Ideas on what to do when you feel your presentation is starting to flop
Sometimes I hit a bump when giving a presentation. Something goes wrong, I forget a key point, I freeze up, or I sense I'm losing my audience. It happens to the best of presenters. Here are a few ideas on how to manage it.
1. Stop and take a sip of water.
It looks totally natural to stop and take a sip of water. Your audience will never know. Sometimes you just need a second to catch your breath or reset your mind and the time it takes to take a sip of water is just enough time to do it.
2. Make a joke to break the tension
I find self deprecating humor comes in handy when you get stuck or if something falls flat. Like: "We'll, that sounded better when I practiced in my head"
3. Pause.
Stopping can create an awkward moment, but that's okay if you need a moment to get yourself back on track. It lets your audience know that you recognize something is off and you are trying to fix it. I think part of the audience will appreciate that.
4. Forge ahead
Sometimes you just need to plow ahead and keep going. You may just need to find your rhythm or groove, and once you do the audience will forget the hiccup.
5. Remember you are the expert
Why are you on stage? Probably because you have some unique knowledge of the topic that others need...and they came to learn from you. If they were so smart, they'd be on the stage instead of you, but they are not. So take a little confidence boost that you are still the expert even if you hit a bump.
6. End a little early
7. Finish strong
My music teacher once told me that the two most important notes in a song are the first and the last. If you start and end strong, people tend to forget what happened in the middle. Same hold true for public speaking I think. So if you plan on a strong finish, you can recover from any bumps along the way.
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