We’re All Presenting All the Time

Presenting is something that probably doesn’t appear on your performance plan.

Or maybe you don’t think you ever present.

But you do. We all do. A presentation doesn’t require a stage, podium and large audience. If the boss asks for an update while on a Zoom call about something else, you in that moment are the presenter and your boss is the audience.

The same goes for pitching an idea at a staff meeting, arguing a point at book club, or convincing the neighborhood to support a new mayor. Those are also presentations.

Yet it’s often a big lift to get people to practice speaking with clarity and precision, or to become better storytellers. I know. As a communications coach the last eight years — and as a speechwriter and journalist before that — I find that most mistakenly think that doing what they do, and communicating about what they do, are the same skill.

They’re not. As a presenter, you’d do better to think of your public speaking skills as a different talent, like playing the piano or hitting a backhand. I don’t know anyone who would take two piano lessons and then perform at a recital.

As your coach, then, how do I get your buy-in to practice? Well, I’m going to do what I’d advise you to do before a high-stakes presentation. The first thing I’d ask you to think about is your crowd.

How much do they know? What’s their attitude about your subject? What do they value? And what do they want from you? Information? Next steps? A path forward?

Once you can answer such questions, you’re ready to make your case. Switching back, I’m guessing there are a few reasons you don’t practice: there’s no time, it’s awkward, and, you’d argue, there isn’t much return on your investment.

Here are my top five ways to get you to think differently:

1 — Practice builds confidence. It helps push aside nerves about public speaking. It helps transform the inner critic into an inner advocate.

2 — Those who speak well are more convincing. Whether you work in courtrooms, computers or contracting, you’ll be more credible if you can get to the point quickly and compellingly. And that will lead to more wins.

3 — Solid speakers tend to move up more quickly in their organizations. They get noticed. They develop a reputation and brand that opens doors.

4 — All great presenters practice. We look at them and it all seems so natural, so instinctive. What you’re really looking at is well-rehearsed spontaneity.

5 — Practice gives you the maximum return on your investment in training. Even those far more interested in facts and data than wowing an audience can’t argue that one.

6 — You’re going to practice sooner or later. Do you really want it to be in front of a live audience?

Does practice really produce results? Sure. Just look back at how clumsy it felt to lead or speak up on a virtual video call when the pandemic started. You may not be perfect now, but all that Zooming around has surely sharpened your skills. Odds are you look better, sound better, and project better. Why? Practice.

“The single biggest problem in communication,” George Bernard Shaw famously said, “is the illusion that it has taken place.” If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution, imagine resolving that single biggest problem in 2021.

Steve Piacente is Director of Training at The Communication Center in Washington, D.C. He is also the owner of Next Phase Life Coaching and the author of, “Your New Fighting Stance: Good Enough Isn’t, and You Know It.”