Opinion: Presentation 101 – how not to make a fool of yourself in front of strangers

Ah, the presentation, the single most important event in every pitch. All your weeks, months, years of toiling have finally led to this. No more rehearsals, no more "Let’s try this", this is the real deal - it’s showtime. It’s your turn to stand in front of the client, usually in a boardroom, and tell them why your strategy, your concept, your vision, your team, is the one they cannot wait to work with and sign the dotted line.

This is the lifeblood of us. This is the reason so many of us are still in this industry. The rush, the high, the late nights pulling it all together (we’re a sick, masochistic bunch) - to ultimately triumph and take the business home to the lairs from whence we came to celebrate in our own “unique” ways.

Still with me? Good.

So if this is the reality, and the presentation really is that important a part of our process, why can’t more people master the art let alone do a decent job of it? Personally, I think there are a bunch of reasons for this but rather than delve into those, I’d prefer to share a few things that I do with my team at Type A, that hopefully could help someone out there. I mean, it’s a ruthless world, let alone the industry we work in, and I always feel people don’t support or reach out a hand to each other enough - but that’s another story.

"I’ve never presented before, I’m nervous, I get stage fright, I have bad English” Did I miss anything?

Sometimes, an individual’s work is so fantastic, people turn a blind eye to their lack of presentation ability. However, this is almost exclusively reserved for creatives i.e. moody art directors. For the rest of us client-facing mortals, it’s something you need to get on with. Your client wants to see that you know their brand, you know their ethos, you know how to communicate. If you can’t pitch it to them, how are you gonna pitch it to their customers?

So let’s start small...start with something familiar. 

Reports

Yes, reports. Why reports? Simple. This is a report for your brand, your client, your work and most likely, you helped put together the report too!
 Whether it’s the whole thing or maybe, a section of it, this is your first step. Go up to whoever it is that’s in charge and say “Hey, you know that monthly performance report meeting that everyone loves and looks forward to sitting through? I’d like to present slides seven to 15”.

Only the most anal of line managers will say “No” to you but most will say yes cos they’re either grateful that someone wants to take it off their hands or glad to see you take the initiative to step up.

Now that you have your section, you need to 

Rehearse

So what if it’s just numbers and insights you already know? This is a performance. The boardroom is your stage. There are no two ways about it.

Go over it again and again - plan and plot your spiel. Don’t do it in your head - that hardly ever helps. No performer skips rehearsals and sings his song in his head.

Rehearse it out loud. Shy? Then do it at home in your room. The colleague who laughs at you probably isn’t too bright to begin with and can’t see progress if it smacked them in the face. Don’t dim your light because they can’t stand the glare.

So go rehearse. Get your spiel ready and 

Dress the part

I learnt this the hard way but until you’re some super high-level wordsmith, leave the hoodies to the Zuck (that “formerly known as Facebook” guy). You don’t have to overdo it, but please look respectable. Sure, keep your own style but also take into account your client and their brand. 

What type of person would pull the attention and focus of the people sitting on the opposite end of the table?  At the end of the day, appearances do matter.

So it’s the big day and your palms are sweaty, vomit on your sweater, mum’s spaghetti. Breathe, it’s normal. The day you stop being even a little nervous is the day you know something’s not right. You’re going to make mistakes, you’re going to slip up. It happens. It’s part of the learning process.

If you have a good team behind you, you’ll have a senior who will jump in when necessary to get you back on track and a teammate to help you out when you falter. (shout out to my guys for saving saved my a** enough times!)

Whatever it is, do NOT do these things:

1) Read from the screen. 
I hate that. Clients hate that. Everyone hates it. We all can, for the most part, read. So unless you want to send an Audible file over, don’t read the slides word for word. Remember the spiel you rehearsed? Use it. It is your best friend.

2) Don’t be a deer. Specifically a deer in the headlights. When something doesn’t go right, a slide is missing, a visual isn’t correct, you spot a typo (it happens too often, especially in the title), don’t stiffen like a corpse and keep silent. Everyone in the room knows something is not going right. So what should you do?

Water off a duck's back - keep calm and continue like it’s not there (for typos) or admit it's there, wrap the slide up and move to the next one.
“Whoops how did that get there? Moving on.” humour works too.

If you’re asked a question you or your team cannot answer - it's ok. The effective “That’s a good question, let me check and come back to you” is the right way to go. All you are saying to your client is “Listen, I’m gonna go back, research this further and come back to you with a damn good answer.”

Nothing wrong with that. It’s better than throwing a smoke bomb when you don’t know how to create a smoke bomb (yet).

3) Look at the screen the entire time. Face your audience. Make eye contact, even if it's for a little while, with your clients. It's important to show that you know your stuff and that you believe in it.

Too nervous? I had a colleague who was like that. I sat across from him, with the client, and got him to present and look at me while he did it. Sure enough, the confidence grew and he began to look at the clients around the room and did fine. Once it's all over, go back and recap how you did.

What worked, what could I have done better, at which point did the clients look bored, was I too long-winded? This is how you tweak and improve each and every time. Practice really makes perfect.

Now there are probably a bunch of other things you can do, but I always found these to be the base foundation to build up a person’s presentation skills. The key thing is to have the spine to stand up and open your mouth. Not just for that one time, but again after that, and again for the next one - practice it till it becomes second nature.

Slowly move from reports to sections of a proposal, even if it’s for two or three slides. Don’t be another wallflower sitting there with no purpose. You will never learn unless you try and a large part of that is sometimes, completely making a fool of yourself and learning never to repeat it. As they say, never a failure, always a lesson.

And one thing – always add in some personality. You’re not there to just sell an idea or campaign, because every piece of work you present ultimately has your voice, your vision and it is important that clients learn to not just be convinced by your conviction, but actually also learn to like you.

Because after you’ve won the business, they need to like seeing your face every week.

Rewind

Remember that senior who jumped in here and there while you presented? Learn from that person, for better or for worse what to say and what not to. Because the plan is for you to one day be sitting in that boardroom, leading a presentation and jumping in to support your team when it’s their turn to step up to the mic. That’s what it’s all about, learning, experimenting to see what works to improve yourself before passing that knowledge on to the next group.

Let me know how you go, I’ll be rooting for you.

The writer is Kristian Olsen, MD, Type A.

Photo courtesy: 123RF