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As I moved into management I started to give more and more talks/presentations. A few very tech talks at summits and conventions with our peers, most were briefings directed at upper management, and while the content are different they function the same really. I start by figuring out what I want my audience to take a way from the talk. Then I break it up in keywords and then I build my presentation. Once that is done I practice once or twice, by my self, talking to the computer while I rearrange, add or delete from the presentation to make it what I want it to be. Once this is done I practice, going through the entire presentation until I’m able to give it on the fly if I was woken up at 4am. I don’t practice it word for word though, but when you’ve talked about a subject enough times, you can do it again. The practice but is really, really important. Especially if you’re not used to giving speeches. At first I thought that if I just practiced in my head, I’d be fine, because I knew what I wanted to say. Hah, not so. The first time I gave a presentation I was a stuttering incoherent mess, because I hadn’t practiced by saying the words out loud. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, I just couldn’t. Now, many years later, I don’t have to practice as much because I’ve gotten better verbally. So yo can definitely be the type of person who doesn’t need to practice out loud. But I had to do more than a thousand presentations to get to a point where I could comfortably skip practicing on short presentations and only doing it once or twice on long ones. As for questions afterwards, take your time to think about your answer, and if you don’t know the answer, then be honest and always, always be polite and affirmative. If you make people feel like they asked a good question, even when you think it wasn’t, then they and everyone around them will like you better. This too gets better with practice, but it’s obviously not something you can practice on your own. Humor is typically a good thing, it relies a lot in timing and it sometimes falls flat. Just never do it at someone’s expense. |