The Advice a Karen gave me about my presentation

I remember that day clearly…

Early on in my public speaking journey, I was giving a presentation to a group that’s part of an organization I’m in. It was what you’d call a “canned presentation.” This is a pre-prepared and standardized presentation that’s already been detailed and structured down to the “T”, so that the message is delivered consistently across the board by any speaker who memorizes it.

While this can be convenient since everything has been created for you, a speaker runs the risk of sounding “dry” and not connected to the audience or their material. This is what happened to me unfortunately.

While I did deliver all the essential information, it admittedly wasn’t an enthusiastic presentation. That’s when a woman named Karen approached me after I finished (yes, that’s her real name 😊).

“Even though this is a canned presentation (this was no secret), remember to still make it your OWN.” She gave me a number of examples for how to make a presentation you frequently give sound interesting, relevant, and also exciting for YOU the speaker. This goes for a ready-made presentation from your job, or a keynote you often deliver on stages.

Here are four ways you can keep it fresh:

1. Open your presentation a different way each time. You can use an engaging story,  thought-provoking question, startling statistic, powerful quote, or current event for example. You could even start with a surprising transparent statement about yourself. One of my clients, a pediatric dentist, once started out a presentation with “Hi, it’s me. I’m CEO. And I’m the problem.” Wouldn’t this pique your curiosity?? It was a brilliant way to open! Be creative with how you grab the audience’s attention each time.
2. Research the audience you’ll be speaking to. You need to do this every time you speak, but sometimes this step is overlooked with a presentation where the material is already planned out. Doing your audience due diligence gives you insight into them that will allow you to make tweaks to the presentation that are appropriate to them. Why is it important for this audience to hear your presentation? What are they struggling with? What is something everyone in the group has in common that you can exploit? Answering questions such as these will help you better tailor your presentation to them, and make it feel more customized.
3. Use different analogies, examples, facts, or stories. These speech elements are all great ways to aid your audience’s understanding and provide clarity. If you struggle coming up with new analogies or examples, do not worry – ChatGPT is your friend! For example, you can ask it “I am a personal finance expert who is giving a speech to a group of moms of middle schoolers. Give me an analogy I can use to show why it’s important for parents to discuss finances with children earlier than later.” If you don’t like the answer it gives you, you can ask it to give you another analogy. Feel free to change up these aspects of your speech; just make sure they make sense for your content.
4. Incorporate new questions. What direct or rhetorical questions can you ask this audience? Set aside some time to identify parts of your speech that are good opportunities for new questions. Open-ended questions invite more of a dialogue than close-ended questions. When you ask a question, remember to build in time for your audience members to actually think about their answer. Some speakers make the mistake of “trampling” on their thoughts, meaning they ask the audience a question and then quickly move on to answer it. Please don’t be that speaker!

You can still hit all your necessary points while adding your own touches that make your speech stand out.

Karen was my hero that day, with her wisdom. It was all so helpful to a beginner speaker like me. 🙏🏾

If you have a current presentation that could use a refresh, or you need to create a new high-stakes presentation but have no idea where to start – let’s hop on a complimentary discovery call. You can schedule yours here today.

Happy Speaking!

Roquita