An Indispensable Ingredient for You to Deliver a Great Presentation

There is one indispensable ingredient to great technical presentations. It is so important to your presentations that if you forget to include it, your presentation will be uncomfortable to deliver, sound flat to the audience, and will make your decrease your credibility.

You have been practicing it your entire life and probably don’t give it a second thought.

Think of past times in your life when you were successful. What was the one ingredient crucial to your success?

That ingredient was YOU!

You are faced with delivering that big presentation. Your work colleague, Bob, says, “Everything will work out if you just be yourself.” Well something happens to us when we are in the workplace. Our personalities change to fit in, we start reacting to situations differently than we would otherwise, and we act as the boss would like us to act and not as we would act normally. In other words, we are not ourselves. You may do the same in your presentations.

If you do not inject yourself into your presentation preparation and delivery, you are in real danger of your presentation not having the effect you intended.

There has never been and never will be anyone exactly like you with your triumphs, your failures, and your life experiences. Don’t leave these “at the door” when you prepare and deliver your presentations.

Your (1) enthusiasm for your subject area, (2) your experiences working in your subject area and (3) your perspective on how you see your subject area today and in the future will make your presentation authentic, powerful, and interesting for the audience.

Enthusiasm

You have undoubtedly been in the audience when the speaker is not enthusiastic about his or her subject. Were you able to get enthusiastic about the subject? My educated guess is no.

Being enthusiastic for your subject doesn’t guarantee everyone in the audience will be as enthusiastic, but not being enthusiastic about your subject almost always guarantees the audience will not be.

Talk in your regular conversational tone when you speak. Let your enthusiasm come out through your words, tone of voice, and especially your body language and you will experience a great reaction from your audience.

Experience

Audiences will love to hear your real-world experiences relevant to your presentation. Explain how you have experienced the subject from your years of experience using stories.

If you have been in your subject area for decades, you may want to relate what the subject area was like when you started your career, when you were at mid-career and then, finally, where you see the subject area now.

Perspective

Your experience in your subject area gives you a unique perspective on its future. It is a unique perspective because no one has had the exact same experiences you have. Share these experiences with your audiences but ensure these experiences support one or more of your main points.

Perhaps your experiences include the hopes of the subject area community when you were starting your career being realized later in your career. Were these hopes realized? Tell your audience why not.

There is a danger when you speak of something you are enthusiastic about, in which you have real life experience, and in which you predict the future. The presentation may get away from you. There is a saying in public speaking circles, “Don’t fall in love with the sound of your voice.” Say what you have to say and sit down.

So the one indispensable ingredient in great technical presentation preparation and delivery is YOU. Inject all of your enthusiasm, your experience, and your perspective on the future of your subject area into your presentations.

You will have the time of your life and so will your audience!