What should I do if I draw a blank in the middle of my presentation?
If you have prepared thoroughly for your presentation, you won’t experience this very often. However, even the best-prepared presenters occasionally experience a sudden loss of place or a mental block. Your strength will lie in how you handle the situation. When you recognize that you have lost your place, pause for a moment, exhale, and collect yourself. If your train of thought does not return, you can simply ask your audience, “Where was I?” — at which point someone in the group will undoubtedly respond. This kind of honesty and directness will enhance your rapport with the audience.
How much time should I devote to rehearsing a presentation?
There is no set minimum or maximum amount of time — rehearse until you feel confident. Set your objectives, then generate, organize, and become comfortable with your material, as soon as you can. This will give you more time to experiment with creative ways to deliver your message. The key to effective rehearsal is to begin informally as soon as you know that you are giving a presentation. For example, as I’m writing this, I know that I will be giving a new presentation to an important client about two months from now. We are still not sure if it will be delivered in person or live online, and I’m preparing for both possibilities. I’m still working on my Mind Map for the presentation and I’m playing with some images for my PowerPoint, but I’m envisioning connecting with the audience and playing with ways of getting my message through to them. The details of the presentation will come together effortlessly as I play with the ideas I have each day and share what I’m thinking with my wife.
What if I have to give a presentation on very short notice?
Use Mind Mapping to generate ideas and organize your content after you set your objectives, then practice the Mind Map memory method. Get out of the CAN and give yourself a DOSE in the ways we covered in chapter 7.
What should I remember when making presentations to people more senior than I?
Remember that you have been invited to address them for a reason. Generally, the more senior people are, the better they respond to those who conduct themselves in a respectful but authoritative manner. Never apologize for being there. Make sure that you dress immaculately and, if necessary, visualize how everyone in your audience looked in their first-grade class photos.
If for some reason beyond my control I am confronted with an unfavorable environment (too hot, stuffy, poor lighting, etc.) for my presentation, what can I do to make the best of the situation?
If the environment is unfavorable, and there is nothing you can do to change it, acknowledge this in a lighthearted way, and give your group more frequent breaks.
What are the most common mistakes presenters make?
Not preparing. Molecule fondling. Apologizing. Speaking in a monotone. Going on too long. Overselling (being insensitive to the moment when your audience is sold and going on beyond that point instead of asking for the sale).
How can I handle difficult people?
Most difficult people are difficult because they have a problem. Often it has nothing to do with you and your presentation. Some people are insecure and like to show off their knowledge, others may have been stuck in traffic that morning or are dealing with digestive difficulties. A few may actually be reacting to some aspect of your presentation. These problems can manifest themselves in anything from noisy paper shuffling to unnecessary or hostile questions. The best way to address such situations is, first of all, not to take them personally.
When handling aggressive questions, listen carefully and find something in what the questioner is saying that you can agree with; avoid getting defensive. The better you are at empathizing, the easier it will be to defuse the situation. Don’t let yourself get caught in a battle, even if you are sure you can overwhelm your “opponent” with superior knowledge. You may win the battle but lose your audience. If you maintain your rapport with the audience, you will find that they will be effectively self-policing and not tolerating significant disruption by a disgruntled member.
Jerry Seinfeld offers sage advice on dealing with awkward audience members:
Very early on in my career, I hit upon this idea of being the Heckle Therapist. So that when people would say something nasty, I would immediately become very sympathetic to them and try to help them with their problem and try to work out what was upsetting them, and try to be very understanding with their anger. It opened up this whole fun avenue for me as a comedian, and no one had ever seen that before.... Instead of fighting them, I would say “You seem so upset, and I know that’s not what you wanted to have happen tonight. Let’s talk about your problem” and the audience would find it funny and it would really discombobulate the heckler too, because I wouldn’t go against them, I would take their side.
Finally, bear in mind that if you are well prepared and present yourself with confidence and authority, these kinds of problems will rarely arise.
Can you give me some guidance on answering questions?
Always listen carefully for the essence of what is being asked, and treat every questioner with respect. Make sure that the question is heard by everyone, and repeat it if necessary. Pause and think before answering. Answer concisely. If you do not know the answer, you can refer the question to the group. This is often a good idea even when you do know the answer, since it encourages group involvement. Otherwise say, “I don’t know,” with authority, and offer to seek the answer and provide it at some future time.
How should I use humor?
Never use humor. Just kidding! Laughter generates endorphins and defuses stress, helping you and your audience to relax. Cultivate appropriate lightheartedness, and avoid taking yourself too seriously. If you want to tell a joke, practice it and work on the timing, and be sure that it relates to what you want people to remember.
How will improving my presentation skills affect other aspects of my life?
Mastering the art of public speaking will help you grow as a human being. You learn to place your ego on the shelf as you actively seek feedback on your performance and as you transform your fears, insecurities, and limiting habits.
You will gain valuable insights into your own nature and into that of others. These insights will help you develop your skills in leadership and personal relationships and will enhance your self-confidence, poise, and sense of personal power.
How can I learn the Alexander Technique?
The Alexander Technique is best learned through individual lessons with a qualified teacher. Lessons usually last from thirty to forty-five minutes. Most teachers recommend a basic course of at least thirty lessons. Alexander work is the single most powerful method for transforming your fear and supercharging your career as a public speaker.
What about presenting as part of a group?
When I was a professional juggler our code was “Always make your partners look good.” In the theater, you’ll notice that in a well-directed and well-performed production the ensemble is always positioned and focused to direct attention to the featured performer at any given moment. This applies to group presentations and is especially important in business settings.
If you’re aiming to be hired as a team, clients will assess how you interact with one another. It makes a much more positive impression on the audience when those onstage, or in front of the room, demonstrate that they are actively listening to colleagues who are presenting together. When the audience observes copresenter body language that expresses interest — upright posture, affirmative head nodding, and so on — their mirror neurons compel them to do the same. But if your CEO is checking her email or slouching and looking out the window while the CMO is speaking, the effect can be disastrous. Also, observe as copresenters change over from one speaker to another. Is there an awkward moment when they almost collide on the way off or on the stage, or is the transition accomplished gracefully? A simple rule is that the person finishing yields to the person who has just been introduced. All business presentations are theater, so always make your partners look good, and rehearse your exits and entrances — and everything in between.
And if you speak at conferences, apply this idea to the whole event. If you come after someone else on the schedule, do your homework and discover something about them or their message that you can highlight and link to your presentation. If someone is speaking after you, you’ll make friends and be beloved by the conference sponsors if you say something that raises interest in and anticipation for the next speaker.
What has changed in the world of public speaking since you began your career?
Attention spans are shorter, dress codes are more casual, audiences are more global and diverse, and overhead projectors are obsolete. And we are at the dawn of the age of virtual presentation. In a 2010 episode of the television show The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper appears via a Mobile Virtual Presence Device (MVPD), a robot he invented to protect him from life’s dangers. Decorated with one of his shirts, the MVPD, a.k.a. the Shelbot, uses a webcam, loudspeakers, a flat-panel display, and a movable platform to allow the germophobic Sheldon to interact with his friends at a sterile distance. I remember thinking when I saw that episode that it wouldn’t be too long before a similar phenomenon might arise at conferences. In 2018 I gave a keynote at the Exponential Medicine conference sponsored by Singularity University, and one of the other speakers onstage in front of an audience of eight hundred was the virtual presence of futurist and author of The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil.
What are some of the specific challenges of speaking via a virtual modality?
In recent years, I’ve led many seminars via virtual, online platforms and have given more keynotes this way as well. The biggest challenge is that it is harder to read the audience since, in larger events, most of them aren’t visible on the screen and most are muted so it’s not always easy to know if everyone is laughing at the jokes, nodding in agreement, dozing off, or checking their email. The other challenges are technical. It takes some practice to develop skill in using visuals appropriately and to move people in and out of breakout sessions. I can say, with full confidence, that everything we have covered in this book becomes even more important when you are presenting virtually.
What are the biggest mistakes you have made in your career as a speaker?
My biggest mistake was in my very first paid presentation, for a group of bankers in England in 1978. I took the presentation too lightly and wasn’t properly prepared. I vowed that would never happen again. It hasn’t. Fortunately, most of my presentations since then have been well received because I’ve sincerely applied everything I’ve written about. And in reviewing the feedback I’ve received over the years, it’s become clear that the cause of my least successful presentations is indulgence in molecule fondling, getting so caught up in my passion for a subject that it overshadows my empathy for the audience. Hoisted, as Shakespeare notes, on my own petard.