What’s helped me be a better speaker and presenter

A couple of weeks ago, I was anchoring our fully live virtual conference series “Rise”, where the Worldline Team explores everything at the intersection of Digital and Commerce, with a focus on Payments. I had to open the event, with a live 15-minute piece to camera plus interview, and then run short interviews in breaks between sessions – and finally close the event out. The event went really well – and I had positive feedback from people about my performance, with a couple of people saying that “I was a natural” (and one very enthusiastic supporter even suggesting I should consider a career on screen…)

I’ve now had a look at the footage of me presenting at the event, and I can say I did a solid, competent job. I don’t expect anyone to invite me to change careers, but you know what? It was OK. And I’m happy with that. Because, like most people, I’m not a natural at speaking and presenting. I’m naturally a little shy and more of an introvert - and I used to be absolutely terrified of speaking in public. But I’ve worked hard at this over the years and I’m now much more comfortable getting up in front of a room of people virtually or face to face.

The idea that people are “naturals” at speaking or presenting was what triggered me to write this. If you’re one of those people who’s not sure they can get up on stage, or in a room, or on a screen and present – trust me, you can. The vast majority of people who look like they’re doing it naturally have put a huge amount of work into making it look easy (or at least easier).

After our event a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d share things that have helped me get more comfortable with speaking and presenting. I’ve still got a long way to go, but these are the things that have got me from terrified, to comfortable and sometimes even enjoying it.

Before you present

Script it, but not word for word.

Write down what you want to say. Don’t assume you can ad lib based on the slides or memory. Preparing this will help you order your thoughts and make sure you hit the notes you want to hit. I find it helps to write bullet points and key phrases down for your talk, instead of fully scripting everything word for word. That gives you flexibility when you speak, making you seem more natural, instead of sound like you’re reading lines from a play.

Practice the crap out of it

However long my speaking slot is, I’ll set aside at least 5 – 10 times that amount of time to practice what I’m going to say. I’ll go through what I want to say out loud, over and over again until I don’t need to look at my notes anymore and I’m even starting to get bored. Doing this helps fix the content in your memory, helps you build flow and seem much more natural. After doing this, I often find I go back and adjust my notes because I’ve found a better way of expressing or explaining things.

Film yourself practicing on a camera

When you’re practicing, try doing it to your laptop camera and then watching yourself back. You’ll be surprised at what you see - there are often things that are really easy to fix. You might notice (like me) that your voice is a bit monotone – I’m always triggered to inject more energy and higher tones to my speaking when I do this.

On the day of presentation (or just before)

Breathing exercises

If you get nervous, or even terrified on stage or before speaking, try a few breathing exercises before you start. They won’t kill the nerves, but they’ll take the edge off so you can actually use your brain and be present. It’ll also help you in your delivery to sound a little more “in-flow - instead of delivering short sentences with short breaths, you’ll be able to reach a little deeper and talk longer. I find this helps me at the start of a presentation, as I often get a really strong “whoosh” of adrenaline which can sometimes make my voice sound a bit weak. There are lots out there, but I use the 4-7-8 technique.

Always have your notes

You’ve practiced the crap out of it, and you should know it, but always have your notes with you. Unless you are super confident (in which case, why are you reading this???), don’t be afraid to have these with you and refer to them, to keep you on track and on message. They’re also your failsafe if you do totally blank on the next thing to say.

Accept you’ll make mistakes

Yup, it always sucks when you mess something up in front of other people. But most of the time they won’t notice. There’s no need to freak out if you lose your place or train of thought – just take a look at your notes and regroup. You will make mistakes, you’ll stumble and stutter, and occasionally say things that sort of make sense but also sort of sound a bit weird. That’s the beauty of being human. You’re not perfect. Next time you’ll be a bit more fluent, and a bit more confident (and you’ll make different mistakes).

Pretend to be someone else

I sometimes use this trick when I’m in a really new environment, or I’m just a bit low on mojo for some reason. I think of someone I know, who is a really great speaker and presenter, and pretend to be them while I’m speaking. Sounds a bit weird, right? It’s not for everyone, but I find sometimes it distracts me just enough and channels my energy in a new way.

Afterwards

Watch the video

If there’s video of your talk, watch it. You will absolutely cringe (the first time, at least) because very few of us love watching ourselves on screen. But, once you get over the cringey bit, two things happen. Most of the time, you think “that was actually better than I thought”. You’ll then notice lots of things that you can tweak and fix easily for next time. If you can’t get a video, ask someone to watch you and give you direct feedback afterwards. I watched my presentations from Rise and realized that I move my leg in a bit of a distracting way when I speak sitting down. And I was a bit quick in my delivery, which made it sound less natural and a bit forced.

Do it more

The most important thing about getting better at speaking or presenting is obvious. Do it more, and do it over and over again. The reason people look like naturals is because they’re speaking a lot and learning more and faster about how to get better. Volunteer for opportunities to speak – even if it’s scary the first time (or the second, or the third), it’s the investment you need to make to get better.

Speak for longer

As you speak more and more, try speaking for longer. For most people, the terrifying part of the whole public speaking experience is more at the start. After a few minutes – once you get over the initial nerves, and the fact that you’re on stage or in front of a room, you’ll find more rhythm. You’ll eventually find a place where you can be more comfortable or even enjoy it.

What do you think?

This, of course, is just my perspective and what I’ve found has helped me a lot. It's also related to some ideas I had around corporate life in general over here.

I’d be really interested to hear if you have any tips or hacks that help you with speaking in public. Let me know!