Most people prepare for a presentation by writing a whole script. But that's mostly a waste of time. Here's why and what you could do instead.

1. A script can create a false sense of security; 'okay if I know my script by heart, nothing can go wrong.' In reality, we can get so obsessed with following the script, that it gives us even more stress when presenting and accidentally deviate from the script. It only increases the chance of a blackout.

2. Natural human communication is not scripted. If you and I meet for a business meeting or coffee, you don't expect me to have written out the full script of the conversation. We will prepare WHAT we want to talk about, but not HOW we will actually say everything.

3. Unless you're a great scriptwriter, the script will probably be experienced as boring and robotic when it's performed.

This doesn't mean that you don't need to prepare! It's just more efficient and effective to prepare differently.

So what to do instead?

1. Write down WHAT you want to talk about. What should your audience know? What are the key messages? Break it down to smaller parts. Focus on those while you practice. Try telling the same story in different ways, as long as you keep the key messages.

2. Use key words in your notes or even on ppt slides to remind yourself. A few words or a drawing are often enough to remind you what is next. Seeing 'invisible basketball', instantly triggers a response in your brain.

3. Like the wagons of a train are connected, you should focus on what is pulling the train AND what keeps the story together. Make sure you master the start and the transitions between parts of your story. Those are the only parts I script. How do I start and how do I keep everything together?

I know this all sounds quite abstract still. In the future I'll follow with a more practical template for preparing a presentation/pitch.

Framing is all about controlling perspectives.

You can control via what angle people look at something. Think of it like the lens of a camera.

The framing effect confirms that HOW information is presented can significantly affect an audience's interpretation of that information. Frames influence people's perspectives, and thus their decisions and actions.

Framing can involve emphasizing certain aspects of an issue, using specific language or imagery, or presenting information in a particular context. It is often used in advertising, politics, media, and other areas where influencing people's opinions and behaviors is important.

If we want to use framing for a good first impression, we must focus the frame on what our audience will most probably like or love.

Some examples of common frames :

1. Positive language . '0,1% death rate' vs '99,9% survival rate' or 'A big problem' vs 'A big challenge'.

2. Focus on audience needs. 'Most of you are here because you demand and deserve justice.' or 'Most of you are stressed out and you deserve some reassurance.'

3. Ethos (credibility). Directly or indirectly name your experience, credentials and values. 'As a former lawyer, I know how...' or 'Our team has successfully dealt with a case just like this'.

In a presentation, you always need to use an Ethos frame. In the next post I'll elaborate on that one specifically.

Say something confidently and people are more inclined to believe you. This common sense is backed up by tons of research.

But there's another element to it... Not only will people believe you, they will also feel more comfortable with you.

I have become increasingly convinced that confidence projection is necessary for public speaking success. It just feels better to listen to someone who seems confident!

(confidence is not necessarily arrogance!)

If you've ever danced any latin dances, you will know how important it is that someone 'leads' the dance.

As a Dutchie, stiff hips are both my nature and nurture. At first, I felt like a fish out of the water on a dancefloor. Being asked to lead in something that feels so uncomfortable is... Even more uncomfortable?

"I don't know how to do this... Shit, people are watching me... I'm making a fool of myself... Damn I feel stressed..."

(Reminds you of public speaking right?)

But here's the thing:

Your dancing partner feeds off your confidence. If you lead very uncomfortably, it will be uncomfortable for them too.

However, if you lead with comfort, they will feel more comfortable. And that's exactly the same in public speaking.

So what you should do in both the vulnerable skills:

Besides improving your skills (duh), it's best to stick to what you know and execute it with confidence.

1. Know that 'it doesn't have to be perfect'.

2. Execute techniques that you know that work for you.

3. Project confidence, even if you don't feel it yourself. Just make it seem like you are confident.

Smile. Make eye contact. Open your body language. Stand up straight. Big gestures.

They'll follow your dance 😉.

This is a powerful strategy when it comes to effectively communicating new ideas and proposals. Oren Klaff, in his book "Pitch Anything," emphasizes the importance of understanding the brain's primal and instinctive responses to new information.

The croc brain (simplified term for the amygdala & hippocampus), is responsible for processing emotions, survival instincts, and making quick decisions. We're talking first impressions here. Do we like this person or this new idea? Does this deserve our attention and energy?

This approach focuses on engaging the audience on a visceral level, triggering emotional responses that can make your pitch more memorable and compelling. By appealing to emotions such as fear, desire, or urgency, you can create a sense of wanting and importance around your proposal.

This really is next level communication mastery.

Here are three practical tips to help you pitch to the primal brain:

1. Start with a Strong Hook: Capture the attention of your audience right from the start with a compelling and emotionally engaging hook. This could be a powerful story, a surprising fact, or a thought-provoking question that triggers an immediate emotional response in the croc brain. By priming your audience's emotions early on, you set the stage for a more receptive and engaged audience throughout your presentation. Jelmer's personal addition: Tap into what your audience values. What is important to them? Name that!

2. Create Contrast and Intrigue: Use the concept of frame control to create contrast and intrigue in your pitch. Frame control involves setting the context and controlling the narrative of your pitch to emphasize the unique value and benefits of your proposal. By introducing contrast between the current state (problem or challenge) and the desired future state (solution or opportunity), you can trigger the croc brain's instinctual attention for change and create a sense of urgency and importance around your pitch. Jelmer's personal addition: frame credibility, time pressure and social status.

3. Incorporate Visual and Emotional Elements: Appeal to the croc brain's preference for visual and emotional stimuli by incorporating compelling visuals, storytelling, and emotional triggers into your pitch. Use images, metaphors, and anecdotes to evoke powerful emotions and create a more vivid and memorable experience for your audience. Jelmer's personal addition: make a lasting impression on your listeners by letting them experience something.

This way you deliver presentations that resonate on a deeper level. It's the opposite of presenting cold hard facts (which most boring college professors do), which bores us the f out.

Do you know the 3 tools of persuasion? Logos (logic), Pathos (emotion) and Ethos (credibility).

Let's look at ETHOS.

It means the credibility of the character that's giving the presentation.

Basically it comes down to trust: 'Who are you to tell me something about this topic?'

Building ethos is essential at the beginning of your presentation.

->

You need to build TRUST.

How to build credibility (proof):

1. Mention your experience or expertise.

2. Tell a bit of your life story (what you overcame).

3. Name values you share with the audience. (empathy)

4. Use jargon or slang that fits the audience.

5. Show famous logos or names.

6. Confidence.

You don't have to spend a lot of time on Ethos. Just mention 2 or 3 things that will get people convinced you can tell them something with some credibility.

The best way to apply Ethos is by doing it subtly, so you avoid coming across as arrogant or braggy.

Tool: Tell more than what you are actually saying.

1. "When I gave this workshop at BMW headquarters last week, the VP of product design absolutely loved this exercise called powerpoint karaoke."

2. "When I was at Harvard, I first bumped into this technique called building credibility, it helped me publish my PhD in Nature journal."

3. "In my role as researcher I get to speak to many different people in this industry, what I'm hearing a lot in the market is..."

Your audience will (mostly subconsciously!) wonder:

Is this person worth my time? Can I trust that it will be valuable for me? Who are they to talk about this subject?

We need to have a certain sense of trust in you / your persona.

One of the most powerful ways to build some trust with a new audience is :

Find and empathize common enemies or common friends.

We humans tend to trust more what is familiar to us. With this powerful tool, we're seeking familiarity via commonality.

Here's how it works:

Having things in common -> means: we're also familiar -> means; we're more trustworthy.

When applying this tool to Public Speaking, you might consider finding out:

1. What are we both against? / What is important for us both? Values

2. Who do we both dislike? / Who do we both support? Enemies or friends

3. Where do we both want to be? / Where would we dread going? Hopes and fears

How to apply this??

Mention these things early in your speech for the sake of trust building (estabishing rapport and ethos).

Make sure it is connected to the context of your speech AND your audience.

Your audience are mostly teachers? Mention how much respect you have for their work. And how unfair it is that the cuts in budgets have been making their hard work more difficult.

Even better,

Form it as a part of an anecdote.

Just a random example that I improvised just now, imagine we are at a food conference, or anything related to food:

For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with good food. My parents said that early on I would always try to find the kitchen in a restaurant, wanting to see how that delicious food was made. I desperately needed to meet the chefs, study their cooking, learn their recipe secrets.

Unfortunately I also remember my first food poisoning... It was bad. I had to go to the hospital for a few days. Food, my big love, had broken my stomach, and my heart. Later I learned that it wasn't the good food itself that was the cause of the illness. It was little bacteria, that were allowed to feast on the good food because the restaurant kitchen was way too dirty. I hope no kid ever has to go through that pain. We deserve delicious food that doesn't make us ill. That's why I studied hygiene and engineering and developed this great tool that has benefits X, Y and Z.

The last feeling is often the lasting feeling.

End your presentations and meetings on a positive note.

So the last thing they FEEL is positive!

I like to frame a positive mindset by focusing on good things.

1. Ask: What are you going to take away from today? or What was your highlight?

2. Say: If there is one thing I need you to remember from today... (Something important and emotionally touching).

3. Do: Compliment the audience and show how much it means to you.

Other things you should consider..

1. Finish on time (show you respect their time).

2. Have a clear outline for what is next.

3. Anchor them curious for the next session or presentation.

Here are three formulas that will help you apply storytelling:

1. Overcoming adversity.

- A person is lost in the jungle. (context)

- Person gets attacked by something. (challenge)

- What happened to the person? (essence)

Personal application:

- Jelmer runs his own company.

- Unexpectedly, he gets long covid and can't work for 10 months. He has no income and security.

- After taking necessary rest and much therapy, he is mostly recovered. But most important, he is more driven than ever to do the work he loves and share his knowledge with you. This work is his passion and he's so happy to be back.

2. Pixar / Disney storytelling structure (every movie follows this)

- Once upon a time..

- Every day..

- Until one day..

- Because of that..

- But then..

- Until finally..

Let's see how this is applied to Finding Nemo:

* Once upon a time there was.. a fish named Nemo.

* Every day.. he lives with his dad Marlin in an anemone, goes to school and misses his mom.

* Until one day.. Nemo swims too far from safety and gets captured by a dentist.

* Because of that.. Marlin seeks out to find his son and meets friends & foes along the way.

* But then.. It seems all helpless and impossible. Everyone considers giving up.

* Until finally.. They persevere and Nemo is rescued.

3. A more advanced Storytelling technique.

'Crime scene' technique (aka 'Teichoscopy') ->

Describe a scene as if you're literally in the middle of it all.

This is best done in the present tense, to really let your audience imagine the scene.

Describe details like: How does it look? What things do you notice? Who is there? How do you feel?

Spend around 30-60 seconds describing details, but not more (attention span).

I'm standing at Rotterdam Centraal train station, the 1st platform is busy as usual. I can smell the coffee and croissants from the person standing next to me. Suddenly I hear a shout in the background. Someone taps me on my shoulder and I turn around. Oh! It's one of you! So happy to see you again.

What your intuition already knows is backed up by neuroscience: your vocality influences the emotional state of your audience.

Specifically powerful is slowing down your speech, which works like magic on the nervous system. Like a father reading a bedtime story to their child, its soothing effect makes us feel safe and comfortable. Don't fool yourself by thinking this won't affect adults.

But this tool is hard to apply in practice; lowering your voice can feel out of your comfort zone. Remember how I had to push you during our Speaking Workshops to lower your voice? But when you finally go for it the results are undeniable; it feels so good as a listener. It's SO engaging.

To make this tool less abstract, Chris Voss coined the concept of the 'Late night FM DJ voice'. Think of that calm, soothing, welcoming voice. Okay. We got this.

Here's what we practiced in the Confident Speaker Course to make it even less abstract:

- Lower your pitch/tone.. This is how you make a statement. You finish the sentence on a low note. It shows confidence and credibility.

- Lower your volume (even whisper). The most dramatic effect of all. It's the ultimate way to play with your audience. Make them try hard to understand what you're saying.

- Stress certain words (aka intonation). Route 1 to emotion, and unfortunately neglected by most speakers.

- Use silences.... Sssh.. What's coming next?

Calm your audience by calming your own voice. Everyone will benefit.

The most useful technique I've ever learned for improvisation is asking a question.

1. It buys you time to think.

2. Their answer gives you fuel to work with.

3. The audience feels more engaged.

This technique has saved my ass countless times. And trust me, your audience won't even notice that you had a stumble or even a blackout.

My go-to questions:

- When someone asks me a difficult question... 'What makes you ask?' or 'What do you reckon yourself?'

- When I don't know what to say during my presentation... 'By show of hands, who of you...?' and then pick an audience member directly for a follow-up question.

The easiest way to start your presentation with guaranteed engagement:

Example:

1. Who of you has ever been in NL?

2. Who of you has tasted Dutch tap water?

3. Even if you haven't tried it, this might be useful to you, because today I'll tell you the secret of Dutch tap water.

4. I'll explain why and how it's tastier, cheaper and healthier than most other tap waters.

Theory:

1&2. Use 2-3x who grabs (Make sure most people are in the categories).

3. Engage those excluded. Mention secret.

4. Preframe = connect subject of the talk to something better + more/ '-er' -> better, cheaper, more efficient, more effective.

You're presenting and someone in the audience asks you a difficult question...

It can give (massive) anxiety.

What if you don't have the right answer? Won't you make a fool of yourself?

Three steps for how you can deal with these difficult situations (AKA screaming monkeys 🐵🐒)

1. Repeat the question to buy yourself time.

2. Mention it's a good question. Ask them what makes them ask? This gives you vital info, plus it might give you the same result as the third step..

3. ASK them what THEY think themselves.

Often, people have an answer in mind themselves. They just ask to check for validation, or to show how smart they are, or because they are worried or want to help.