The Ultimate Guide to how to practise before a presentation
You’ve slaved over your presentation.
Your slides look fabulous.
Your content is engaging and interesting.
And now, you think you’re ready to deliver your presentation to your audience.
But you aren’t.
Not yet.
Now, you’ve got to practise it, till you know it like the back of your hand.
The late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, was renowned for how thoroughly he practised prior to giving his presentations.
He was in a league of his own when it came to being super-prepared and polished.
Many people avoid practising their presentations like the plague.
They think that everything will magically “come together” in front of a live audience.
Practice may feel awkward, unnatural, and contrived.
Practice may feel boring.
Practice may feel like a waste of time.
But practice is absolutely essential.
Just ask any concert pianist or tennis player about the importance of practice, before they perform in a concert hall or compete in front of thousands of spectators.
You need to prioritise practice if you want to be fluent, polished and on top of your game.
The only way you can be this way is if you practise your presentation over and over, till it feels comfortable and rolls off your tongue.
Read on for 12 tips to put your presentation through its paces, so that everything runs like clockwork on presentation day.
Do a basic edit first
I can’t tell you how many times I have launched into practising my presentation, only to go back to my points/script and/or my slides and change the words here and there, the slide headings, the formatting, and all manner of things.
And there is nothing wrong with making modifications along the way.
Oftentimes, as you start practising, you need to refine your material. It is only when you start saying things out loud, that you get clarity on what needs to stay and what need to go.
That’s why prior to starting your practice session, as a minimum, review both your notes and slides for clarity, brevity, and completeness.
Your goal is to ensure that everything reads well, sounds natural and is conversational in tone.
When you have finished ruthlessly editing and simplifying, you are now ready to start your practice sessions.
2. Get Ready
Just like you gather all your ingredients on the kitchen counter prior to baking a cake, get everything out in front of you, so you are ready to complete your presentation practice session.
This includes any notes you will be using, your PowerPoint slide deck, any props, and any handouts you will be distributing to your audience.
Ensure that your hardware is also ready to go – your laptop is charged, and if you are using a clicker to advance slides, that the batteries are charged.
I love having a checklist for everything. Create it once, and reuse it for all your practice sessions.
Check out this post on the importance of creating a checklist.
3. Start well in advance
Don’t leave your practice till the last minute.
In fact, the earlier you start the better.
That way, the words and content will seep into your subconscious and you will really know it with every fibre of your being.
I recommend practising one small section each day.
Each day, build on what you have learnt and add a little more material to your repertoire.
Slow and steady is far better than staying up till midnight the day before, cramming everything in.
Think back to your school or University days, when cramming was often par for the course.
The problem was that cramming at the last minute only made you more nervous and exhausted!
Your goal should be to be in tip-top shape on presentation day – prepared, calm and alert and firing on all cylinders.
Diarise your practice sessions – this way you stay accountable to yourself.
As the saying goes: what doesn’t get scheduled doesn’t get done.
4. Get the content down pat.
In the first few practice sessions, concentrate on one thing and one thing only – your content.
Don’t worry for now about how you say things, how you look, how you move, your gestures, eye contact etc. That will all come later.
Focus on your words. Are you expressing your ideas clearly and succinctly?
Synchronise your slides with your words. Ensure that slides transition correctly, animations work as intended and that videos play correctly.
Don’t forget practising with any other visual aids, such as props, if you have chosen to use them.
5. Testing 1,2,3…
There is no substitute for putting your presentation through its paces.
Especially insofar as technology is concerned.
Advance all the slides, test the animations, test any videos you will be showing, test the clicker to advance your slides. In short, test everything! Don’t leave any stone unturned.
Test all possible scenarios and make sure you do the testing on the PC that you will be delivering your presentation.
Here’s an article I wrote on what happened to me when I failed to test my laptop setup properly.
6. Think Variety!
I recommend practising your presentation in different rooms and environments.
It gets you in the frame of mind to deliver your presentation to your audience.
Practise in different places, say different rooms of your house, in the car driving to work, going for a walk in the park, or in the shower.
And if you get the opportunity, it is great for your confidence to practise your presentation at the venue where you will be delivering it.
7. Familiarise – don’t memorise!
Unless you’re a professional actor or you’re delivering a TED talk, my advice is to steer completely clear of memorising your speech.
Why? Because, if you forget your lines and go blank, this may send you into a tailspin, with you being gripped by anxiety and panic.
Instead of memorising, a much safer and more effective approach is to familiarise yourself with your presentation.
In other words, don’t learn the lines and content word-for-word.
Instead know your points and elaborate on these main points, in your own words.
Each time you practise, the words will come out slightly differently.
Which does not matter in the least.
When you familiarise yourself with your presentation, you will be natural and conversational and you won’t have to worry about forgetting your lines.
8. Say it out loud
Practise your presentation out loud, not in your head.
When you simply read it over without saying it aloud, it doesn’t become part of you.
Rather, it’s just a theoretical exercise.
The act of saying it out loud is akin to creating muscle memory.
It also reinforces the words in your memory, so they are so much easier to recall.
9. Get the start and end down pat
I know I mentioned earlier that you should not memorise your speech or presentation.
However, there are a couple of exceptions here, and those exceptions are at the beginning and the end of your presentation.
If you want to get off to a great start, you should know the first couple of minutes of your introduction like the back of your hand.
For some pointers on how to start a presentation with impact, check out this post.
Likewise, if you want to end on a wonderful, memorable note, the last few minutes of your ending should be word perfect.
Here are some tips on how to end a presentation.
10. Say it with oomph
Once you are happy with your content, now you are ready to present it with impact!
This is how you make your presentation come alive for your audience.
For example, which words and expressions can you emphasise?
Where should you add pauses for special effect?
How about adding some gestures here and there?
Also, pay attention to how you say things, for example, changing the pace or the volume, where it enhances your message.
Maybe you could add some movement around the room or on the stage, say when transitioning from one point to another?
11. Record yourself
It’s a great idea to watch yourself from the perspective of your audience, seeing and hearing yourself exactly as they see you.
That’s why recording yourself is so powerful.
Really listen to yourself.
How do you sound? How’s your volume and pacing?
Are you speaking at just the right speed for people to absorb what you are saying?
Are you enunciating your words nice and clearly or “swallowing” them?
Do you have any annoying verbal tics, such as overuse of filler words such as um and ah?
Here’s a link to a post on how to eliminate filler words from your speech.
Now, watch yourself in action.
How’s your gestures - Are you using them? Do they come across as natural or contrived?
How about your facial expressions? Are you smiling and friendly or do you have a glum expression on your face?
Do you have any annoying habits fidgeting or putting your hands in your pockets?
Record yourself, say on your smartphone or using your webcam on your laptop.
Every time you do a run-through of your presentation, write down a few things you thought you did well and what you could improve in your next iteration.
Here’s a link to a post on giving yourself some feedback.
Don’t beat yourself up - Remember, the aim is to keep improving!
12. Practise in front of others
Practising in front of a small group of friendly and switched-on individuals is another great way to fast-track your improvement.
Deliver your presentation in front of them. Watch intently for their reactions. Are they engaged or are their brows furrowed in confusion?
Afterwards, ask them what they thought about your presentation and how they feel that you could improve.
Even consider getting them to complete a feedback form, with plenty of room for their constructive comments and suggestions.
The more feedback from others you get the better!
In Summary
When you have practised your words, your visuals, slides and any props, filmed yourself delivering your presentation and watched it with a critical eye, received feedback from others, noting any things you can further work on and improve, you will feel so much more confident.
You don’t want to practise these things for the first time in front of a live audience. You want to have put your presentation through its paces BEFORE THE BIG DAY.
And when you have practised multiple times, only then can you truly relax and be more spontaneous.
I hope these tips help and that by the time the big day rolls around, you feel prepared and super-confident to deliver a knock-out presentation!
© 2023 Susan Weser. All rights reserved.
Susan Weser is the Founder of Speaking2Win, a boutique public speaking and presentation skills consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia. Susan’s mission is to demystify public speaking and presenting. She loves to fast-track her clients’ public speaking success, empowering them with the skills and confidence to excel in all their public speaking endeavours.
