2.7: Plan Out The Details

All too often, novice speakers find themselves derailed by seemingly insignificant mistakes they failed to think of beforehand:

• Technology details
  • EXAMPLES: extension cord availability, software versions, video files, DVD vs. Blu-Ray capability, etc.
• Timing
  • EXAMPLES: when to advance a presentation slide, arriving early to load a presentation
• Feeling of one’s outfit during the speech
  • EXAMPLES: an itchy shirt tag or painful heels
• How the room looks from the speaker’s vantage point.
  • VISUAL EXAMPLE:

When anxiety levels run high, even the smallest overlooked detail can easily fluster a novice speaker, detracting attention from the message and/or the audience and instead, causing the speaker to focus on themselves. The best speakers can spend hours considering all of the details, imagining vividly how every moment of a successful presentation will go. Such speakers incorporate all of these details into their practice sessions, which helps them eliminate all traces of uncertainty and the anxiety it often breeds.