Practice Good Presentations All of the Time

This is not about rehearsal. This is about a daily regimen to hone your presentation skills so that when the time comes for you to make a presentation, you are ready and comfortable.

Unless you are a hermit you see people and chat with them every day.  If it’s family stuff you might talk about plans for the evening, or having one of the kids take out the trash or clean their room.  You might be negotiating with your spouse about some expenditure or weekend plan.  If you are  at work, perhaps you’re asking a staff member to handle a project in a certain way that’s different from how she’s been doing it, or you’re asking a colleague to join you in an effort to promote a new direction, or you’re trying to motivate the troops to get on board with a new sales initiative.

Every day in every way you are talking to people and trying to persuade them to see something your way, and then motivate them to take action and do it.  A presentation is usually just a formal process of communicating to people to persuade them to see something your way and then motivate them to take action and do it.

Good presenters get good by having lots of practice. If you start looking at every encounter like the ones above, as presentation opportunities, you will get better.  But, approach each of these encounters in a methodical way.  Make sure your opening gets their attention and communicates what the benefit is for them to do as you ask.  Make sure the close summarizes the conversation and asks for a real action step.  There is a vast difference between closing a conversation with your son, for example, by instead of saying “did you hear what I said” to overtly ask for action. “Johnny, will you start taking the trash out every Tuesday, whether I remind you or not?”

There are a half dozen occasions every day to make a presentation. What I’m asking you is will you promise to use every occasion as an opportunity to hone your presentation skills?