coaching for presenting in Scotland, presentation skills training

Coaching for presenting in Scotland: Our three top tips

Coaching for presenting in Scotland is one of the biggest requests we receive – and it’s clear why.

Let’s face it, there are very few people in the world who enjoy presenting.

We often think of it as an art form, like painting or singing.

There are those who are good at it, and those who should stick to their day jobs.

But that’s simply untrue and it’s why we’re seeing such a push for coaching for presenting in Scotland.

Because the truth is presenting, like most other skills, can be taught.

It’s a science.

You can learn to present well just like you can learn to drive well.

Will you become an F1 driver who lives for being behind the wall? Perhaps not.

But can you get from A to B successfully? Yes, and for most of us, that’s all we really want.

Here are our three top tips to help you with presenting.

Coping with the nerves

Nerves have a way of making us think we’re the only people struggling with something.

But the truth is even the most successful speakers find themselves with sweaty palms and weak knees before they walk out on stage.

Steve Jobs, the late Apple boss, was regarded as one of the best public speakers there ever was.

Yet, he routinely threw up before he started because his nerves were so crippling.

So, how did he pull through?

By rehearsing over, and over, and over again.

You’ve heard the phrase if you fail to plan, you should plan to fail?

Steve Jobs knew how strong his nerves were so instead he focused on rehearsing as much as possible, leaving as little as he could to chance.

Often that meant visiting the venue ahead of time to allow himself to get comfortable with the surroundings.

Do the same and you’ll be well on your way to winning the battle of the nerves.

Give yourself time

There is a pressure in life to hurry.

We aim to rapidly reply to every email, cram as much into an hour as possible and swiftly complete each task which comes our way.

So, when it comes time to present, our minds automatically start processing how quickly it can all be done.

But what happens when we rush is we tend to do the jobs far worse than our abilities.

The pressure to answer a question quickly often leads us to stop thinking about what the best answer may be.

The need to talk fast and hurry through the presentation leaves us tripping over our words and our audience scrambling to understand what we said.

I often hear people say: “the faster I talk, the quicker it’s finished”.

And, while that may be true, it also leaves much to be desired.

The faster we talk the more likely we are to make a mistake or miss out on a piece of key information.

My advice is to take your time.

Talk slower than you thought was even possible and get comfortable with pausing.

It gives your audience time to digest your message and gives you the opportunity to keep yourself on track.

Decide why you’re there

Every time we communicate – be it an email, a presentation or a conversation – we do so for a reason.

There is something we want or need out of it.

Trust me, very few people take to the stage out of sheer enjoyment alone.

The problem is that when the moment arrives and it’s finally time to lay our cards on the table, we forget.

Or, we panic.

Or, we’re just so pleased to be near the end, we bolt.

Then all that work and everything we just put into that communication falls flat.

Instead, we want to decide ahead of time what it is we want.

Then we want to communicate that clearly and simply at the very last moment.

We call this a call to action and it means the very last thing they hear, and will likely remember, is what you want them to do.