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Simple really. Practice. You want to know the material cold. So well you mix in a story, tell a joke, etc. If you’re “presenting” you don’t know the material or your path through it well enough.
Some pointers beyond that:
Don’t have a script you are delivering—you’ll be too focused on remembering your “lines” to be natural or charismatic
Focus on the “in” and “out” of every slides. Nailing a few transitions word that make allow slides to flow seamlessly together is 90% of the battle
Don’t just explain the material—bring it to life. use story, anecdote, example, metaphor, etc
Practice outloud. Early in my career I would practice big presentations (pitches etc) for at least an hour. Often 2 or more. Always the night before and morning of.
Lastly, try to have fun. And if you can’t convince yourself of that or that you’re not nervous, fake it. Eventually the act will become reality.
Same pointers for a workshop. Know the material so well you can “forget” any of your lines and just be natural
As for nerves, practice helps but doesn’t make it go away. Been doing this for 20 years and I’m always “nervous” but I learned to harness that feeling and turn it into fuel. It’s energy to have the presence I need. Don’t fight the nerves, ride them. How do you learn this? Experience.
Might be other solutions but these are mine. I’ve been told on multiple occasions I’m the best presenter people have seen. From people sitting on global creative councils, agency presidents, clients.
Easy as in not complicated. Not as in “doesn’t take work”.
Ben Levy has a course called C.R.A.P. It’s online but I’ve heard good things and want to do it myself once I have the time. He also has some workshops where some are virtual and some are in-person. His website is sellitgreat(dot)com. He goes to various agencies to do workshops and I’ve had some friends of various departments all enjoy it and say it’s helped them in presentations greatly.
Second this. He is specifically specializing in this industry, so it’s not some generic presentation course.
Take some improv classes and learn to be quick on your feet. Record yourself giving a short presentation and watch it so you can tweak your presentation style. Laugh at yourself. No one wants to be “read to or presented to.” They want to hear a story. Watch TED talks.
Agree improv helps the most. Helps break down fears. Trains you to let down your guard and be a bit more of an “entertaining” communicator. Being able to make a room laugh is worth gold when most presenters have people yawning. I’ve done formal presentation trainings and the direction was so awkward and stiff, I threw it all out and now do my own thing. I get a ton of positive feedback on being a great presenter, and improv was the game changer.
I know it sounds corny, but there are really great YouTube teachers for better presenting!
Try “Charisma on Command”, “Phillipp Humm” and “Vinh Giang”
Good luck!
Always keep a bottle or glass of water near by. If you struggle, get nervous, catch yourself going too fast, or just need a few seconds to catch your breath, you can take a sip of water and use that time to reset
Rising Star
Read the book Art of the Pitch
Check out Steve Hudson who runs The Power of advertising website. He ran a How to sell work workshop for our agency last year which was amazing. He does them through The Creative Floor Awards. You could probably get in touch with him directly or go through Creative Floor.
Heard great things about Duarte!
You can definitely try and get your company to pay for a course or something
My company paid for me to take training literally called "Own the Room" and it drastically changed my confidence. The company was acquired, but it looks like they still do the training: https://lifehikes.com/training-topics/