by Beth Levine | Jun 17, 2014 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
Why not wing it?
You know your stuff, right? You don’t really need to prepare, you’ll be fine. Or not.
Winging it is common, but it’s risky. Unfortunately, most of us have had an experience or two when we have winged it and won. I say ‘unfortunately’ because those little successes give us false confidence to take the risk of winging it again and again.
Some of the risks of winging it are:
- talking for way too long;
- delivering a series of disjointed thoughts that are hard to follow;
- never getting to your point or being off point;
- leaving your audience with the impression that you didn’t care enough to prepare.
Some really quick and easy ways to prepare are:
- ask yourself what you want your audience to take away, and then focus only on that;
- get in touch with what your audience really and truly cares about and address it;
- think of a relevant story or anecdote that supports the point or purpose for your talk;
- identify a call to action, if you have one, and use that as your foundation.
These quick and easy tips are the kind of preparation you can do in your head just minutes before you get up to speak, and they are sure to help minimize your risk!
Consider Yogi Berra’s advice:
“You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”
by Beth Levine | Jun 3, 2014 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
I stand corrected. And I now stand with the screen to my left when I present using slides as a visual.
Because audiences in western cultures read from left to right, it’s more natural for their eye movement. So, if you place yourself with the screen to your left as you’re facing the audience, all eyes can roll smoothly from you to the screen each time you bring up a new slide.
Easy enough, now just be sure to keep your body and eyes pointed toward your audience!
by Beth Levine | May 20, 2014 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
For some reason, even the smartest, most seasoned professionals lose all sense of perspective and proportion – e.g. time, place, purpose – when they have to approach a microphone. I have seen the mere invitation to make a statement, or speak at a press conference, or make welcoming remarks escalate into nothing short of the need to draft a 45-minute inaugural address.
For example, I recently had a client who was asked to make brief pre-dinner welcoming remarks to a visiting industry group. Knowing full well there would be other presentations during dinner that evening, this client and his handlers still came up with a full-blown speech that not only welcomed everyone, but addressed the biggest challenges facing that particular industry. It was meant to be meaningful for the audience, but it was long, philosophical, and dissertation-like. Great stuff for a keynote speech, but way overboard for “brief welcoming remarks.” I offered to help, and we cut his remarks back to be much shorter and somewhat more entertaining, although still relevant.
Another example was a client who was in the early stages of a multi-year project to build a new, much-anticipated state-of-the-art facility. At the point in the design process when the client was preparing to announce the selection of the firm that would create the look and feel of just the interior space, I caught wind that the CEO was planning to say this: “Today is the culmination of 10 years worth of dreaming and planning and hard work by many. We are so proud and thrilled . . . ”
Huh? Really? To see if I could awaken a sense of proportion, I gently asked, “um, well, so, if you say that now, what will you say at the ground-breaking when construction begins, or at the ribbon-cutting for the grand opening? Don’t you want to save the 10-year dream-come-true theme for one of those occasions?”
Here are some tips to help you keep it all in perspective and maintain a sense of proportion:
1. Think about the audience and the occasion. Why is the audience in the room and what do they care about, want, and/or expect? How patient and attentive are they likely to be? (In fact, how patient and attentive is any audience?)
2. Know your role for the occasion. Are you the only speaker or one of many speakers? What specifically were you asked to do?
3. Know your “job” for the occasion. Are you introducing, informing, inspiring, entertaining? What verb describes your primary communications task for the occasion?
4. Finally, if you are asked to introduce a speaker, confer with the speaker about how they like to be introduced or what they prefer you say – or not say – about their topic. Find out what will suit the speaker’s personal preference and topic, don’t simply ask for and then read a bio because “that’s what people do” and don’t dive into someone else’s topic in your intro!
You’ll be just fine if you keep the audience in mind, stick to your assigned role, and do your “job” – nothing more, nothing less! Stay in your lane.
by Beth Levine | May 9, 2014 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking, smartmouth talks!
Do you get nervous when you have to speak in front of a group?
Instead of allowing yourself to stay in that dialogue with yourself about how nervous you are, force yourself to turn your attention to and then dialogue with your audience.
Literally dialogue. As people are entering the room or taking their seats, and as you are gearing up and feeling those butterflies, start looking at and talking to THEM. Look into their faces, talk to them as if you are getting to know them.
Stop dialoguing with yourself about you and your nerves and start dialoguing with them about your content. It will shift your focus away from how nervous you are, and you will feel better. And no doubt, so will they!
by Beth Levine | Apr 16, 2014 | public speaking
When in doubt, leave it out. If you have to ask, you probably already know the answer.
Those are the answers.
What then, you might ask, is the question? The question, and I get this one often, is “What do you think about using humor?”
Humor is tricky, and there’s a difference between using humor and entertaining your audience. I would suggest that entertaining your audience is the preferred objective.
Usually when people ask about using humor, they’re referring to telling a joke or a funny story. What they are implying, though, is something that’s funny to them. The audience’s definition of funny is a big unknown, and that’s the problem.
Jokes and funny stories are risky, they involve people’s own personal lens’s and tastes. It’s way too easy to offend with humor. I often tell people that the only safe humor is self-deprecating; you can bust on yourself but not on others.
Entertaining your audience can be accomplished in a variety of ways – e.g. using photos or other media as visuals, digressing and telling stories, asking for volunteers and doing demonstrations. The most basic definition of the verb “to entertain” is to provide someone with amusement or enjoyment.
So, think about ways of entertaining versus using humor. Your audience doesn’t need to be rolling on the floor laughing … unless you’re a stand-up comic, and then you know the risks all too well!
by Beth Levine | Apr 2, 2014 | preparing for a presentation, public speaking
Looking for your message or big idea? Here’s an easy shortcut that works 99.9% of the time:
Go to the end of the document or page of notes you’ve written to prepare for your talk, and it’s probably sitting right there in the last paragraph or last sentence. We tend to save our best thoughts for the end, and so our conclusion usually nails it.
Go ahead and take that thought or statement and move it up front, it’s your message! (For more on how to construct a talk or presentation, and where to put your messages, refer to your SmartMouth Public Speaking Toolkit.)
