The Perils of Winging It

It was really just another session. Intriguing title - “Preparing for the Pitch”. And not a bad presentation by any means. Good visuals/stories/etc.  Checked a lot of the requisite boxes. Looking back though, it’s amazing how simple the concept was across all 3 sections covering foundational principles, pitch prep, and pitch day. Yet, there were 200 people in this room anxious to hear more.

We’ve all been there. You know the feeling. Your heart’s beating fast. An early sweat develops before you’ve even really begun. You stand in front of your audience to deliver a presentation and quickly realize that the words you were so confident would flow naturally out of your mouth aren’t there. You feel abandoned. Your impromptu abilities have failed you. You do your best to fight through it but the time that typically flies by won’t end. You’ve bombed it. You are a victim of your own lack of preparation.

It’s amazing how confident you are when thinking through the presentation by yourself. Everything feels so easy and free-flowing. “I’ll be able to remember all of these great points I’ve got come game day.” Famous last words.

A good way to test yourself is to first stand in front of the mirror and do it. Give your pitch. Just go. If you pass that, ok. Next up, do it in front of someone. It doesn’t matter if it’s your infant child. See how it goes. If it’s less than ideal, do it again. And again. And again.

Finally, present to audience that can provide feedback. Incorporate. Repeat. Feedback. Incorporate. Repeat. Hopefully, you get the drift here.

There’s all sorts of information out there on how to structure an effective presentation. That’s not for this blog. Nope. This one really is as simple as it sounds. If you know what you want to say and you want to be absolutely sure you say it, don’t fall for the trick so many before you have...that you can stand up there and just wing it. Famed motivational speaker Robert Schuller put it well in saying, “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” So yes Allen Iverson, “?we’re talking about practice”?.