This is something I have wanted to write for a long time, but I just had an internal session last week on this topic, and now I have gotten my thoughts down in a structured way, and therefore I wanted to write a blog post on it as well.

To give some context, I am no expert at this – but… (not to brag) but I have been doing it for 15 years, but at my core, I am still an introvert, I still get nervous before each (that feeling never goes away, but you get better at handling it with time), and also, I have been attending A LOT of conferences, so I noticed quite quickly the difference between a speaker and a GREAT speaker.

Anyway, this is my story…

And in case you feel like Waaaaay to long to read, no worries! Here is a TL:DR summary

• Nervous, feeling like imposter syndrome? It never goes away! However, you learn to manage it with experience and practice.
• Starting with creation of content: Layout – 30% – Dry run – 50% – Dry run – 40% – Dry run – 80/90% – Showtime. Start dry runs early, try to find a good flow with the story. Make adjustments to the content to have a better flow.
• When you practice enough, you know the content in and out. This also makes it easier to time the content well. Make sure you do not spend more time than you have allocated. You do not want to be the reason that the next speaker has 10 min less.
• Move around, do not stand like a robot, but move with purpose and match the energy in the room.
• Keep the “about you” part short. People are there to listen to the content, not to listen to your achievements or plans for the summer.
• Understand the audience, and focus on those that are not “noise” or stealing your focus.
• Word bingo! Train your brain and your pattern to avoid using these filler words when presenting. This requires some “reprogramming” and also enough rehearsing.
• (Font) size matters! And give the audience an explanation of visuals in advance.
• Use your hands as visual aids to enhance what you are talking about, same with your voice.

Long list, but the most important part! Rehearse with a friend, familiy or colleauge and ask the question. Would you come to listen to this if you were at a conference?

A Case of imposter syndrome

Once upon a time, early in my career, I was asked to present on a project I was working on where I was a technical lead. Like any good employee would, I said to my boss, «NOPE! Not going to happen!»

I felt so nervous, and anxiety was taking over, with sweat all over my body. I was also considering that I would rather switch to another job than actually do the presentation.

Looking back now, I see that there were two things that drove this feeling:

• 1: Why would people come to listen to what I had to say? I considered that in most cases, people know more about the product or the technology than I do.
• 2: Just pure stage fright.

But it is important to note that 9/10 times, people in the audience are there to listen to what you have to say. Sure, there might be people there that know more than you, but they are there to listen to what you have to say. It might be details, or it might be your point of view or your experience that they want to hear.

When it comes to just pure stage fright, that will always be there, but it gets easier with time, practice, and a bunch of rehearsals.

Practice, Practice and Practive

When I am creating content for a presentation, I do a lot of pacing. I need to move around on stage and I do the same when I am presenting somewhere.  

This is from one preperation I did for a session.

Why? It requires the audience to move their heads to focus on you and not the slides. Secondly, it gives oxygen to your brain faster, and therefore it keeps your brain sharp. Also, oxygen is quite useful…

Also, when I create a presentation, I always start with creating a layout – key topics, what am I talking about? Then I probably create 30% of the content, then I start with a dry run, figure out if the flow works, probably add some changes or remove content. Then I do this a couple of times before I get to the 80–90% mark.

When I am almost ready to go on stage, I probably have the content close to 95%. I might add bits and pieces to the content based upon things that have changed. This can be:

• Late updates to the content – since any recent changes or updates.
• Build upon earlier sessions at the same conference that might be talking about some of the content.
• Add a story into the mix, could be something that happened earlier that day that you can use as an icebreaker or a good introduction.

Developers, Developers, Developers.

All of us have different approaches to how we present content, different personalites and different styles. Try and embrace that! The interesting thing is that we see so many different  but we always see many different speaking «profiles»

Could be that you are really energetic? Could be that you present with a really academic approach, in many cases a really monotone approach.

Myself, I try to be the laid-back comedian. I love to add humor into the mix, jokes (mostly at my own expense), because this makes you more human, relatable, and makes it easier for people to pay attention to what you have to say. It makes the content «stick».

But it is important to match the energy you have with the audience. There is nothing I hate more than when I get these really energetic speakers on an early talk. It is important to engage with the audience, but there are many better ways to do this.

«Do not be this guy/gal»

For those that have presented in Norway before, you know that if it is early in the morning, we just want to drink our coffee and not interact with anyone else.

When you are working on the content, try to keep the part about yourself SHORT. I do not want any Rons from Anchorman or Forrest Gumps. For many, it is about trying to convince the audience that you know what you are talking about, but the goal is to have the content be a reflection of your experience and what you do.

So try to keep the «about» part short – 30 seconds or less. Remember, people are there to listen to the CONTENT and not what you did last summer or your achievements.

Then we have the audience – the most important part. You should note that EVERY TIME you will get one or more of these different people in the room.

For instance, the front-row sleeper – regardless of when your session is during the day, they will ALWAYS fall asleep. You have those that take extensive notes, or those that take pictures of your PowerPoint deck (regardless of whether you said that they will be published later).

Most of these people are NOISE and steal focus away from your content, but you also have those that actually pay attention. Focus on them and keep eye contact with them, since this ensures that you stay focused while also engaging with those that matter.

The funniest part is WORD BINGO! And this is important. Many times I see speakers use a lot of «ehm», «um», «er» when they are talking. This can be because they are nervous or they have not had enough time to practice.

The second part is «filler» words, which do not provide any value but just take up time and space. These are just «safety» mechanisms that your brain has to try and give you more time to think. These are difficult to stop, but again, practice (even record your own talk) and listen to how many times you used these types of words.

I see this so many times, and you might be the best expert in your field and have the best presentation EVER! But when you use many of these different filler words, you lose so much credibility.

Try to slow down and embrace that there can be a few seconds of additional silence! Remember that many times you are dumping so much information and content in 45 minutes that it is perfectly fine to have some small breaks.

Embrace the silence!

Content yes please!

Content that you have on your PowerPoint! It should be keywords, talking points. If you have MUCH SMALL TEXT or advanced visuals, the audience is more focused on trying to read what is on the PowerPoint than actually listening to what you have to say.

I also «love» it when people have a lot of text and start to read directly from the PowerPoint. Don’t do that.

The presentation is a short «cheatbook» for your own use, so that you know what you should talk about when a slide comes up.

In addition, DO NOT HAVE 110 PPT slides in 60 minutes. That is WAY too much information in a short amount of time. While you might be proud of that, the audience will not remember ANY of it. This can be either Death by PowerPoint or just «dumping» data on them.

Rather, focus on the essential pieces, but give the audience a way to get the additional content.

Also, when you are creating content and want to show visuals like a technical architecture or something complex, I ALWAYS try to describe what they are going to see before I show the picture! Why?

They can understand the context better and spend less time trying to analyze the picture instead of listening to me.

Also, font size is another important part. Small font size will require people to focus more on trying to read the text and not on you.

So «Font» size does matter!

Then we have hand movement, or «ARM FLAPPING SYNDROME» – not a real thing, but I see it so many times. People have either too much hand movement or nothing at all. Remember that your arms are useful to enhance a message or visual aid and help you describe something.

The same goes for your voice! If you do not want to have a bunch of front-row sleepers, try to fluctuate your voice with high pitch or low pitch when you want to point something important out to them.

Do not go full entertainer mode, but you do not want to be the guy/gal that has a monotone voice that works better than sleeping pills.

Other tips!

• Don’t apologize for nerves or technical issues (Firstly, everyone is nervous and many times the demo-gods decide and something AV equipment never works.
• Don’t turn your back on the audience
• Don’t have REM (Rapid Eye Movement) eye-contact with the audience with people that are participating.
• Don’t talk to quickly
• Don’t do data dumping (110 slides in 60 minutes)
• Embrace imperfection ( No one EVER has a perfect presentation)
• Focus the most on the first 10 minutes, this is when you are the most nervous)
• Focus on your own strengths (storyteller, humor, or expert in a specific field)
• Backup plan! (Equipment might not work, your lab environment might not work)
• Engage with the audience! (Tell stories, tell your own mistakes that are relevant for the content that you are talking about)

You will never get a «perfect» presentation, but for me the goal of having a presentation is two things.

1: People have a good time
2: They learned «something»

If I am able to achieve that, then mission accomplished!