As the story goes, when Nick Saban took over as head coach of the University of Alabama’s football program, he left nothing to chance. In the first couple of practices, he went so far as to have his team practice their huddles. Greatness, he knew, could be disrupted by failing to do the most simple things right. When you build a legacy, you build it from the ground up.
In this day and age there’s an unlimited supply of content for anyone who wishes to improve at anything. We can troubleshoot the minutest details of our abilities with the help of expert advice and guidance, and most of us get a steady stream of new things to focus on each and every day via email, social media and news. This environment makes it difficult, at times, to keep it simple and focus on the basics, but often this is the best thing for us.
Presentations are, most basically, a sales job. We presenters are always trying to sell the audience on our ideas, vision, products, you name it. We want to win hearts and minds.
We can design the most amazing decks; incorporate tons of rich media to entertain them; tell funny stories; give out cool prizes; and in general throw all kinds of effort into the presentations we give, but none of this will matter if we fail to do one thing: believe in our own message, with all our heart.
See, nothing is as infectious as a presenter’s conviction. Nothing is so powerfully persuasive as the enthusiasm of an earnest salesman. Nothing draws us in more than being around someone who truly believes in their vision. What an audience is looking for most when they look to a speaker for answers is belief.
So yes: make your presentation look and sound great. Be entertaining and funny and motivating. But most of all, take time to sell yourself on your own message. Take time to make sure you would buy it, do it, think it or live it yourself. Invest in your own passion for the presentation so that, when you step on stage, persuasion just emanates from your very presence. It is this quality, more than any other, that defines the great presenter.
Question: What can you do to reinforce your own conviction that your message is right for your audience?
