“Unlocking Managerial Excellence: Scared to Present?”
I love presenting in front of a large group of people on a topic that only 20% of the audience cares about.
Said no one ever.
Oh presentations.
How some of us dread presenting and wish it wasn’t something we had to do in our roles. I’ll let you in on a secret, even some of the best presenters get nervous before they present and dread getting up on the big stage.
I am one of those people. I’m a strong presenter. Or at least that’s what my colleagues have told me over the years. Apparently I’m a natural when I’m up on stage. In reality, I’m sh*tting bricks. It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been presenting for, or how many presentations I’ve done in my career, I still get nervous getting up in front of a big group of people. Actually, I still get nervous presenting in front of small groups as well. Some of my smallest groups have been 2-5 people and some of my biggest groups have been 50+ people in attendance. I am nervous regardless.
But it doesn’t show when I’m up there delivering my message.
I’d like to share what’s worked for me in the past and how I’ve turned boring subjects into powerful messages.
Before I dive into the how, let me provide some context.
I’ve been in sales operations my entire career. My background is in contracts, supply chain, customer support, technical support, salesforce.com, systems, project management, lean six sigma…you get the point. My presentations are usually in front of a group of sales leaders or sales representatives. No offense, but they don’t really care what the turnaround time on a PO is, they want to know how they’re going to make more money, and quickly, so get to the point!
I was in sales a long time ago and somehow I’ve found myself back in sales (story for another day). The one thing I have always remembered from being in sales is: what’s in it for me? So, when you’re delivering your presentation, ask yourself, what’s in it for them? You need to talk to the audience, and share why your message is important.
What’s in it for them?
If you want to deliver a strong presentation that captures your audiences attention, you need to know your audience. Find the meaning and purpose behind the meeting. Is this a sales meeting? Is this meeting geared towards projects, or how to deliver clinical information to a potential customer? Is the meeting centered around learning or showcasing examples of success?
Once you know what the meaning is behind the meeting, figure out why you’ve been asked to present. Yes, you can ask for insights into what the team is looking for from your presentation. There’s a reason you’ve been asked to present, ask what that is. Quit the guessing game. You may come up with a whole slide deck on what you think they want to hear, only to find out that they wanted to know why customers are not happy with the delivery times of their products…woops!
Now that you know the purpose of the meeting, and why you’re presenting, you can begin putting together your deck. But keep in mind, what’s in it for them?
Are you answering and addressing the concerns they’ve raised?
How will you solve the problem they’ve presented to you?
What are your initial steps?
How long will this take to solve?
Make sure to concisely preemptively capture and address these areas of interest in your presentation.
Less works, more photos!
Too many people hop on stage with a deck filled with bullet points and paragraphs filled with words. BORING! The audience is doing one of two things:
1) reading your slide and not listening to you;
2) listening to you and not reading your slide.
I get it, you don’t want to memorize everything you’re about to say, so DON’T! Stop writing your whole speech on the slide, then reading it to the audience. Your slide needs to be appealing: a photo says a thousand words, or something like that. Add a photo directly correlating to your message. Add 3-5 bullet points max with no more than 5 words per bullet. It should look like a summary. Keep your slides consistent and easy to read. This will keep the listener on your message rather than on the deck. Most people are visual, so they will ditch your speech and look at the screen instead.
Story time!
I get it, it’s hard to memorize a whole speech and get every word right, and make sure you’ve cued up your transition and punch lines perfectly. I used to have a hard time with it too. So I started telling stories. My whole presentation is a story. I’m not talking about Winnie the Pooh or Cinderella. I’m referring to your message in your presentation. Going back to the whole point of why you are presenting. If you’re presenting on how the pandemic unraveled how slow your shipping process is, but you’ve found a way to solve it and increase customer satisfaction, don’t say what I just wrote. Tell a story about it, and incorporate the relevant pieces of information highlighted in the earlier sections.
Your story could sound something like this:
“In 2020, we were all shocked by the affects of COVID-19. We weren’t prepared to handle the high-demand from our existing and new customers. Our teams were under staffed to handle the demand, customers were upset with the backorders, and we had no idea how to fix it.
<<Insert story on how you fixed the issue.>>
With this new technology, we were able to not only satisfy our customers, but increase sales by XX%”
The difference in telling a story:
1) it’s easier for you to remember;
2) it’s also a story the audience will remember.
There’s also a build up and (hopefully) a happy ending, which everyone loves.
Engage with the Audience
Lastly, don’t present like a robot. People get up there and present with this fearful voice. They don’t sound like themselves. They sound…robotic. Speak to the audience as if you were talking to them in the lunchroom, or over coffee. Pretend you’re having a conversation with the audience. Heck, you could even ask them questions, or call people out ( I do it all the time - it keeps people awake). The more you engage and interact with the audience, the more attentive your audience will be.
In summary:
In preparation for your next presentation, grab a presentation template, figure out what the audience is looking for, address their concerns in your presentation, and get to story telling.
Looking for direct support on how to achieve this, book some time with me here: