The three root fears of all public speakers are: fear of making a mistake, fear of forgetting and fear of looking foolish. Now here’s a tongue twister to help you overcome these three root fears.
Proper preparation and practice prevent poor performance.
The founder of The Bob Pike Group was once given this advice early in his career: An excellent presentation of the facts and arguments supporting a mediocre analysis is more likely to be approved than a mediocre presentation supporting a first-class analysis.
Preparation may be as much as 80 percent of the main contributing factor for success in presenting. Most of our success happens long before we get up in front of the group. Proper preparation generally leads to polished presentations.
The football coach at one large public university is paid nearly three times what the university president is paid. Obviously we're much more willing to pay to be entertained than educated! So use that to your advantage and convey your information in such a way as to grab the interest of your listeners.
One way to start your presentation with some pep, as you begin your preparations, is to use what we call a hook. A hook pulls someone into your presentation right away like a shocking statistic, such as the difference between salaries, or a surprising quote like the advice our founder was given.
An anchor, as you might guess, is the way you choose to close your presentation. Two effective methods to tie your content together and have a coherent close is to use a rhetorical question or end as you began. Paul Harvey would often begin a story, but then leave listeners at a cliffhanger as he went on to cover other news and ads. He would then return to complete the "rest of the story" as his anchor.
And practice does not make perfect, like the old saying goes. Only perfect practice makes perfect. Practice makes permanent. So make sure to practice in the right way. When you are confident that you are well prepared, much of your anxiety -- or those root fears -- will melt away.
This content was adapted from The Bob Pike Group's Business Presentation Skills workshop which is intended for managers.
