The 9 Rules of Showmanship for Presentations

I developed a very short – the requirement is four minutes – talk for a SupporTED* conference  (called, delightfully, a Collaboratorium) on the topic of presence specifically for presentations. 

1. Love:

 First rule of presence and showmanship:  Love what you are talking about and let your passion show.  If you are doing your presentation a lot, which can happen when you are raising money or have written a book, it can get tedious so remind yourself how much you care about your topic every time you open your mouth about it.

As important, love the people you are with.  You will be naturally focussed on wanting them to love you.  Cut that out. Find a way to love them up even if they scare you or disagree with you.  Love them and you will be irresistible.

2. Call to Action:

Be clear about what your message is, ask yourself the question:  what do I want people to walk away thinking, feeling, doing?  What is the call to action? Don’t trust people to “get it”.  They won’t. Tell them.

3. Take Risks:

Take risks. If you aren’t pushing the envelope, you are boring yourself.  If you are bored…well.  People have the attention span of sand fleas.  Compete by using all mediums available to you to – leverage the unexpected.

4.   Feel your Feet:

Be in your body.  You will be afraid, that never goes away, so get used to it.  Get out of your head, your amygdale are there and they can hijack you with fight, flight or this context more likely the dreaded freeze.  Stage fright can be literally described as an out of body experience. Lawrence Olivier, one of the greatest actors of all time was tortured for a couple of years by debilitating stage fright.  He said the one trick that worked for him was to feel his feet. So to get out of your head: feel your feet.  Do it right now. Feel the soles of your feet on the floor, in your shoes.  See how it pulls you right down into your body? Remember this trick, it will serve you well.

Be in your body.  Any movement you make, complete.  Don’t commit the sin of half arm movements, (visualize my  forearms waving around with elbows stuck to sides) you will look a science experiment.

5. Practice: 

Practice in front of the mirror, without a mirror, in the car, on the treadmill, in front of anyone who will let you.   Your dog.  Practice until you are bored with practice and then practice some more.  What’s the 5th rule? 

Right.

6.  Start Strong:

Start strong.  Don’t equivocate, hesitate, dither, or for the love of Pete, apologize in any way.  Don’t apologize for your slides, for the room, for the weather.  If you are late, apologize, once and then get on with it.

7.  Sing out!

Talk a little louder than feels natural and find your light.  Don’t try to hide or pretend you aren’t here.

8.  Go toward the Light

Find your heat sources and speak to them.  Fight the instinct to seek out the people who hate you and try to change their minds.  It won’t work.  Find the people who love you and shower them with appreciation and attention.

9.  Finish Clean

Ending is hard because you have built up momentum and it feels like letting go. Just go for it. Never, ever, ever go over your allotted time. Be brief, succinct, to the point and end early and cleanly. 

That’s all.

*SupporTED is the organization that provides executive coaching for TED Fellows.