats) the audience will travel.
If the format is a slide deck, create slide titles with the journey points. If it is a speech, each beat is a prompt for a paragraph. I try to make the beat titles conversational for e.g. if you are intending to present a graph to illustrate a point with data, the beat title can say -”Here is what the data is telling us…”
Every few slides (time for every 15 mins), add a poll to check-in with the audience to ensure they are with you on the journey.
Lean towards slides that use few words and communicate key concepts. My slides use few words or leverage images that relay the concept or the beat. That allows me to speak to the slide and not have the audience trying to read at the same time.
Some presentations require dense slides. I ensure that the audience is guided through. I first inform them on how to “read” the slide (e.g. how to follow an image), I pause to allow them to comprehend the slide, and then I summarize the key points. Depending on the audience I create an opportunity for questions/clarifications.
The End (or the Close): Provide a definitive end to create a more lasting effect. Here is one way to end:
Summarize the expectation again adding in how you have led the journey.
Inform the audience what you believe is the next step.
Break for a Q&A or final comments.
Finally, I always consider a poll or post-survey to calibrate the achievement of the objectives.
Step 3: Prepare to make Every Word Count
In 2018, I had an opportunity to present at a conference to a large group of Amazon Sellers on maximizing benefits from a new program we launched that year. Given the Public Relations potential and an audience numbering in the thousands, I was asked to script the entire speech in addition to the deck content. Later that presentation would be considered one of the highlights of the conference.
The act of drafting an entire speech related it closely to the preparation I had done in my personal interests as a stage performer. As a standup comic (and as an actor), every word in the joke or the script has importance. This might sound tedious. A few techniques will make it less tedious and more fun.
Envision speaking to the audience with the deck (or without it) following the beats you outlined for the content. As you do this, capture the words you are saying. How you do this is a personal preference. For example, I find it easier to talk to myself while typing away. Others use speech transcription technology. At the end, Congratulate yourself for the first draft of a speech!
Review this draft ensuring that you remove fillers, and picking words that deliver more impact. Make sure that the beats you picked in Step 2 still make sense. If not, go back and update the beats to match your delivery draft.
Get feedback from friends/co-workers and revise the draft. Consider ChatGPT to be one of those friends. However, be careful to not let “your voice” get modified. This is critical to feeling comfortable during eventual delivery.
In specific scenarios depending on the reach, Legal and PR teams can be leveraged to weigh in.
By this time you likely have a few pages of a script along with the slides for the presentation. Since all of this is your content, I hope you find confidence that you will be able to relay it with high fidelity to the script without memorizing it verbatim. Your slides which are the skeleton for the script will double as reminders on what to speak to when the slide comes up. If absolutely needed, create one page with reminder words that will allow you to remember your flow. If index cards work well for you, definitely leverage them. Personally I don’t like to hunt around or be on top of card order while speaking. This will become more clear in Step 4 ahead!
One final word on preparation - make sure the logistics are accounted for i.e. the projector, the clickers, the lectern (if needed), the mic, and the stage setup. I try to find an opportunity to check all that out beforehand.
Step 4: Show Up for Delivery
Once you have done the prep, the only remaining responsibility is to show up! This is important because once on stage or speaking you need to be present for your audience. Your preparation for this time was your obligation which you have already fulfilled. It is in the deck and the words in the script that are internalized. This mindful confidence removes the multiple niggles and doubts that can divert attention. It also frees you up to improvise as you react to the audience. Here are a few tips that work for me and you are free to adapt to yourself:
I find a way to channel the nervous energy before getting up on stage. I focus on breathwork and find a way to work on my vocal mechanisms as a prep for delivery.
When I get on stage, I take a couple of minutes to observe the audience, and find my footing with the equipment on stage.
I acknowledge to myself that I have fulfilled my obligation. I have prepared and I have shown up on stage. I have no other obligation at this point.
With that I am excited to share what I have prepared and so it begins…
