Rehearsing Your Presentation

Once you have finished preparing your presentation, it’s time to rehearse it. Practice is the part of preparation that makes your presentation shine. In fact, half of your preparation time should be used to practice your presentation. For example, if you spend three hours on research and two hours organizing your material, you should spend five hours rehearsing.

Before beginning your rehearsal, make sure that you have everything you will need, including visuals.
Then, follow these simple steps.

1. Review your outline. Check to make sure you’ve included all pertinent information. Color-code (highlight) your notes. Colors are often easier to spot than words or phrases as you make your presentation. For example:

Yellow: slide or transparency
Red: story or illustration
Blue: optional material
Green: general information, facts and stats
Pink: ask a question
Orange: take a break

2. Talk through your presentation. Sit in a comfortable chair and practice reciting what you are going to say, using your Three Triangle Outline.

3. Tape record your presentation. While standing, give your presentation out loud, using a tape recorder. After you have finished, listen to the tape. Consider the following questions:

– Did you talk too fast or too slowly?
– Do you have any speech mannerisms that could detract from your presentation? For example, do you repeatedly say, “um” or “OK”?
– Did you use pauses effectively?
– Was your volume too loud or too soft?
– Did you come across as genuinely enthusiastic about your topic?
– Did you pronounce words appropriately? Lazy speech suggests a lazy mind. Don’t say things like “gonna” instead of “going to” or “coulda” instead of “could have”.

4. Videotape your presentation or practice before a small group. Give your presentation again, this time in front of small group of people (even one person is fine) or use a videotape camera to record your presentation. If you make your presentation in front of people, ask them to critique it using the following questions. If you videotape it, critique yourself when you watch the tape.

– Did you stand straight and appear in control?
– Did your gesturing seem natural?
– Did your visuals complement your presentation or detract from it?
– Did you make regular eye contact with your audience?
– Did you smile occasionally and when appropriate? If you never smile, you could appear nervous. If you smile too much or at the wrong times, your audience will be confused.

5. Correct specifics by giving your presentation several times before a mirror. Practice correcting the criticisms from the audio- and videotapes. An excellent practice method is to give your presentation to a blank spot on a wall. This will prevent you from inadvertently adopting mannerisms.

6. Use positive self-talk to tell yourself that you are adequately prepared and that you will do a good job. For example, “I have really captured the essence of what I wanted to say,” or “I came across as confident and well-prepared. My hard work has paid off.”

7. Visualize yourself giving a successful presentation. This reinforces your preparation and will help you do your best.