Practice Makes Perfect ? 7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Presentation Practice

Believe it or not, preparation is a better determinant of presentation success than knowledge, experience, or even talent. The best presenter is almost always the presenter who is the most prepared. Even so, there are a lot of conflicting ideas about what constitutes thorough presentation preparation.

So what exactly is thorough preparation?

Here are seven straight forward tips to increase the effectiveness of the time you invest in your practice.

1. Practice Delivery Out Loud. Practice is NOT mentally rehearsing your presentation on the drive over to the presentation or even thinking about your presentation while tossing and turning at night. Both of these are something, but not practice. A lot can happen between thinking about what you want to say and actually getting the words to come out of your mouth coherently. If you don't actually practice speaking out loud, when the time comes, you may struggle to articulate your mentally well rehearsed thoughts. To the audience, this struggle will appear to be lack of preparation.

2. Try to Conduct Your Practice in a Situation Similar to the Real Speaking Venue. Whenever possible, conduct your practice in a situation that closely mirrors the real presentation. For example, if you will be speaking in front of a large group in an auditorium or large conference room, try to practice in a large room filled with as many audience recruits as possible. Why? Research indicates that if your practice closely mirrors your real presentation, once you are in the actual presentation your brain will think you have done this before. Besides practice, the next most important ingredient in your success is experience.

3. Practice in Front of Real People. If you can't find any audience recruits at work, ask your spouse, best friend, or if all else fails, your pet to listen to your presentation. Interacting with a live audience is an important part of your practice. It helps you not only rehearse your delivery, but gain experience reading and reacting to the silent messages your audience is sending you about their understanding, their likes, and their dislikes.

4. The Mirror is Your Friend. Even after you've practiced in front of an audience, continue to rehearse in front of the greatest critic of all, yourself in the mirror. The mirror is a WONDERFUL if underused presentation practice tool. It will allow you to see and hear your delivery live and make decisions about how to enhance your style. Remember, when it comes to practicing your presentation, the mirror really is your friend.

5. Practice From Beginning to End Without Stopping. Practice all the way through the presentation without stopping-even if you make a mistake. Most presenters have a tendency to stop their practice each time they make a mistake. Besides reinforcing this negative practice, when you continually stop and start over you get very good at the beginning of the presentation, but can't deliver an effective conclusion because you've rarely made it to the end of the presentation. As the second most remembered part of your presentation, it is important to have a strong, well-rehearsed close.

6. Practice With Your Props. If you are using visual aids such as a PowerPoint slide show, make sure you practice with your slides. Visual aids of any kind add another layer of complexity to presentation and require practice to use effectively. Practicing with your slides will help prepare you for the things that inevitably go wrong and help you avoid unprofessional behaviors such as not knowing how to advance your slide show or how to put the slide show in the proper view for display.

7. Do it One More Time. After you feel you've done it well in practice and are happy with your performance, practice one more time to make sure your success wasn't just a happy accident. All in all, depending upon you and your content, you may need to practice your presentation delivery out loud 5 to 10 times. Yes, that's right, you might have to practice out loud up to 10 times, but don't worry, your audience's thundering applause will make the effort worthwhile!

Debbie Bailey is a well-known Presentation Skills Consultant and author of the book "15 Presentation Secrets - How to WOW Even the Toughest Audience," available at trainer2go.com/ebooks.html. For more information about Debbie, go to http://www.trainer2go.com.

---

10 Profitable Tips for Creating Better Sales Presentations

No matter what your business is, you will enhance your... Read More

Quick and Easy Rehearsal Tips

Never rehearse at the last minute. This creates undue tension... Read More

Guidelines for Rehearsal Criticism

It is both good planning and considerate to provide auditors... Read More

Dump Your Speeches For Leadership Talks

The CEO of a worldwide business asked me to help... Read More

How to Prevent Presentation and Speaking Disasters

I just got back from my whirlwind speaking engagements and... Read More

Clear Communication: The Benefits and How to Achieve Them

Communication is a complex and often difficult process for both... Read More

Create A Better Impresion With Your Emails

How do you come across in your emails?As I receive... Read More

Winning The Big Pitch - The 7 Deadly Sins Of Business Presentations And How To Avoid Them!

Are poor presentations costing you business?The ability to deliver a... Read More

Polishing Your Sales Presentation

Summer is here! It's time to bring out your summer... Read More

I Love the Smell of PowerPoint in the Morning: The 5 Sensory Approach to Business Presentations

You're in a conference room. You're giving a PowerPoint presentation... Read More

The Upside to an Auditory Rehearsal

Many experienced trainers feel that there is something lacking in... Read More

The Crucial Components of a Lesson Plan

MAKING INFORMATIVE LESSON PLANS: --The performance objectives should answer this... Read More

Plasma Screen Hire ? What Do You Need to Know for Presentations

How many people will need to see the screen? A... Read More

Lecturing from the Lectern

Most people love to hide behind the lectern.. It makes... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Sharpen His Presentation Skills

Regardless of the nature of our job or social standing,... Read More

Incorporate Humor in Your Next Speech

Some speakers say, "I could never use humor in my... Read More

How to Begin a Lesson Plan

DEVELOPING LESSON PLANS: In developing lesson plan formats, two things... Read More

Beetle Bailey and Presentation Skills

In March 2002, the comic strip Beetle Bailey contained a... Read More

Story Telling As a Business Tool

Long long ago, it was the time when time itself... Read More

Tips to Temper Speaking Anxiety

People take it for granted that leaders have achieved some... Read More

How to Make Good Use of Your Web Conference Session

Preperation is vital when conducting a successful videoconference session. Thus... Read More

The Relationship between Information Sender and Receiver: The Art of Communication

For communication to take place, a message must be transmitted... Read More

Why You Need a Lesson Plan

LESSON PLAN DEVELOPMENT: Lesson plans, believe it or not, are... Read More

Super Preparation ? Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every Presentation

Super Preparation ?Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every... Read More

Business Presentations - Use Power Pitching - Get the Personal Edge

Whenever and whatever you're pitching, dozens of factors will figure... Read More

Watch Out For Power Thieves

"I'm not an expert on this topic, but . .... Read More

Developing Successful Demonstrations

SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATIONS: All of us have seen demonstrations in one... Read More

Keeping Meetings Productive

KEEPING MEETINGS PRODUCTIVE: Whether participants approve or disapprove of an... Read More

Present for Success: Simple Strategies to Add Confidence and Credibility to Your Next Presentation

Tomorrow's the day and you're dreading it. You're scheduled to... Read More

Chairing A Meeting The Most Effective Way

How many times have you attended a meeting where the... Read More

How to Teach: Lecture vs. Discussion

WHEN ONLY A LECTURE WILL DO: Under certain circumstances, of... Read More

Is Now Really the Time to Hire a Professional Speaker?

Since the events of September 11th and the economy slipping... Read More

Choosing a Presentation Remote Control

If you deliver electronic presentations using PowerPoint or other programs,... Read More