I tell a story about how I first realized that I loved public speaking. It’s not one of those feel good everything went perfectly stories. It is an everything went horribly wrong and yet, I felt exhilarated stories.
In my story the PowerPoint I am using suddenly goes black- no projection at all. Yesterday while presenting to a group of business folks my PowerPoint did exactly that. Stopped working completely. My back was to the screen so I had no idea until someone pointed out that my life was imitating my story.
I had to fall back on the training I received when I first started speaking to successful navigate through the rest of my speech. Too often we ‘forget’ or discount that training because we are ‘seasoned’ or (let’s face it) lazy.
Here are the keys that saved that presentation:
- Practice, practice, practice – few people like to hear it but practice does get you through the rough stuff, I knew what I wanted to say, when I wanted to say it, and how I wanted to do it, I didn’t need the slides to remind or guide me (Thank you! to the first person that ever helped me put together a presentation!)
- Know your topic- it is not the same thing as practice. When you practice you include delivery cues, pauses for effect, gestures. Knowing your topic means you know which stories pertain to which point and how, exactly what content you are sharing about a point and what is best left for another day. When you know your topic and your timing you don’t need the event planner to tell you there are only 5 minutes left, you already have that internal clock running.
- Always bring your notes to the stage with you- written out in long hand, bullet point, whatever works for you. In this case I was moving around the room when I learned the slides were down, but I knew my notes were there. If I needed a reference to continue I had it and there is comfort just knowing you have a backup.
- Collateral (handouts for the audience)- I always provide the audience with a handout. Generally something they can take notes on. My audience was not left staring at a blank screen with no visual guidance and, in a worst-case scenario, I had something I could use as a reference. Handouts are well worth the extra 10 minutes to create them and the time to print them. They are a great tool for visual and kinesthetic learners.
None of this is rocket science and for those of us that always want to ‘be prepared’ it just makes sense. But when I was early in the process of learning the art of public speaking… I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I am grateful to the mentors that pointed out these simple and relevant strategies.
