[black_mamba]

The Night Before and the Morning Before

It sounds obvious, but try to get a good nights sleep. Having said that, I find it impossible to sleep before a presentation due to the anxiety (and the anxiety about not getting to sleep!!) so I have to force myself by either exercising and taking a warm bath, or worst case using a sleeping pill.

Take some time also, perhaps whilst playing with your rubber ducky, to prepare yourself mentally - by thinking about something completely different! My philosophy is that you should be sufficiently prepared for the presentation such that you do not need to even think about it the night before. Your sole aim then will be to relax. I appreciate that this is not always possible, especially if you are low on time.

As I am writing this, I am remembering the true horror of one of my presentations ***8211; we had literally only hours to rehearse our individual 10 minute segments of a group seminar. If I had my way I would***8217;ve had days. But this was the same presentation I achieved an A grade in! My point is that the conditions don***8217;t have to be perfect for you to deliver a great presentation, so don***8217;t be hell-bent on following this guide to the letter, just take on as much on as you practically can. I think the best piece of advice when things are going totally wrong is to simply enjoy yourself. Hopefully you***8217;ve picked a subject you are interested in. You are talking, and no one is allowed to interrupt, everyone is listening. For 10 minutes (or however long it will be) whilst you are the speaker, your opinions and your ideas are all that matter. I think that***8217;s pretty exciting.

As for the morning before, or just before the presentation, ensure you won***8217;t let hunger agitate you by ensuring you have enough munchie supplies to keep you going. It is difficult to eat with butterflies in your stomach though, they keep stealing all the food.

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Public Speaking Master Class

Ok, so you***8217;re no Martin Luther King (and nor am I!), but once you***8217;ve attained a certain threshold level of public speaking confidence you can start employing some more advanced techniques. Even if you don***8217;t consider yourself to be very confident yet, employing a few of these ideas can still improve your presentation and audience satisfaction significantly. I should state that I am always keen to make sure my audience enjoy my talk, so that occasionally means making myself look silly in order to make people smile or take notice. The following addresses presentation technique and content rather than anti-anxiety tactics.

Change of Scenery, Change of Focus
When you switch from one section to another, make sure you do something to perk people up and make them notice that you have, in fact, changed the subject! Ideas include; walking to the back of the room to point at a poster attached to the wall, switching off the projector momentarily, switching from PowerPoint to a flipchart or whiteboard. This is particularly useful when you have a long presentation that could turn into a snooze-fest. The audience***8217;s attention is highest right at the beginning, then it wanes. Apparently, after the speaker says ***8216;And finally***8230;***8217; attention perks up again because they know the end is in sight. If you keep jolting the listeners throughout your talk, the attention level will stay consistently high.

Pick on Your Audience
Poor audience members, they came especially to watch you squirm; now you can exact revenge! Erm, not quite. A good way to ***8216;scare***8217; people into waking up and taking notice, is to use their names, but try not to actually insult them or ask them questions. Alternatively, ask them rhetorical questions. There are many situations where you could do this, here are some examples I thought of:

***8220;So, looking at this next slide, I want you to appreciate the scale and size of the ship in the photo. To put it into context, that anchor you***8217;re looking at is taller than Steve here!***8221;

***8220;The first thing that happens when you arrive is, you are given a safety induction. So, for example, Ahmed if you were to arrive today, you would not be able to simply start wandering around on site on your own, especially without your hard hat!***8221;

***8220;How would you feel if someone you cared about was attacked in a way that deliberately replicated a specific video game? Do you believe that games spawn crime and criminals, or simply influence them?***8221;

Can I Please Have 3 Unwilling Volunteers?
Demonstrations require a lot of planning and rehearsal. When they go wrong it can be stomach churning ***8211; a good example is that poor bloke on Dragon***8217;s Den whose egg cooking contraption completely did not work during his demonstration. But, when demos go well, they can transform a presentation from just ***8216;ok***8217; to ***8216;excellent***8217;! Maximum risk = maximum effort and maximum payoff! Involving the audience in your demo also has the same crash or burn effect.

If you have a good idea for a demo, then do it, but practice it like mad and be sure to think of anything that could go wrong.

A good example is during my most recent presentation at work, we (2 presenters) decided to use to audience to simulate a complicated offshore construction method. We arranged the room accordingly (we needed a long line of tables down the middle, see the pic below) then got our props ready. We also made sure we practiced for every eventuality. During the presentation, one of those situations we envisaged came up. Scary, but it went smoothly. Everyone was smiling during the demo and loving the interaction. The rest of the audience was fascinated and I think the risk paid off significantly.




So, to summarise:

• Spend some time perfecting your content
• Practice
• Practice
• Make any changes to your content based on the practice
• Practice
• Seek suitable medication
• Practice
• Make your slides look good
• Practice
• Practice ***8216;on location***8217;
• Practice
• Practice

If you guys have some advice, or questions, please feel free to post.