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January, 2015 Pre-Presentation Coping Strategies 15 Tips for being less of a wreck before your next presentation.

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January, 2015

Pre-Presentation Coping Strategies15 Tips for being less of a wreck before your next presentation.

This hamburger. I hate it.I hate the word hamburger. I spent 3 years in speech therapy because of this stupid word, and many other words I couldn’t pronounce. At 6 years old I already hated the sound of my own words.

I hated a lot of letters too. Especially the letter “R”.

Fucking R’s. The anxiety of of getting this nasty letter out of my mouth – is still with me, buried deep in my psyche.

(hell)I started working in advertising – the industry that is the single largest employer of people who love to hear themselves talk., but I wasn’t one of them.

(hell x 2)And to top that off my first job was at an agency where one of the premier clients was (god help me) BURGER KING . R’s and Hamburgers were proving unavoidable.

Time to buck up, Buttercup.

And start stockpiling your arsenal of coping techniques.

Okay, let’s do this…

“Ready” ain’t a thing. FIRST NOTE!

1. Study yourself.Take notes of physical symptoms during your next meeting/presentation.

Write down the dumbest thing you said.

You so crazy.

Now let’s talk about preparing for the next one….

2. Finish Early24 hrs before ideally. Know when to cut bait. At a certain point, getting the material you have in a good place is better than just creating more content.

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3. Get comfy.Make sure you are comfortable with what you are presenting, and if you aren’t just say so.

Ask CVP to cover Magento integration questions!

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4. Have propsGive yourself visuals, quotes, cultural references on slides – they can be a crutch or safety blanket to make you more comfortable.

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5. Educate yo’ self.Identify anything you think you will just be “reading” and try to learn it. Ask questions, get someone else to tell you what it means to them, how they’d say it.

BONUS TIP! Sometimes I ask Alex how he’d present creative b/c it tells me what a non-creative wants to hear, or is just a way to make my CEO do the heavy lifting for me.

6. Bite-size points.Write as much as you need to think through but then

capture in short bullets and sound bites so you can speak naturally to it.

Turn them into your cheat.

Identify each slide’s #1 point. !

If you go blank, this is all you have to remember.

BONUS TIP!

7. Plan “segways”.Focus on your opening line and setting up the ‘theme”– that's the toughest part and sets tone, cadence, comfort.

Plan transitions to/from other presenters.

Okay, you’re ready for the big meeting! What now?

For f*cks sake, get some sleep!

EXTRA BONUS REMINDER TIP!

8. Seriously, sleep.Don’t be stupid. No Ray Donovan marathons. No League of Legends midnight missions. No last minute, mad dash deck cray you crazy buggers.

9. 3 hours before:Take a walk. Pin kittens. Call your mom. Do other work. Just forget about the presentation.

Avoid other stressors. Say no if you have to.

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10. 15 min beforeGlance over bullets. Head in. You got this.We love you.Carpe f*ckin' diem.

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11. Settle in.Say anything to anyone in the room unrelated to the meeting. Fancy a carrot? Ye ol’ weather banter, whatevs.

Have a single personal interaction before it starts.

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12. Find soul mates.Don’t just feel compelled to speak “to” the client you think you should. Speak to everyone or anyone you can engage.

Feed off the knods or smiles.

Screw the grumpy cats! Positive energy is contagious.

BONUS TIP!

13. Hands. Stand.Speak with your hands. Even on the phone!

Stand if you can if it’s large conference room. It will help get your energy up and out.

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14. Be yo’ self.You are not Joel Osteen or Don Draper. You are a normal person talking to normal people.

Authenticity, sincerity and conviction IS compelling.

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Breath. Smile. Shine. Start-over.

EXTRA BONUS TIP!

15. Now, stop.You’re done, don't feel compelled to keep talking. And know your closer. Asking people “What are your thoughts on xyz” is smoother than “That’s all I got folks.”

“I’m like the vessel. And God has chosen me to be the voice

and the connector.”

PRAISE YEEZUS, IT’S OVER.

Questions?

Helpful Links & Cool Reads!• http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-science-of-stage-fright-and-

how-to-overcome-it-mikael-cho

• http://www.mentalgamecoach.com/articles/Article2_03.html

• http://www.mindinmotion.ca/articles/lgfarres_preparing_mentally.pdf

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/01/09/joel-osteen-7-keys-to-successful-public-speaking/

Holla’ anytime.Julia Sosa, Creative [email protected]

linkedin.com/pub/julia-sosa

facebook.com/julia.l.sosa

pinterest.com/juliasosa

medium.com/@juliasosa

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