This blog is about presentations & public speaking - how to make 'em, how not to make 'em and how other people are making 'em. Feel free to read, use and comment on what you find here. And good luck with your presentations...
It’s not a Nike thing after all: you can’t “just do it”!
Okay, brace yourself…. I’m going to rant about something that’s been bugging me for quite a while now.
Obviously, as I’m a presentation skills trainer I make a point of keeping track of a number of other blogs and fora like this one - many of them more sucessful in terms of the number of people participating and so on. The one single post that I see again and again (and again) is this:
I’ve got a presentation on XXX in YYY days. How do I do it and what’s the magic bullet that will cure my nerves?
Here’s the bad news, folks. There’s no magic bullet. Everyone (who’s not an idiot) goes out there nervous. If there was a simple “do this and you’ll not feel scared any more” solution, don’t you think everyone would know about it by now?!
These numpties (translation for American readers: numpties = people of limited common sense) seem to think that there are a couple of simple rules. Okay, there are some ‘rules’ (things like don’t write anything in less than 28pt 
) but not the sort they want to put to the test. What we’re being asked to do for them is the equivelent of this:
I’ve got to do a piano recital next week and I can’t play even a G major scale yet. What is the single trick which means I don’t have to do the hundreds of hours of work that other pianists have done to mean I can play the Chopin C# Polonaise without any mistakes?
Sorry folks - if you have to ask the question like that, it’s too darn late!
Presenting, like many things, is a practical (as well as intellectual) skill. You can’t ‘just do it’ without any effort and without putting in the equivelent of hours at the keyboard. Fortunately, it’s not as hard as playing Chopin, but even so you can’t go from zero to hero in no time at all.
If you have found yourself in that position, here’s my advice - forget the presentation and worry about doing the work instead!
Going down! (A simple, straight-forward tip)
Presentations are about making a connection with your audience - even in business- and this is a tip you’ll have heard in action: I (almost) guarantee it. If you were ever read a story at school by your teacher you’ll have been on the receiving end of this one! It’s an advance tip in that you shouldn’t go for it unless you’re confident of your technical ability first - but if you are it’s really effective.
It’s also very simple - drop your voice. Just the volume, perhaps the pitch, but not the “projection”.
Get this right and you create a greater sense of intimacy between you and the people you’re talking to (think of them as individual people, not an aggregate of people called “an audience” and you’re half way there). If you can combine the clarity of a fully-fledged speech with the cozy atmosphere of a “fireside chat” the effects can be quite startling.
Of course, you can’t just drop the volume out of the blue because you’ll not be heard - you have to make sure of a few other things first or the effect will backfire…..
- Check the audience are ‘on your side’; if you drop your voice when people aren’t actively listening to you, all you’ll do is alienate them because they’ll feel excluded and won’t be able to hear you. They have to be interested before you do this
- Check that there’s not too much outside interference; sudden, odd or loud sounds outside your room can be difficult
- Check that you’re breathing absolutely correctly; any significant breathing in your upper chest will make a dropped voice sound more like a Dalek!
- Check that you’re not stopping projecting your voice just because you’re dropping your volume; you still want people to be able to hear you after all
… but if you’re confident and your audience is ready for it - go for it. There’s nothing more effective than an audience already interested in you and your message really buying into the intimacy of the feeling that it’s just you and them having a chat……
mouth exercises
A great deal of communication is carried in the words we use (beware of the 7% rubbish!). Without understanding what you’re saying no one can get to any other part of your presentation - your meaning, your intent, your content all go by the wayside…. so it’s important to get your diction and articulation sorted out.
I’ll not go into the ‘why’ of it here, but there’s a strong argument to suggest that, as adults, we don’t articulate as well as we could/should and so our lips “get out of condition”. A few simple exercises will sort that all out for you and - despite yourself, I promise - you might find yourself enjoying them!
- Over-articulate the street signs as you drive around making sure you fully open your mouth. Make sure you say the whole word with the last syllable pronounced. Or read number plates clearly and projecting your voice.
- Stretch your mouth into different shapes.
- Practise reading/presenting your speech and really over-articulate each word.
- Make sure you build pauses into your speech.
- Learn a few tongue twisters, like these:
- A monk’s monkey mounted a monastery wall and munched melon and macaroni.
- A pale pink proud peacock pompously preened its pretty plumage.
- A bloke’s back brake block broke.
- A big beadle placed a body in a big black bag.
