What your on-stage presentations, music, stand-up comedy, and magic have in common.

Imagine this: You are invited to join Jeff Teper, the Godfather of SharePoint, and his team of VPs on stage for their keynote at ESPC 2023, the biggest Microsoft event in Europe. You have to present the latest innovations in Microsoft Teams, Teams Rooms, Copilot, and Mesh to a packed room of 2500 people and thousands more online. You have only 9 minutes to wow them with your high-energy, fun, and engaging talk.

Sounds exciting, right? But also nerve-wracking. That’s how I felt when I got this opportunity. I am lucky to be allowed deliver about 100 sessions a year, but this one was different. This one was huge. I (personally think I) bombed the rehearsal the day before, but I was determined to nail it on the big day.

Jeff opened the keynote with a great speech and then introduced me to the stage. A Microsoft Teams sizzle video started playing… for 93 seconds, to be exact. I could feel my heart pounding as the music blasted through the speakers… I had to go on stage in 5…4…3… I took a deep breath, summoned my confidence, and walked on stage.

And you know what? I killed it. I delivered a smooth, lively, and informative talk that got rave reviews from Jeff, his team, and the audience. I was ecstatic.

But it wasn’t always like this. 10-15 years ago, I was a mediocre presenter. I was nervous, boring, and sometimes awful. I relied too much on the text on the slides and had no variation in my voice. But over the years, I learned from some amazing people who helped me improve my skills (without them knowing it, I assure you).

TLDR: Use your voice, flow, the audience and storystelling to make your onstage presentations stick.

I grew up as a huge fan of rap music. Some of my best friends are artists and watching them create and perform always inspired me. What I learned from (rap) music was the concept of ‘flow’. Flow is the rhythm, timing, and delivery of the lyrics to the music. It’s what makes rap sound smooth, catchy, and powerful. Similar to rapping over a beat (which I am terrible at, and you’d have to take my word for it, haha), when you deliver a presentation, keynote, or other speech, it's key to use and play with tone, pace, and timing to land the important parts of your talk. You also have to make smart use of your body language and hands to emphasize certain points.

I also love some good stand-up comedy. Currently, Dave Chappelle (although sometimes controversial) is one of the all-time greats who is still a highly active performer. What Dave does very well is tell stories. He knows how to hook the audience with his humor, his insights, and his charisma. When he was in Amsterdam a few months ago for his tour with Chris Rock, he brought Jimmy Carr and Jeff Ross on stage as supporting acts. Both Carr and Ross are excellent in using the crowd during their performances. They interact with the audience, make jokes, and create a connection.

When delivering a talk, especially for an audience in a room with less than 200 people, you can use your audience to keep things interesting. I tell more stories than talk about specs, but sometimes I cannot avoid talking some tech talk. When I do, I often call out ‘the nerds’ (I’m one myself) which almost always gets some laughs.

Those laughs I use to break the ice or reset the focus by saying something like “there are always a few out there who giggle when I say that”. It’s a fun way to keep people engaged. Depending on the country and audience, I also don't mind calling someone out when they get up for some reason.

The time a human can focus is so short, I use every moment to shake that focus up, to then get back to the presentation.

Movies and magicians. What do they have to do with presenting? A lot, actually. They both teach us how to captivate an audience with our words, our voice, and our actions. And they both inspired me to become a better presenter.

Movies are all about storytelling. They immerse us in the world of the characters, whether it’s a romance, a sci-fi, or a cartoon. They keep us hooked and focused for the duration of the film. When delivering your talk, you should also focus on storytelling. Don’t just list facts and figures. Use real-life examples that your audience can relate to. For instance, when speaking about the struggles of working from home, you can share stories of you or your neighbors dealing with kids, pets, or other distractions. When talking about bad meetings, you can refer to that one meeting that we all hate and dread. Storytelling is what makes your presentation memorable and engaging.

Magicians are masters of illusion. They know how to amaze us with their tricks, even though we know they are not real. They also know how to recover from mistakes, without us noticing. I can spend hours watching YouTube videos of David Blaine and other magicians. Every few months, I get the itch to try some card tricks myself, and use my kids as my audience. But most of the time, I suck. I’m still fascinated by how they do their magic, even though I know I’m being fooled. For magicians, doing the trick has become a routine. Even when they mess up, the audience probably never spots it.

I love doing live demos on stage, but they are tricky too. Sometimes, things can go wrong. Bad wifi, one click too many, or one unexpected event can break the demo. But what I always keep in mind is that, similar to when a magician does their trick, the audience has no idea what was supposed to happen. This gives me an extra level of comfort when doing (live) demos on stage. If things go wrong, I just keep going as if nothing happened.

Next time you prepare for a talk, think about using your tone, pace, and hands when you speak. Try to play with the audience to keep things fun and engaging. Try building a story around your slides and remember that when things go wrong, the audience probably doesn’t even notice it.

I havent figured it all out. I'm learning something new almost every day. I firmly believe in a learn-it-all mindset all while creating as much value as I can to myself and others. This series of blogs is created to share some of my personal believes, learnings and insights in the hope it might help or inspire you in both your personal- and professional lives.

If you'd like to comment/share thoughts/ideas, please do. I read and respond to everything.

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