In today’s issue, part 2 of a 3-part series on how to be effective in your virtual presentations.
Amanda listened to a recording of her recent virtual presentation for a leadership review and was terribly embarrassed when she heard herself repeatedly saying “uhm”. She was desperate because she had no idea why she was doing it and, worst of all, no clue how to stop. It was completely out of her control.
I watched her recording and noticed something immediately. Right at the beginning she said, “I have a lot to cover and we don’t have a lot of time, so I’m going to talk really fast.”
Woah! Right there I knew she was going to say a lot of “uhm’s”.
There are many natural laws in communication. If you know and follow them, your communication will be smooth, effortless, professional and impactful. If you don’t, you’re going to get into trouble. Just like if you ignored the law of gravity and walked out a 30-story window.
One of these laws has to do with how you handle or mis-handle time.
It’s very natural to take a moment to formulate what you’re going to say. If you don’t give yourself time to work out what you’re going to say next, you are GUARANTEED to say, “Uhm”.
“Uhm’s” come about because you are talking and thinking at the same time.
Most people think they’re supposed to KEEP TALKING NON-STOP. They believe if they stop to think, even for a moment, they’ll look unprepared or someone will jump in and take over. This is a faulty belief that makes you look frantic.
You NEED time in between your points to work out what you’re going to say next. This is NATURAL. And when you’re forming your next point, you need to just stay quiet and formulate it.
Abandon the idea that you don’t have time to think as you present and allow yourself the time. Take as much time as you need.
When most of my clients are learning how to do this for the first time, they usually tell me, “I’m taking too long!”
That’s a misperception of time. You’re not taking nearly as much time as you think. If you saw yourself on video, you would see that you have created a very natural pause that enhances your presentation.
The idea that you need to keep a steady stream of words going at all times is a sign of an amateur. A professional KNOWS they need to take their time.
When a real pro needs to formulate what they’re going to say next, they don’t feel ANY pressure. They take their sweet time, let themselves formulate what they want to say, and then they fully connect with the audience and say it.
This creates extremely natural pauses that are comfortable both for the audience and for you. It keeps the audience interested because they can tell you’re not scripted. It also lets them fully absorb what you just said, which gives your words more meaning.
One of my clients told me after his Transformative Presentation Skills workshop, “Before this workshop I was going really fast and the audience was getting about 10% of what I said. After this workshop, I’m covering 70% of what I used to cover, but the audience is getting 100% of it.”
That’s the sign of a pro.
There are many skills that go into making great virtual presentations. Next week, we’ll cover how to have a powerful presence and be inspiring when you are virtual. One of my clients just sent me a video of his virtual presentation after coaching and it was so good, it blew me away. (Not just me, but his CEO and everyone else in the meeting.) I’ll let you know what he did.
In the meantime:
Take your sweet time and focus on the quality of your communication and how much understanding you are creating. Let yourself pause very naturally at the end of your sentences so you have time to formulate what you want to say next.
The more you focus on the QUALITY of your communication, rather than how fast you’re going, the more comfortable you’ll be and the more powerful your presentation will be.
You don’t need immediate validation. When you develop your OWN certainty about your abilities, nothing can shake it.
The best way to develop that certainty is to DO THE WORK and get the skills.
This is the focus of our upcoming Transformative Presentation Skills: getting you the skills.
In just TWO days, you’ll develop the skills to produce the certainty that will shut off your “Uhm” Machine forever.
Be the cause!