Presenting Successfully Is Not A Gift

You have an upcoming, professional presentation. You’re thinking about when you’ll start working on it and what it should include. You’re pondering the positive and negative consequences of your presentation. As you get started, you begin second guessing yourself. You feel like you’re missing something or you’re not sure if you’ll meet expectations. You review your content repeatedly hoping to find something to improve, but are unable to squash that constant feeling of unease. This is the process that many professionals endure each time they are tasked with delivering a presentation. This guide has been designed specifically to address these concerns and help professionals, like you, succeed. What’s the best feeling for a presenter to have before, during, and after their professional presentation? Instead of second guessing yourself and hoping that you’ve included everything pertinent or that others will be pleased with your presentation, you’re calm and confident knowing that you’ve considered all aspects of your presentation and not left anything to chance. It’s like the feeling of submitting a valuable project or proposal that has met every criterion, knowing that you’ve nailed the expectation, versus the feeling of crossing your fingers and simply hoping for the best. Presenting successfully is not a gift. No one is born a great presenter.

Someday Out Of The Blue

Following this framework will ensure that you, the presenter, are ready to facilitate a meaningful, impactful, and memorable presentation. You’ll have afforded yourself the highest probability of success. Of course, there will be times when these levels overlap and inform one another. Ultimately, all of the components factor into a single, comprehensive equation. The more accurate information you have regarding each Foundation component, the more likely your presentation will be a success. The individual components of a professional presentation influence each other. When presenters overlook a step or two, there is a ripple effect that causes other components to be less accurate. If you’re willing to trust yourself and your ability to learn, you’ll be surprised and impressed by the level of growth in your confidence and presentation skills. It is far more advantageous to understand and develop essential presentation skills, and then customize your presentation to your circumstances through the framework. A presentation is a structured form of oral communication designed to achieve a specific outcome. However, just like a Hollywood blockbuster, there’s much more that goes into the development, than the final product seen by audiences. For the purposes of this guide, the definitions and understandings of professional presentations are outlined below.

Blinded By The Light

Not all presentations are created equal. Some presentations are clearly more effective and impactful than others. You lost me about ten minutes ago. This concept is like loading thousands of pounds of cargo into a van, and then being surprised when the van won’t move. Each of these scenarios is not the fault of the audience. The negative outcomes are a direct result of poor preparation, design, and/or delivery in the professional presentation process. Good, this makes sense! or, Perfect! Now I know what to do. These presentations inspire engagement and interest from the audience. Obviously, we would all aim for the latter in these examples, but how do we get there? What are the differences between these presentations, and what makes one superior to the other? Many of us can determine the effectiveness of a presentation as an audience member, but then struggle to replicate that effectiveness in our own presentations. Through this guide, you will find clear markers and a fully developed framework to help you design and deliver an effective professional presentation that you would want to listen to. Nowadays, many people confuse public speaking with professional presentations. To set the record straight, there are many types of public speaking, with the professional presentation being one of those types.

Reason To Believe

What’s the difference? It starts with the purpose of each. Public speaking typically has a more general purpose. Most often, it’s to raise awareness about a particular issue or share a different perspective. It could also be to inspire, motivate, or entertain. The key word being entertainment. Another example to consider is a comedian’s act. With a more general purpose and widely applicable message, a public speaker’s audience is typically more diverse. The speaker, Tom Wujec from Autodesk, had collected data on different teams of people as they attempted to build the tallest structure with specific and limited supplies. The main message of the video was that teamwork and belonging are stronger contributors to group success than level of intellect. This emphasis on teamwork and belonging can be widely applied to different situations and is not limited to a single, actionable scenario. In a professional presentation, the desired outcome is more focused, the audience is more specific, and the venue is often more exclusive. The audience consists of people who are directly and significantly impacted by the presentation’s content. The atmosphere is professional, focused, and driven by results. The difference between public speaking and professional presentations is similar to the difference between a general medical practitioner and a medical specialist, with a key distinction being the audience. Because their range in audience is so vast, speakers must create an entertaining speech with widely relevant data. But such advice is not to be confused with that of a cardiologist, who can prescribe treatment after a double bypass operation. Would I choose me to be an ambassador for my company, organization, or department? By this standard, being charismatic or charming is not as valuable as being professional. We will explore this perspective more thoroughly later on in this guide. It is key to strengthening confidence, as well as designing and producing more effective, professional presentations. Adopting this perspective is the first step in improving your skill set. The ancient philosophy called stoicism provides the most accurate and realistic lens through which to view professional presentations. To give you an idea of stoic methodology, let’s consider archery. You begin practicing shooting a bow and arrow hundreds of times per day to improve your accuracy. You acquire the best equipment and partake in the best training each day. When the competition day comes, you take your mark, and line yourself up as best as possible. You are completely prepared and have done everything in your power to achieve success. You release your arrow. At this exact point, the result is out of your control.