Presentations

Some people rehearse to a point where they're robotic, and they sound like they have memorized their presentation and didn't take it to the next level. Going from sounding memorized and canned to sounding natural is a lot of work.
~ Nancy Duarte

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I used to be very afraid of presenting.  It didn't matter if it was a small group or a large group.  I would get incredibly anxious for days ahead of time. 

 

I still get nervous right before I have to present.  I think that nerves are okay, though.  I am not really afraid of presenting, however.  Usually, when I'm asked to talk about something, I am confident that I know at least a little something about the topic. 

 

I like to prepare and to come up with creative ways of sharing information or engaging audiences.  Sometimes my approaches fail pretty miserably.  Most times not, but certainly enough times they do to keep me on my toes and a little on edge.

 

Occasionally, I am asked to do something at the very last minute.  In those cases I don't know a lot about the context or the audience.  Sometimes I might not even know a whole lot about what they want me to discuss.

 

I call those "Guess Lectures."

 

Sometimes those are when I do my best work.  I'm not sure what exactly I mean by that.  You might say, "It means you're incredible, Michelle."  Or you might say, "It means you're awesome, Michelle."  Or you might say, "You're just phenomenal, Michelle."

 

You might not say those things.

But I really wish you would.