11th HOUR PRESENTATION TIPS
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While nothing beats thoughtfully planning your presentation in advance and practicing until it’s perfect, you may, occasionally, find yourself in a situation that necessitates putting together your slides on a plane and practicing in the cab ride on the way to your presentation. When this happens, try to fight the instinct to accept the impending boringness of your presentation (i.e. “oh well, I didn’t have time to make it good”) and try these 11th hour presentation tips from Director of Client Relations/Facilitator Rob Salafia:
1. Focus on Your Audience
Take part of your cab ride to think about your audience for a moment. What is important to them? How do they feel about your message? What do you want them to remember from your presentation?
A great way to connect with your audience is to directly tell them what you want them to remember from your presentation. Then tell them again. Here’s how:
- Find a place towards the beginning of your presentation to look directly at someone in the audience and tell them the message you want them to take away: “What I want you to remember is that this is doable! ” or “What is most important right now is for us to embrace change!
- Repeat the phrase a few more times throughout the presentation, varying the way you say it each time. Channel your passion into these moments. This simple action will help connect you to your audience, break monotony by forcing you to look away from your slides for a moment, and help people remember the key points from your presentation.
2. Get Present
Just before you are about to go on:
- Take a few deep breaths, smile and tell yourself to relax.
- Remind yourself what it is about the material that energizes you.
- Do something physical: take a brisk walk up and down the hall or do a couple of jumping jacks or pushups (it helps!).
Taking a minute to get present and focus will inject energy your presentation and allow you to think more clearly as you navigate through less familiar material.
What are your 11th hour presentation tips?
Rob Salafia is a Director of Client Relations at The Ariel Group as well as a facilitator.
