An important part of executive excellence is bringing your power and presence to your presentation. Confidence is one piece of the puzzle, and preparation is critical. Often we focus on preparing the content of our presentations, and the most crucial element to prepare is our delivery style, mood, tone or being.
DELIVERING YOUR PRESENTATION
A powerful presentation is 20% design, 80% delivery. It is important to focus more on giving your SELF to your audience than on saying the right words. Pay attention to how you’re saying it more than what you’re saying. Look at who you are being: your energy, your enthusiasm, your authenticity. Are you playing a role, pretending to be someone or something you are not, or are you speaking in a way that shows your true colors? Be human! The audience only wants to hear from the real you. Be sure you own your power!
DELIVERY PITFALLS TO AVOID
1. Winging it: take the time to practice your presentation several ways. Practice it in your mind as a visualization, practice it in front of a mirror, practice it on tape (video or audio), and/or practice in front of live people. Time yourself and make sure you have time to say everything you want to say. Check in with your objectives to make sure you covered everything.
2. Panic: no need. Just be yourself and don’t worry. If you’ve prepared and practiced it will all flow naturally. If you are panicking, it simply means you are paying more attention to yourself than the audience. Just shift your focus, and connect with your audience. Observe how they are doing, not how you are doing. Smile! Make eye-contact!
3. Asphyxiation: remember to breathe! Breathe deeply and slowly, especially if you freeze and forget what you wanted to say/do next. Just relax and breathe. The few seconds you’ll spend doing that may seem like an eternity to you, but to the audience it is barely perceptible. Check out your audience, get back in connection with them, regain your presence, and you’ll be off and running again in no time.
Get PRESENT in your presentation!
Contact us for more information about coaching for your next presentation.