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Giving a Presentation – You Can Do It!
Many people dislike giving presentations. Okay, let’s not beat around the bush – some people really, really hate giving presentations!!! Some people hate giving presentations so much that they avoid them, despite having some interesting material to present to the rest of us. Here are a few tips that may help you become more comfortable with giving presentations.

Expectations
A colleague of mine gives terrific presentations and is so proficient that he belongs to the National Speakers Association, which requires that you give a certain number of presentations and make a certain percentage of your living from giving them. Some time ago, because I was so impressed with his speaking skills and was anticipating my first public presentation, I asked him for some tips.

He told me that he speaks for exactly three minutes on every slide. So, to put together a presentation, he just calculates the number of minutes he needs to speak and grabs that number of slides from his “collection.” I think my response was something like, “Wow! I want to be able to do that. You seem so comfortable, too. Were you born to speak or something? How can I do this, too?”

Before I give you his response, I want to point out that those of us who think we’re not “natural” speakers tend to think that the people that sound “natural” as speakers are born that way. However, my friend’s response to the “How did you get so good at this?” question was, “Practice.” He told me that he decided to be a good speaker and started volunteering to speak at every organization’s meeting that would have him. He devoted most of his evenings for an entire year to speaking to the Elks, Exchange Club, you name it.

This person’s method for getting over his fears and becoming a polished speaker was to do this over-and-over again. I’m not suggesting that many of us are quite as motivated to become good speakers as he was, i.e., to devote quite that much time to it. Instead, my point in telling this story is that I want you to realize that most people out there who speak well publicly are not “born” speakers. Most of them started out similar to where the rest of us are now: we give a talk once in a long while and are not likely to be very polished and comfortable doing it. If you’re nervous and think you’ll sound somewhat less than professional when you speak, you’re in good company.

Things to Do
Here are some things to get you started on giving a polished presentation:

  • Create an outline. Use that for your presentation slides.
  • Put only a few points on a slide. All the words on the slide should be at least 20 points in size (use the Font Size item on the Formatting Toolbar to check the type size of your words). Remember, people may be trying to read your slides from way back in the room.
  • Use your company’s approved background or design template for your slides. Your company might also require that you to include the company logo or some other specific objects on the slides.
  • Carry a backup with you. For example, if you’re giving your talk with MS PowerPoint on your laptop, you might want to bring a disk of the presentation so you can load it onto another laptop if yours fails. You may also want to bring overhead transparency panels.
  • Make sure that the room in which you’re presenting can support your main and backup presentation method; i.e., it doesn’t help to have overhead panels for your backup if there’s no overhead projector available.
  • Arrive early enough to set up your media. Make sure you know how to set your presentation up yourself. If you’re going to use a “guest” laptop or your own, you’ll need to know where the button is to switch the display to the overhead panel, for instance.
  • Practice your presentation.
  • Practice your presentation.
  • Practice your presentation.

Things to Avoid
Some of these are obvious, but I’ll mention them in case you didn’t already think of them:
  • Don’t write everything you want to say on the slide – just use bullet points; otherwise, the audience will get distracted by reading it and by listening to you read it. Think about it this way – if every single piece of information is on the slide, you are unnecessary. It’s now a book that they can read for themselves without having you read it to them.
  • Don’t rustle your papers. Don’t fiddle with your keys and change. Don’t scratch anything!! Your hair, tie or necklace look fine.
  • Look at your audience. Don’t look down at the podium. Don’t look behind at the screen. Rather, create index cards with notes you can use to keep yourself on track. My tip on index cards is, “The fewer the better.” You’ll understand why if you drop them or otherwise lose your place in them.
  • Avoid filling the silence with “um” or “er.” Instead, use the silence as a pause to let the audience think about what you have said and for you to gather your thoughts.
  • Don’t tell jokes. If they fall flat, and they often do unless you’re skilled at it, it just makes you more nervous. Also, many of us are now speaking to international audiences, and most jokes don’t translate well.

Other Tips
  • Practice your presentation ahead of time, but don’t overpractice. Overpracticing doesn’t always make you more confidant; sometimes it leads to your sounding like a robot.
  • Practice time is different than real presentation time. Your heart rate is usually faster when you give the actual presentation, which might cause you to give the presentation faster. Sometimes looking out at the audience causes you to skip over stories you might have told or to tell different stories. In any case, the timing you practiced can change, so have a couple of additional examples ready in case you find you’ve run too short, and have a few optional sections in case you find you’re going to run over (which some conferences won’t allow, anyway; they’ll just cut you off).
  • Allow enough time for questions.
  • I’ve tried that tip where you imagine your audience naked and it makes you feel more relaxed. It doesn’t work for me. When I asked my colleague who gives great presentations how I could become more relaxed, his only suggestion was to give more presentations. That’s how he became relaxed at it, he said. But, if the naked thing works for you, go for it.

At the next conference we both attend, maybe I’ll see you giving a presentation. Sweaty palms or no, just remember you will survive.

Note: Let me take the opportunity to specifically thank my editor, Thea Teich, for the additional speaking tips that she included.
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Production of This Newsletter
Assistance in the production of this newsletter was provided by Teich Technical and Marketing Communications, which can help you find your new clients through marketing communications, technical writing, editing, indexing, and Web content services, along with training and educational materials development. Thea Teich, owner and principal, is currently the immediate past president of the Society for Technical Communication.
Contact: Thea@TeichTMC.com
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