I was chatting with a BNI member, Alan, recently, and I asked him how his membership was going.
‘Absolutely brilliant’, came his unwavering reply.
‘That’s great – how much business have you generated?’ I asked.
‘Plenty – but that’s not why my membership has been brilliant.’
‘Really?’
‘Well, my daughter got married last Saturday, and ever since she was born, 32 years ago, I’d been terrified at the thought of doing a father of the bride speech. Thanks to speaking every week to my BNI colleagues, my fears were taken away.’
Now, I appreciate what you’re thinking. Who goes networking to enable themselves to do a father of the bride speech? No one, obviously – and Alan neither. What his story so perfectly illustrates is that the number one cure to sorting out presentation nerves is practice.
Over a long time, he’d built up a fear of speaking – but when it came to actually doing the speech, his regular practice got him through just fine.
But – what if you’ve got a presentation next week, and you haven’t got lots of practice time? Here are 4 other top tips to delivering a great presentation:
- Nerves will never disappear – and nor should they. Ask any top speaker, and they’ll tell you that some nerves are important to generate the right level of adrenalin to deliver a presentation well. However, SIGNS of nerves do disappear. A tip that has served me well is 1-4-2 breathing: this involves inhaling (1 second), holding the breath (4 seconds), and exhaling (2 seconds). Do this in ratio – I tend to go with 2-8-4. Repeat this 10 times before speaking, and the increased oxygen flowing round the body always makes me feel more confident.
- Speeches that are read out never have the same impact as those delivered from the heart. However, no speaker should ever feel worried about having bullet point notes on a card as a memory jogger – if you lose track of what you’re saying, a glance down at the bullet points gets you right back on track.
- In a presentation, it’s not just the actual words you use that will help you make an impact – take time to consider the sound of your voice, and what your body language is saying to the audience when you present. The thing is though – when we practice presentations, we tend to spend 100% of the time on the words we’re actually going to say. When you practice, think about doing it in front of a mirror or a friendly audience to get feedback on your body language – and try varying the speed/volume/tone of your voice.
- Think about your audience: 70% of people prefer to take in information visually – yet most presentations you hear are delivered solely in an auditory way (i.e. the speaker just talks at you). Think about introducing some visuals (e.g. pictures on a PowerPoint), product samples (for people to see and touch), or some level of interactivity (e.g. asking questions of the audience).
Successful presenting really boils down to the speaker displaying 2 traits: Energy and Certainty. These tips (and practice, just like for Alan) will ensure energy and certainty come through in every presentation you do.
Charlie Lawson – BNI National Director and Word of Mouth marketing expert, whose passion is to see BNI members succeed in their businesses.
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Very good points Charlie.
Having spoken in front of audiences of thousands down to a handful it is essential to have the nerves to a degree but never to show them.
On your third point it is also important to sometimes use no words, to use the pause as a tool which can create valuable impact. The pause is also valuable when you feel you are losing an audience or have lost your train of thought as it either refocuses the audience on you by the absence of speech or gives you a few seconds to re-establish your focus and take up from there. The trick though is to say something before the pause for the audience to dwell on.