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❄️ How to keep your nerve ahead of a high-stakes presentation
Skip this step and there’s a good chance your audience will end up as lost as you are.
Alex Merry
September 25, 2023
Just before Emily Maitliss sat down in a Buckingham Palace ballroom for that infamous interview with Prince Andrew, she found herself in a state of overwhelm. How did she turn it around? By hiding in the loo 🚽!
‘A good interview is made in the 5-minute silence that you spend on your own before it.’
I love that advice. It works equally well in presentation scenarios too…
Especially when we find ourselves working towards something where we’ve only got one chance to Make It Count. But it’s what you do in the loo that matters (not a sentence I ever thought I’d write!).
And in this 100-second clip, Emily reveals all…
A quite extraordinary story that can be summed up by this one sentence…
I realised that I was the one person in the world at that point who could ask the questions the women wanted answering.
So what was actually going on here?
What Emily was really doing was reconnecting with her purpose. That’s what she meant by ‘waiting for a single note.’
When we’re buried in the details, it is so easy to lose perspective and forget why we’re there in the first place.
Those of you who’ve read Make It Count will know that getting clear on your presentation’s purpose is the very first part of the Speedy Speech Writing Framework.
At work, most presentations fall into one of 3 purpose categories:
To educate 🎓
Help your audience make better decisions faster.
E.g. A board updateTo change perception 🧠
Help your audience uncover a new way of thinking about a topic.
E.g. TEDx talkTo inspire action ⚡️
Help your audience buy into and work towards a specific end goal.
E.g. A strategy presentation
Whatever the occasion, start and finish with your presentation purpose and you’ll be well on your way to delivering something impactful. Skip this step and there’s a good chance your audience will end up as lost as you are.
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Alex
Whenever you're ready, here are some ways I can help:
Got a high-stakes presentation coming up at work? Raise your game with a copy of Make It Count 📘.
Ready to become a sought-after speaker? Become a member of MicDrop 🎤.
Looking to upgrade your team’s presentation skills? Book a call ☎️.
Get paid to speak? Take part in the MicDrop Open Speaker Fee Project and find out whether you’re charging what you’re really worth.
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