To deliver an excellent presentation, one must practise, practise, practise. Focused, structured, and deliberate practise brings fluency, nuance, and passion to a presentation, elevating the whole beyond simple delivery. This is where confidence is founded. It is only through practise, practise, practise that the message will be honed, the supportive media tightened, and the delivery made superlative. When that is what is desired, one must practise, practise, practise.
Let’s begin with the grammar. In English, practiSe is the verb that describes rehearsing, repeating, or training to improve the delivery of a task or skill. It is this that turns a good presentation into a great presentation. Sadly, many presenters most frequently omit this for unclear reasons. Elite sports stars, musicians and artists swear by the task. The benefit hugely outweighs the cost. Practise, practise, practise and the audience will see the return.
Practise is more than simple repetition. In my own practice, for a keynote presentation, I aim for at least 10 practises. In only the first 2, will I use the script. It is then discarded, forcing me to rely on the structure provided by the supportive media. This helps develop deeper memory. Here, flow develops as spoken word differs from the printed word. Additionally, in concentrating on flow, one frequently “stumbles” by fortune on nuance, improvement in the script, and even the structure. This early change reflects the cinematographic editing process and must not be underestimated.
When the message, supported only by media, has achieved fluency, it can then be augmented by nuance. This is like spoken delivery, movement and timing. All of these must be practised to become fluent moving through error, correction and improvement.. The performer who looks comfortable and spontaneous on stage has practised rigorously to achieve this.
Once this level of excellence has been achieved, further practise should be with an audience able to deliver effective critique (not criticism). As described earlier, that should be initially in any available performance space, but at least once in a room approaching the size of the final performance. Delivery to 2500 people is not the same as delivering to your partner, sitting in your lounge. Particularly if you have never done so, seek the opportunity to understand the microphone delivery of your presentation as well.
The final key to delivering an excellent presentation is practise, practise, practise. It improves the whole before delivery, provides confidence that supports the delivery and elevates the good to excellence.