Episode #90: How To Get Self-Belief As A Presenter When You Don't Have Any

We don’t get the chance to do so many public presentations in business, so it becomes a hard skill set to build or maintain. The internal presentations we give at work tend to be very mundane. Often we are just reporting on the numbers and why they aren’t where they are supposed to be or where we to date are with the project. These are normally rather informal affairs and we are not in highly persuade mode when we give them. We should be clear and concise, but we probably don’t really get out of first gear as a presenter.

Obviously, giving public talks is a lot more pressure than the internal weekly team meeting report. We need to be operating at a much higher level and the complexity index is much, much higher. This translates into pressure and often comes with a big dose of self-doubt. This is called the imposter syndrome. Should I be the one talking on this subject? What if they have questions I can’t answer? What if they don’t like it or me? What if I underperform as a presenter? What if I white out and forget what I want to say? The scenes of potential disasters are played out in our minds, as we talk ourselves into a panic.

How do we stop that negative self-talk and get a more positive view on our potential to do a really first class, impressive, professional job? It is not a level playing field. We need to realize that the world of business presenters is full of people who are quite hopeless and boring, so the audience has been trained to expect very, very little. We don’t have to be a super star, we just need to be competent and we will automatically stand out from the crowd of losers murdering their presentations out there everyday.

What does competent look like? It means we are well prepared. This doesn’t mean we have 50 slides in the slide deck ready to rumble. It means we have thought about our talk in the context of who will be in the audience and what level of expert knowledge they have of the subject, so that we know at what level to pitch our talk.

It means we have designed it by starting from the key punch line we will deliver in the initial close and then we have worked backwards to select the “chapters” that will bring home that point we have selected. We have seized upon an opening that will grab the attention of our increasingly attention deficit audience They are all armed with their mobile phones, ready to escape from the speaker at any hint of unprofessionalism or potential boredom.

It means we will have rehearsed the talk at least three times, to make sure it flows well and fits the time slot we have been allocated. We will make sure the slides are supporting us, not hogging all the attention and upstaging us. They will be so clear that our audience can deduce the key point of each slide in two seconds, because of how we are presenting the information. The slides provide us with the navigation of the speech, so we don’t have to worry about what comes next. We also have our talking points in front of us, if we need to refer to them as a backup, reducing our stress levels.

It means we are not head down the whole time, reading from the printout or the laptop screen. We are eyes up and looking at some of the members of our audience. We are looking precisely at those who are either nodding approvingly or at least have a neutral expression on their face. This builds our confidence on the way through the speech. We are avoiding anyone who looks obstreperous, negative, hostile or angry. We do this to keep our mental equilibrium under control and positive throughout the talk. We keep all of our doubts, fears, insecurities and worries to ourselves as a secret. We definitely don’t show any of these to our audience. We are fully committed to the idea that the “show must go on”, no matter what unexpected things may occur during our speaking time.

Those whom we have chosen to look at, are getting about six seconds of total eye contact concentration each time, as we make our points. We then move on to the next person and keep repeating this as we build a one-to-one feeling with members of our audience. They feel we are speaking directly to them and this is powerful. We are backing up our eye contact with our gestures, voice modulation and pauses. This helps to drive home the key points we want to make. We are purposely asking rhetorical questions to keep everyone engaged. In terms of pure volume, we are speaking about 40% louder than normal. This projects our voice for clarity and at the same time our confidence. Audiences buy speaker confidence and we are keeping ourselves busy selling it to them.

We are using our first close we developed as we go into Q & A and we are confidently prepared for their questions. We are confident because we have built up reserve power through our study of the subject. We have kicked off Q & A, by publically stating how many minutes we have for questions. We do this to give ourselves a dignified retreat, a smooth way of departing the talk if we need to, in case things get out of control and a bit too hot.

We know how to cushion any salvos, thinly disguised as questions, that might come our way. A cushion is a general statement that doesn’t agree with or disagree with, what has been mentioned in the question. This cushion buys us crucial thinking time before we have to respond. We end the talk with our final close, to make sure our key message is resonating with the audience. This is purposely designed to be the last thing they hear, as they walk out the door.

“We don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan” is an old saw and still true. The key to success in building self-belief as a speaker is to be really well prepared and thoroughly rehearsed. When you make the time to fully prepare before the talk, to become ready, you head off all potential disasters and meltdowns that might otherwise occur. This is how to build self-belief – hard work, detailed preparation and lots of practice before you give the talk.