Need help improving your team's communication and presenting skills?
I hear this a lot from leaders and managers:
"My team are brilliant. They are hard working, diligent, whip-smart and mega knowledgable. But....when they present they just...they don't really....their style isn't... you know....I don't think they engage the audience.... I don't think they come across with the passion and credibility I know that they have."
Here are my top 5 tips to help your team with presenting:
Normalise their nerves - Many people are so hard on themselves simply for feeling anxious about presenting in the first place. They judge these feelings and performance jitters. They think it is a sign of some weakness or deficiency. It isn't. Tell them that it is normal to be nervous.
Encourage eye contact - Are they looking at the floor? The slides? You and only you? Gently remind your team that eye contact with each person in the room is important. Not only does it give us comforting proof that people are engaged with us, it also plays a role in keeping their attention.
Hold back your hands comments - Never, ever criticise someone's hand gestures. This will make them more self-conscious and as a result more wooden and awkward looking. If they need some help getting comfortable in the spotlight share this video.
"I don't know" is acceptable - The # 1 thing that makes people nervous about presenting is their worry about what questions are going to come up. I made a video about it here. The fear of not having the answer - instantly and with 100% certainty - is really crippling, but this fear is totally avoidable. If your team hear from you that they are not expected to know it all, and that they can defer or delay giving an answer, this gives them permission to respond with "I don't know" in a tone that remains credible and confident.
Why, Why, Why?! - Discuss the following with your speakers: i) Why is this presentation being given (part 1)? What do your team want to get out of this ii) Why is this presentation being given (part 2)? This is the most important one - figure out what your audience is going to get out of this. Why should they care? iii) Why me? Let the speaker know why they are best placed to be the presenter on this topic. This reinforces their confidence and reduces nerves (see tip number 1!).
If you can remember just one tip from this list it should be this:
Focussing on purpose is so, so important and takes care of a lot of issues such as nerves and monotone delivery. When we have something to fight for, the voice and body respond!
So bosses, now it is time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Approach your team members with patience, positivity and plenty of ideas from my list above on how you can work together and make a bigger splash with every presentation from now on.
I create team training workshops, webinars and 1:1 classes too. So if you'd like to educate and energise your team around communication and presentation skills I'd love to talk with you. Arrange a call with me here