re: "Speaking to large groups" knower abouters

Xanax. Seriously.

If all else fails, have more in your presentation than you could possibly cover in the allotted time.

At the start, say “I have a lot to cover in the time I’ve been given, so stay with me.”

Then your stumbles and nervousness will be covered a little by your need to cover everything. They’ll chalk a lot of it up to the time crunch.

Not the best plan, but it’ll help you out if all else fails.

THE one thing more than anything else is to practice by video recording your delivery over and over until you nail it. This could take hours but trust me it will be worth it.

25 year Toastmaster here, 25 years in Fortune 100 management, university level instructor here. I know what I'm talking about. You are welcome.

I would be a nervous wreck. Bigger fear than dying. Maybe a Toastmasters crash course?

quote:

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“Catch Covid” and give presentation via webex.

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Believe me, I've thought about it.

Man there are some really great people on this board. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement & advice. This really helps a lot. I'll check back in when I'm done, it's happening on Nov. 16th

Don't go over your time.
If the schedule is running behind cut time from your presentation.
Under no circumstances delay a break or lunch.
If you have 1 minute and you are the last one before lunch because everyone else went over then you get 1 minute.

I speak to a good many large groups. It's tough at first but focus on the first few minutes and the rest will flow out after your adrenaline kicks in.

First, make sure every slide is necessary. Nothing is worse then a speaker droning on about crap the audience doesn't care about. Condense them as much as possible.

Don't read the slides. The audience can do that. Have a couple bullet points you hit. Don't prewrite your speech, use your notes to hit the talking points (so you don't read it word for word) Use the bullets to put it into your own words.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

When you first step up to the podium you may want light humor to ease the transition but be very careful. Self depreciation is usually a an ok start. "I got into IT so I could avoid people, and look at me now"

But, I've also come to realize I'm not a comedian and I'm not being paid to make jokes. I'm there to convey info and educate so be careful with the jokes. I quit trying to lead with jokes. I introduce myself, give a little background, and dive into the presentation. Any jokes after just flow into the presentation.

Your the expert on your material or they wouldn't have asked you to speak so focus on the the material. It will come naturally since you have a deep knowledge base of the material and pretty much nobody in the audience will understand IT.

Also, break the room into four parts. And transition your attention to each part during your talk. You will find a friendly face in each part of the room and present to them.

During your practice work on getting rid of the "Uhs" and etc other noises.

Take a bottle of water with you to the podium and use it to pause and for your dry throat.

Lastly, really focus during practice on the first two minutes of your presentation. Start out speaking at a slower cadence then normal. Take a few extra pauses during this time. Focus on your breathing during the first two minutes. Find that friendly face in your first quadrant during that two minutes.

I've learned if you start the presentation at what you think is a slow pace, your adrenaline will kick, your knowledge of the subject will kick in, and you will slowly work your way up to your normal cadence and the 20 minutes will be over before you know it.

But you must start slow. If you take off speaking at the speed of a jackrabbit, your flight instinct will take over and your brain will never catch up. Again START SLOW with your pacing.

The very last thing, is Don't take anything or shoot liquor. That won't do anything but mess up your groove and people will know it.

Good luck, just go out there, don't be afraid to start slow. Don't be afraid to take a sip of water and pause and focus on presenting the information that your the expert on as succinct as you can. Its that simple.

Practice to get your timing right so you don’t go long or short.

The first few min are the worst….normal to feel anxiety but it will pass.

If appropriate, starting with some ice breaker - ie raise your hand if….who in hear has experience with…etc. always helps me. You can interact with somebody rather than droning on.

If you can’t do that just practice and nail your first 5 mins and you’ll feel better. Once you get past that you’ll sail through it.

Good luck!

Engage the audience, have some questions for them to force their participation. If it’s a professional group and the questions are relevant it should help. Don’t try and be funny especially if your not comfortable or funny! It won’t go well.