How to Present, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 9Warm up your mind

Do you typically find yourself running from one meeting at work to another (whether these meetings are online or in person), with very little time to think about what you need to say in the meeting, much less what you want to achieve?

When it comes to presenting with confidence, you can do a number of clever things to prepare yourself. This chapter explains how to get ready for an exceptional virtual or face-to-face presentation.

Yes, unfortunately, you do need to rehearse

If you are nervous about going blank, or waffling on, or getting pulled off track by strong audience members, or if you're keen to come across as a confident, engaging and compelling presenter, it's a good idea to warm up your mind and rehearse before presenting. In my experience, exceptional presenters rehearse! And then they rehearse and then they rehearse. They take a leaf out of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr's book: ‘Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better.' Gender bias aside, you get the point — exceptional presenters rehearse until they can't get it wrong. A typical executive who engages me to coach them would rehearse (especially their opening and close) between 50 and 100 times for important events.

TIP

Michelle says,

‘Exceptional presenters rehearse until they can’t get it wrong.'

Now I can hear you saying, ‘Really? 100 times?' As William Shakespeare said, ...