Your Technical Communications Needs Scheduled Maintenance

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Will Durant, American philosopher and historian

As I write this, I am sitting in the dealership where I have brought my SUV in for its 60,000-mile maintenance.

Most people agree that to keep your car running as long as possible, you need regular maintenance.

However, how many of us technical types realize that, to maintain excellent technical communication skills, we also need scheduled maintenance?

Your technical communication skills deserve the same attention to ensure every presentation delivers maximum impact.

Below are three ways to maintain peak performance in your technical speaking:

Inspect Your Speaking Skills Regularly

Evaluate your performance. Record a technical presentation and review your delivery. Identify weaknesses in your pacing, clarity, gestures, and audience engagement.

When you record yourself and review it, you can evaluate your performance as an audience member would and then plan how to improve.

This is important. Select only one or two items you need to improve in your technical speaking. Like in most things, if you try to improve more than two items, you will feel overwhelmed and will end up not improving anything.

Gather meaningful feedback. Ask colleagues and audience members to evaluate your presentations. Focus on recurring suggestions that reveal opportunities for improvement.

The management expert Ken Blanchard says, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”

What others observe about your speaking will tell you a lot. It will tell you things you inevitably miss in your self-evaluation. Also, it is what an actual audience is telling you—this is like “pure gold” for your improvement.

Establish performance benchmarks. Measure your progress against specific speaking objectives. Track improvements in confidence, organization, and audience comprehension.

There is a saying that if something is not measured, it cannot be managed. Measure and manage your speaking performance to elevate your technical speaking.

One way to maintain peak performance in your technical speaking is to inspect your speaking skills regularly.

Another is to perform preventive maintenance through practice.

Perform Preventive Maintenance Through Practice

Schedule regular practice sessions. Dedicate time each week to strengthening your presentation skills—practice explaining complicated technical concepts in simple language.

Delivering a technical presentation has three parts: creation, practice, delivery. If you skip or “short-change” the practice step, you will miss one of the most powerful ways to improve your technical presentation performance.

Schedule practice just like you would schedule any other important part of your life. We had a saying in the Air Force: “We train the way we fight, and we fight the way we train.”

The analogy for technical speaking is that you want to practice your technical presentation until you know your last practice is at least acceptable and, hopefully, more than acceptable to deliver to your intended audience.

Maintain your presentation tools. Review your slides, visuals, and supporting materials regularly. Eliminate outdated information, unnecessary details, and distracting graphics.

Exercise your delivery skills. Rehearse vocal variety, eye contact, and purposeful pauses. Practice responding to difficult questions without losing your composure.

Vocal variety, eye contact, and purposeful pauses give your audience cues that deepen understanding and increase engagement.

Design a creation and practice process that you repeatedly use to ensure your technical presentation is ready for “prime time.”

Two ways to maintain peak performance in technical speaking are to review your speaking skills regularly and do preventive maintenance through practice.

A third one is to upgrade your speaking skills for long-term success.

Upgrade Your Speaking Skills for Long-Term Success

Invest in continuous improvement. Attend speaking workshops, participate in Toastmasters, or work with a qualified coach. Apply newly acquired techniques to upcoming technical presentations.

Few things in this world offer a better return on investment than Toastmasters. Please tell me if you can find anywhere else you can practice your technical speaking twenty-four (24) times a year. I can’t think of one.

A club member evaluates every speech you deliver in Toastmasters according to an evaluation form specific to the project you have turned into a speech.

The key is to thoroughly review your evaluation and incorporate the feedback in your next speech. This method will help you improve your speaking over time. You may not notice your improvement, but others will.

Adapt to changing audiences. Adjust your communication style for engineers, executives, and nontechnical stakeholders. Emphasize the information each audience needs to make informed decisions.

One size does not fit all in clothing, cars, or technical speaking. If you speak to all of your audiences in the same way, you will lose them.

Knowing your audience is always the first step in creating, practicing, and delivering a successful technical presentation.

You may be able to use the same slides for different audiences, but you will not be using the same words for different audiences. If you speak to your audience, you will be successful.

Create a personal maintenance schedule. Set monthly goals and review your speaking performance quarterly.

Treat communication improvement as an essential part of your professional development. As mentioned earlier, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. The key is to execute your personal maintenance schedule.

Three ways to maintain peak performance in your technical speaking are to i(1) inspect your speaking skills regularly, (2) perform preventive maintenance through practice, and (3) upgrade your speaking skills for long-term success.

Engineers wouldn’t wait for critical equipment to fail before maintaining it. Don’t wait for an important presentation to discover that your speaking skills need attention.

Studies have shown that up to 80% of your career depends on your communication skills. This percentage increases later in your career.

A large part of your communication skills is your ability to deliver technical presentations that impact your audience.

Neglecting to improve this ability is your own doing!

Call to Action

• Gather meaningful feedback. Ask colleagues and audience members to evaluate your presentations. Focus on recurring suggestions that reveal opportunities for improvement.

• Maintain your presentation tools. Review your slides, visuals, and supporting materials regularly. Eliminate outdated information, unnecessary details, and distracting graphics.

• Invest in continuous improvement. Attend speaking workshops, participate in Toastmasters, or work with a qualified coach. Apply newly acquired techniques to upcoming technical presentations.

  “The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” — Brian Herbert, American author.

References

• Gallo, Carmine. (September 9, 2019). “How to Rehearse for an Important Presentation.” Harvard Business Review. Explains the importance of systematic rehearsal and reviewing recorded presentations. Read article

• Toastmasters International. (2023). “Expert Advice for Evaluations.” Toastmaster Magazine. Describes structured feedback and continuous improvement through speech evaluations. Read article

• MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Communication Lab. “Slide Presentation.” Guides technical presentation design, equipment preparation, and handling audience questions. Read guide

• MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Communication Lab. “Virtual Presentations.” Recommends practicing delivery, checking technology, and evaluating presentation clarity. Read guide

• Toastmasters International. “How to Write and Deliver a Speech.” Provides practical techniques for vocal variety, recording presentations, and gathering feedback. Read guide

Being a confident, engaging, and effective STEM speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent STEM speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at fr***@*****************ed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks

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