“For every presentation you give, there are three variations: the one you prepared, the one you gave, and the one you wish you delivered” –Mel Sherwood.
Mel is a pitch and presentation specialist who offers services that support entrepreneurs and business professionals in public speaking. Drawing from 25 years of experience in business and being on stage, she developed programmes to help people deliver successful pitches and presentations.
Mel delivered the presentation workshop during a Mastercard Foundation Scholars summer school. I found the lessons I learned invaluable, and I still use some of them today. In this post, I’ll share some key lessons from the workshop that will elevate your presentation skills.
I originally posted this on my old site, which is now down, so I decided to repost it.
Before Crafting Your Message.
The first thing you want to think about is your audience. Consider whether they are similar to you, whether they want to be there, what their beliefs are, and so on.
Next, ask yourself: What do you want your audience to think, feel, or do? What message do you want them to take away? These questions will help you focus your presentation.
4Mat Structure
There are several ways to structure your presentation. Examples include the Hero’s Journey, Point & Story, Problem-Solution, and the 4Mat structure. During the workshop, we focused on the 4Mat structure:
- Hook. Start with something that grabs your audience’s attention.
- Why. Explain why people should listen or why what you are presenting is important. Make it personal to your audience.
- What. Elaborate on the facts and statistics, explain the concept, or share what experts think.
- How. Show how your audience can put your idea to work or use the information provided. You can employ case studies, stories, and examples here.
- What if. Encourage reflection and reiterate your points. This is also the best time for Q&As if you plan to include one.
- Conclusion. Link your hook to your conclusion if possible to make it memorable. Whenever possible, avoid ending with a Q&A, as it can make it harder to tie your presentation together. A lot of us (myself included) often end our presentations with a slide like this.
If you must end with a Q&A, be sure to wrap up with concluding statements. People tend to remember the first and last things said, so make sure the last thing they hear is intentional and reinforces your message.
How to Make Your Presentation Stick
- Primacy and Recency. People tend to remember the first thing stated and the last thing stated.
- Repetition. Repeating key points helps reinforce them in the audience’s memory.
- Element of Surprise. Introducing unexpected elements can capture and maintain your audience’s attention.
- Alliteration. Use words that sound similar or start with the same letter next to each other. For example, “humble house,” “picture perfect,” or tongue twisters.
- The Power of Three. Ideas presented in threes are more memorable. For example, in storytelling, the structure of beginning, middle, and end is effective. It also prevents overwhelming your audience with too much information. The more you tell people, the less they remember.
- Stories. Our brains are wired for stories. Some studies suggest that our brains are better wired to remember stories than data, facts, or figures. Stories appeal to people’s emotions and have been a primary way of sharing information since ancient times. Watch more here: [YouTube].
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou.
Hooks
In the first minute, your audience will decide whether they want to listen to you or not. The purpose of a hook is to grab people’s attention. Examples of ways to present a hook.
- Shocking statistics. An even better way to present your statistic is to phrase it as a question, e.g., “Did you know that…?” or “How often have you…?” To take it a step further, you can engage people’s emotions by asking, “Would it surprise you to know…?”
- Stories. You can use stories to draw people in. Facts tell, stories sell.
- Telling a joke. A risky choice though.
- Set an expectation. For example: “In the next 10 minutes, you will find out why most businesses fail and what can be done about it.”
- Share a quote.
- Pose a question.
- Hands up. This may involve asking your audience to agree or disagree with a statement by a show of hands or standing up. This can help you quickly build rapport with your audience.
- Image or video. Our brains are better image processors than word processors.
- Prop.
- Controversial statement.
You can read more about hooks here.
Managing Nerves by Preparing Your Mind
Mel didn’t promise an overnight fix but provided several techniques to help manage nerves. It’ll be up to you to figure out what works best. Practice is ultimately the most effective approach-the more you do it, the more comfortable and easier it will become.
- Know your stuff.
- Visualize! Visualize what it will look like when you are successfully presenting.
- Meditation/mindfulness.
- Affirmations.
- Act as if: Ask yourself, what does a confident person sound like? How does a confident person think and act? Embody that persona. Essentially, fake it till you make it.
- Listen to uplifting music.
- Breathing exercises.
- Rest, eat, and hydrate.
- Power posing. Watch more here: [YouTube].
I picked out three things from this list that I found helpful.
Mel also walked us through ways to prepare the body for a presentation. These included shaking, stretching, exercise, grounding, breathing, and power posing. She also advised resting, eating, and staying hydrated.
For voice preparation, Mel showed us techniques involving facial massages, humming, talking with a cork in the mouth, singing, posture, breathing, and tongue twisters. She also advised resting, eating, and hydrating.
Other Important Tips from the Workshop
- If you make a mistake while presenting, just keep going. No one knows what you were supposed to present except you. Your audience will likely not notice. Another approach is to own your mistakes.
- If someone asks a question you don’t have an answer to, you can reflect it back to the audience to help answer it, or you can let them know you don’t have the answer and offer to follow up later.
- If you are counting, aim for 120-130 words per minute.
- Use the words “you” or “we” rather than “I” when speaking to an audience. This will make people feel like they’re part of the conversation and engage their attention. Make eye contact as much as possible to connect with and gauge the responses of your audience.
- Don’t be afraid to take up space, i.e., move around the stage.
- If you’re presenting to people who are more knowledgeable than you, remember that you’re there to give your unique take on the issue.
- The one-slide rule: Billboard, not brochure. Having slides with lots of words distracts people from listening to you. If your slide needs to have a lot of words, give your audience some time to read it.
Conclusion
I hope you now feel more empowered to take on your next presentation. What two lessons will you implement in your next presentation? Remember, it’s absolutely fine if your presentation didn’t turn out exactly as planned. Let go of the idea of being perfect. You’ve got this!