Guest Post: Brenda Lee Johnston

Brenda is one of Chris' Summer 2011 Professional Speaking students. Here she blogs about real-world presentations.

Please prepare a presentation on…

You’ve been invited to present…

Speak in front of others.

These words strike fear in the hearts of millions of people around the world. And yet preparing and delivering a presentation is something most people do at least once in their lifetime. More often it’s done several times throughout a lifetime and yet many quiver each time at the idea of standing in front of a room (hopefully) full of people.

Countless books have been written on the subject. Consultants get paid lots of money to help clients practice and prepare. Therapies have been designed to cure people of their fear of public speaking (for example: www.social-anxiety.com). Countless “tips” have been provided across generations from “picture your audience in their underwear” to “look over their heads at the back wall.” Truthfully, though, the best way to help a person deliver his/her presentation is practice. Practice by yourself, in front of your mirror. Practice in front of friends and family. Record yourself and study the recording. These are really, in my own humble opinion, the best ways to prepare and give an excellent presentation.

Yes, there are people who believe they do better “ winging it.” I personally have experience in improvisational acting, and thought I did better “making it up on the spot”. But truthfully, I always forgot something I wanted to say when I did this. The Boy Scouts have it right—Be Prepared.

Whether you decide you want to have notes with you or not, write down what you’re going to say. Don’t write it verbatim; rather, outline your plans for your speech. I believe the statistic is that writing something once is equivalent to seeing it 10 times. Writing creates stickiness. The better something sticks, the better your presentation will be because it’s “in you.”

So the next time you have to present to a group of people, give yourself plenty of time. Write what you want to say. Practice what you’re going to say. Revise it. Practice it again. Repeat as necessary. Oh! And my own personal tip: think through your presentation two times before you fall asleep the night before. I’ve always had better performances (theatre and dance) and presentations when I did this. Then the morning of the big show, just visualize how it’s going to go, take a few relaxing breaths and voila, you’ll be great! And you won't spend a dime, unless you decide to buy a video camera.