effective team presentations require extensive rehearsal

Rehearse for Success: The Secret to Effective Presentations

Hello, I’m Cliff Kennedy. Today, we’re exploring the art of rehearsal and its pivotal role in the success of your presentations. As an experienced coach working with organizations like AbbVie, Amazon, Gartner, Microsoft, and TEDxPaloAlto, I’ve seen the remarkable transformation that focused rehearsal brings to the success of speeches, presentations, and conversations.

Watch the full 45-minute walkthrough below that talks through my coaching approach to prepare all levels of speakers for their next high-stakes communication opportunity, or read the summary below.

Shift your perspective

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” These timeless words of U.S. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin are especially relevant to public speaking. Presenting isn’t just about putting together great content; it’s about practicing it well too. Half the work is in creating the content, and the other half is in the rehearsal.

I tell my clients my long-term plan is to shift their perspective on what presentations are about. It’s not a monologue; it’s an engaging conversation with your audience. When you rehearse, you aren’t doing it just for yourself, you’re doing it for your audience too.

Begin your rehearsals out of order

One unique technique that has worked wonders with my clients is rehearsing presentations in reverse. Start with your last slide and gradually work your way back to the beginning. This unconventional approach helps you better internalize the key messages and structure. Whether you present with slides or not, your presentation has natural breaks and transitions that can be rehearsed frontwards or backwards. Doing so ensures you feel confident and in control at every stage of your presentation, a feeling that your audience can sense and appreciate.

Interested in more? Download my worksheet with six more strategies and exercises to prepare you for your big moment.

Be natural and present

Your physical presence on the stage also contributes significantly to the effectiveness of your presentation. People are comfortable when you are comfortable and it’s important to display confidence even through mistakes or flubs. The right gestures and movements can also amplify and accentuate your message. To do so, maintain a balanced stance, minimize shifting weight or pacing, and be aware of your hand movements. My simple rules are: no pockets, no obscene gestures, and keep it natural. 

Embrace the mistakes – be human

Your physical presence on the stage also contributes significantly to the effectiveness of your presentation. People are comfortable when you are comfortable, and it’s important to display confidence even through mistakes or missteps. The right gestures and movements can amplify and accentuate your message. When presenting, maintain a balanced stance, minimize shifting your weight or pacing, and be aware of your hand movements. My simple rules are no pockets, above the waist, and keep it natural.

Use a process: Rehearse, refine, repeat

All successful presentations follow a cycle where you prepare, get the right mindset, rehearse, familiarize yourself with the content, understand the structure, refine it, and then repeat. Developing this or any process is integral to transforming a presentation from ordinary to extraordinary.

I invite you to embrace this approach, rehearse with purpose, and together, let’s create a culture of communication success.

Are you ready to take your communication skills to the next level? Let’s  schedule a call  to discuss your needs and begin improving the results you achieve from every speech, presentation, and conversation.

Whether you’re an individual who wants to make a bigger impact, a leader who wants to supercharge your team or an organization wanting to create a Culture of Communication Success , Kennedy Speech Communications’ coaching solutions are easy to implement and integrate seamlessly into existing cultures, schedules and workflows. Contact us today to learn how to achieve greater results from your next communication opportunity.

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The Importance of Rehearsal in Public Speaking: 7 Effective Rehearsal Techniques

Rehearsal in public speaking is one of the keys to provide a great presentation performance. Rehearsing your material is key in order to give you familiarity with your material and fueling your confidence.

Efficient rehearsal is the bridge between preparation and confident delivery in public speaking. It will make you feel more secure and relaxed with your performance, helping you avoid getting blanks and tripping on the phrases.

Sometimes executives feel strange about rehearsing. We’re not actors, are we? But one thing’s for sure: rehearsing leads to more confidence.

Let me tell you a personal experience…

A personal experience about rehearsing

Let me tell you a little story about my personal experience: I used to feel silly rehearsing a presentation on a stage. Speaking to thin air and pretending there were people listening felt like a madman’s activity to me. Of course, I used to do my “mental rehearsals”, but I didn’t like to do it on stage. It seemed to be enough.

Before doing my first presentation to a big audience as Aftersales Manager for Honda in Argentina, the new president made us rehearse the presentation on stage. He didn’t know us, so he wanted to see how well we performed, and to make us feel sure about what we were going to say.

As I was doing it, I found pieces of content that, as good as they sounded in my mind, didn’t feel right to me as I was telling them aloud. My tongue was tripping on some words, some phrases didn’t link that well with each other.

I found maybe rephrasing them a bit felt more natural to me, so I felt more secure while I was telling them. I felt more familiar with my material. And when I finally gave my speech, it was fluid and vivid, and it was really convincing for my audience. I got more supporters that I ever expected to have.

So I never stopped rehearsing my material on stage after that. Even when the president didn’t care anymore about hearing it beforehand, because he was confident enough that I would do well on the stage.

Best Rehearsal Techniques for your presentation:

Let’s discover some rehearsal techniques to ensure your practice is not just quantity but quality:

1. Chunking and Memorization:

Chunking is a valuable rehearsal technique that can significantly enhance your public speaking skills. It is a cognitive process that involves breaking down complex information into smaller, more manageable segments or “chunks.” When applied to public speaking, this technique helps you organize and remember the key points of your speech.

Here’s how it works:

Dividing Content:

Begin by dividing your speech into distinct sections or chunks. Each chunk should represent a main point, idea, or topic. By breaking your speech into smaller units, you make it easier to digest and remember.

Focus on One Chunk at a Time:

When rehearsing, concentrate on one chunk at a time. This focused approach allows you to thoroughly understand and memorize the content within each segment before moving on to the next.

Repeat and Connect:

Practice each chunk repeatedly until you can deliver it confidently without relying heavily on notes or prompts. As you become comfortable with one chunk, gradually connect it to the previous one, forming a coherent flow for your entire speech.

Visual Aids:

You can also use visual aids, such as cue cards or slides, to reinforce the key points within each chunk. Visual cues can be especially helpful for triggering your memory during the actual presentation. This technique also helps you avoid reading your presentation, one of the most annoying practices for your audience.

By chunking your speech and memorizing it in this manner, you improve your overall recall and reduce the risk of forgetting important information during your presentation. This technique allows you to approach public speaking with greater confidence, knowing that you have a well-organized and memorized structure to rely on.

2. Verbal and Physical Repetition:

Verbal and physical repetition is about ingraining your speech in your memory and body, making you well-prepared and self-assured when facing your audience. It’s a technique that builds fluency, confidence, and effectiveness in public speaking.

Verbal Repetition:

In this aspect, you repeatedly practice your speech aloud. Begin by reading your speech verbatim to familiarize yourself with the content. Then, gradually reduce your reliance on the script until you can deliver the speech fluently from memory. Repeating the words and phrases helps you internalize the content and ensures you won’t get stuck during your presentation.

Physical Repetition:

This involves practicing your body language, gestures, and movements while delivering your speech. Repeatedly rehearsing how you’ll stand, move, and use gestures enhances your non-verbal communication skills. This, in turn, helps convey confidence and reinforces your message.

The next step is to combine both verbal and physical repetitions. The combination of verbal and physical repetition ensures that both your words and your body language align seamlessly during your presentation. This synchronicity not only enhances your message’s clarity but also boosts your confidence, as you’re well-practiced in both the content and delivery.

3. Visualization:

Before physically rehearsing, visualize yourself delivering the speech flawlessly. Envision the stage, the audience, and your confident demeanor. This mental rehearsal enhances your familiarity with the content.

First, you do a Mental Rehearsal . Find a quiet space to close your eyes and vividly visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine the details—the stage, the audience, your body language, and your confident tone. Envision yourself smoothly transitioning between points and handling questions with ease.

As a second step, during your mental rehearsal, focus on positive outcomes. Picture the audience engaged and responsive, nodding in agreement with your points. See yourself finishing your speech to applause and receiving compliments afterward.

Last but not least, engage your emotions during visualization . Feel the excitement and satisfaction of delivering a successful speech. This emotional connection reinforces your confidence and reduces anxiety.

Visualization helps reduce anxiety, increase confidence, and improve overall performance. It’s a tool that mentally prepares you for success and empowers you to step onto the stage with confidence and composure.

4. Record and Review:

This is a difficult one… not everybody likes to see themselves on the screen, and watching at all the mistakes they’ve done while performing. But recording and reviewing your presentation is a fundamental technique to enhance your public speaking skills.

This method involves recording your practice sessions or actual presentations, then critically analyzing the footage to identify areas for improvement. Here’s how it can benefit your growth as a speaker:

Objective Self-Assessment:

Recording your presentations offers an objective view of your performance. It allows you to see and hear yourself from the audience’s perspective, highlighting strengths and areas that need work.

Identifying Weaknesses:

By reviewing the recordings, you can pinpoint specific issues like verbal tics, body language habits, or pacing problems that you might not have noticed during practice.

Refinement:

Armed with insights from the review, you can make targeted improvements in subsequent rehearsals. This iterative process helps you refine your content, delivery, and overall presentation.

Over time, the act of recording and reviewing your speeches builds confidence. As you see progress in your presentations, you gain assurance in your abilities.It also allows you to adapt to different speaking contexts and audiences, refining your approach for maximum impact.

It’s important not to be extremely critical with yourself. You have to accept your mistakes, not punishing yourself for them, but using them as tools to give a better performance.

5. Time Management:

Time management is a crucial aspect of effective public speaking. If you make your speech too short, you may not transmit your ideas. If you make it too long, you might lose your audience in the way.

Time Management of a presentation involves planning and allocating your available time wisely to ensure a well-paced and engaging speech:

The first thing you have to do is to Set Clear Time Limits . Begin by establishing the time limits for your presentation, taking into account any guidelines or expectations from your audience. This helps you structure your content appropriately.

You’ll also have to Outline Your Speech . Create a clear outline of your speech, breaking it into sections with estimated time allocations. Ensure that your introduction, main points, and conclusion fit within your allotted time.

Then you have to Practice Timing . During rehearsals, time yourself to see how your speech aligns with your intended duration. Adjust your pace and content as needed to stay within your time limit.

Always allow some time for Q&A. If your presentation includes a Q&A session, factor in time for this at the end. Be concise in your responses to stay on schedule.

Last, Prepare for Unexpected Delays . Plan for potential interruptions or technical issues that could affect your time management. Having contingency plans in place demonstrates professionalism.

Effective time management ensures that your audience remains engaged and that your message is delivered clearly. It also reduces anxiety, as you’ll have greater control over your presentation’s flow. By mastering this aspect of rehearsal, you enhance your overall public speaking skills.

6. Mock Audience in your rehearsal:

Utilizing a Mock Audience for Your Presentation Rehearsal is a highly effective technique for refining your public speaking skills. This strategy involves practicing your speech in front of a small group of individuals who simulate an actual audience.

Some of the benefits of this practice are:

It gives you a Realistic Feedback: A mock audience provides valuable feedback from diverse perspectives. They can offer insights on content, delivery, and overall impact, helping you identify areas for improvement.

Pressure Simulation: Practicing in front of others mimics the pressure of a live audience, helping you manage nerves and anxiety. It builds your confidence in handling real speaking situations.

Interaction Practice: It allows you to rehearse audience interaction, such as handling questions or engaging with different audience members. This makes you more adaptable during the actual presentation.

Timing and Pacing: Presenting to a mock audience helps you fine-tune your timing and pacing. You can gauge when to slow down, emphasize key points, or move on to the next topic.

Audience Engagement: Observing the reactions of your mock audience allows you to adjust your content and delivery to keep them engaged and attentive.

Incorporating a mock audience into your rehearsal process is a strategic step towards becoming a more effective and confident public speaker. Their feedback and the realistic environment they provide are invaluable in helping you refine your presentation before facing a live audience.

7. Impromptu Drill:

Occasionally, challenge yourself with impromptu practice. Choose a topic and speak on it spontaneously. This sharpens your ability to think on your feet—a vital skill in public speaking.

These drills involve spontaneously responding to unexpected topics or questions, helping you develop your improvisational skills. They improve your quick thinking and adaptability of your communication style and message. They also boost your confidence and enhace your verbal fluency, and help you make a better connection with your audience.

Some final words on Rehearsal in Public Speaking

As we have shown through this article, rehearsing is vital for your public speaking performance. It will help you to turn from an average speaker into a great one.

By incorporating these techniques into your rehearsal process, you not only enhance your memorization but also refine your delivery style. Practicing with intentionality transforms raw content into a polished, confident, and impactful presentation.

Don’t forget to check our article on “The 12 Commandments of Public Speaking” for more Public Speaking tips!

Hope to see you on stage soon!

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You Aren’t Rehearsing Enough for Your Presentations

Before a critical presentation, the best thing you can do is rehearse — a lot. That doesn’t mean you need to memorize every line (which will make you sound too rehearsed). Your goal should be to feel confident in what you’re saying while leaving room for spontaneity. Spend extra time on the beginning and the […]

Before a critical presentation, the best thing you can do is rehearse — a lot. That doesn’t mean you need to memorize every line (which will make you sound too rehearsed). Your goal should be to feel confident in what you’re saying while leaving room for spontaneity. Spend extra time on the beginning and the end of your talk, including your first and last slides. The introduction sets the stage for your message and gives your audience a reason to care. Your conclusion determines which ideas people will walk away with. If you nail these two sections of the talk, you’ll probably do well no matter what happens. You should also repeatedly practice any sections that have complex or technical content. While you rehearse, consider recording yourself on your phone; play it back to watch for distracting habits (fidgeting, avoiding eye contact) and areas where you seem unsure of yourself. Rehearse those sections a few more times.

Source: This tip is adapted from “How to Rehearse for an Important Presentation,” by Carmine Gallo

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Aesthetics and Delivery

Learning Objectives

• Identify and distinguish methods of delivery
• Discuss the rehearsal process
• Strategize best practices for rehearsal

Having a clear understanding and appreciation for aesthetic choices—including verbal, nonverbal delivery, and the use of presentation aids— will enhance your understanding of public speaking. In reading the previous chapters, you likely thought of speakers who have either exemplified certain qualities or “broken the rules” by, for example, using many vocalized fillers. While understanding these ideas is important, the best path to integrating them in your own presentations is through rehearsal. You will create an exceptional aesthetic experience for your audience, but that starts before you step in front of the audience.

“I already know how to rehearse a speech,” you may be thinking. But like any ability, sport, or game, people proficient in those areas have insight to add. Yes, you could learn to masterfully cook on your own, but having an experienced chef at your side will lead to unexpected insights and increase your proficiency. So, trust us. We are experts.

When you begin the rehearsal process, the first step is figuring out which type of delivery you’ll be executing. There are four main types of delivery that we’ll outline below.

Types of Delivery

The content, purpose, and situation for your presentation will partially dictate how you rehearse because they will inform what type of delivery style you select. There are 4 general types of delivery: impromptu, extemporaneous, the use of a manuscript, and memorized.

Impromptu Speaking

Impromptu speaking is the presentation of a short message without advance preparation. You have probably done impromptu speaking many times in informal, conversational settings. Self-introductions in group settings are examples of impromptu speaking: “Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m a volunteer with the Homes for the Brave program.” Another example of impromptu speaking occurs when you answer a question such as, “What did you think of the movie?” Your response has not been preplanned, and you are constructing your arguments and points as you speak. Even worse, you might find yourself going into a meeting and your boss says, “I want

you to talk about the last stage of the project. . .” and you have no warning.

The advantage of this kind of speaking is that it’s spontaneous and responsive in an animated group context. The disadvantage is that the speaker is given little or no time to contemplate the central theme of their message. As a result, the message may be disorganized and difficult for listeners to follow.

Here is a step-by-step guide that may be useful if you are called upon to give an impromptu speech in public:

• Take a moment to collect your thoughts and plan the main point that you want to make (like a mini thesis statement).
• Thank the person for inviting you to speak. Do not make comments about being unprepared, called upon at the last moment, on the spot, or uneasy. In other words, try to avoid being self-deprecating!
• Deliver your message, making your main point as briefly as you can while still covering it adequately and at a pace your listeners can follow.
• If you can use a structure, use numbers if possible: “Two main reasons. . .” or “Three parts of our plan. . .” or “Two side effects of this drug. . .” Past, present, and future or East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast are pre-fab structures.
• Thank the person again for the opportunity to speak.
• Stop talking (it is easy to “ramble on” when you don’t have something prepared). If in front of an audience, don’t keep talking as you move back to your seat.

Impromptu speeches are generally most successful when they are brief and focus on a single point.

We recommend practicing your impromptu speaking regularly and every day. Do you want to work on reducing your vocalized pauses in a formal setting? Cool! You can begin that process by being conscious of your vocalized fillers during informal conversations and settings.

Extemporaneous

Extemporaneous speaking is the presentation of a carefully planned and rehearsed speech, spoken in a conversational manner using brief notes.

Speaking extemporaneously has some advantages. It promotes the likelihood that you, the speaker, will be perceived as knowledgeable and credible since you know the speech well enough that you don’t need to read it. In addition, your audience is likely to pay better attention to the message because it is engaging both verbally and nonverbally. By using notes rather than a full manuscript (or everything that you’re going to say), the extemporaneous speaker can establish and maintain eye contact with the audience and assess how well they are understanding the speech as it progresses. It also allows flexibility; you are working from the strong foundation of an outline, but if you need to delete, add, or rephrase something at the last minute or to adapt to your audience, you can do so. The outline also helps you be aware of main ideas vs. subordinate ones.

Because extemporaneous speaking is the style used in the great majority of public speaking situations, most of the information in the subsequent sections of this chapter is targeted toward this kind of speaking.

Manuscript speaking is the word-for-word iteration of a written message. In a manuscript speech, the speaker maintains their attention on the printed page except when using presentation aids.

The advantage to reading from a manuscript is the exact repetition of original words. This can be extremely important in some circumstances. For example, reading a statement about your organization’s legal responsibilities to customers may require that the original words be exact. In reading one word at a time, in order, the only errors would typically be mispronunciation of a word or stumbling over complex sentence structure. A manuscript speech may also be appropriate at a more formal affair (like a funeral), when your speech must be said exactly as written in order to convey the proper emotion or decorum the situation deserves.

However, there are costs involved in manuscript speaking. First, it’s typically an uninteresting way to present. Unless the speaker has rehearsed the reading as a complete performance animated with vocal expression and gestures (well-known authors often do this for book readings), the presentation tends to be dull. Keeping one’s eyes glued to the script prevents eye contact with the audience. For this kind of “straight” manuscript speech to hold audience attention, the audience must be already interested in the message and speaker before the delivery begins. Finally, because the full notes are required, speakers often require a lectern to place their notes, restricting movement and the ability to engage with the audience. Without something to place the notes on, speakers have to manage full-page speaking notes, and that can be distracting.

It is worth noting that professional speakers, actors, news reporters, and politicians often read from an autocue device, such as a teleprompter, especially when appearing on television, where eye contact with the camera is crucial. With practice, a speaker can achieve a conversational tone and give the impression of speaking extemporaneously and maintaining eye contact while using an autocue device. However, success in this medium depends on two factors: (1) the speaker is already an accomplished public speaker who has learned to use a conversational tone while delivering a prepared script, and (2) the speech is written in a style that sounds conversational.

Memorized speaking is reciting a written message that the speaker has committed to memory. Actors, of course, recite from memory whenever they perform from a script in a stage play, television program, or movie. When it comes to speeches, memorization can be useful when the message needs to be exact and the speaker doesn’t want to be confined by notes.

The advantage to memorization is that it enables the speaker to maintain eye contact with the audience throughout the speech. Being free of notes means that you can move freely around the stage and use your hands to make gestures. If your speech uses presentation aids, this freedom is even more of an advantage.

Memorization, however, can be tricky. First, if you lose your place and start trying to ad lib, the contrast in your style of delivery will alert your audience that something is wrong. If you go completely blank during the presentation, it will be extremely difficult to find your place and keep going. Obviously, memorizing a typical seven-minute classroom speech takes a great deal of time and effort, and if you aren’t used to memorizing, it is very difficult to pull off.

We recommend playing with all 4 types of delivery (though extemporaneous is most common in public speaking). Once you identify what type of delivery style you’ll use in a speech, it’s time to rehearse.

Rehearsal sounds like homework, we know. Rehearsing your speech, however, doesn’t just assist in increasing one’s speech grade. Rehearsing is your commitment to bettering your foundational communication skills for the long haul.

When you rehearse, you are asking: what kind of aesthetic choices do I want to implement? Aesthetic choices can be enhanced or limited based on the situation and context in which you’re speaking, both physically and culturally. For example, if you are speaking outside without a microphone, your embodiment of the speech and aesthetic scene would differ from a speech with a lectern in a small classroom.

This might be a good place to dispel a few myths about public speaking that can influence perceptions of rehearsal:

Myth #1: You are either born a good public speaker or not. While someone may have certain characteristics that are attractive in our cultural understanding of public speaking, good rehearsal will create conditions for everyone to become better speakers.

Myth #2: Practice makes perfect. It is possible to practice incorrectly, so in that case, practice will make permanent, not perfect. There is a right way and a wrong way to practice a speech, musical instrument, or sport.

Myth #3 : Public speaking is just reading what you wrote or reading and talking at the same time . For example: I (one of your authors) often hear envy over my public speaking abilities, but I certainly was not blessed with a universal speaking gene. Instead, I spent years doing debate, speech, and performance to practice writing arguments, responding to ideas, and crafting a public speaking persona. When I do presentations, I spend lots of time workshopping the speech “on my feet” to determine the best type of delivery, where to emphasize, when to move, while considering the entire scene that’s being created. Because I have practiced a lot, though, I am more confident about these decisions during the rehearsal process so I perform more consistently.

Have you found yourself using one of these myths? Sadly, we often rely on these myths to talk ourselves into believing that public speaking isn’t for us – never was and never will be.

You might also, for example, have attempted rehearsal in the past and thought, “How am I supposed to remember all these words and all these bodily movements at the same time?! It’s impossible!” It’s true: there’s a lot going on when you give a public speech, and focusing on your aesthetic delivery requires a conscious effort. Think about the classic party trick of rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. In the first attempt, you may have struggled (like some of us!). With practice, though, you can find strategies that allow you to accomplish this task that, at first glance, was too much.

One major misconception about rehearsal is that it begins when your speech is completely written. Start rehearsing as soon as you can. Too often, speakers wait until the entire speech is complete – it’s been created, written, and is on paper. We recommend, however, embedding rehearsal workshops throughout your speech preparation. Why?

Rehearsal and workshopping will assist you in translating the written argument into verbal form. “How does this sound?” or “I think I know another example that would work well here.” Using rehearsal to workshop content allows you to listen to the sound of your argument out loud rather than reading on paper only.

Rehearsal, thus, is an ongoing process and part of your entire public speaking preparation. So, now what? What does a good rehearsal consist of?

Check the Space

We’ve been a broken record, we know, but we’ll say it again: think about the context – including the space that you’re speaking in. The space—and resources available within it—will influence your rehearsal because you’ll know the spatial opportunities and constraints. Let’s talk through some key questions that you should ask of the space.

Is there a lectern or podium? If so, should I use it? Many speaking spaces include a lectern or a podium (see Image 11.1) . A lectern is a small raised surface, usually with a slanted top, where a speaker can place notes during a speech. A podium is a raised platform or stage. Both the lectern and podium allow speakers stability while they present, and there’s the added bonus of having some place to rest your speaking notes.

However, even for experienced speakers, it is all too tempting to grip the edges of the lectern with both

hands for security (like we discussed in Chapter 9). You might even wish you could hide behind it. Remember, too, that opting to keep your hands at your sides will not be visible to your audience. Be aware of these temptations so you can manage them effectively and present yourself to your audience in a manner they will perceive as confident.

If you opt to use a lectern, your rehearsal should integrate a similar structure. As you rehearse, try stepping to the side or front of the lectern when speaking with free hands, only occasionally standing at the lectern to consult your notes. This will enhance your eye contact as well as free up your hands for gesturing.

What size is the space? If you are accustomed to being in a classroom of a certain size, you will need to make adjustments when speaking in a smaller or larger space.

A large auditorium can be intimidating. Most of us are used to sitting in the seats, not standing on the stage! Because it may be difficult to find a space that large while you rehearse, keep a few things in mind:

• Be aware that your voice is likely to echo, especially if far fewer people are in the space than it can hold, so you will want to speak more slowly than usual and make use of pauses to mark the ends of phrases and sentences. When you rehearse, slow down to account for the echo – listen to find ways to speak slowly while avoiding a robotic tone.
• Your facial expressions and gestures should be larger so that they are visible from farther away. If you are using presentation aids, they need to be large enough to be visible from the back of the auditorium. Of course, if you can get the audience to move to the front, that is the best situation, but it tends not to happen.

Limited space is not as disconcerting for most speakers as enormous space, and it has the advantage of minimizing the tendency to pace back and forth while you speak. A small space does call for more careful management of note cards and presentation aids, as your audience will be able to see up close what you are doing with your hands.

What about acoustics? The acoustics of your speaking space can often dictate an audience’s ability to hear and comprehend what you’re saying. If you are speaking outside, your voice is likely to carry and be less insulated than a theatre or small classroom. Remember, if your audience can’t hear you, they can’t experience your speech.

Check for a microphone: using a microphone will amplify your voice, so it is a good choice to increase your

volume in an open or large acoustic space. Remember that a microphone may require that you slow down for the sound to carry. Check to see if it is handheld or can be clipped on. This may seem like a small difference, but it will affect your ability to move and gesture, so this small detail can make a larger impact on your aesthetic choices.

If you have never spoken with a microphone, ask to do a sound check and use that time to perform the first few lines of your speech to get an understanding of how your language will sound through a microphone in that space.

Workshop Strategies

Rehearsal means workshopping the embodiment of your speech. This is key because, as we’ve discussed, a speech is experienced differently by the audience than if they were reading it on a page. The sooner you begin and the sooner you become comfortable with rehearsal, the better your content will translate to the audience. To assist, let’s talk through some rehearsal strategies and best practices. Rather than a linear process, view these processes and strategies as circular or recursive – continue returning to each throughout rehearsal.

Conduct a self-assessment : We often hear, “oh no; I hate to listen to myself talk.” And we get it. It can feel strange to self-assess. While difficult and sometimes frustrating, it’s important to know what kind of speaker you are and what you’d like to improve. For example, are you often quiet and asked to speak up? Or, conversely, are you a loud talker whose booming voice fills up the room with ease?

These general questions about your communication style can begin giving insight into your strengths as a speaker, and the answers will be your focus areas during rehearsal. If you know that you’re a quick-talker, you’ll want to pay attention to pace and consciously integrate additional pauses. If you struggle with eye contact, asking a friend to rehearse with you can increase your comfort with engaging through eye contact.

However, you can only gain so much about your speaking strengths by investigating your general communication style. The best way to get a baseline understanding of your speaking style is to—you guessed it – watch yourself give a speech. Yes, this may feel awkward. But it’s worth it. When watching, we recommend that you identify any aesthetic choices that emerge more than once. After all, you’re looking for key areas to improve, so you want to hone in on things that seem to trip you up over and over.

With that in mind, we recommend two ways to approach conducting a self-assessment: start with general questions and move toward specific examples. Figure 11.1 guides you through this process.

In conducting a self-assessment, your main goal is identifying opportunities for improvement and understanding your current strengths. The more comfortable you become with self-assessing, the less likely you’ll finish a speech and say, “I have no idea what I just did.”

Rehearse with all speaking materials : Rehearse with everything that you’ll speak with. Too often, speakers use their full outline (or even a full manuscript) when rehearsing and make a speaking outline right before standing up to speak. This makes effectiveness difficult, and understandably so. If you’re used to looking down at a full-length paper, using a notecard and a few keywords will feel radically strange and different in the moment.

Instead, rehearse with everything that you’ll speak with, including your speaking notes (check out Chapter 6 for assistance on creating a speaking outline). Speaking notes are your friend, and workshopping with your notes will create consistency and familiarity when you formally speak.

There are benefits beyond familiarity. You can, for example, create cues on your notes that communicate with your future speaking self. Do you have trouble with projection? Use a green highlighter on your speaking notes to remind yourself to “speak up!” The more you rehearse with that green mark, the more confidently and consciously you can work on projecting.

In addition to speaking notes, you should rehearse with any other materials that will be present – a presentational aid, a table, a chair, etc. If you’re using PowerPoint, you’ll want to rehearse with a clicker since you’ll likely have an additional device to hold. As you rehearse, ask: “do I need to hold this the entire time? Can I seamlessly place it on a table nearby? How long does the audience need to experience each slide?”

The more you integrate these materials into your rehearsal, the more seamless they’ll appear the day that you speak. Rather than be burdensome or awkward, they will be part of the speaking experience.

Start over and over and over: That’s right. Rehearsal is an over-and-over-and-over again process not a one-time-through ordeal. While a self-assessment is a key part of rehearsal, you may be unable to video yourself prior to a speech or presentation. In that case, starting over and workshopping repeatedly will be key.

As you begin workshopping, listen to the argumentative flow of your content: does this make sense? Can an idea be clarified? Does the transition connect the main points fully? How does the concluding thought leave the audience? Listening to the arguments will allow you to make aesthetic and delivery choices that will enhance that information.

Try it different ways. Listen. Try it another way. Listen. Do it again.

Successful rehearsal is a process of self-reflection and being comfortable critiquing your own presentational style. You can always (and we recommend) ask others for help – feedback will provide you with different perspectives. These techniques, however, should always happen before the day of your speech. We provide some day-of recommendations below.

The Day of Your Speech

Rehearsal continues until the moment you speak, including the day-of preparation. There are a few day-of rehearsal techniques that we recommend.

Warm up your voice . Have you ever begun talking and instead of a clear, articulate sentence, your voice sounded scratchy and awkward? Perhaps you had to clear your throat for your voice to return. That’s because your muscles weren’t warmed up. When you begin your speech, you want your voice and vocal cords to be warmed up to allow higher blood flow to reduce hoarseness. Consider the following warm-up exercises:

• Avoid holding tenseness by dropping the shoulders and taking a few deep breaths.
• Open your mouth as wide as possible, close it, and open it again.
• Warm up the tongue by rolling the tongue a few times (you know the sound!)
• Select a few words and work to over-enunciate them by placing extra emphasis as you speak out loud.

These are just a few suggestions to get your vocals warmed up. We know these sound a bit weird, and we don’t often see people standing in the hallway stretching out their mouth or vocal cords. But that’s OK! Find a private spot and try to be comfortable in warming up your vocals.

Warm up your body . Your speech is a full-body experience, so warming up your body is key. Because public speaking is embodied, you want to feel connected with all parts of your body so that you can comfortably and confidently engage. There is no “right way” to warm up, so use warm-up techniques that work best for you. We enjoy deep breathing, stretching, and shaking out the limbs.

Warming up your body can also help reduce the jittery feelings of communication anxiety. If you’re feeling anxious, try implementing strategies to reduce communication apprehension. We recommend looking back over the last section of Chapter 1 – the section provides suggestions on how to reduce and/or manage communication apprehension.

Finally, trust yourself. You have worked hard. You know your stuff. Help the audience experience that time and labor.

This chapter has concluded Part 3 on creating an aesthetic experience. We worked to identify key delivery techniques – impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized.

You now have helpful starting places when workshopping a speech. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse.

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• ChrisElrod2017 © ChrisElrod is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
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Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy Copyright © 2019 by Meggie Mapes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Your Path to Perfect: Guide to Rehearsing a Presentation

by Janice Tomich

• Presentation Planning & Public Speaking Skills

Would you be surprised to hear that practicing a presentation is as important as the words you actually share? And that you should spend as much time rehearsing your speech as you did creating your presentation?

The presenters you admire—the ones that seem so at ease with their effortless delivery—appear polished because of the amount of time they invest in practicing their presentation skills.

Their natural delivery might lull you into thinking they’ve spent little time practicing.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m a professional presentation coach , and I’ve guided over 1000 clients in the process of writing, practicing, and delivering presentations and keynote addresses .

Here are the tips and advice I give my clients on how to effectively rehearse for an upcoming presentation.

Table of Contents

How Much Should you Practice your Presentation Delivery?

As you practice, you’ll find that your presentation will evolve. It will become a more effective presentation as you make tweaks and adjustments. This evolution is likely to take more time than you anticipate.

To ensure you’ve given yourself lots of time to be stage ready, work backwards from the day you will be delivering your presentation, and then schedule in presentation practice time, with practices starting at least two weeks before you plan to walk on stage.

Don’t practice your presentation in the theatre of your mind. It’s only by actually articulating the words out loud that you will understand the messaging that works and the messaging that doesn’t.

I tell my clients they should practice until they get sick of hearing their own voice—that once that happens they’ll know they have practiced enough. They look at me in disbelief, because they usually want the hard numbers.

But there isn’t a prescriptive or magic number of hours your need to practice. It’s a knowing…knowing that you intuitively can speak to all of your content fluidly and you can transition from concept to concept with ease.

I do understand that most people want to know how many hours to schedule into their calendar, so the number that many professional speaking coaches quote is that for a one hour presentation you’ll need 30 hours of practice.

Yes, 30 hours of practice!

However, as I mentioned above, it’s not about a prescriptive amount of time but rather that you must ensure you are practiced enough to deliver your presentation with confidence. The longer the speech the more time you’ll need to practice. New presentations (ones which are not an adaptation of a previous one) also require more practice time. New public speakers often need more practice than seasoned ones, because experienced speakers know what to expect and how to adjust if things don’t go according to plan. New speakers are still honing their presentation skills.

You should also know that professional public speakers tend to spend more time practicing than business professionals. After all, a professional public speaker has a whole career and income around speaking. They need to deliver top-tier presentations that will influence and engage their audiences, and they treat presentation practice like the professionals they are.

“I was preparing for four presentations and although already comfortable with speaking in front of an audience, I was looking to hone my skills. We worked through all of the presentations together and I felt confident and prepared as I delivered them. “

​​​​Deanna Sparling Director of Operations – Barberstock System

Tips for Effective Presentation Practice

1. don’t memorize your speech.

My first rule of thumb is not to be tempted to memorize your presentation word for word. Audiences can tell when a speaker has memorized their presentation. It’s obvious because there is a flavour of performance art—the delivery is a bit disassociated from the words.

Memorized presentations sound robotic because it’s hard to instil passion in them—they lose their fresh, conversational vibe.

Rote memorization also sets you up for a big problem. Forget one word and you’ll look like a deer in headlights and be grappling for what to speak to next.

2. Pull Out the Key Concepts of the Presentation

Instead of memorizing your speech, follow these guidelines instead:

• Practice your full script once or twice out loud.
• Gather a stack of note cards.
• Scan through your presentation and write down key concepts – one concept per card.
• Do a few practice run throughs (again, out loud) expanding from the key points on your cards.

You’ll be surprised at how much you know and remember using this technique.

Many speakers have a hard time letting go of their notes. Notes are like a pacifier. When my clients toss them, I know it’s one of the toughest leaps of faith they need to take.

What’s the benefit to tossing your notes? You’ll sound natural, at ease, and confident.

3. Use Visual Cueing to Help You Remember Your Key Points

One of my very first clients was scheduled to deliver at a conference with a few months to prepare. Sadly, the previous year she had been in a massive car wreck and suffered a brain stem injury that affected her memory. First we worked together on the content, and then I created a method to help her deliver her words.

We used the key concepts technique above, but for each key concept, we associated it with a visual aid—an image which aligned to each key concept. For each concept we used an image that would trigger its meaning. Some of the images made no sense to me but it was the right trigger for her.

She practiced from these visual vies and once she had made a solid connection she memorized the images in order. It wasn’t easy—it took a lot of work. And she pulled it off beautifully.

I tell this story to demonstrate the real value in aligning concepts with visual cues. When I practice presentations, I’m usually in my living room. In a clockwise motion I attach each key concept to a piece of furniture … chair, credenza, couch, etc. I practice with each piece of furniture triggering my memory and then riff off of the key concepts.

Some clients find this too discombobulating. For some, having to retrieve the images conjured up from their home while standing on a stage is too confusing. For those clients, I recommend they use their own body from the top of their head to the tip of their toes as visual markers, assigning one key message per body part.

If you’re lost and unsure about how to make your presentation compelling, I can help.

4. Only Practice the Parts of the Speech You Trip Over

As my requests to speak at events grew, I soon realized that practicing a presentation from start to finish each time was time consuming. Many new public speakers fall into this trap as well. A better approach, once you have your presentation in good shape, is to only practice the parts which challenge you. This technique does double duty. It saves lots of time, and it also prevents over learning/memorizing.

And while you’re practicing…

5. Record Yourself Rehearsing Your Presentation

Many people shy away from recording themselves and then critiquing the playbacks. Once I got out of my own way, I realized how valuable video and audio recordings are. My clients say the same thing. Watching a video or audio recording of your own speech is one of the richest possible forms of public speaking feedback .

The trick is to remove your ego. Put your critiquing hat though you’re watching or listening to someone you don’t know.

Review Your Presentation Recordings and Answer These Self-Critique Questions

• Does your opening hook your audience in within the first 30 seconds?
• Have you established a solid through line? Is it obvious during your entire presentation?
• Is your content persuasive? Have you established common ground and then inched your audience along to influence them?
• Does each concept flow well into the next? Are the transitions smooth?
• Is your audience inspired by your close? What will they do because of your presentation?
• Are you using the full power of your voice and mannerisms that communicate engaging body language?
• Are you relying on too many filler words?
• Did you pace your content well—will your audience be able to easily follow your arguments?
• Do you appear relaxed? Are you presenting confidently ?

Once you answer these questions, take note of the problems you’ve identified and apply them to your next practice round. It’s doing the hard work and learning these nuances that support masterful delivery during your actual presentation.

Body Language: Practicing Gestures

When you practice and deliver your presentation with passion, confidence, and conviction as you would do as a speaker for TED Talk, your gestures and body language will naturally be in tune with your words.

There may be a few gestures you want to use for emphasis but to memorize each gesture will have you looking stilted and awkward.

Knowing When You Are Ready to Present

Your first practices should be on your own until you are confident in your content and how you’ll deliver it.

Once you’re in a solid place, I recommend practicing in front of colleagues that have lots of public speaking experience. Better yet, work with me —I’m a communication specialist and public speaking coach who has worked with over 1000 clients to get them prepared to stand behind a podium or on stage.

But don’t work until the last minute. It’s important to block concentrated scheduled presentation practice time … and also have rest time to integrate the learning.

“To join the stars, do less. But do the work with absolute, intense, and hard focus. And when you’re done, be done, and go enjoy the rest of the day.” Amir Afianian

An overburdened mind is not capable of efficiently learning a presentation (cramming for exams in uni didn’t work either.)

If you are up against a time crunch, I recommend you at least practice and learn the start of your presentation and conclusion of your presentation . Embed to memory the logical flow of your key points and from there, as time permits, practice ‘riffing’ off your points.

I’ve never delivered a presentation or had a client report back after a presentation saying they wished they’d practiced less.

The passion for your craft or industry shines through when you invest the time in practicing your presentation that shines a light on you as a professional public speaker.

Do You Need Help With Your Next Presentation?

Developing and creating a presentation on your own without professional feedback is challenging. If you’re stuck on how to clearly communicate your message, book a 1-hour presentation strategy session with me. I’ll help you get on track to deliver a presentation that is interesting, exciting, and engaging.

If you need support to create a presentation from a few scribbled notes on a napkin, I can help you with that too -> Prepare For Your Upcoming Presentation, Speech, or Talk .

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How to rehearse for your presentations like a pro.

July 20, 2022

Imagine: You’ve an important presentation coming up. That presentation will decide whether you’ll get your promotion or not! 

I know, big stakes! You’re probably getting anxious just by the thought of that ;).

How can you rehearse for your presentation so that you deliver it with maximum impact?  

Let me share what you should avoid (don’ts) and what you should try (dos). The  rehearsal techniques are collection techniques that numerous professional speakers use.    

Rehearsal techniques you should AVOID

• Trying to ‘wing it : Plenty of people have told me that they prefer to not rehearse their presentation so that it appears more natural. While I like the idea behind it, I wouldn’t recommend it. By not rehearsing, there is a high chance that you’ll get lost in the weeds or forget about crucial information.    
• Rehearse in your head only : Often we go through stories and presentations thinking what we want to say. By only thinking about it, you won’t get a representative picture of how your presentation sounds in real life. You won’t know how long it will be, where to pause, or how to use your body effectively.   
• Rehearse in front of a mirror : The worst tip in public speaking is to rehearse in front of the mirror. What’s wrong with it? Tell me when will you ever be in a situation where you give a presentation while seeing yourself? Never! Exactly! It’s completely unnatural to see yourself while speaking. The only thing that you’ll accomplish by rehearsing in front of a mirror is to become more self conscious about how you look. Suddenly, you’ll notice all the small imperfections you weren’t even aware of before.   
• Practice without focus : Most people rehearse while moving their gazes randomly in the space, making it look as if they were daydreaming. This is a missed opportunity to train yourself to have more intentional eye contact (something extremely important for when you deliver your presentation).

Rehearsal Techniques you Should TRY

• Rehearse presentation 3-5 times : While the number of times you rehearse depends on your learning style, I’ve noticed that most of my clients need to rehearse their presentations minimum three times to remember the exact flow and the most of the details. Sure, it won’t be perfect, but it will be a satisfactory delivery. If you give the keynote in front of hundreds of people, you may want to put in a few extra repetitions to be 200% certain about your script. For my TEDx ( The Secret to Building Lasting Confidence ), for example, I rehearsed the full speech 14 times.
• Rehearse speaking out loud : The most effective way to rehearse your presentation is speaking out loud — in the same way you would speak during the presentation. If you can get a friend to listen to your presentation and give you feedback that would be even better. Bonus: When you mess up, don’t stop your presentation, but go on. That way you train your mind on how to deal with any ad-hoc problems that arise.   
• Practice in the street : The most common way to rehearse is in a private room. And that’s totally fine. I do that for most of my presentation. But in case, you want to take it up a notch, you can try to rehearse while walking in the street. Yes, in street, speaking to yourself in front of other people :D.  Why would do you that? If you can manage to deliver your presentation in this awkward situation,  you’ll be more comfortable in any high-stake environment.  As you’ll feel judged by strangers (e.g. stranger:  “why the heck is he talking to himself?”), you’ll learn how to deal with uncomfortable emotions. It’s a little tough at the beginning, but super powerful.
• Practice deliberate eye contact : Imagine specific objects in your space as if they were people in your audience. For instance, your desk light is one imaginary listener, the cactus another one, a photo another one. When you speak, move your gaze deliberately from one object to the other, having eye contact with each object for a full thought.   

That’s it. These are our tips to rehearse for your upcoming presentation or speech.

Give it a try and try out a few of these techniques the next time you’re preparing for your presentation.

If you still get quite nervous on stage, despite your impeccable rehearsal, you may want to check out this next article. There, I’ll share How I’d Learn Public Speaking (If I Could Start Over) . 

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Six of the best rehearsal tips for your presentation

Good rehearsal techniques can make all the difference between presentation heaven and convention suspension. Here we outline some of the most effective ways to practise and prepare for your big show…

Venue Re-creation

In an ideal world, every presentation would be preceded by a comprehensive “test flight” at its designated venue. Such rehearsals generally allow the speaker an advanced sense of the task at hand, and help to prevent a last-minute attack of stage-fright. And whilst it may not be feasible to visit the actual venue every time you need to give a talk, it is almost always possible to re-create the presentation environment using a room of similar size, shape and appearance.

Once you’ve found a similar room, place a trio of recording devices at different locations in the room, and recite your presentation in its entirety. Listening to the rehearsal afterwards will enable you to identify and correct any less articulate sections of your talk. Better still, the recordings will give you a good idea of the area’s audio-dynamics, and allow you to adjust your vocal mannerisms accordingly. You’ll want to make sure that your every word is sharp, lucid, and available to your entire audience from start to finish.

Unless you’ve an eidetic memory, attempting to learn your entire presentation by heart is almost certainly inadvisable; if you dedicate a disproportionate amount of energy to memorising your pitch, the chances are that you’ll be left sounding bored and lifeless at the main event. Even worse, you could become so rigidly attached to your “script” that you’ll be unable to respond to unexpected questions or adapt to sudden changes in the audience’s mood.

Instead, try using memory aids to fix your pitch structure and major talking points into your mind’s eye. Spidergraphs, radial trees and prompt cards are all invaluable crutches which will lend your presentation a genial, natural flow and help you to keep your footing on the big day.

Meet the Host

As far as rehearsal tips go, convening in advance with the venue’s host is difficult to beat. In doing so, you could gain a handy insight into a number of vital and easily overlooked matters.

From the audience’s tastes and demographics to the seating layout and lighting in the auditorium, even the briefest of meetings will shed a valuable new light on your viewers’ expectations and allow you to perform at your best when presentation day rolls around.

While you’re at the meeting, don’t forget to enquire as to the availability of refreshments for your audience. Providing your viewers with free snacks and beverages will not only set the foundations for a healthy rapport, it will ensure that your audience is physically charged to absorb your content, too. And while the venue itself may lack the facilities to provide such a service, its host should at the very least be able to recommend a good local caterer.

The Tech-Run

As obvious a rehearsal technique as it may seem, a worrying amount of speakers continue to take to the podium without first properly testing their presentation equipment. Needless to say, such carelessness can lead to an alarming assortment of extremely embarrassing situations.

Whether this is your first of thousandth presentation, it’s only sensible to play it safe by carrying out at least two complete technical rehearsals. The first of these should be performed solo: facing the projection screen, keep a subjective eye on your equipment’s performance whilst you recite your pitch in its entirety. Without an audience present, you should be able to ensure that any errors concerning your apparatus – from your microphone to your slides to any audio or video sections you’ve decided to include – are ironed out once and for all.

Your second tech-run should be carried out in the vein of a polished beta test, with a handful of trusted friends and colleagues making up your assembly. Since any problems with your equipment should already have been corrected by this point, the goal here is to ensure that your real audience will find your slide layout and technical content to be clear and relevant. Invite your test audience to interrupt you wherever confusion arises, and take care to implement their feedback in your final presentation. This will help to ensure that, at least so far as the technicalities are concerned, your pitch is delivered as smoothly and coherently as possible.

If you feel there’s still room for improvement after making your amendments, don’t be embarrassed to invite your test audience back for a third or even a fourth tech-run. Like many things, perfection comes in stages, and any colleague worthy of the name will be pleased to sacrifice some of their time if it means you’ve a greater chance of success.

Q&A Forecasting

When you’re able to anticipate your audience’s post-pitch queries in advance, you’ll be in a great position to give the kind of informed, articulate responses that will keep your viewers satisfied and, perhaps more importantly, leave you looking polished and professional.

To get a decent idea of the questions you can expect to receive, you’ll first need to acquire an understanding of your audience’s level of familiarity with the subject at hand. This can be achieved easily enough during a brief interview with the event’s organiser. Next, compile a selection of the topic’s most common discussion points, from the amateur to the quite obscure; if you find yourself short for time, there’s no shame in using your final tech-run to collect some final ideas from that hapless audience of yours.

Finally, rehearse giving your answers in the fluent, eloquent manner which audiences so crave.  To ensure that your responses are both understood and remembered, practise mirroring the questioner’s tone and rate of speech. Lay emphasis on your most significant points by using clear, jargon-free language, and take care to repeat each question out loud before proceeding with your answer; this can help to prevent you from digressing off topic and, under the guise of restating the question for the benefit of those who may not have heard, lend you a few extra moments to construct a more orderly, intelligible response.

Listen and Learn

The beginning of your presentation really is the perfect opportunity to seize your viewers’ attention and paint yourself as the polished, inspirational speaker you are. And, since body language will play a key role in the audience’s evaluation of you, the less time you spend hunched over your notes during your opening period, the better.

To master your intro the easy way, create a recording of yourself reading it out. Then, listen to the recording frequently during the days running up to your presentation. Whether over breakfast, whilst driving or just before going to sleep, your content will become more and more familiar to you each time you hear it. And before long, you’ll be able to recite your introduction with the kind of effortless enthusiasm that will leave your audience itching for more.

George A Dixon

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• Rehearsing the Presentation

After designing and developing the presentation, it is important to rehearse it for time, flow, impact, etc., before delivering it.

Based on the time allotted for your presentation, decide how much time to spend on each screen or each major point in your presentation, or use the auto-timer included in some presentation tools to adjust the pace of your presentation.

Decide what you will say for each piece of information or audio-visual, and if it helps, write it down on an index card or a printed copy of the presentation materials.

Rehearse the presentation by actually delivering it in an empty room or with a few friends or colleagues, who can monitor the pace of your presentation and the time you take, and give you constructive feedback.

Rule to Remember

Face the audience during your presentation to encourage them to interact and engage with you.

Make sure you spend enough time on the beginning, middle and end of the presentation, and not spend a lot of time at the beginning and rush the rest at the end.

Rehearse emphasizing the key points of the presentation, including gestures, if appropriate.

Think of possible questions the audience may ask, and rehearse the answers for those questions.

If you recognize you are using fillers or sentence starters, then consciously rehearse the presentation without using such distracting words and sounds.

It is a good idea to record your delivery using a portable voice recorder and analyze it for clarity, pace, fillers (such as "umm," "ahh") and sentence starters (such as "like," "basically," "you know," etc).

Make sure you are familiar with the delivery technologies, and if you have advance access to the presentation location, load the presentation on the chosen technologies and test it.

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Group Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal Process

There is a world of difference between talking about and rehearsing. Actual rehearsal is essential.

I recently had the opportunity to work with some senior leaders on a group presentation they were about to make. After some fumbling through what was supposed to be “rehearsal” time, I finally hit the pause button.

“Let’s think for a moment about actors doing a rehearsal on stage,” I suggested. “Ideally, what happens?”

“They practice the show,” replied a participant. “They act things out and see how it goes.”

”And what’s been happening here, today, so far?” I asked.

“We’ve been talking about what we would , could , or might do.”

“Precisely.”

There is a world of difference between talking about and rehearsing . Actual rehearsal is essential. Let me share some best practices for really rehearsing a group presentation or a pitch:

Best Practice #1: Actually Practice!

Get the presentation up on its feet. Perform it. Act it out. Speak the words you plan to use. Talk to your imagined audience. Work out the practical kinks. At what points will you stand or sit? How will you handle transitions from one presenter to the other?

Best Practice #2: Be a Critic

Next, do some critical and “artistic” evaluation. How’s your choreography? Are you playing to your team members’ strengths while also allowing members to try out new things to develop their skills? What else could you try for greater impact?

Best Practice #3: Identify Your Passionate Purpose

We’re often so focused on the content of our slides, we forget we’re presenting this for a reason. What’s the underlying emotional content? Why do you care? Why will your audience care? What’s your Passionate Purpose? Do you want to make your audience think about a problem that must be addressed? Do you want to entice them to a new way of seeing? Do you want to inspire them or “rally the troops” to action? How can your voice, facial expression, physical movement, and body language combine to reinforce your Passionate Purpose and present it in the most compelling way?

Best Practice #4: Put Yourself in Your Audience’s Shoes

Always use part of your rehearsal process to look at things from your audience’s point of view.

This exercise can help:

• Imagine you are members of the team about to receive the pitch or presentation. You’re standing around talking about the event that’s soon to begin. Share your hoped-for-outcomes, what you’re looking forward to, what you’re dreading, and what will make this presentation a huge success for you. Now integrate the perspective you gained from standing in the shoes of your recipients into the presentation itself.
• After you run the presentation, imagine once again that you are the team that received it. Talk amongst yourselves about the ways in which this presentation addressed your concerns, drew you in, got you excited. What did “the presenters” do well, specifically? Give appreciation for all the ways various team members knocked it out of the park. But also express, honestly, any ways that the presentation did not live up to your hopes. Incorporate the feedback and run it again.

Best Practice #5: Distill It to an “Elevator Pitch”

Just for a moment, forget the 44 slides, the charts, the graphs, the bullet points. Ask yourself, “What if I ran into the key decision maker in an elevator and had to make my presentation, without any slide support, in about fifteen seconds? What would I say?” Boil it down so you have absolute clarity on what’s most important. Now use that clarity as the backbone of your presentation.

Give these best practices a try and see if you experience a dramatic improvement in the quality and impact of your group presentations. Then help us continue the conversation. What else have you discovered that supercharges your rehearsal process? We’re all ears.

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How to Rehearse a Presentation: 5 Simple Steps

by Rob Biesenbach | Presentation/Speech Tips

In my workshops I share the technique that works for me. Participants have found it to be one of their most valued takeaways, so here is my totally not-patented five-step process for how to rehearse a presentation.

First, though, let me cover a couple of key questions.

Why is Rehearsal Important?

I wish it could go without saying that rehearsal is important, but time and again I’ve seen executives sabotage themselves by not taking the process seriously . They procrastinate, change their minds, and futz with their content all the way up to the last minute, leaving themselves no time to actually practice their delivery.

And it usually shows. People who think they’re better when they “wing it” are kidding themselves . Even professional improvisers — who perform shows where they make up the content on the spot — rehearse!

So in case there’s any question about it, here are three reasons why rehearsal is absolutely vital :

• The better you know your material, the more poised and confident you will appear (and be).
• Practicing helps you refine your ideas and improve your content  so you make the biggest impact possible.
• Rehearsing is the only way to know if you have too much content  — and one of the most common and aggravating mistakes I see presenters make is when they go over their allotted time or blow through the last part of their presentation at warp speed.

How Long Should You Rehearse?

When people ask how much time they should spend rehearsing their presentations, they usually don’t like my answer : “ As much as humanly possible .”

(Which at least sounds more manageable than one expert’s answer: 30 hours !)

The question I suspect they’re really asking is, “What’s the minimum amount of prep time I can get away with ?” They seem to be looking for some secret shortcut or hack.

The truth is, there is no magic bullet . Rehearsing a speech involves time and effort. And though my process is simple, it’s not necessarily easy. It takes work.

How Should You Rehearse?

First, let me tell you how NOT to rehearse a presentation. Rehearsing  does not mean sitting in front of your computer , tabbing through your slides and running through the presentation in your head.

Instead you need to get  on your feet and deliver it in full voice , just as you would in an actual presentation situation. You might find this embarrassing, so shut your office door and put out a “Do Not Disturb” sign.

Set up your computer so the screen is visible as you move about the room (which you would do in an actual presentation) and follow these five steps. Think of the steps as “sets” at the gym — you can perform as many “reps” per set as you have time for.

1. Current Slide + Timer + Next Slide + Notes

Set up your presentation deck in “rehearsal” mode . In PowerPoint, go to Slideshow>Presenter View. In Keynote (for Mac) go to Play>Rehearse Slideshow.

You can customize the display to show a variety of elements on the screen. Start with Current Slide, Next Slide, Notes and Timer. Like so:

As you start practicing you will likely have to stop and start and consult your notes . That’s fine. Run through it that way until you’re fairly comfortable.

2. Current Slide + Timer + Next Slide

Next, put your presentation notes on “hide” and start running through it again. Stop as needed to check your notes, but try to get to a point where you no longer need them.

3. Current Slide + Timer

Now this is where it gets tricky. Up to now you’ve had the luxury of seeing your next slide so you know what’s coming next . The reason that’s important is that it helps you transition from one slide to another in a way that’s smooth and fluid, eliminating unnecessary pauses as you advance through the presentation.

So in this step you’re going to hide the “Next Slide” display and start running it again. You will definitely end up pausing and stumbling and even backtracking when you’ve guessed wrong about what comes next. But keep working the material until you’re comfortable.

In each of these three steps you should use the timer to keep you on track . Your early stumble-throughs will probably run longer than your allotted time, but as you go along you’ll want to make sure you come in at or under that mark. And if you can’t, you’ll need to make some cuts.

4. No Slides at All

Here it gets really hard. Close your laptop or exit the presentation and run through it without the benefit of your visuals .

This step is the equivalent of actors rehearsing a play “off book” for the first time. They put down their scripts and perform their role from memory.

But they are aided by being in the familiar environment of the theater — they’re on stage, in costume, interacting with their fellow players. So there’s an abundance of sensory cues to guide them .

In the same way, you’re in your own imaginary but focused environment , shut away in your office, free of outside distraction, conjuring a stage and audience in your mind.

If you can successfully get through your presentation in this mode, congratulations. You’re doing very well. But if you want to take it up a notch, advance to the next step.

5. Leave the Office

Actors know they’ve got their part down when they can leave the rehearsal space and recite their lines (out loud or in their head) while they’re doing other things — commuting on the train, showering, grocery shopping, working out, etc.

It’s harder than it sounds — it’s like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. So get out into the world, do other things, and keep running your presentation .

If you can manage that, you’re in great shape. BUT, there is one big and important difference between actors and presenters …

Don’t Memorize; Internalize

Actors learn their lines verbatim. But if you try to memorize your presentation word-for-word, you’ll have a hard time delivering it in a way that sounds natural and real. So instead, you want to internalize the material.

What that means is, you know it well enough that you’re conversant and fluent . You will phrase things differently in every iteration, but the core ideas you express are consistent over time . You have room to improvise around the margins.

Overwhelmed? Don’t Be

By now you’re probably thinking, “This is a helluva lot of work!” That’s true, it is.

But the answer to the question of how much effort you should put into practicing your presentation is simply this:  “How important is the presentation?”

Is it a talk that can make or break your year or career? Like an opportunity to impress your organization’s leaders or to establish your reputation among industry peers or to allay people’s concerns about big changes coming their way?

Then I would recommend  going all out . Maybe even hitting that 30-hour benchmark.

For lesser occasions, you can do fewer “reps” in each of the sets above.

At minimum, though, you should practice your open and close as much as you possibly can . The first and last impressions you make on your audience are the most important, so you want to come on and and go out strong .

The Effort You Devote to Rehearsal is Up to You

The amount of effort you put into rehearsing your presentation is obviously your choice. What do your ideas deserve? What does your audience deserve? What do your career and reputation deserve?

Those, ultimately, are the questions you need to answer.

[ Image via Kym McLeod ]

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