Practice Makes Permanent

When I was 9 years old I had a piano teacher named Professor Cardona. He was the Yoda of piano teachers. Old, wrinkly, ornery, armed with a wooden ruler to slap my hands when my form wavered. He used to say, in a thick accent, "Practice makes permanent!" For him practice wasn't about perfection because music was about nuance, imperfection and most importantly - unique style. For the Professor practice was about building skills that would stay with me forever  - permanently ingrained in my brain and my hands. Like all kids I tried to fake my way through my lessons promising the Professor I had practiced. Yet based on the number of ruler whacks we both knew the truth. I never became a great piano player...I switched to the guitar as soon as could! I still pick up a guitar or bass every day. 

Last week my 10 year old son, frustrated with his trumpet, asked me why I am so good at playing guitar. I told him that when I was his age I played every day until my fingers bled. There was not a moment in my teenage years where a guitar was not in my hands. I immediately said to him, "Practice makes permanent!" While he understood what I was saying, he walked away, still frustrated. I called out, "You have to do the work my man..."

Let's look at this way.... Baseball players practice. Football players practice. Actors rehearse. Each of them spends hours upon hours learning and honing their craft. Blood, sweat and tears, right? There's a wonderful legend about Larry Bird staying late after each practice to take an additional 500 free throws. You know what? It worked. His career average was 89% - eleventh on the all-time list. If you want to get better and become the best at what you do, you practice. It's as simple as that.

So why is that we do not practice our presentation skills? Sure we look over our slides and maybe we discuss certain talking points. But do we actually take the time to practice? 

I was leading a Presentation Skills workshop in Nashville last week and I asked the class, "how often do you practice presenting?" I got the standard answer: "I usually practice the morning of the presentation." And we all know what that means. The group sits around a table and the leader says, "You take slides 1 through 10, you take 11 through 25 and I'll take the rest." That's not practice. That's assigning roles. 

What if you approached your presentation skills like a baseball team approaches baseball practice? Instead of batting practice you work on your slide transitions. Instead of shagging fly balls, you have colleagues throw curve ball questions at you. Instead of base running, you work through your presenting skills with personal stories or dress rehearsing an actual presentation? 

Let's start slowly...we don't want to strain a muscle or get burned out. 

Set a weekly recurring appointment, during the work day, to practice. 2:00 - 3:00 PM Every Thursday In The Conference Room. Have at least 2 people in the meeting. This way you have an audience and a critic.  Use this time to do the following:

• The Obvious: Practice an upcoming pitch or presentation. Run through it from beginning to end. Have your audience ask you questions, give feedback and give you suggestions. 
• Work Your Skills: If there is no upcoming pitches or presentations use this time to work on Storytelling. Have each attendee get up in front of the group and tell a story. Simple. The rest of the group will give feedback on style, hand movements, voice, pitch, cadence and content.
• Prep Time: If you have a presentation coming up but do not know what to do, use this time with the group to brainstorm ideas and put the framework together. Get out the Post-Its and Sharpies and create your storyline - jot down ideas, potential slides, figure out as a group what will educate, inspire and engage the audience. 
• Talk About Presenting: Sometimes you won't feel like practicing. So use this time to talk about presenting. Tell war stories - what worked at your last presentation and what didn't work. Talk about what you love and for many, what you hate about presenting. 
• Watch Tape: Like great football players, we need to watch tape of other players / presenters. Watch TED Talks and discuss what you like and what you don't like. Watch the top 10 TED talks and find others that are not so great. 

What I am trying to get people to realize, is that if you want to be great at something you have to practice. It's a very simple concept. Yet time after time I have clients who demand, "Show me how to be a better presenter." So I teach them about style, cadence, hand movements, reading the audience, how to tell a story, etc. And by the end of a 4-day workshop they typically have improved. But two months later they are almost back to where they started. Why? Because they don't practice.

You can cram for a chemistry test and pass with flying colors, but two weeks later you will not remember the Periodic Table to save your life. Take the time to practice, even if it is one-hour a week. And while you not be a perfect presenter, your new skills will be permanently solidified in your brain.