Leaders face a conundrum: to script or not to script for my presentation. You’ve got some important presentations, like board of directors presentations, or you’ve got important presentations to clients. The big ones I’m often involved in are the shareholder presentations. Everyone is expecting you to do that well, and people are watching what you say, “Don’t don’t say it, cover this, we’ve got all these ideas on what you’re supposed to do well. If we just script it out, you know, then we’re going to have it perfect.”
Problem is, not everybody knows how to read a script. Very few people can recite in a truly natural way. It’s hard to do; that’s what actors do, and it’s a job. And you’ve got another job. So, some people can do it. I can do it, but it takes a lot of practice, a lot more practice than winging it. Now, the problem with winging it is, where’s it going to go? So, you know, I’m very good at improvising; I’m doing that now. I’m just building this as I go with a sequence.
And there’s a sweet spot, a sweet spot between the two, which is I’m following a sequence, but I am not following a script. So, my words are the words I develop in the moment, but I’m following a sequence that leads this down a particular path. When people are bound to the specific words, you can tell when they get a word wrong, when they get lost. It’s like putting down bricks; everyone has to be just so. And not everyone can do that. When you’re winging it, maybe that’s not the right term, you’re improvising, following a sequence. The words you use, including the mistakes you make, they’re okay. It’s the sequence that’s leading you through.
So, when you have an important presentation, I recommend practicing that. Every time you do it, let yourself use the words of the moment, but follow the sequence and time it. After a little while, you get used to the timing of your words. Some of it gets consistent, but some of it still is built as you go. And you get a wonderful thing in that you have a designed message, but you’re coming off as real you.
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