So why am i asking the question: Do you practice your presentations?
Recently I had a catch up coffee with an old squash mate. We were team mates as well as fierce rivals on the court. He now plays golf but suggested he couldn’t get much better than his 14 handicap.
‘Why not?’ I asked
He’s retired so he could if he wanted play and practice golf everyday
‘Ah yes but I don’t like practising’ he said
No practice more than likely means no improvement – he accepts that
Enough about squash and golf, let’s talk about your business presentations
How good are they?
Could they be better?
And would you be prepared to practice to make them better?
Or like my friend do you prefer not to practice and just see how it goes?
Let’s imagine you did commit to practising your next presentation
What might happen?
Firstly practising will enable you to check your content v your audience expectation. Practice will help you cut stuff out that your audience don’t want or need – and here’s the thing – the best presenters are not usually the ones who know what to include but the ones who know what to leave out, including words on slides.
Practice will help you create content that delivers on what your audience are expecting from you. That’s a crucial factor in presentation success.
Added thought : if you start reading your slides during practise they contain far too many words. Slides are a prompt not a script!
Secondly practising will improve your delivery style including your delivery confidence – caveat – this works really well providing you practice out loud and if you are to deliver standing up practice standing up. Practice like this and your pace, tone, body language, pauses and confidence will all be enhanced as will your presenting confidence.
Thirdly practising will help you run on or under time. How many presentations do you sit through that overrun on time? Or get cut short to make the time cut off? Quite a lot I would guess. Here’s a tip : aim to deliver your presentation in practice in 80-85% of the time you have been allocated. Spot on time in practice will in most cases mean going over on the day.
There are lot more reasons for practising your presentation but hopefully these three have persuaded you that it’s worth practising.
After all, unlike my friend, the best golfers in the world spend hours and hours practising.
So why wouldn’t you practice your presentation?
And don’t say you haven’t got enough time because that says to me that your presentation isn’t actually worth delivering if practising it is way down your list of time priorities.
A guy in my local indoor market repairs footwear. His ‘catch line’ is ‘If it’s worth wearing it’s worth repairing’
So if your presentation is worth delivering it’s worth practising. Not quite as catchy as shoe repair guy but I think you get the message
So practice!
And then when I ask – Do you practice your presentations? – you can say yes I do and what a difference it has made!
It will be worth it!
If you want to learn more about practising your presentation check out my free on-demand course – you can dip in and out in your own time at your own pace. It comes in video, audio, notes, checklist and slides format. It’s a short course but will give you plenty of ideas and tips for practising your presentation.
Here’s the link to the course: https://presentationskills.thinkific.com/courses/How-to-Practice-your-Business-Presentations
If you need help with your presenting check my offerings here: https://www.trevorjlee.com/presentation-training/
And if you prefer to learn in your own time at your own pace then follow this link to my series of on-demand presentation courses, each of which come with a 1:1 coaching session: https://www.ondemandpresentationcourses.com/
