The ability to be a great presenter is a skill.

What I want to do in this chapter is give you a long-term action plan to help you make a noticeable difference in your presenting.

To move the needle on your presentation skills long term the five Actions you need to consider are:

1. Present, present, present.
2. Employ the Audience Focused Presenting Approach for every presentation.
3. Complete the checklists.
4. Continue to ask for feedback.
5. Make better presenting your goal.

1. Present, present, present

It might sound silly but the first thing you have to do to be a great presenter or even a better presenter is to present.

That’s right, I want you to present as much as you possibly can. I want you to present standing up and sitting down. I want you to present to 2 people and if you can to 200 people. I want you to present daily, weekly, monthly, as often as you can. I want you to volunteer for every presentation opportunity in and outside of your work or college. I want you to attend courses where you will present and I want you to join presenting clubs such as Toastmasters: www.toastmasters.org.

Presenting is a skill and the only way to learn and master this skill is to do it as much as possible.

The best way for you to become the presenter you want to be is to present.

2. Employ the AFP Approach for every presentation

Not only do I want you to present as much as possible but for every single presentation, no matter how significant or trivial you feel it is I want you to follow the Audience Focused Presenting three-step methodology.

• Start by asking the ten Audience Profile Questions.
• Structure your messages using the Audience Focused Presenting Structure Sheet.
• Design visuals (If needed).

3. Complete the checklists

I am not a very good flyer. In fact, I am terrified of getting on a plane. This is not something that is fun to live with so a couple of years ago I took a course to help me overcome this fear.

What I learned on that course is that pilots and co-pilots always go through a checklist before they take off and land. These are usually pilots with years of experience flying but they still must go through the checklist every single time they take off and land. Why? Because forgetting even one tiny detail (which is so easily done) can have very serious consequences – life or death in the case of flying a plane.

The main reasons for using these checklists is to ensure the pilots do not get complacent or overconfident.

Presenters who are complacent or overconfident are just as dangerous for an audience.

It is for this reason I am giving you the Audience Focused Presenting Pre-Presentation checklist. I would like you to use it as a support in your presentation preparation.

My recommendation is you do not stand and present until you have ticked all the boxes.

4. Continue to ask for feedback

Have you ever asked for feedback after a presentation only to be placated with some general statement like you were ‘fine’, ‘yeah it was good’?

Or worse you are given critical feedback by a colleague: ‘I think you were a bit nervous’, ‘You were talking very fast’. ‘I didn’t like what you were doing with your hands’.

Getting real and relevant feedback on your presentation skills is vital. Why?

Because how you feel you are presenting and how an audience is experiencing you can be very different.

Feedback is important because you need to understand the impact you are having on your audience. In order to get good feedback you need to ask a person in the audience to assess you based on specific criteria. You have to ask the right questions to get the right answers.

On the next page is the Audience Focused Presenting Presentation Feedback Sheet. You can give this to the person you’re looking for feedback from and ask them to fill it out based on a specific presentation scenario.

Alternatively, there is one very simple question you can ask after your presentation to the person you are seeking feedback from. The question is: ‘What messages did you take away from my presentation?’ Then wait and see what they say. No prompting from you allowed.

5. Make better presenting your goal

Ultimately if you really want to be a better presenter, what you need to do is come up with specific actions you can take over the next 12 months to reach that goal. You may need to attend a course, get more experience presenting or read some more books. You might want to try out Prezi, explore ways to get more energy or uncover ways to manage your nerves.

The actions are yours to determine. I have shared with you in this book what makes a great presenter so use that as your guide. Start by using the Action Plan Template below to identify some specific actions you can take to get you to the next level as a presenter.

If you want to create your own presentation action plan please do but if you are not sure where to start I recommend the Audience Focused Presenting 365-day Presentation Plan.

Move your presentation skills needle

You are actually always presenting; you just don’t realise it. Every time you talk to someone face to face or on the phone you are presenting. Think about it. The only area you may not get to practise day to day is standing in front of a large audience and using visual aids but every other element of presentations you can practise in your everyday work situations.

With that in mind our 365-day Presentation Plan means you select one behaviour a month for 12 months and wherever and whenever possible you put it into practice.

Ideally, try your new behaviour once a day for the month.

These are the 12 behaviours I would like you to practise over the next 12 months.