Luck does happen when preparedness meets opportunity

You have probably have been told before, “Success is an inside job.” It’s true, but success does not happen without preparation.

Sometimes you may think that a fantastic speaker is “making a mint” being paid for a one-hour presentation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The speaker is being paid for a lot more. What you don’t see are all the long hours spent researching the presentation, constructing it, and practicing its delivery.

Winston Churchill, no slouch as an orator, said it takes him one hour of preparation for every minute of his speeches.

No audience is disappointed when the speaker finished early. Finish early, and you are praised. Finish late, and you are a villain. Good timing comes from good preparation.

Below I give you some pointers on preparing your presentations: researching your presentation, constructing it, and, finally, practicing it.

Researching Your Presentation

Researching information for your presentation does three things:

• Provides you information for main points and subpoints for your presentation

• Determines what you will and will not talk about your topic

• Gives you confidence when you are delivering your presentation

Researching the information for your presentation is critical. This provides the raw material you will use to convince your audience of your way of thinking.

Notice raw material because this information is still not organized into a logical organization to make hour presentation points. Without this logical organization in your presentation, it will appear to your audience you are presenting random, unconnected facts.

There is a myriad of ways to perform research. Here are a few:

• Use the Internet – the Internet provides seemingly infinite opportunities to discover the information you can use in your presentation

• Contact experts in your presentation topic area – this provides first-hand information from sources that have lived your topic

• Books, magazine articles, essays – the old fashioned way of research can still provide you with helpful information for your presentation

As was previously mentioned, research provides you the raw material on which you will build your presentation.

However, you still need to organize the information into a logical argument to convince your audience of your way of thinking.

Constructing Your Presentation

Most beginning speakers and a few experienced speakers are challenged to organize the information from their research. Below are three methods I often use to arrange the data from my research into my talking points in my presentations.

Cards on the Wall. In “Cards on the Wall,” you write each item of information from your research on a separate Post-it note (“yellow sticky”) and then stick them on a wall or board. After all your ideas are visible simultaneously, you will magically start seeing emerging patterns to your items of researched information. Next, rearrange the Post-it notes under the emerging patterns. These logical patterns become the main points of your presentation. Use Cards on the Wall, and you will never lack main and supporting points for your presentations.

Mind Mapping. Mind mapping is like cards on the Wall, only it is done on the screen of your computer. Many inexpensive mind mapping apps are available for your phone, tablet, and computer.

From Mindmapping.com (www.mindmapping.com) – Mind mapping is a highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain. Mind mapping is a creative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally “maps out” your ideas.

In mind mapping, you put the title of your presentation in the middle of your screen. Then you start putting the disparate information from your research radiating from your presentation title. When you have all the researched information up on your screen, just was in Card on the Wall, you will magically start seeing patterns of the items of researched information emerging. Rearrange these items of information on your mind map under logical patterns. These logical patterns become the main points of your presentation.

Three Main Points. For regular readers of my articles, you know I am a fan of having no more than three main points in a presentation. This provides the following three main benefits:

• It is easier for your audience to remember and act on three main points than it is to recognize and act on four, five, or six main points

• It is easier for you to remember and deliver three main points in your presentation than it is to recognize and deliver four, five, or six main points

• It is more likely your audience will act on three main points than more than three main points

So you have researched your presentation and constructed it. The missing piece of your presentation preparation regimen is practicing your delivery. Remember, your presentation delivery is the presentation to your audience.

Practicing Your Delivery

Something magical happens when your audio, or better, video record yourself delivering your presentation. You will see all the areas you need to continue in your presentation and areas needing improvement in your presentation. However, suppose you don’t evaluate your recorded presentation. In that case, there is an excellent possibility you will miss the reinforcement of the areas you need to continue and the areas for which you need to improve. There is no faster way to improve your presentation by yourself.

An improvement to evaluating your audio or video recording is to record yourself in front of a mirror. Doing this will give you a good idea in real-time of how you look in front of an audience. Your body language is the majority of your communication with your audience.

Recording yourself and then evaluating yourself from the recording is the fastest way, by yourself, to improve your presentation. However, the best way to improve your presentation is to make your delivery as close to your actual delivery as possible. To do this, you need to record yourself before a practice audience.

This audience can be friends, colleagues, or experts you know in the field of your topic. You should make it abundantly clear to your practice audience their presentation evaluations should be honest, motivating, and accurate. These evaluations will be the most valuable to you if these practice audience members give you their honest opinion – what they liked, what they didn’t like, and, most importantly, how to fix the areas they feel need improvement.

In this article, I have given you some pointers on preparing your presentations: researching your presentation, constructing it, and, finally, practicing it.

So luck does happen when preparedness meets opportunity.

There is nothing that will increase your confidence and your “luck” in your speaking like thorough preparation.

Don’t leave home without it!

Call to Action

• Perform research for your presentations initially disregarding how the individual items of research information will be organized in your presentation

• Use the Cards on the Wall and mind mapping techniques to determine how your presentation will be organized using three main points and their subpoints for your presentation

• Audio and/or video record yourself, evaluate your recorded presentation performance and act on your evaluation, and practice your presentation before a live practice audience and act on their evaluations

Frank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster, in 2002 because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.

Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.frankdibartolomeo.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals through improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Frank can be reached at frank@frankdibartolomeo.com and (703) 509-4424.

Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!

“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”

Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com