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Move Your Business Presentation from Good to Great: Rehearse

By Bonnie Budzowski
President, InCredible Messages, LP

The various keynote speakers, trainers, and consultants who make up the National Speakers Association don’t necessarily share the same business model. They don’t agree on all aspects of the speaking business. They do, however, agree on one fundamental thing.

Members of the National Speakers Association agree that in order to deliver a great presentation, you must rehearse.

The best keynote speakers, the ones internationally recognized and sought after, will tell you they leave nothing to chance. They rehearse every word, every move, and every gesture. If professional speakers seem spontaneous, it is because they have rehearsed until delivering the presentation is as comfortable as walking in their own shoes.

Business professionals, on the other hand, are not known for extensive rehearsal. Many don’t think rehearsal is necessary, and many allow themselves to run out of time. Nick Morgan, editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter, thinks these business presenters make a critical mistake:

In my seventeen years of preparing, teaching, and coaching presentations and public speeches ranging from client sales pitches to campaign kick-offs and State of the Union addresses, I have seen more speeches fail from lack of rehearsal than any other single problem.
                   Nick Morgan, Working the Room:
                   How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking

From my vantage point as a speech coach, I know rehearsal is hard but essential work. I’ve seen rehearsal transform a poor presentation into a good one. I’ve seen rehearsal move a good presentation to great. Here’s how it works:

Rehearsing helps you get used to the sound of your voice.

When you find yourself speaking alone on a platform, rather than in a conversation, the sound of your own voice can seem strange and disconcerting. Rehearsing gives you the opportunity to grow accustomed to the projection of your own voice.

Rehearsing also provides room to experiment with changing your voice to match the changes in your words, to vary your volume and speed where appropriate. Further, rehearsing helps you discover where a pause will logically enhance your presentation.

When you have the opportunity to rehearse in the room in which you will present, you receive an extra bonus. Getting used to the acoustics of a room prior to a presentation boosts your confidence.

Rehearsing helps you catch potential stumbles.

Words that seem simple enough when you read silently can become monster tongue twisters when said out loud. Rehearsing helps you catch and revise these awkward phrases. It also helps you fix bumpy transitions and fill in any gaps in logic.

Rehearsing with the technology you plan to use (software and hardware) helps you to reduce technical stumbles. The use of technology is never fool proof, but resolving obvious problems in advance demonstrates respect to your audience. When obvious problems surprise to the speaker, the audience takes note.

Rehearsing improves your ability to be concise.

Radio personality and professional storyteller, Jack Bogut, says, “Stories get shorter in the telling.” Bogut means that as you rehearse a story out loud, you recognize that some parts of the story don’t matter to your audience. Rehearsing a story helps you remove digressions and excessive details. This works when the story is illustrative and also when the story is the history of a problem or project.

Rehearsing helps you to get used to the feel of your body in space.

As you rehearse the words of a presentation, you can rehearse the movements that go logically with those words. For example, when you have three points, you can practice counting them off on three fingers. When you speak of grabbing a bigger percentage of market share, you can test out a grabbing gesture. When you move from one main point to another, you can practice moving from one area of the platform to another.

Movements and gestures may feel awkward at first, but they add zip and power to a presentation. Make sure you stand and move when you rehearse. If you can rehearse in the room in which you will present, you’ll be especially well-prepared to present with power. In a paradox, this practice allows you to seem natural and spontaneous.

I stand with the conviction of my colleagues in National Speakers Association: If you want to give an outstanding presentation, you have to rehearse. If your want to leave a lasting impression and compel you listeners to action, you have to practice. No matter where your presentation starts, move it toward the great: Rehearse!
 

Permission is granted to reprint this article when the following contact information is included: © 2008 by Bonnie Budzowski, President of InCredible Messages, LP. For more free articles, go to www.IncredibleMessages.com or contact Bonnie at info@IncredibleMessages.com.

Imagine yourself in a situation in which one professional shows you how to incorporate the insights of three perspectives into your business communication:  marketing, persuasion, and visual design. 

Imagine an interactive session with an entertaining and inspiring speaker.  Do you like what you see?  You’ve just envisioned working with Bonnie Budzowski, President of inCredible Messages, LP.

Contact Bonnie to learn more about how she can guide you and your team to create compelling business messages or call 412-361-1490. 

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