The 11 Best Presentation Hacks You Will

Ever Need (#7 is Pure Genius)

By DAVE MAC

The next 15 minutes were going to be a horror show.

Lenny stood at the side of the stage waiting to be introduced. One hand filled
with a stack of cue cards, the other hand covering a ginormous yawn.

He’d hadn’t slept the night before and was paying for it now. His hamburger
lunch had only made the yawning worse.

He checked his watch. Almost 2pm.

Only 15 minutes until this nightmare was over.

Introductions were done. It was Lenny’s time now.

His hands were shaking. He stuffed one hand in his pocket and used the other
to squeeze the cue cards tight.

He stepped behind the podium.

Lenny greeted the audience and noticed the shakiness in his voice and his
rapidly beating heart.

Determined to get this over and done with he took a deep breath.

Guided by his cue cards Lenny started his presentation.

*
If Lenny’s situation sounds familiar you’re not alone.

Public speaking is tough for everyone.

The days leading up to a presentation, and the first few seconds on stage, can
be especially difficult.

To calm your nerves and appear more confident, check out these 11 public
speaking hacks:

1. GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH YOUR TOPIC

The number one thing with the potential to derail a presentation is not what
you would expect.

It’s not the slides, the equipment, or forgetting your lines…

It’s having an in-depth understanding of your topic.

Simple as that.

Imagine this situation:

You have been handed a presentation to deliver and you have to make it
work. You don’t have much time so you get a basic understanding of the
content and bang out some slides.

How do you think the presentation is going to go?

Exactly!… Save a miracle, your presentation will be a steaming pile of crap.

Why?
Because you don’t have much understanding of the topic. You don’t know it
in-depth and your audience is almost certainly going to realize that!

If you have time for only one thing it should be this:

Get a deep understanding of your topic.

With a deep understanding of your topic you don’t need slides to guide you.
You don’t need cue cards. You don’t need to memorize a script.

When you have a deep understanding of your topic you naturally become
more confident on stage.

2. CREATE AN OUTLINE

Structure is important.

It’s important for you and it’s important for your audience.

Without structure the audience will struggle to understand your delivery.

That said…

Even once you’ve got a deep understanding of your topic you might find that
your thoughts are still a bit jumbled.

It’s time to add some structure. But not in a “scripty”, “memorizy” kind of
way. More of a “keywordy” way.

Sit down with a blank sheet of paper and think about the outcome you want
from the presentation. Once you know the outcome, the rest is easy.
Next, pick the top 3 points that the audience need to understand so you can
drive them towards your outcome.

Memorize those 3 points as keywords.

Now all you need to do is talk about those 3 key points while keeping your
outcome in mind.

Simple, right?!?

3. PRACTICE MORE THAN YOU PLAN

Over-planning can kill your presentation.

It can kill your delivery because it can make you stiff and unnatural when
you eventually stand in front of the audience.

More practice is better than more planning.

Create a basic outline of your presentation and spend the rest of the time
practicing. The more you practice the closer you feel to the topic, the more
natural your delivery will sound, and the more credible you will appear when
you are on stage.

To improve your delivery even more, video-record your practice sessions and
review after each delivery. Pick a couple of problem areas (just one or two)
from each delivery and focus on improving those points.

4. ONE SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE SESSION DOESN’T MEAN

YOUR PRACTICE IS OVER

One successful practice session isn’t enough.

Your confidence and credibility come from being able to do your
presentation without thinking and without uncomfortable pauses.

The fluidity of your delivery comes from practicing multiple times. Not just
remembering what to say, but being able to say it smoothly.

If time permits, practice enough so that you are no longer worried about
what’s coming next during your speech.

8. ONE LINE, ONE QUESTION

Don’t try to memorize a script.

Instead use the practice hacks mentioned above.

You only need to memorize two points about your presentation:

– Your first line

– Your first question

After asking your first question you give yourself a second or two to relax as
the audience responds and then you can move on with your practiced (un-
word-for-word-memorized) speech.

Here is an example of the first line and first question of a speech. We’ll use
the example of introducing a new computer system into the office…

“My first experience with CrappySystem Version 2 was four hours of

downtime while I was stressing about getting my monthly reports finished.
Have you had a bad experience with CrappySystem 2?”

9. EMPATHIZE
If you want your audience to listen to you empathy is the key.

The audience will be more likely to pay attention and engage with you if you
can show them you understand them, if you share their pain.

Take for example the “CrappySystem” introduction I showed you in Hack

#8.

After asking about bad experiences the audience might share some stories
with you.

This is your opportunity to empathize with their struggles.

Give them feedback and tell them you understand how frustrating their
experience must have been. Ask them followup questions to show them you
are concerned.

When you empathize the audience feels more of a connection with you.
Empathy also makes it easier to introduce a new idea or concept the audience
might otherwise be somewhat resistant to.

10. END ON ACTION

A key frustration audiences have with business presentations is not knowing

why they have to be there.

Many presentations are “information-only” which means no action is

required by the audience.

To avoid frustrating your audience, let them know if their action will be
required upfront and signpost it throughout.
If you do need the audience to take some kind of action (fill out a survey, test
a new system, start using a new process) make sure you state explicitly what
the action is you want them to take.

11. QUICK QUESTIONS

You’re at the end of your speech.

You just have to take questions and you’ll be done.

You got through the speech and now you just have to react so you can relax a
bit.

After a few minutes it seems the audience is getting frustrated with you and
starting to ask more and more questions.

What happened?

You probably relaxed into rambling.

It’s a common problem at the end of a speech when you go from a structured
approach (your speech) to an unstructured one (taking questions).

Rambling answers can kill your entire presentation!

When it comes to questions it is important to keep your answers short and

simple.

When you ramble an answer you give the audience time to pick holes in your
presentation, and more time to formulate new questions.

If you can answer in a few words, do it!

What’s that?

You’ve just spent $30 on a “business” PowerPoint template from some

website?

Waste of cash!

There’s a couple of reasons you’ve just spent $30 on nothing:

– A nice PowerPoint template won’t improve your presentation

– You’re set to fit your speech into the template

A nice PowerPoint template won’t improve your presentation

The only thing that can improve your presentation is the way you deliver it.

If you can’t get that right there’s nothing the template can do for you.

Rather than wasting your time with a PowerPoint template, spend your time
with hacks 1 through 4 above.

You’re set to fit your speech into the template

When someone uses a purchased PowerPoint template that’s usually a sign

that not much preparation and practice has happened.

If no practice has happened and we’re at the stage of using a PowerPoint

template, guess who’s going to be driving your presentation?

That’s right:

PowerPoint. Not you.

Guess what that means for the audience?

Sleepy time.

Ditch the fancy slides and think about “impact”

Forget the PowerPoint templates and think about impact.

Here’s how to think about impact:

1. You are the presenter, and therefore the focus of the presentation
2. The slides are your support, your sidekick
3. The slides should not take the focus off you
4. The slides should emphasize the points in your speech which you would
like to highlight

Here’s how to add impact to your slides while respecting the 4 points
above.

6. CUT, CUT, CUT YOUR SLIDES

As part of designing and reviewing your slides think about this:

When you are an audience member what do you hate about the presenter’s
slides?

Is it the stupid bullet points that the presenter just reads to you?

Is it the headlines on each slide stating the obvious like “Chart” or “Next
Year’s Plan” which the presenter is capable of enunciating themselves?

Is it the final slide doing the work of the presenter with the words, “Thank for
your time, do you have any questions?”
All of these things, and many more, are unnecessary.

Consider this: If you have enough information in the slides that your
audience can understand your presentation without you, email is a more
efficient option that corralling a load of hostages into an auditorium to listen
to you read to them.

Think about all this excess in your slides and cut, cut, cut.

7. DISCUSS

A sure-fire way to help you relax in the lead-up to, and during, your
presentation is to think of your delivery as a discussion with the audience.

A discussion is two-way.

A presentation, often lecture, tends to be one-way.

When the communication is one-way, it puts a lot of pressure on the

presenter, a.k.a. you.

You are under-pressure to remember everything, keep the audience

interested, not make mistakes, operate the equipment seamlessly, and on and
on.

Turn your presentation into a discussion by talking “with” your audience.

Interact with them.

Ask them questions.

You’ll find the audience is more engaged and you are under less pressure.
8. ONE LINE, ONE QUESTION

Don’t try to memorize a script.

Instead use the practice hacks mentioned above.

You only need to memorize two points about your presentation:

– Your first line

– Your first question

After asking your first question you give yourself a second or two to relax as
the audience responds and then you can move on with your practiced (un-
word-for-word-memorized) speech.

Here is an example of the first line and first question of a speech. We’ll use
the example of introducing a new computer system into the office…

“My first experience with CrappySystem Version 2 was four hours of

downtime while I was stressing about getting my monthly reports finished.
Have you had a bad experience with CrappySystem 2?”

9. EMPATHIZE

If you want your audience to listen to you empathy is the key.

The audience will be more likely to pay attention and engage with you if you
can show them you understand them, if you share their pain.

Take for example the “CrappySystem” introduction I showed you in Hack

#8.

After asking about bad experiences the audience might share some stories
with you.
This is your opportunity to empathize with their struggles.

Give them feedback and tell them you understand how frustrating their
experience must have been. Ask them followup questions to show them you
are concerned.

When you empathize the audience feels more of a connection with you.
Empathy also makes it easier to introduce a new idea or concept the audience
might otherwise be somewhat resistant to.

10. END ON ACTION

A key frustration audiences have with business presentations is not knowing

why they have to be there.

Many presentations are “information-only” which means no action is

required by the audience.

To avoid frustrating your audience, let them know if their action will be
required upfront and signpost it throughout.

If you do need the audience to take some kind of action (fill out a survey, test
a new system, start using a new process) make sure you state explicitly what
the action is you want them to take.

11. QUICK QUESTIONS

You’re at the end of your speech.

You just have to take questions and you’ll be done.

You got through the speech and now you just have to react so you can relax a
bit.
After a few minutes it seems the audience is getting frustrated with you and
starting to ask more and more questions.

What happened?

You probably relaxed into rambling.

It’s a common problem at the end of a speech when you go from a structured
approach (your speech) to an unstructured one (taking questions).

Rambling answers can kill your entire presentation!

When it comes to questions it is important to keep your answers short and

simple.

When you ramble an answer you give the audience time to pick holes in your
presentation, and more time to formulate new questions.

If you can answer in a few words, do it!