5 Ways To Put The Present Back In Your Presentations

I knew there was a big difference right when I walked into the room. Her eyes were sparkling and she looked excited.

I had been helping my client with her presentation skills for a few weeks, and was enjoying watching her grow and develop as a speaker and seeing her confidence increase every time. In this, our last session, she was going to present to me, and apply everything that we had been working on over the past few weeks.

She took a deep breath. And off she went.
And boy, did she do a great job!

Her eyes kept sparkling. She stood relaxed, and remembered to let facts breathe. She let me absorb the new information before going to the next point. Her visuals added to her story, not detracted from it. She had excellent eye contact and I felt connected to her and her talk the whole time. The ending was clear and dynamic and left me wanting more.

She exhaled deeply after her talk and said ‘This is the first time I’ve had energy after giving a presentation. I usually feel so drained. But this time, for the first time, I really ENJOYED what I did and didn’t want it to stop. I never thought I would say something like that! I used to rush through it, trying to get it done as soon as possible. That feels like the old me. You gave me a confidence makeover! Thank you so much!’

I was so proud of her, and moments like these usually result in happy tears and hugs from a very proud coach!

Here are 5 things to help you give a present the next time  you present.

1. Before you begin, have a long, slow exhale, from your belly button down. This will make you feel grounded and less nervous.
2. Have a moment of gratitude before you enter the stage. Be grateful and happy that you have been given this opportunity – they could have asked anyone, but they asked you! Lucky you!
3. Your presentation prep needs to focus on the audience. Put them first – what do they already know? What are they interested in? Keep this in mind while you are preparing.
4. Every statistic has a soul – what is the story behind the facts? Storytelling gives us an emotional connection to facts and statistics. No one ever got goosebumps from an exel page.
5. End with an ending – let us know that it’s done and thank the audience for their time, and open the room up for questions. Let people know that you are interested in hearing from them (if time allows) and get the dialogue going! Tying your ending to a concept you introduced in the beginning gives us a ‘full circle’ feeling, and feels like closure to your audience.

I hope this helps. I so enjoy helping people feel awesome in English. If you’d like to get coaching and feedback and feel like a rock star in English, have a look at my Communicate Better In English Masterclass Series! We will meet 4x a year and work both online and live on everything from presentations to pronunciation, grammar, formal and informal English, and so much more! Space is limited to 20 and tickets are going fast. My ridiculous Early Bird Discount saves you 150E and ends tomorrow! You can grab your spot hier.