Proficiently Preparing Eleventh Hour Presentations

You share the company of hundreds of thousands of other professionals around the planet if the thought of public speaking fills your mind with dread, and your stomach with butterflies.  Public speaking is often a daunting enough prospect in its own right.  What if you are coerced in to giving presentations at the very last minute? 

You know all about failing to prepare and preparing to fail.  You are correct in assuming that even the most competent and experienced presenters remain steadfastly true to the mantra of preparation.  In that respect, being expected to deliver presentations with only 24 hours notice, or even half an hours notice, spins sideways what you have been taught to trust.  Yet happen it can and happen it does.  Just like mastery of the art of public speaking in general, impromptu public speaking challenges are tackled head on with practice, plus a few common sense ground rules in your back pocket.

1)    Plan To The Power Of Three
You need to grasp your subject matter and logically organise it when preparing to deliver presentations happening upon you at the eleventh hour.  The notion of a beginning, a middle and an ending is nothing new you to you.  It is a primary basic that you were taught to apply to story writing during your school days.  The same applies to impromptu presentations.  Your clarity of thought is enhanced and your panic reduced by arranging what you need to say in to an orderly opening, a main body, and a closure.

2)    Start Well To Continue Well
Your opening gambit should pack a powerful punch.  Bear in mind that last minute presentations are not usually random, but are required to address specific issues somewhat urgently.  Direct questions usually make attention grabbing headlines.  Try getting off on a good footing by stating the task at hand -  for example, this is what we are working on, this is where we are currently at, and this is where we intend to be, so how do we go about getting there as efficiently and quickly as possible?  Bingo!  Isn’t that the very essence of what your audience is there to find out?

3)    Remain Committed
Regardless of the duration of your short notice presentations, hark back to the power of three in the main body by breaking it down according to your introductory statements.  Reiterate the current position.  Expose and clarify potential concerns and impediments.  Confirm the plan of action moving forward, addressing the points you have already raised.  This provides your audience with a situation, issues and solutions.

4)    Wrap It Up Potently
The closing statements of any presentations need to be as potent as the openers.  In fact, they become one and the same thing when you bring your closing section right back to start and reiterate your opening gambit.  This is your check back to ensure that all concerns have been addressed and that your audience understands the journey you have just taken them on.  Furthermore, closing questions, and calls to action, give both presenter and audience ample opportunity share their views, clarifying that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and are ready to move cohesively forward.   

Waving A Permanent Farewell To Public Speaking Worries

Even the most competent and experienced of professional presenters admit that their nerves, at times, emerge to the forefront and threaten to get the better of them.  So, if presentations are new to you, or something that you are just tentatively starting to get used to, your public speaking fears are far from irrational.  Yet they are something that you need to learn to control.  Otherwise, you might find that your pre-presentation jitters gather insidious momentum and manifest themselves in unnecessary stress levels that can ultimately impede your performances.

Agreed that words can come easily and that the conquering of public speaking fears can be easier said then done.  Yet you can wave your worries permanent farewells by talking yourself in to a more positive mindset and adopting optimistic behavioral patterns.

1)    Convince Yourself That Presentations Are Nothing Stressful
Give yourself a talking to from the head rather than the heart.  It is estimated that an average human being speaks anywhere between 7,000 to 20,000 words per day, so talking is no more a new phenomenon to you that breathing and eating.  Putting it in to logical perspective, there is no reason why presentations should pose more problems that the conducting of everyday conversations.  The major differences, of course, are that presentations are organised, not spontaneous and delivered to audiences rather a few familiar faces.  The shifting of your mindset from stressed to unstressed cannot be expected to happen overnight.  You can, however, expect to ease yourself from one extreme to the other by concentrating on your messages, rather than getting fraught about how you are going to send them.  This will help to make your style increasingly more conversational and relaxed.

2)    Forget About Public Speaking Perfection
Try not to bog yourself down with preconceptions about what makes presentations perfect.  Is there actually such a thing as perfection, or is it simply in the eyes of the beholders?  You are understandably anxious about not wanting to make a fool of yourself in front on an audience.  Offer yourself consolation in the thought that their main focus is on what you have to say.  They are not there to judge and rate your public speaking aplomb.

3)    Focus On Your Purpose
Amidst the hand wringing and brow wiping that you might endure before delivering presentations, endeavour with all your might not to lose sight of your purpose.  Your ability to build and maintain audience rapport is undeniably important.  Yet your inability to banish the nerves that blight your public speaking engagements can result in the shifting of the onus from clear and concise subject matter to over thinking your delivery techniques.

4)    Believe You Are Good – And Become Good
During your novice experiences of giving presentations, you will pick up many ‘what to do’s’ and ‘what not to do’s’ as part of the natural learning curve.  If you have put all of your background work in before you deliver your presentations publicly, there is little reason for you to be unconfident.  Methodical organisation of your subject matter, and due diligence to practicing, goes hand in hand with the refining of your end delivery.  Your back of office labour is half of your battle won.  When front of stage, you will already be well on your way to winning the war and reaping the applause and rewards.