How to be Fully Prepared for your Conference Presentation

As a leader, you take the stage at industry conferences and use your voice as an instrument of change. The biggest challenge is your calendar. In the weeks before your presentation, what is the best way to optimize your preparation time?

In this article, I'll share the best practices I've used to prepare my clients for their journey to the stage. They have delivered impact presentations for TEDx, SxSW, Transform, DisruptHR, Plug and Play Startup Summits, and their industry conferences.

For each week leading up to your presentation, I'll share the most important outcomes to focus on, the milestones to achieve, and best practices to integrate.

6 Weeks to go

Select your Destination

What is the future you are committed to creating? You have a vision for the future that you see more clearly than members of your audience. Imagine yourself at a specific time in the future, when your vision has been realized.

Use your smartphone and take a photo that illustrates that you have succeeded. What are the elements in the picture that is worthy of celebration? Who is in the picture and how are they experiencing the positive impact you've created?

This picture represents the destination for your audience. Create this picture of the future and use it as your opening slide.

Compose Your Introduction

When you take the stage, your audience have their own questions in mind:

• Where are you going?
• What is important to you?
• How can I count on you?

The answer to the first question is your VISION for the future. When you share a compelling picture, your audience can decide whether they wish to go there too.

The answer to the second question is your VALUES. When you look at your picture of the future, it is one where you've elevated or restored these values.

In the context of your presentation, share a BOLD PROMISE (VOWS)with your audience. In return for their time and attention, what will they receive from you?

5 Weeks to go

Create Relatability and Empathy

Before diving into your content, it is important to communicate trust. Dedicate time to learn about your audience. Demonstrate relatability by sharing your familiarity with their values, vision for their future, and the challenges they face.

It is critically important to demonstrate empathy as well. Identify the emotional experience they have while navigating their challenges. Highlight the positive emotions that will be present once your vision has been achieved.

4 Weeks to go

Introduce Your Content

Use your time to give a high level overview of your content. Frameworks are a great tool to help your audience organize the information you will share.

For example, we use points in our Connection Triangle to identify the 3 parties in a presentation: speaker, audience and message. We then use each side of the triangle to organize 3 sets of message delivery skills.

Curate Your Content

Whether you are sharing content or teaching concepts, remember that less is more. Avoid the temptation of maximizing the content you share, either by speaking very fast, or squeezing lots of detail into each slide.

As an expert, your priority is to curate the most essential pieces of content. Select a few pieces of content that will create the largest impact for your audience. Give your audience a great learning experience, and you will be invited to deliver additional presentations.

When selecting content, remember the principle of "Beginner's Mind". Select content that is matched to their level of expertise. Have the mindset of a teacher. Choose the appropriate quantity and complexity for your audience.

3 Weeks to go

Finalize Your Slides

The priority for this week is to complete your slides and submit them to the event production team. Unprepared speakers will continue to make changes up until the doors open for the event. This causes chaos for the production team, and a sub-optimal presentation experience for the audience.

Examine each of your slides and make sure they follow these best practices:

• Simple. Can the slides be absorbed by your audience in 3 seconds or less? The slides are your co-star. You are the star. Make sure the audience is able to quickly view the slide and return their full attention to you.
• Memorable. Effective slides give your audience both an intellectual and emotional experience. They help the audience relive the joy of learning the content and have the confidence to apply the content.
• Transportable. The impact of your slide is magnified when your audience is able to share it with a colleague. Your slides can empower your audience to be an extension of your voice, and amplify the reach of your content.

Finalize Your Stories

Stories have the power to convert theoretical content to practical application. When a content piece is taught well, it gives your audience a good chance to recall the material. When a content piece is accompanied by a relevant story, it gives your audience a great chance to recall and activate the material.

Case studies are particularly effective. First, they highlight the character, credibility and competency of the presenter. More importantly, it gives the audience the ability to imagine themselves in your story, and model the best practices (or avoid the mistakes) of the characters in your story.

2 Weeks to go

Engagement

After finalizing your slides, you now can focus on your message delivery skills. How you say something is just as important as what you say. When we prepare impact leaders for the stage, we focus on specific skills that create engagement with the audience.

One of these skills is to expand your vocal range beyond your normal presentation baseline. In our MasterClass, we teach leaders to master 7 voices for their presentations. These 3 voices are used to elevate audience engagement:

• Storyteller Voice: Use this voice to answer the question "When have you succeeded?" Open with a neutral tone. Describe the middle with an active tone. Celebrate the end with a crisp and energetic tone.
• Teacher Voice: Use this voice to answer the question "How do we get there?" Think about your favorite teachers, and recall their tone and pace. Teach with an educational, encouraging and confident tone.
• Trusted Advisor Voice: Use this voice to answer the question "Which do you recommend?" Your audience is looking to you to recommend a choice or a path to take. Look to the leaders you admire and recall how they shared their wisdom. Share advice with an open, intentional and collaborative tone.

1 Week to go

Passion

In the previous week, you rehearsed the voices that elevated audience engagement. In this final week before your presentation, focus on the voices that demonstrate passion for your topic.

Great presenters make it obvious that they love their topic, and use their passion to activate their audience. You see how their faces light up. You hear the nuances in their voice. You feel the energy they express through their body language.

Focus your rehearsal time on these 3 voices:

• Leader Voice: Use this voice to answer the question "Where are we going?" You are on stage because you have a vision for the future, one that is crystal clear in your mind. Share your vision with clarity and confidence.
• Visionary Voice: Use this voice to answer the question "What is possible?" When introducing new concepts or strategies, remember that your audience is not familiar with the path or with the destination. Speak with an expansive and encouraging tone, elevating your audience's belief in a possible future and belief in themselves.
• Changemaker Voice: Use this voice to answer the question "Why is this important?" This is the most effective voice to close your presentation. You've utilized multiple voices with your audiences. These voices allowed you to invite your audience into a "Call to Think" and a "Call to Feel". End with a Changemaker voice and invite your audience into a "Call to Act". Close with an aspirational and heart-centered tone.

Create Impact

Celebrate your Journey

Congratulations for completing the speaker preparation milestones! Consider yourself amongst the top speakers in your industry. Leaders honor and respect the role of a professional communicator. Speakers have the focus, dedication and commitment of a professional athlete.

By arriving fully prepared, you will be able to fulfill on your bold promise to your audience. As a leader, you powerfully use your voice as an instrument of change. You make impact in your organization, in your industry, and for the world.

Celebrate the Outcomes

• Communicate Trust: During the journey, you have mastered the delivery of your content. It comes not only from your head, it also comes from your heart. This creates an emotional connection with your audience which leads to trust.
• Create Connection: You connected with the hearts and minds of your audience. By speaking with passion, you've demonstrated your emotional connection with your message. Finally, you've created a connection between your audience and your message.
• Build Relationships: Presentations are often a first conversation with members of your audience. As a fully prepared conference presenter, celebrate the line of people who approach you for a second conversation. These second conversations will help you generate money, support and positive reputation to fuel your vision for the future.

Expand the Capacity of your Heroic Voice

To accelerate your mission and magnify your impact, consider joining our?Presentation ROI MasterClass. This program prepares you for your most important presentations and conversations. Compose 7 leadership presentations, elevate 6 essential message delivery skills, record your signature presentation.

Schedule an appointment?with one of our executive communications coaches, and learn how the MasterClass will prepare you to generate money, support and reputation from all of your leadership presentations.