How to Prevent Presentation and Speaking Disasters

I just got back from my whirlwind speaking commitments, and I thought you might be interested in these recent experiences (especially since speaking a way to increase the number to increase your visibility and credibility in the field). Within two weeks, I spoke in two different conferences. Even if the argument was the same audiences of all was different.

In Florida I was the first speaker at the Conference Prestige Products. Guys, I was nervous.I was using a new and untested presentation and was the first guinea pig on the scene. I checked my PowerPoint in advance (and made two backup copies) and was leery of the defects are always looking for presentations. Everything went well and I finished in exactly the time period of 45 minutes. This is something that you can not always assess, even with practice. If you get nervous and talks fast, you reduce the speaking time. So this leaves downtime before the next speaker, and makes you look like an amateur.

The group was great. He asked a lot of demand and connected with me and my subject. I ton of business cards from members of the public who wanted a copy of the entire presentation. I made a point of telling everyone too much and asked for their opinion of the other presentations.

The second concert was very different. I was the last speaker in the session of the first day. I worked my self into a frenzy after watching Hallmark, Kraft Foods and Sherwin Williams' current programs, with all kinds of special effects including video clips. Yikes, here I was with my simple PowerPoint presentation in competition for attention at the end of a long day.

At that time I was a wreck, I knew my stuff was good experience the previous week, but what about the "show"? I did a quick once over of my slides during the break and everything seemed in order. When I finally got up to speak, after a very technical boring, I relaxed a little. ' It 's been really hard to read at a wide audience, where tired, bored and seemingly uninterested. I panicked when my second surgery was two slides that I "to impromptu" and had no bells and whistles to keep them awake. Surprise! Once again, I had a lot of questions and business cards without special effects.

The next day I talked to a lot of programs on participants of the previous day. To my amazement, most heartfelt "presentations big names" were dull, canned or not really relevant to what they were looking for. I also had a terrific testimonial from one of the participants on how I had some great "take away" information.

So why am I telling you all this? It is not the "name" of the company or the special effects that make the presentation or information of value, is what the participants learn and hear from you who makes the presentation a success. Connect with the audience by understanding why they are there in the first place. Do not get caught up in frills or special effects that takes away the "substance" of the program. If the material is good, the presentation will be too, although there are some knots in it. Speakers are not "gods" to be worshiped from afar. Those who connect with their audience even if the solid content and the information will be remembered long after the "fancy" presentations fade .......