COMMUNICATION
The Answer that No One Wants
By Marianne Vincent



JAN 2012 | Presenters search the world for the answer to this question. “How do I overcome my nerves and be calm?” Oh, that’s easy – prepare and practise. But – nobody wants that as an answer. In fact, it may be difficult to find a more unpopular answer.

Why don’t we want to practise? Have you heard the line, “If you can read, you can cook”? We mistakenly believe, “Since I can talk, I can present.” Talking is not presenting. Be warned: technology gone awry, or a disgruntled audience – can crush you. That’s the difference.

Winston Churchill is reported to have spent six to eight hours on a 45-minute speech. Mark Twain said it took him three weeks to prepare an impromptu speech. The rumour is that Jack Welch wrote 75 drafts for each of his major speeches. So, who are we to go out there thinking we can wing it? Yes, you are not being asked to change the world. But if we are not going to emulate the best, who are we to learn from?

Time is our excuse. Oh sorry, reason. People who prepare and practise know something: they can alter the outcome by altering something about themselves – be it altering their technique to win medals, or altering their exercise to food ratio to manage their weight. Once you know that by becoming better you can alter the outcome, you are hooked. Time suddenly appears, and you may instead, find it difficult to stop practising.

Many of us can remember practising the piano or violin, or we’re now sending our children to classes. We shake our heads – amazed, when after a few years, they have ‘suddenly’ become pianists, dancers and athletes. But we are surely too busy with too many responsibilities. Unseen to us, practice time is strewn all around, and we are missing it every day. In the hundreds of emails that we write. At every meeting when we have spoken to make a point. Life is the time to practise. Once you grasp this idea, you too, can one day, suddenly, become a really good presenter, writer, thinker, or problem-solver – whatever it is you have wanted badly enough to alter.

So let us turn now to several things you can do to be calm and confident for your presentations.

Prepare a Conceptually and Logically Sound Text
Words have life, or they can be dead. A presentation needs to be logical, or you are finished. If there is time to do only one thing before a presentation, then focus on the concepts you are presenting, and the logical structure of your text.

Check for conceptual ‘tightness’: if you are presenting concepts, make sure they are sound. Also, take time to depict the concepts well. This makes it easier to explain them later, and for your audience to grasp.

Check for logical ‘tightness’: check that every part of your presentation flows logically to the next. For example, do the topic and points flow logically from the opening words? Check the logic within each point. Every time your audience is mentally adjusting for gaps in logic, they are not with you. If there are too many of these, they may shut off. Worse still, if they get irritated with logical flaws, they may start pointing them out. Not a recipe for calmness.

Prepare for Q&A
It might sound like a cliché, but questions can make or break you.

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	Marianne Vincent is the developer of Presentations Alive™ and several other original People Potential workshops. No stranger to practice and performance, Marianne started with the piano at age five. A concert pianist by training, anyone who knows her well will tell you she is almost always learning and practising something. Currently it’s the cello, yoga, and writing.