Mastering the art of presenting—and it is an art—takes training, practice and experience. It’s also a vital component of any business career, and you owe it to yourself to improve your speaking skills whenever and however you can. However, your immediate concern isn’t what you’re going to say next week, or next month, or next year. It’s what you’re going to say tomorrow.

Maybe I can wing it, you think to yourself. Then reality hits and you realize winging it isn’t going to work, and you’re totally out of options. But don’t panic. Help is at hand.

Here are some tips that will make you a better speaker overnight. 

Get Your Thoughts On Track.

If your inner voice is telling you you’re going to fail, don’t listen. Instead of picturing yourself as stumbling and unprepared, change that picture and change your thoughts. What would it be like to be a great speaker? How would it feel? What would you say and do? Then picture yourself in that role—calm and self-contained, comfortable in your own skin, able to think on your feet and handle anything unexpected that comes your way. Concentrate fully and expect to succeed. Disciplined mental focus is the ideal performance state. It is the starting point for the mastery of any skill, and presentation skills are no exception.

Serve Your Audience.

Now it’s time to turn your thoughts to your audience. Your presentation must be designed to meet the needs of the people listening to you. Who are they? How can you help them?  Don’t try to be profound or impress them with your knowledge and expertise. Speak in language they will understand, and keep it conversational, with short sentences and small words. Honor them by looking at them, speaking directly to them, and watching them for feedback. In turn they will give you courtesy and respect.

Organize Your Material.

Decide on the three most important points you want to make. Surround those points with evidence: facts, data, statistics. Introduce some good examples and stories that add a personal touch. If you must incorporate slides, decide where to put them and get them in order. Create a brief introduction that tells the audience why you’re giving them this information and what’s in it for them. Add a short summary at the end, give them an action step or two . . . and you’re home free.

Put Life In Your Delivery.

In describing a speaker, someone once said, “His voice was so monotonous that if it were measured on an EKG, he would be pronounced dead.”  Put life into your voice. Vary the pitch and volume for a livelier sound. Emphasize key words and speak at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow. Keep your body loose and your gestures free and easy. If you can include these qualities in your presentation, it will make it easier for your audience to connect with you and hear what you have to say.

Speaking is a lot like golf: You can spend hours improving your game, but sometimes a minor adjustment to your swing can make everything fall into place. By focusing on any one of the above suggestions, your overall technique will improve. If you incorporate them all, tomorrow’s presentation will be a winner.

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Imagine if these movies had started differently. “In a past scenario, the troop strength of corrupt military-industrial complex had a 500-to-1 equipment advantage over a small but vocal group of dissidents…as you can see in this bar chart on my PowerPoint slide.”  Movies show us the power of storytelling to engage and persuade people, don’t they? I got a reminder of this from a great interview with screenwriter and creative writing teacher Robert McKee on Screenwriting for Executives. Whether your interest is in sales presentation, public speaking or simply team communications, this Hollywood advice applies to you.

Of course, storytelling doesn’t replace facts and logic. Its role is to help bring your information to life and make it more persuasive. It helps people understand complex ideas. It inspires, motivates – and gets remembered.

So how do you start developing the plot line of your next presentation? Storytelling is built on examples, metaphors and analogies. Is your story about the battle for market share? Then the hero may be you and your department. Maybe there’s a metaphorical “damsel in distress” who was rescued by the new training in customer service. Or, perhaps you’re explaining major management changes. Is the analogy the exploration of an undiscovered planet? Or getting a hard-case kid onto the championship football team? Or like the two little nuns who made all the difference when they yanked the carburetor out of the Nazis’ chase car in The Sound of Music? Now that’s a story about innovation and initiative!

Once you’ve decided the plot of your story, how do you put it all together? Here are a few speaking tips:

• Use powerful, concrete words and phrases. For example, in a sales presentation, it’s easy to talk about a new product “providing increased effectiveness.”  But it’s more compelling to talk about “no more Saturday catch-up work” or “make a difference to three more people every day.”
• Laughter is good medicine.  It helps people remember. It lightens the weight of a tough message. Of course, make sure it’s relevant and appropriate.
• Think visually. This isn’t radio – you’re on the big screen. What would be a great prop to convey your message?  A black hat and a white hat?  A letter from a customer? A tiny pebble, a melted DVD, your grandfather’s pocket watch, the contents of your organization’s lost and found box?  Extra credit: make this the only visual in your PowerPoint – or replace it all together.

Presenting your ideas in the form of a story is an emotionally powerful way of sharing the picture you have in your mind’s eye with your listener. If you and your listener are seeing the same picture then you have truly succeeded in conveying your message. 

Image by David Sandell

How can we use this knowledge to be more effective leaders? One way is to learn from the world of sports. Dr. Judd Blaslotto at the University of Chicago compared mental visualization with actual physical practice of basketball free throws. His amazing discovery: Those who visualized but did not physically make a single free throw improved their percentages almost as much as those who physically practiced everyday for an hour. Top athletes now include visualization (or mental rehearsal) as part of their normal routine.

In the same way, you can be more intentional about what you think and what you visualize. Visualization is the process of creating a mental image (or intention) of what you want to feel or have happen. Managing what and how you think can be tricky, but a few key principles can help.

• First, visualize what you want, not what you don’t want. Remember, movement goes in the direction of the image. So if you’re riding a bicycle, look in the direction you want to go, not at the ditch at the side of the road, or you’re likely to steer involuntarily toward the ditch. Likewise, when you walk into a high-stakes meeting, instead of concentrating on not being nervous, visualize yourself projecting composed confidence.
• Second, listen to your “inner monologue.” Your inner monologue functions as guiding imagery for you and molds your behavior and performance. So if you realize you’re thinking things like: “I’m over my head” or “I’m blowing it,” make a choice to replace that self-talk with something more helpful, such as: “This is a problem to solve and I can figure it out”  or “I am handling this.”
• Finally, when communicating with others, rather than focusing on the removal of something negative, focus on the presence of something positive. Rather than ask, “Why didn’t someone catch this error?” ask instead, “What can we do to ensure fewer errors in the future?” This may seem like a minor shift, but the effect on your communication, influence, and results can be profound.  Remember, you will move in the direction of your mental images, so if you anticipate positive results, you’re more likely to achieve them.

We face challenging situations everyday. Much is out of our control; for instance, what people’s predisposition might be, what could get pitched our way and blindside us, or even what might happen when we’re looking the other way. So when something solidly within our control is actually within our grasp, we must seize on it. Our thoughts are well within our control, and if visualizing a successful outcome will hedge our bets, then our course is clear.

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Your credibility is decided upon by other peoples’ perceptions of you and what they observe about you. So, being heard and believed requires you to be sensitive to your communication habits that convey — or undermine — your credibility. Some of us don’t harness our credibility, or we may even “sabotage” it in ways we don’t know.

To convey to others the qualities that will build your credibility in their eyes, consider the following tips that have provided highly effective results for our clients.

• Demonstrate openness. Perhaps the most important quality for integrity is the ability to appreciate the feelings and ideas of other people, while maintaining the integrity of your own. Listen with genuine interest to the people around you. Look at them. Keeping an open posture, relaxed manner and direct gaze will communicate your honesty and integrity. An open posture will also indicate to people that you have nothing to hide; you are comfortable with them and confident in yourself.
• Breathe deeply and learn to speak and project your voice by using your diaphragm. You will not only project a stronger voice and clarity, you will project a more powerful persona. By simply breathing properly, you are better able to connect with the inner source of your personal power.
• Silence the “internal critic.” We all have an “internal critic” that whispers to us about our shortcomings. Don’t listen. Believe in yourself and the value you bring to others. Be yourself, be natural, and bring that genuine quality into your presentations and your interpersonal communications. You will find people will connect with you on a much deeper level.
• Express yourself and your enthusiasm. Becoming more physically expressive will engage others and create a stronger connection with them. When you lighten up and move freely, your professionalism is enhanced, not diminished. Even if you’re not talking, you’re communicating credibility with non-verbal expression.

When you learn to relax under pressure, breathe from the diaphragm, stay open as you look at and listen to people, and be genuine with verbal and non-verbal expression, everything changes. You convey integrity, expertise, dynamism and open-mindedness. People will see you as credible. They’ll see your inner intensity and passion that is not pushy or brash. You’ll display a quiet authority that others perceive and appreciate under any circumstances.

Image by R Bubnis

Ever feel like you’re starring in that scene – except that it’s set in an office or conference room instead of a dusty street? Take your communication tips from John Wayne and you’re going to end up the loser. It’s a fact. Studies show that when two strangers meet, the one who is most physically relaxed is perceived by both as having the higher status. In a group setting, the most relaxed person is most likely to ultimately become the group leader. 

So, you see, personal power doesn’t come from being so intense you seem wound tight. And it certainly isn’t conveyed when you’re being nervous and fidgety. Power comes from being able to relax. When you’re comfortable with yourself, you telegraph confidence and self-esteem. Stay calm physically, mentally and emotionally and you’re in control.

Relaxation is one of the Five Great Skills® at the core of VoicePro’s approach to effective communication. They’re skills anyone can learn, practice and use to present themselves and their ideas. What are the other four skills? Let’s take a quick look.

• Energy. When you communicate with authentic conviction, people see confidence.
• Expression. It’s in your face, your voice and your body language, and it’s crucial to the understanding of your message.
• Organization. When you put together your message in a powerful way, you create strong personal influence.
• Focus. It shouldn’t be on your message or your own concerns. Your focus needs to be on others. That’s how connection is made. 

Want to know more? Visit us at www.voiceproinc.com and even watch a video on the topic with our own Luanne Paynick. Just register to for a free membership – it only takes a minute.

And the next time you find yourself striding into your own OK Corral , take a moment to settle yourself. Take a deep breath and loosen up. Relaxation may be just the silver bullet you’re looking for.

I’m here to say, the evening was worth the discomfort for one reason alone. Passion! I was able to experience passion on many levels that evening; the passion the staff and chefs at the institute had for their work and their students, my daughter’s passion for the possibilities of becoming a baker (not to mention a Food Network star), and my passion for the phenomenal flourless chocolate cake that was set in front of me and that I gobbled down with gusto.

It was easy to understand the zeal with which I attacked the cake. And I know of my daughter’s passion to enter this work because of the long talks we’ve had and the excitement with which she has shared her hopes and dreams. But how did I recognize the passion of the staff? After all, I hadn’t met them before. For all I knew this was just a job to them. They had been forced to brave the weather, just as I had. And surely, after all the times they had been through this exercise, their ardor would have cooled.

Not so. With every word, with every move, and with every interaction they had with the students and with the audience, their exuberance rang out loud and clear. Their voices were strong and vibrant. Their faces lit up with a light that can only come from the inside. They were alive physically, their movements sure, and their gestures open and genuine. I could easily picture everything they described. They made a strong personal connection with everyone in the audience, willing to share their passion with all who were willing to listen. The result? I want my daughter to experience what they have to offer. And, even more important, my daughter wants what they have to offer (and she is NOT an easy sell)!

When we speak of passion at VoicePro®, we refer to the many implications it has on the effectiveness of our communication with other people – conveying genuine authenticity, making an emotional connection with the audience, being able to “ditch” the script and have a real conversation, helping others experience what you want them to experience because you see it as real – in your head and most importantly, in your heart.

The next time you go before a group of people to speak, find the passion for your subject within you. Take the time to connect with it. Ditch the script, Speak from your heart and, like the staff and chefs at ICASI, inspire your audience to join you in your pursuit, whatever it may be.

Image by segismundoart

Body language is powerful, isn’t it?  There’s an old saying that your action speak so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying. In fact, studies show that, in a personal interaction, 55 percent of what the other people take in and process is visual. That is, they’re responding to your physical actions. Only seven percent is based on what you say.  So if your facial expressions, hand gestures and posture say something different from your words, guess what people will remember. 

I’m not suggesting you learn to hide all your feelings — the appropriate sharing of emotions can be a powerful leadership tool.  However, sometimes anxiety, anger or distractedness can interfere with keeping your body and words in sync.  Here are a few suggestions to help you be sure you’re conveying your intended message:

• Remember to keep your body open, not slumped and huddled or cross-armed and hunched.  That says you’re energetic, confident and ready to engage — not frightened or defensive.  Remember to breathe deeply — that will help.
• Watch your hands.  A case of nerves can lead to flighty fingers.  And you’d be surprised how often anger shows up as clinched fists. Relax your hands in your lap or on the table.
• Make eye contact.  Whether you’re speaking or listening, eye contact lets people know you’re focused on them and that you care about this interaction.   Remember to smile or acknowledge the speaker in other ways.  Here’s a tip for meetings. Be wary of shifting too much of your focus to note-taking. It looks like you’re disinterested, uncomfortable or avoiding the situation.

Here’s one more idea. Learn to pay attention to the body language of others.  It will give you new insight into your team and how it works together.  If you see gestures that are out of sync with words or a lack of eye contact, something is likely amiss.  Is it fear? Disapproval? Confusion?  When you understand the truths behind the words, the result is better communication. That’s the first step to more effective teams and more successful outcomes.

Want to know more?  Watch the this video as Luanne talks about the importance of body language. It’ll help you say what you mean — in word and deed.