Enrich Your Pitch
Presentation Skills: Vector?
VECTOR
I delivered a session recently called, ‘Life’s A Pitch’ (not my title) to new partners at a global law firm. Now that they are in this exalted position, they have to think about they ‘show up’, how they pitch to clients, and how they present themselves at internal meetings or conferences. I introduced them to improv skills but I also wanted to give them a snappy summary of all that I have learned in many years of helping non-performers create the impact they want when standing alone at the front of the room.
I have prepared lots of handouts over the last twenty years - to ad agencies, global corporates, students and beyond. I mulled over each one but none quite captured what I wanted to share with this audience - clever people, accomplished in their chosen career, probably good at giving technically robust (yet possibly dry) presentations but now having to extend themselves into inspiring their teams and selling to outsiders.
A handy new acronym didn’t come to me. Sometimes, once I have a few letters, and a word is emerging, I work backwards to see what the remaining letters might suggest. Some would call this ‘backing into’ a solution. Cynics would call it ‘crowbarring’. I call it creative inspiration. When I came across the quote, ‘How do I know what I think until I see what I say?’, apparently by E.M. Forster, I was delighted. Why shouldn’t you acknowledge that the unconscious guides you? How about being a bit conscious and allowing a letter to inspire you to nail the answer?
I came up with VECTOR. A great word, that I first learned in physics and applied maths in school. Speed tells us how fast something is going. A vector tells us that PLUS its direction. It is helpful in determining the position of one point in space relative to another. I liked it in connection to presenting - because it’s not just about expending energy waywardly but harnessing it in the direction that will create the best impact.
VOICE
Avoid monotone, that ‘reading out my essay’ vibe.
Slow down. Speak loudly enough - even if you have a mic.
Avoid disfluencies (‘y’know’, ‘um’, and obvious repetitions where you haven’t bothered to vary your wording, usually superlatives like ‘brilliant’ or ‘amazing’ or nervous tics like ‘basically’. You are allowed only one such word per presentation, okay?) This will be helped by rehearsal.
EYE CONTACT
Look at your audience. All of them, not just the nice ones or the important ones. Spread it around. Connect with one persona at a time. That momentary energy will transfer to everyone in the room. Don’t look down at your notes for more than a glance. DO NOT KEEP LOOKING BEHIND YOU AT YOUR SLIDES ON THE SCREEN.
This will be helped by rehearsal.
CONVERSATIONAL
In tone. Speak in real, human terms, not jargon. Your audience may be technically qualified so you can use relevant vocabulary but if EVEN ONE person is baffled by your fancy words make sure you explain them.
This will be helped by rehearsal.
TRANSITION
Messy transitions between speakers include:-
‘Do you want the clicker?’
‘Um, who’s next?’
‘Right, I’ve got to hurry now because we’re over-running’
Also, look at transitions in your presentation. Do you have a flow, building to a memorable call to action or conclusion or do you have just a sequence of slides spliced together because you didn’t have time to marshal your argument? And how are your transitions from one slide to another? Ever heard someone say the following…?
‘This isn’t really relevant but I forgot to take it out from the last presentation I did or from the pack that someone has ordered me to inflict on you.’
‘We think this is a good slide but don’t know where to put it so bunged it in here. Please let me gloss over it.’
No? But you know that’s what the subtext was. You wouldn’t turn up to a presentation without having checked your trousers, so check your slides too - ahead of the day, and on the day, in situ.
This will be helped by rehearsal.
OWN THE SPACE
Confident body language. You are the centre of attention. Keep it that way. Don’t fidget. Don’t keep adjusting yourself. Use gestures that bring in the audience and add emphasis. You can move but only with intention. Make sure you have moments of stillness.
This will be helped by rehearsal.
REHEARSAL
Vital. Rehearse before you are ready - standing up - with some bullet points you haven’t agonised over. Doing a ‘bare bones’ run-through often shows you that you more prepared than you thought. But record it on your smartphone. Listen back - make notes based on what you said. You probably came up with some great phrases that would not have come from sitting at a computer. Embrace the cycle of rehearsing and re-writing. Only prepare slides once you have nailed your thread, your flow, and, especially, the point you actually are trying to make.
Rehearsal is vital. It means you are comfortable with what you are saying, and you are not fumbling about thinking what comes next, and you KNOW HOW LONG IT LASTS.
DO NOT LEAVE IT TO THE LAST MINUTE TO SAY THE WORDS OUT LOUD. Your slides may be great but if you are ill-prepared to deliver the presentation of which they form a part, that’s how your audience will remember you.
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Have you seen Despicable Me? There is a character called Vector