How to present with confidence

With my Tedx talk looming this Thursday evening, all that's on my mind is rehearsal practice! In my 20 years of corporate speaking, I have never memorized a talk - only the key points. But Ted talks are different - you must remain as close to the script as possible! I'll talk more about my Tedx experience as a whole next week! Stay tuned.

Let's talk about every day presenting, the kind I don't encourage my clients to memorize. Learning to present well is important and one of the top coaching topics I work on with my clients so they can improve their executive presentation skills. With a higher level audience, the stakes rise and the time shortens to show up confidently, deliver a clear message, and make the asks you need.

Studies show that 75% of the population fear public speaking in some form, where it be a slight nervousness at the very thought of public speaking to full-on panic and fear. 

As you level up in the organization, greater exposure to new leaders and audiences can bring more doubt, nerves and even imposter feelings, and that's not surprising. All this doubt typically leaves my clients feeling overwhelmed with an unclear message that contains too many details for their audience to handle or compel them to take action.

Just one difficult presentation can deal a blow to your confidence, so how do you show up, speak up and create the impact you want to make? All of my clients are understandably nervous when they are preparing a big presentation, and these nerves can make it hard for them to be clear about what is theirs to say and how to say it. 

Something that helps me when I'm nervous is to take the attention off of me and remember the people I will be talking to. Ask: How do I want them to feel? Suddenly, we are thinking about our audience instead of ourselves. Remember, people value connection over perfection. 

PUT THIS IDEA INTO ACTION

Whether you're delivering a presentation to the board, your leadership team, at a conference, or even just to a single employee, here's a guide to presenting your message clearly and confidently. 

At it's essence, preparing a compelling presentation boils down to answering 3 questions:

• What transformation do I want the audience to make? (i.e. to go from uninformed about my project to advocates about my project)

• What 3 key things do they need to know to make this transformation? i.e….

  • Why the project benefits the org

  • Why clients will love this project

  • What resources the project needs

• What clear ask am I making of them? (i.e. Asking for executive support / approval or budget dollars)

TRY THIS NEXT: Take an existing presentation you gave or frequently give and challenge yourself to reduce the content by 25%. This is typically the first step I take with my clients! Be crystal clear about what they need to know and what single, clear ask you are making of your audience. All too often we lose our audience because we try to deliver too much information. Confused minds don't take action - be simple and clear.