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How We Coach Oral Presentations After frenzied weeks of trying to prepare materials for their first Oral Proposal, the group had been rehearsing for several days. The speakers included a mixed group. One person had broken out in hives. They covered half of his body, creeping up his neck and down his arm. Another was the deadpan type. Every time he got up to present, he went completely flat. And yet another person constantly tapped his finger, fidgeted in his seat, or twiddled the pointer throughout his portion of the presentation. I watched their rehearsal and then made a few suggestions to the whole group. My suggestions focused strictly on content. For instance, I explained that one section could be edited down to 10 seconds to allow for a more thorough explanation of a superb example. Then, I met with each of the team members individually. First I spoke to the fellow with hives. He was under extreme pressure. He explained that people might be laid off if this contract was lost, and he was concerned that he might be one of them. I used a Neurolinguistic Programming technique that would set an anchor to another time when he was in a solid frame of mind, more confident, and more resourceful. I set this anchor on his finger, so that he could easily use it himself. As he rehearsed, whenever he felt the tension rising he would activate this anchor. And it worked; the next day his run-through was smooth and calm. I then ordered him off-site for R&R for two days until the presentation. On presentation day, his symptoms had subsided, and he used his anchor every minute or so during his presentation. A deadpan expression is a common symptom of presentation stage fright. The deadpan man and I worked together, talking about projects where his performance was outstanding. When he was telling about his successful work he was animated and engaging. The deadpan was gone. So we edited his presentation to begin with his success story. That allowed him to create an atmosphere in which he would be most comfortable. Once started, he could stay in that state of comfort for the rest of his presentation. That worked even better than expected; the clients raved about the story. I theorized that the fidgeter was a "Kinesthetic Accessor," one who uses motion to find information quickly. Just like left-handed people, kinesthetic accessors are misunderstood. Teachers and parents used to label students with this unusual behavior as being hyperactive or having a short attention span. Actually, it's neither. While most people access their memory banks visually, the Kinesthetic accessor uses motion. I tested my theory by asking him a simple question about his wife's car. The "wiggling" began just as he quickly responded. I then asked him to place his hands on the table and not move his feet and asked the same simple question about his own car. The delay in response was marked. I explained what was going on, and he offered to try to stand quietly for his presentation, but I explained that we WANTED him to move around. We didn't want him to use anything less than his best capabilities for this presentation. We simply didn't want his movement to be distracting. To that end, we made several changes to his presentation. First, because it exaggerated his movements, we ditched the pointer. Then we rehearsed extra movement during his presentation. "Walk around a bit more than the others do. That will help you think, and it'll recapture the interest of the audience after watching some stationary speakers." The techniques worked. In fact, he answered one of the hardest questions at the interview with aplomb. And the team won the contract. AUGUST 1996 Senior Management | Marketing Manager | Proposal Manager |
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