When you have to deliver a presentation with other co-presenters, you need to communicate and coordinate effectively to ensure a smooth and professional outcome. In this article, you will learn some tips and best practices on how to collaborate and coordinate with other presenters before, during, and after the presentation.
Before you start working on the presentation, you and your co-presenters should agree on the main goals and objectives of the presentation, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each person. For example, you can decide who will introduce the topic, who will cover each section, who will handle the questions, and who will conclude the presentation. You should also assign a leader or coordinator who will oversee the overall progress and quality of the presentation.
Setting up a loose responsibility assignment matrix makes it easier to move fast on upcoming presentations without letting tasks fall through the cracks. Responsibilities may include designating slide or topic owners, a design lead, and a liaison for stakeholder signoffs.
Once you have defined the goals and roles, you should share and review the content of the presentation with your co-presenters. You can use online tools such as Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Prezi to create and edit the slides collaboratively. You should also give and receive feedback on the content, design, and delivery of the presentation. You should aim to create a coherent and consistent presentation that aligns with the goals and roles, and that avoids repetition, contradiction, or confusion.
It's often best to leave design decisions until after the content has been approved. This excludes design choices made in service of communicating complex information. In these instances, it's best to map out the design roughly (like a storyboard) to be polished upon content approval. Try to maintain a consistent ceiling on the information density of each slide. Schedule a deadline for contributors to asynchronously comment on each other's slides and a live sync to walk through the presentation. Leave enough time between these two dates for contributors to address feedback. Consider setting a date for content lock (i.e. the point past which changes are prohibited) for important presentations to give speakers time to rehearse.
Before the day of the presentation, you and your co-presenters should practice and rehearse the presentation together. You should simulate the actual conditions and environment of the presentation, such as the time limit, the audience size, the equipment, and the format. You should also practice your transitions, cues, and interactions with your co-presenters, as well as your body language, voice, and eye contact. You should also anticipate and prepare for potential questions, challenges, or technical issues that may arise during the presentation.
Depending on the size of the group you’re presenting to, a few rehearsals might be better. If you can get valuable feedback from a practice group a week or 2 prior, that can only improve your chances at delivering a quality presentation.
During the presentation, you and your co-presenters should support and complement each other. You should follow the agreed order, timing, and structure of the presentation, and avoid interrupting, contradicting, or overshadowing your co-presenters. You should also show interest, respect, and appreciation for your co-presenters, and acknowledge their contributions and expertise. You should also use verbal and non-verbal cues to signal when you are passing the floor, when you need help, or when you want to add something.
"Just because you're not speaking doesn't mean you're not presenting!" I tell that to the executives I coach a lot! When you co-present with others, you may go long stretches without saying a word. However, you can't forget that you're still presenting! Show your colleague support by paying attention to them as they speak. Nod and smile when it's appropriate (like when they've made an excellent point!) When people in the audience see your positive body language, they feel like your colleague is making a great point, too! You may even notice that they smile and nod along with you!
During the presentation, you and your co-presenters should also engage and interact with the audience. You should use questions, polls, stories, or examples to capture their attention, curiosity, and feedback. You should also invite and encourage the audience to ask questions, share their opinions, or participate in activities. You should also respond to the audience's questions, comments, or concerns in a respectful, clear, and concise manner. You should also thank the audience for their attention and participation.
After the presentation, you and your co-presenters should reflect and improve on your performance. You should solicit and exchange feedback from each other, as well as from the audience, the organizers, or the evaluators. You should also celebrate your achievements, strengths, and learnings, and identify your areas of improvement, challenges, and opportunities. You should also document and share your insights, recommendations, and action plans for future presentations.
A unanimously positive response or emphatic agreement aren't surefire signs of success when presenting persuasive material; these behaviors are often byproducts of agreeableness or aversion to conflict. In my experience, the strongest sign of a successful pitch looks like a "food coma". Silence, distant looks, or distracted speech suggest you've served enough "food for thought" to leave your audience with something to chew on (or that they're collectively about to have a stroke).
I highly recommend that team practice together so everyone gears one another’s points and can refer to content and create better transitions. Also teams that mentions ones another’s names seems more cohesive, more engaged and conversational.
When adding feedback to persuasive presentations (e.g. sales pitches), it helps to break major selling points into three parts: assertions, evidence, and commentary. Consider the "pathos", "ethos", and "logos" appeal (often called the "rhetorical triangle") of each selling point. Look for evidence presented in support of each assertion to appeal to the audience's logic and the speaker's authority (the "logos" and "ethos" appeal, respectively). Appeals to an audience's emotions (or "pathos") are more likely to come in the commentary tying this evidence to the corresponding assertion (if not in the assertion itself).