Avoid Toggling into 'Presentation Mode'

Hector Rondon, the Chicago Cubs’ closer stepped to the mound in the 9th inning with a 1-run lead over the Washington Nationals in their 2016 World Series winning season.  At the end of the inning, the game was tied and Rondon was charged with his second blown save in as many games. 

For that 2-game stretch, Rondon lost the ability to execute in the game what he demonstrated so well in warmups.  In practice he was great.  His slider slid, his sinker sunk, and he had great command of his 4-seam fastball.  Under the bright lights of those games, however, things unraveled.

The same is true for many business professionals tasked with important presentations—they script a ‘perfect’ presentation, practice it flawlessly, and then stiffen up when presenting to the Board, an important client, or the company.  They revert to recitation, their sentences are choppy, their tone is flat, and the presentation no longer feels like a conversation.  We call this toggling into ‘presentation mode,’ and it can be a communication liability.

Here are five tips to help you avoid toggling into ‘presentation mode.’

1. Don’t write a script

While it may seem like the right thing to do for a ‘big’ presentation, writing a complete script is counterproductive for a few reasons.  First, it takes a lot of time—both to prepare as well as to memorize.  Second, it shifts the focus from conveying the message to getting the words exactly right.  Finally, when the pressure is on, there is a tendency to read and this destroys authenticity. 

Of course, this isn’t an excuse to ‘wing it;’ that will end poorly as well.  Instead, outline your content.  Define your topic areas, create ‘section headings, know what order they come in, and bullet out any key data you absolutely must reference within your content areas. If you’re looking for more guidance on how to construct your presentation, see our presentation recipe here.

Once you have your bulleted outline, you can move to the next tip.

2. Practice (out loud)

Thinking about what you will say and actually saying it are dramatically different things.  Only by practicing out loud will you get comfortable with the flow of your content. With each practice, don’t try to emulate the exact wording you used before.  Instead, focus on conveying clear organization, punching key ideas, maintaining a conversational cadence, and adding pauses to let main ideas sink in.  The more your practice, the more confident you’ll be in what you say and how you say it.

3. Questions > statements

Consider the difference between these two ways of introducing a response to a hypothetical situation:

Statement: “To remedy the situation, we chose to do two things.”

vs.

Question: “So what did we do?  Well, we ultimately did two things.”

The statement is formal and detached from the audience.  The question, on the other hand, actively invites the audience into the presentation.  It acknowledges them.

Practice using questions to help guide your audience through your content.  Not only is it an effective tool to highlight the important points you want to make, but it’s also more conversational.

4. Tell Stories (or add illustrative anecdotes)

People are inherently more animated and authentic when they’re telling stories.  You’d never explain to a good friend what you did on vacation by reading a prepared script that outlined what happened each day.  Instead, you would tell stories or add illustrative examples that paint a more relatable picture of your vacation.  As you told those stories, you would naturally vary your rate of speech, alter your tone, and more strongly convey natural emotions.  The same is true in business presentations.  Break out of “presentation mode” by starting with a short story that provides context to your content or use illustrative examples to bring your main points to life.

5. Remind yourself

All presentations are conversations.  This is true if you’re sitting across from 1 person or standing on a stage in front of thousands.  It’s true if the audience asks you a question or you’re presenting as if they asked you a question.  Remind yourself of this and give yourself permission to be conversational.

If it helps, envision that you’re sitting down with a friend you haven’t seen in a while and they ask you, “tell me about [your presentation topic].”  In the end, your actual presentation should have the same feel.

Chicago Cub’s pitcher Hector Rondon had a stretch of games where his in-game execution didn’t match what he showcased in practice.  It ultimately cost him his job as the Cub’s closer. 

To help ensure that you don’t tighten up during the ‘real thing,’ consider outlining your presentation content instead of writing a script, practice out loud so you get comfortable with how you want to come across, ask audience-directed questions, add vitality to your content by telling short stories and including illustrative anecdotes, and remind yourself that all presentations are ultimately conversations.