You’ve been asked to brief upper management on your project.You just updated your team for thirty minutes and have decided to use that talk for upper management.

Is this a smart or not so smart decision?

Not so smart. Most high level executives do not care to hear how you did the project, how long it took you and what you learned in the process. They want the following questions answered:

1. Was it on time?
2. What were the benefits to the company?
3. Are there any issues going forward that you must take care of that will take time, money or resources?
4. Do they need to make any decisions.

With upper management be smart, cut the details and get to the key messages sooner rather than later.

You see to lose your place when talking and do not know why. You look at your slides and your mind goes blank. You are considering putting many more words on the slides to remind you ow what you need to cover.

More words on the slide: a smart or not so smart decision?

Not so smart. For most people it is the lack of organization of the content that makes their mind go blank.  Interestingly, this problem frequently starts with the title of the slide!  For example, a heading that says, “Summary” does nothing to trigger your memory.

A heading that says, “40 Projects Completed – On Time and On Budget” will make it easy for you to start talking.  Now you have something to talk about which you know.  Furthermore, it is a lot more interesting for your audience! In addition, more words on a slide will tempt you to simply read the slide which nobody likes to see happen in a presentation.

Task: Go look through your headings and see if they help you remember the point of a chart and all its numbers. Look at slides with lots of words and see if you have the main point in the title.

Suzanne Enright, president of Kensu Leadership Group, Inc. tells how she channels her nervousness. Her consulting company designs and delivers programs to accelerate the development of global leaders, with a focus on high-potential leaders and their teams in Asia and the U.S.

Suzanne, what are your two best ways to prepare yourself before speaking?

Number 1: I mentally practice. I see myself in the environment being poised and successful and visualize my hand gestures, my smiles and my posture.

Number 2: I practice out loud. When I am overseas in a hotel, I practice in front of a mirror. I want to smile more, so I practice smiling during certain parts of my talk. I know that I first have to master the content. Once I am comfortable with the content, I can smile and generally feel more relaxed.

How do you deal with your nervousness when speaking?

I like to move around a little bit to ease my nervousness – not pace like a caged animal. So I take just  a few steps toward the audience, then pause for a while, then move a few steps in another direction. When I move, I feel more relaxed and connected to my audience, and it helps to dissipate my physical nervousness.

What differences should a presenter be aware of when speaking overseas?

Be careful about jokes and humor which vary from place to place. I like to generate humor in my interactions with the audience. Avoid sports metaphors in your presentations. Americans frequently use sports metaphors, particularly using football and baseball, to explain other concepts. However, these particular sports frequently mean nothing to people in other parts of the world.

What do you tell someone who is nervous?

I tell a person that he or she has to consciously practice breathing. Breathe in, hold for a couple of seconds, and then slowly let the breath out. This brings your heart rate down at least a couple beats. Use this technique before you start speaking and during a presentation and you will note how you feel more relaxed and how you are better at pacing your talk.

Talk fast to fit it all in, or condense and speak calm and connected?

Kuan walked into the room ready to present when the organizer told him, “Sorry, we can only give you 15 minutes and not 30 for your presentation.” What does Kuan do? Does he talk fast to cover everything he planned? Or does he cut back his information and only present what is essential?

Talking fast: If Kuan decides to talk fast and hurry through the information, he’ll end up mumbling some of the numbers so he can get through them. He’ll barely look at the audience. But he will cover every bit of information.

Speaking calm and connected: What if Kuan makes some last-minute decisions? He cuts the big chart and leaves out all explaining all the potential strategies he was considering, only telling the audience his chosen strategy. He even has time to ask the audience a question.

If you were in the audience, which presentation would you want to sit through?

If you were Kuan, how would you prepare for this scenario?

Custom Show: Create a smaller custom show from your large deck of PowerPoint slides. Go to slide show>custom shows. You can create a “custom show” that will in slide show only show those slides you have chosen. This is one of the best features in PowerPoint! I am constantly amazed most presenters do not know this.

How do people like Scott Wahle handle their nervousness?  Scott has an extensive performance background. He was a Sports Anchor and Reporter at WBZ. He sang at the Boston Pops and has been in movies and live theater. If anyone knows about being “onstage” it is Scott. Here are Scott’s answers to my questions:

What are your two best ways to prepare yourself before speaking?

Number 1: Take ownership of the copy whether you wrote it or not.
If you look like you are reading it, you are telegraphing that you need to read it which means that maybe you don’t understand it without reading it. If you have internalized it, it is clear it is coming from your heart.

When you first started speaking, how did you handle your nervousness?

I did and still do a physical shake down. I do neck rolls, arm rotations, deep breathing (suck in a ton of air and let it out over 60 seconds). I roll my spine up and down imagining being pulled up like a string from the top of my head. Before I sing I get down and do 20 push ups to get my lungs breathing hard.

Tell me about one of the worst presentations you gave and how you got yourself out of feeling upset?

I was keynote speaker at the conclusion of a conference for physicians. Half way through the speech, jokes were not landing. Doctors looked bored. It wasn’t until I talked about how medical coverage was reported on newscasts that the doctors started to pay attention. I left thinking that I bombed. I asked the conference planner, “How do you think it went? I don’t feel so good about the talk.” He responded, “Are you kidding, you knocked it out of the park.” I learned a couple things. Don’t give up. You can pull the talk off even in the last minutes which from my perspective is what happened.

I realized it is better to look at the talk as pieces of a puzzle.  Some pieces had a positive effect on people. Some didn’t. But I should not give up when one piece does not interest them.

What do you believe presenters need to learn?

Learn how to use humor…not a joke necessarily, just a turn of a phrase or a look.  Your ability to manufacture a lighter moment will help the effectiveness of your delivery and your overall confidence. Once people laugh, they anticipate the next lighter moment. They are thinking I just laughed and maybe the presenter will make me laugh again. They will listen more closely.

Tell a story before you give the facts. For example, don’t start with “Gross national product numbers came out and it’s down 2%.” Instead start with, “Jenny and Paul used to be able to buy steak once a week, now it’s once a month.” Lead with the personal…then the data.

What final advice would you give someone who is nervous?

Stop over-thinking it. Make sure the copy is in conversational language.

Thomas Hayes is a master salesman, owner, CEO of Beantown Toys (www.beantowntoys.com), visionary, author, and motivational speaker. With an iron will forged out of the tragic experience of losing a leg to cancer in childhood, Hayes has a compelling history to share with his audiences.  Here are his secrets to being present in the moment with his audience.

What is the best way you have learned to channel your nervousness?

When I am waiting I focus myself in the moment. I watch what is happening. I look at the lighting. I sense how the sound system is working. I watch where is the audience’s attention…on themselves; on the food; are they preoccupied?  I take all of my attention away from myself.

What is your secret about calming down and being with your audience?

Intention is my secret. I make my intention to give something to the audience and then I have all the power. If your intention as a speaker is to receive, then you are trying to get something. You have given the audience all the power. When I watch an open-mike night, I see young comedians who are always thinking about themselves. They are focused on receiving laughs and applause. They have to shift from receiving to giving.

What is your one sentence about being with your audience?

Change your attention and shift from self-conscious to audience-conscious.

What do you do when you are in the middle of speaking and you realize you have lost or are losing the audience?

I go back to building a bridge to my audience. I stop and ask the audience a question so the pressure is off me and on the audience. “Let me ask the group this question right now.” This is the quickest technique to regain power. I stop thinking about myself. Remember, my goal is to give to my audience.