Presenting As A Pair

Most presenting, be it a sales pitch or church announcement, works best as a pair. This is because two presenters decreases the workload and increases the engagement. I’m gonna explain why two are better than one and how to present well as a team. Also this principle applies to live and video based presentations equally but I’ll give some unique tips for each platform.

Also, if you’re looking for coaching on this topic beyond this article then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you determine the obstacles you're facing and if I’m the best person to help you overcome them.?

WHY

1) You Play Off Each Other - Another presenter gives you someone to banter with, someone to interact with. This interaction could be answering a question you ask or laughing at a joke. If it’s a bad joke, your co-presenter will at least chuckle. This interaction is especially beneficial when you have a dead room and it’s hard to do crowd work. But be careful if you and your co-presenter have a lot of chemistry, because sometimes the interaction can go so far off script that it’s hard getting back to your talking points.

2) You Have Support - Let’s be honest, most people don’t enjoy public speaking. In fact three out of four people suffer from glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. So if you are one out of those three people, do yourself a favor and get yourself a co-presenter. This support takes some of the pressure off you. Also from a very practical perspective, it gives you downtime during the presentation. This downtime, while the other person is speaking, allows you to regroup and mentally load up your next talking point.

3) You Can Play To Strengths - Not everyone can communicate everything well. You might do humor well but struggle with serious content. You might be able to cast big picture vision but forget particular details. You might be good with energy and hype but suck at staying on topic. When you co-present, it allows you to play to your strengths. Just be careful not to become a one trick pony by sticking to one presentation style. Know and play to your communication strengths, but venture off the reservation once in a while. So we talked about why you should present as a pair. Now let’s talk about how.

HOW

1) Be Comfortable - The more comfortable and engaged presenters are with each other, the more comfortable and engaged the audience will be with them. In other words, if you are bored with each other, you will bore the audience. Not a good thing. Also try to match your energy levels. If you are wildly off it can feel like one of you is manic and the other is sedated.?

2) Connection Over Content - Ideally presenters are going to connect with the crowd and convey the content. But if they end up being weaker in one area, it should be content. I would rather have a relatable presenter who flubbed a date than one that nailed the details while coming off as distant. Another way to connect with the audience is being the most charismatic version of yourself. I say charismatic because you need to draw people into the experience. And I say version of yourself because you don’t want to be insincere by trying to be someone else. People easily sniff out insincerity and will be turned off right away.

3) Eye Contact - You want to make more eye contact with your audience than the other presenter. This applies when you are presenting live or through video. Lots of eye contact with the audience will create a three way conversation between them, you, and the other presenter. It will make the audience feel more connected to the content. You can also still visually reference your co-presenter while making eye contact with the audience.

4) Don’t Talk Over Each Other - You may have compelling content to communicate. And your co-presenter may passionately agree with what you are saying, but if you verbally affirm it, the audio mix starts to get muddy, and it becomes hard to understand. Instead physically affirm what the other is saying with head nods. But be careful not to overdo it or you will end up looking like a bobblehead.

5) Don’t Show Frustration - You may be bored with what your co-presenter is saying because they are long winded. Or you may be frustrated because they are fumbling their lines. But regardless of how well, or poorly, your co-presenter is doing, do not show frustration. Because once you do, your audience will be more interested in the interpersonal drama happening on stage, than the information being communicated from the stage. And here’s the thing to remember, the audience is usually unaware of what is frustrating you with your co-presenter. So if you don’t show it, they won’t know it.

6) Don’t Upstage Your Co-Presenter - I once was on staff at a church in which the Lead Pastor would often communicate the announcements with the Associate Pastor. Whenever the associate would present, the lead would make use of aggressive gestures to visually display what was being communicated. It almost felt like a game of charades. You need to engage with your co-presenter but you don’t need to pantomime what they are saying.

7) What To Do With Your Hands - You may feel like Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights. You don’t know what to do with your hands. So, here’s a helpful tip, have a resting position for your hands to come back to. This will help you avoid fidgeting or awkwardly trying to figure out what to do with them. Some options are the hand over the fist. One hand in pocket with the other gesturing. Or if you want to be spiritual then the prayer pose. So we talked about how to dual present in general. Now let’s specifically talk about how to dual present on video.

VIDEO

1) Be Visually Dynamic - If the video is landing on social media then the presenters need to be visually dynamic. This is because people look before they listen. People scrolling through their social feed will only stop and listen if it looks like you are interested. So your face and body need to be animated to visually pull in your online audience.

2) Stand Four Feet Apart - This allows the production value to soar because you can use a two person establishing shot to start, but then punch in during the edit. So even though you are just recording with one camera it feels like a two camera shoot. Another tip here is to gesture in front of yourself and not to the side. This makes sure your gestures aren’t off camera, or worse yet, invading the space of your co-presenter.?

CONCLUSION

So those are my co-presenting best practices. Hopefully this will make your sales pitch and church announcements better. Let me know what best practices I missed. I would love to hear from you and learn from you. And if you want additional help in this area then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you win. Have an awesome day.