So you’ve got an important presentation coming up in a few days? Here are a couple of tips that I’ve accumulated over the years that have helped me sharpen my public speaking performance. In fact, I am using these tips to prepare for my talk at the Brands and Brand Relationship Conference in Toronto.
START WITH your audience
As a marketing scholar, I can’t overemphasize the importance of knowing your audience and catering your talk to them. A conversation about the same spaghetti is bound to be different if you have deliver it to a group of toddlers vs. your wife. I try to think about what the audience already knows and how my talk either aligns with or challenges that assumed knowledge.
Write it all out
This part can be tedious, but it has helped me on several occasions. Write out as much as you can stand of your presentation as you would actually say it. This has helped me organize the flow of my presentation beyond that of an outline and get everything I think I need to say on paper. However, I’m sure that as I improve, I will be able to shed this habit.
Whether you write it all out or not, throw away or hide that write-up. I don’t like to come across like I’m regurgitating a speech that I memorized and I don’t want to be tied to the words that I wrote down just in case a current event or impromptu metaphor helps to illuminate a point.
Practice extemporaneously
This tip builds on the previous point. After you’ve written out all that you feel you need to say and hidden that document from your view, practice with only an outline of your major points. Challenge yourself to explain your ideas in different ways every time you practice. This has helped my ability to answer questions because I’ve wrestled with my own ideas from several angles.
When practicing, try and get feedback from people you trust. It is very likely that you will overlook some hole in your logic or a miss a step in your argument that the audience will not be able to fill. Allow a trusted friend or colleague the opportunity to critique your presentation and help improve it.
Hype yourself up right before
After practicing and revising your talk, it’s common to feel a little anxiety toward presenting your ideas to others. That’s why right before I present, I like to find some time to boost my adrenaline and endorphins. Here are some examples of how I hype myself up:
- Dance in front of a mirror to a favorite song
- Mimic an NBA-style or heavyweight boxing championship introduction
- Look up recent news or jokes that relate to my presentation and figure out how to insert it into the talk
The delivery
When delivering your talk, be yourself and leverage the unique characteristics that make you, you. If you like anime, find a way to tie your talk into Dragonball Z references (and explain them generally for those who may be unfamiliar).
Above all, remember that nearly everyone struggles with public speaking and has dealt with a healthy fear of it at some point in their lives. Finally, do your best to stay within the time limit! Your audience will thank you.
I’ll leave you with an excellent delivery of a well-prepared presentation by my brother and recent J.D., Burnell Grimes, Jr.
