How to make your presentation your own, so that you experience freedom and flexibility when you speak?
Is it possible to learn a 1-hour presentation by heart?
This was the question of one of my trainees. In fact, she did not believe it could be done. And she was right. It is an enormous task to learn a 1-hour presentation by heart. You could say, it is undoable and moreover we do not have the time for it. Or we do not mind spending our entire weekend to get the job done ;-).
But how then do we connect with our audience and how do we engage our audience? If learning the presentation by heart is not an option?
Because, the alternative, would be to put most of the information on the slides or read the information to our audience. This will hardly make for an engaging presentation, and you will also not come across as a convincing professional. Nor will you experience freedom and flexibility when you present.
So, how to go about it then?
How to make your presentation your own, without learning your presentation by heart word for word?
This requires 3 steps.
- First you make the story. What is it that you want your audience, to know, understand or do? Once, you have your story line, for example “I want to give them 4 ways of using e-mail in a more effective manner and make them understand that e-mail is 4 times more effective than other social media, you make the accompanying slides.
- You make slides that support your story. This order is crucial. First storyline, then visuals. Immediately diving into your content/slides without having a clear goal and story line will make you fall easily prey for getting too much entangled into your content. If I tell this, I also want to tell this and I also need to include that, etcetera. The story will get lost or will be divided in too many itty-bitty loose parts. Overview then will be lost, and this makes it very hard, almost impossible to make the story your own.
- With the visuals/slides you start practicing oud loud in “your own words”. This can be a bit different each time. And this is not problem, as long as the essence remains the same. This seems hard, but if you know per slide what it is that you want your audience to know (helicopter view gives you the essence). It becomes very easy, to say it in your own words. Therefore, look per slide, and ask yourself. What is it exactly what I want to tell my audience here (helicopter view), and once clear. Tell it in your own words.
And this is what I did with my coachee. I asked her per slide, what it was, that she wanted to tell here. Putting her in helicopter view, giving her overview. She explained, and by explaining, she understood what was key (the essence). Then I asked her to present the slide, “in her own words”. Just, plain, clear language. And it worked like a charm. And this was all done in a few minutes. By experiencing how it worked and how fast, her belief and confidence grew. Jeah, “maybe, in this way it could be done”. She, experienced freedom and the right grip and that gave her confidence.
So, how to make your presentation your own without learning it by heart?
- First think about the story. What is that you want your audience to know, understand or do. And what are the steps to take. The story line.
- Then make the visuals, that will support your story. And not vice versa, thereby losing track and losing the storyline.
- What is the essence of each slide? What is it that you want your audience to know here. Putting yourself in helicopter view.
- Then present in your own words with the slides. Because you know the essence, (you have overview) it will be much easier to do and much quicker. Besides this, you will become far more flexible as a speaker. (As opposed to learning it by heart).
Good luck!
