A lot of people don’t like to present because they are worried about looking stupid and sounding stupid. It’s not quite universal, but it’s extremely common. So, I want to talk about a few things that you can do to not look or sound stupid, or at least to not worry about looking and sounding stupid when you speak. Now, there are a lot of things that we at Sage Presence do with our clients to help them get past this particular hump, even if this particular hump hasn’t been called out exactly because it is so common. But if you know that it’s true for you, I want to focus on your mindset and what you can do inside your own head to get your attention focused in the right direction and thinking in the most empowering way for you and for this opportunity to speak.
So, there are a series of questions that I want you to ask yourself as you think about this presentation. And the first question is, “Why have you been asked to speak? Why you, and what have you been asked to speak about?” Now, I can guarantee you that you have been asked to speak on this topic because you have a lot to say about it. You are an expert in this particular topic. Nobody wants you to sound or look stupid about this. The only person that’s worried about you looking and sounding stupid is you.
Your peers, your boss, everybody that you’re going to be presenting with, has 100% faith that you are the right person to talk about this topic. Now, the next question to ask is, “Who’s your audience? Who are you speaking to, and what do they want?” So, if you’re a member of a pursuit team that has been selected to speak to a bunch of decision-makers about a project that you’re competing for, the folks that you’re going to be presenting to are decision-makers who don’t really care about you.
They care about themselves and their project. And what they want is for you to speak intelligently about their project and what you can do to make their project go more smoothly and more successfully.
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