Standing ovation at TEDxVancouver. Photograph by jeremylim.ca

What Great Presenters Do Differently

How to make an impact on stage

When I go to conferences I generally find a few presentations stand out while the majority are forgotten. Given my background in presentation design I asked myself what successful presenters do differently.

I generally believe everyone has an interesting story to tell. So despite the fact that people are generally asked to speak based on the visibility of their work, having a particular background doesn’t mean you’ll automatically give a good presentation. In my experience, it’s some of the less known but obviously passionate people that give the best talks.

Looking back, here are nine items which I’ve found great presenters have in common. These are all things you can do in preparing for your next talk too.

1. Have a goal. In a single sentence, describe how your audience will be different after your talk.
2. Know your audience. You should know who will be in the audience and what common thread they all have as it relates to your talk. Are they all entrepreneurs or do they all work in Fortune 500 companies? Even if the group is mixed, what do they all have in common which will help them relate to your topic?
3. Share your unique perspective. No one else has had the same experiences that you have. Drawing on your past experiences you see the world in a particular way. Giving your audience a glimpse into how you perceive the world will not only make your talk more authentic but is naturally intriguing.
4. Make it clear what’s at stake. What’s in it for your audience? Why should they care about your message? What will happen if they don’t listen? If there’s nothing at risk then why should they care?
5. Be able to summarize your entire talk into a 30 second story. If you can’t do this then your talk likely lacks a clear structure or you don’t know it well enough.
6. Use a variety of mediums: logic, examples, metaphors, case studies, statistics, past experiences, stories. You don’t need to use all of them but you should use a few to resonate with people in the audience. People love examples and case studies, it makes things more real.
7. Cut everything that doesn’t reinforce your goal. The best presenters stay focused on the overarching message they are trying to communicate. Everything else is distraction.
8. Don’t let slides upstage you. Fancy slides can be just as bad as slides that are crammed with text. Your slides should reinforce your ideas, not take over.
9. Practice your delivery. Practice makes perfect. Don’t memorize but do rehearse. Record yourself or have someone listen to your talk and ask questions or object to the things you say. Pay attention to how you transition between points, how you raise questions in the mind of your audience, and what you need to feel comfortable getting on stage to give the best talk of your life.

If you’re preparing a presentation or want to talk about presentation design feel free to reach out to me on twitter @nikDOTca. Want more like this? Signup for my mailing list.