Tip #8: rehearse!
I always do a dry run-through of my presentations the evening before I give them. If it’s a longer, multi-hour seminar, I probably won’t – but I WILL look through my slides, give some thought to how long each section should run, make sure I have time for Q&A at appropriate places, etc.
But if it’s an hour-long presentation or under? Yep – I’ll probably run through it once or twice. I know – some of you are saying “well, gee David. Glad that works for you – but I don’t need to do that.â€
Really? Sure, your presentation might be fine. Yay for you. But I’m guessing this – if you DID rehearse, even just a little bit – your presentation would be that much better.
For the rest of us – if you don’t rehearse, it shows. Here’s why I rehearse:
- To make sure my transitions work.
- to make sure my timing is accurate (ever seen someone get the 5-minute warning at the end of a presentation, and they freak out because they still have 20 slides to go over? Sure sign that person didn’t rehearse).
- To practice saying any specific things I want to say, and to make sure I can actually talk coherently over each of my points.
- OK – and to feel better about the whole thing, too.
So go rehearse – your presentations will rock that much more if you do.
Absolutely critical, even for those who feel confident about their presentation skills!
Here’s how stand-up comedians rehearse their material to be confident, without becoming rigid and inflexible. It works for presentations too:
http://workplayexperience.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-rehearse-or-not-presentation.html