Q4 • 2022


07


SIMPLE STEPS TO Raise Your PRESENTATION Game


Professional training and practice are the best ways to improve your in-person communication skills, but if a seminar or classes don’t fit your immediate schedule, use these at-home tips from Fia Fasbinder to begin your journey to being a better presenter.


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became trendy during COVID. Those digital tools may have led to fewer physical face-to- face conversations and allowed presenters to rely on hidden crutches such as scripts and teleprompters, but Fia Fasbinder says you will always perform better if you have in-person presentation skills.


“If someone is an engaging and charismatic


speaker, they will be well received through any medium,” Fasbinder stresses. “People connect with people. That’s why you still hear that word of mouth is the best advertising. The trust and rapport that two people have take years for a company to build from a distance. When a public speaker is delivering at the top of their game, everyone in the audience that is dialing in feels like they’re being spoken to individually. They don’t feel spoken at; they feel spoken to. They’re hitting all the hot buttons that ads struggle to hit—persuasion, conviction, authenticity, and even vulnerability and relatability.” Modern marketing tools such as content,


email newsletters, and social media are designed to help brands reach larger audiences with less heavy lifting. But while these generic tools can be personalized by using data points and then adding a customer’s name, companies are still seeking employees who can


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Practice being yourself and being vulnerable with others. — Living authentically will do wonders for your self-confidence and personal happiness. Doing so will unlock your natural charisma and, by proxy, your stage presence.


Practice diaphragmatic breathing. — This works for Olympians and even soldiers on the battlefield by lowering the heart rate and uncluttering thoughts. It will also help your voice sound stronger and make you feel less anxious. Slowly breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, then breathe out for a count of six.


Always analyze your audience ahead of time. — This is a no-brainer when you work in marketing or sales, but people often forget to apply that logic to presenting to their colleagues and leadership teams.


Simplify to amplify (less is more).— Everyone values their time, so be concise and to the point. For example, if you have 20 bullet points, make each bullet point its own slide. It takes the same amount of time to present, but it stops your audience from reading ahead and getting bored.


Rehearse! Rehearse! Rehearse!— Every top speaker you’ve seen who amazed you with their conversational and relaxed approach only appears that way because they practiced their speech as much as possible. We can’t stress this one enough. ANY amount of rehearsal before your presentation will make a world of difference.


both do the behind-the-scenes work and stand in front of a crowd and represent the brand. “Companies don’t want to have Robert or Rachel write content and then have Sam or Sarah present it,” Fasbinder says. “They want people that are competent in and out of the public eye, on and off camera, on and off the stage. If a company decides that it wants to ‘put itself out there,’ then anyone involved needs to have exceptional communication skills. Authenticity is the currency of successful content creation, and those who can’t express themselves will fail to connect with others.”


Beyond just making you a better candidate


for that brand job you covet, sharpening your speaking skills helps to build self-confidence, which improves creativity. Fasbinder points out that it takes courage to be vulnerable in front of strangers, and those who believe in themselves are more likely to try new things, innovate, take risks, and advocate for themselves and their ideas. “Person-to-person communication and


presenting take you places that go beyond business,” she says. “Influencing is a very real thing outside of social media. It makes


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