Paul du Toit on Presentation Skills

People who can verbally project themselves effectively get the best breaks, the best jobs, the quickest promotions – and make the most money

Look around you. Who are the success stories? They are the men and women who command the respect and attention of others. The more respect they command, the more confidence they have – and the higher up the ladder they soar. They may not be the ones who are loyal to the company. They may not be the best brains. Or the most organised. But they know how to communicate! And they know how to do it in a way that grabs attention.

Whether it’s a job interview, a sales presentation, a speech or a meeting, the winner is usually the one who can express him or herself best.

It is no longer just the chief, the CEO or manager who has to stand before the tribe and gush forth. The world has changed remarkably in the last 100 years. In today’s economy your entire management team, most of the sales force, trainers, negotiators, IT experts and so on need to know how to communicate effectively. Today, if you don’t stand up and speak, at least occasionally, you’re the exception. If you want to be an effective member of your team, you are going to have to do it sometime. But if you’ve never done it before, I understand your hesitation.

We’ve all been there - emerging from school, college or university with our heads stuffed with information, ideas and insights we’d like to share with the world. But it all turned into a jumbled mess in our heads when we had to stand up in front of other people and actually articulate our thoughts. The situation could have been a job interview, sharing a few anecdotes at a friend’s wedding, presenting an idea to colleagues…

Oops! Someone has left out a most rudimentary area of your education: how to present yourself. And the interviewer thinks you’re an idiot, the wedding guests are shuffling uncomfortably and your colleagues are catching a nap or making a mass exodus to the loo.

Who in their right mind would want to place themselves in such an embarrassing situation? Don’t worry. This can be fixed. The first thing you have to realise is that it’s not your fault.

No one is born with presentation skills. A skill, by definition, is something that has to be learnt. But during our formal education no one bothers to teach us some of the most important skills needed in the business world of today, such as the art of speaking properly or using paralanguage and body language, how to ask questions or listen properly – the most effective tools available to us in terms of persuading others to a course of action.

Think about it. At school, writing is given massive priority. Reading (of which I am a huge fan) is punted with almost as much fervour. Yet an illiterate person who has ambition, drive and common sense can pay others to do those things for her. And, in reality, most people spend precious little of their working time reading or writing.

Let’s consider communication in the context of the business environment. Despite the emphasis on effective communication today, precious few companies have a policy of developing these direct communication skills in their key people – those who are expected to produce results. This notwithstanding the fact that presentation-skills training has been globally available for decades. The result is that there are far too many “experienced” presenters around who did not formally learn the rules of presentation. This results in the formation of a combination of both good and bad presentation habits that get passed on by way of example. You might be one of those people.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and author of “Even YOU Can Present with Confidence (2008). This edited excerpt is taken from the Introduction of the book.

It is wonderful to pull off a presentation that produces the desired result. I am a strong advocate of celebrating successes because it reinforces our self-belief and helps to “groove” winning behaviour. But it is important not to lose one’s head. No one has “arrived” after just one victory. The true test of a champion is that they can repeat their performance over and over again. It is vital to develop the skills to win consistently, over and over again!

So maintain perspective and humility. A great presentation does not automatically mean that the next one will be fabulous. With a different audience, a different place and different needs, you’ll have to do it all over again. The saying “you are only as good as your last presentation” isn’t a cliché for nothing.

By the same token, we should also understand rejection and develop an ability to put it into perspective. We do not fail because we are useless – we fail because we still have lessons to learn. The argument “I’m no good at public speaking” is almost always based on false information, ignorance and poor attitude. Literally anyone who can hold a conversation can learn to speak well in public. It just takes some of us longer than others. As a student of effective public speaking skills you will also find out very quickly that only those who apply themselves become really good at it!

So it is advisable to take the setbacks in one’s stride. Of course, this takes courage too.

I once watched as a life insurance salesman took the stage at his company’s annual sales convention to accept the prize as man of the year, beating more than 900 other salesmen to the award. As he clutched his trophy in his arms he announced to the spellbound audience that he was, in fact, a failure. “In reality,” he went on, “I’m the biggest failure of all of you here tonight. You see, I knocked on many more doors than any of you did this year. I don’t think any of you could possibly have had as many doors slammed in your face as I did. I don’t think any of you heard nearly as many no’s as I did. But that’s why I’m holding this trophy tonight and you’re not – because I was prepared to take the rejection. I learnt long ago that every ‘no’ I get takes me one step closer to my next ‘yes’.”  

His colleagues gave him a standing ovation.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and author of “Even YOU Can Present with Confidence” (Congruence)

A while back I was delivering a public seminar in East London on the east coast of South Africa. Although the function coordinator had been given a full list of my requirements, I arrived at the venue to find that the setup was far from complete. To start with, the venue was locked. I wasted what seemed like an eternity arranging for the door to be opened. Then my “locksmith” disappeared! So instead of being free to set up my equipment I was reduced to moving tables and chairs around and creating a reception area. Shortly before my guests were due to arrive for registration, the hotel staff started sauntering in, with no sense of urgency whatsoever.

Mustering all my assertive powers, I created sufficient urgency to get events moving in the right direction, then found a manager to take control of the bad situation. This freed me to set up my presentation equipment. By the time I was happy with the room setup and all my equipment was working, there were only 15 minutes to go before my talk was due to commence and I was not in the best frame of mind. With the “front of house” situation now under control, I walked upstairs into the fresh air on the esplanade and spent the next eight minutes taking in the sea, the rocks, the waves and the gulls while doing a bit of earnest self-talk.

My audience were in no way responsible for the shambles at reception. They had not only paid good money, but had set aside precious time to come and hear me speak. What an honour, what a privilege! Today, I promised myself, I would deliver the most powerful, energetic, convincing and humorous talk I had ever delivered. And I did.

That talk stands out to this day as one of my most highly rated by a public audience. It proved to me that I was in control of my emotions – and you can be too!

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and author of “Even YOU Can Present with Confidence”. This is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the book.

On one occasion I watched a mature man in a management position present in a very unconvincing and shy manner. I doubt that a child would have accepted a free ice cream sundae from him, so apologetic was his delivery. At the tea break we struck up an informal conversation. He related to me how he had recently been passed over for promotion. If you could have experienced the passion in his words, brought about by the hurt he was feeling at that moment, you would have observed someone who indeed possessed the ability to speak with authority. 

If you’ve ever witnessed a technically competent presentation and wondered why you weren’t convinced, the underlying reason might be a lack of enthusiasm. Beware also of the converse – overkill. Your audience will quickly read insincerity into an attempt at forced enthusiasm.

You have probably bought something you didn’t really need at some time in your life, purely because you were persuaded at the time that it was a good idea. What persuaded you? Logic? Unlikely. It’s more probable that the salesperson’s enthusiasm hooked you. Enthusiasm is a vital presentation tool, particularly when it is authentic and not overdone. It comes across best when the presenter is convinced of the benefits of the product and has a true belief in the results it will produce. One senses an almost tangible excitement! Best application? Know your stuff and have a clear idea about how you are going to put this exciting message across and deliver your message with passion. You’ll be irresistible!

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional and author of “Even YOU Can Present with Confidence”

This is the first and most vital truth you need to accept. You are allowed to be yourself when presenting. In my experience, the speakers who affect me most strongly are those who are simply themselves and speak from the heart, as one person sharing what they have to say with other persons, whereas those who are obviously performing do not come across as authentic and leave me with a question mark.

Of course, it is easy to be yourself when you’re chatting to your friends. Standing up to present is an entirely different and infinitely more complex set of actions, often with more significant consequences!

The irony is that most people instinctively perform the actions necessary to present when involved in informal dialogue with others, but lose it when they find themselves in front of a “formal” audience. Take the office joker, for example: You’re at a social gathering. Harry’s in the mood and the subject is football, which he knows plenty about. Harry launches into an animated description of a match he watched of how a goalkeeper managed to miss a back pass, resulting in an embarrassing faux pax. Everyone roars with laughter. You see, Harry was telling a story of something that actually happened on a subject with which he was familiar. It was true to life, perhaps with a few embellishments, but it worked! The reward was the laugh he received. But put an untrained Harry in front of an audience with a brief to present his company’s product to a potential buyer and it’s as if you have an alien from another planet, someone very different from the confident, joking Harry having a beer with his friends.

Why? It’s quite simple really: speaking conversationally with friends is natural and feels familiar; because a presentation is staged it feels unnatural. So instead of being ourselves we try to be what we think we need to be, when being ourselves will usually do just fine, thanks!

Most people play themselves very well indeed, but only actors, and good ones at that, succeed in playing other people convincingly. So, either we need to learn to act, or we need to learn to be ourselves in unnatural situations.

This encapsulates the art of learning to present. We need to learn to be comfortable being ourselves “on stage”.

Paul du Toit, CSP - Author of “Even YOU Can Present with Confidence”

Confidence is gained by having positive experiences, because positive experiences provide hard evidence that you can in fact do what you’d felt you couldn’t do. When your belief system changes your outcomes change. But you can’t gain these positive experiences without putting yourself out there. This means you need to pluck up your courage, make that vital decision and grab presenting opportunities that come your way.

Once you have a good grasp of the techniques I shall show you, start with small groups, practising on one or two friends if you like – people who you know are on your side. But do it! When friends or colleagues respond positively, your confidence will grow. Ask for feedback, what worked and what didn’t work for them. If they are critical, remember that they are criticising your technique, not you as a person. Then try again. The more you keep at it the more you’ll improve and the easier it will seem. When you feel ready, grab those presenting opportunities at work.

As confidence grows, you can challenge yourself to get better – try new things! Watch other presenters critically, identifying the things you liked and things you didn’t – what was convincing and whether or not you trust this person enough to buy from them. As your skills build and your confidence increases, so will your self-belief. When you stand up to deliver a presentation with no doubt about your ability to be compelling, your audience will feel the same.

In some, this happens quickly, in others it takes a little longer. But through patience, practice and perseverance you will get it right. It is important to understand that one’s initial botched attempts are completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn’t mean you are a failure; it just means you still have to hone your skills. Many of today’s best speakers progressed slowly at first, but through perseverance and experience achieved increasing degrees of competence. The tragedy is that so many give up without giving themselves a sporting chance.

Paul du Toit is the author of “Even You Can Present with Confidence” (Congruence Publishing 2008).

The manner in which you will approach an upcoming presentation has much to do with

1. The beliefs you hold about yourself and your presenting ability.
2. What you have done to address that belief system.
3. How close you are to believing that you have what it takes to pull off a convincing presentation. 

We adopt our beliefs about ourselves at an early age and in a random fashion. More specifically, we formulate opinions about ourselves at key moments. A teacher telling six-year-old Johnny “put down your hand, Johnny, Sarah will recite the poem for us” can have a chilling effect on Johnny’s self-confidence. If this is later followed by encouragement, a different outcome is likely, but if followed by further discouragement the idea will solidify in Johnny’s mind that he is not good enough to stand up and recite the poem and that Sarah will always be preferred because she must be better. In future he might avoid speaking up to avoid the pain of rejection. This kind of scenario is the source of many people’s anxiety surrounding speaking. It need not be so.

Our first attempt at speaking in front of the class can be quite harrowing. We all react differently to this staged situation and what pops out can be as unexpected as it is random. It is dangerous to assume you will be less nervous as an adult than you were as a child. Emotions are time travellers. We psychologically draw on past experience to anticipate the reaction we are likely to get. So past bad experiences teach us to expect rejection and this expectation robs us of our ability to present with confidence. As a result, the adult who suffered failure at some time in the past is likely to meet with limited success when attempting to speak with authority in front of a captive audience – at least until that early programming is corrected.

Paul du Toit, Certified Speaking Professional…excerpt from “Even You Can Present with Confidence”

One glorious Highveld summer evening in Johannesburg, sitting on my patio enjoying a welcome beer after three challenging sets of tennis, one of my playing colleagues mentioned matter-of-factly that he’d attended presentation skills training a few years previously. The learning point he remembered most vividly – it had hit him right between the eyes – was that you need to prepare yourself mentally for a successful presentation. He put it like this:

“We were taught that it’s no use standing up to deliver any kind of presentation unless you have the right attitude – that you are anticipating success.” This, he said, had been a complete revelation to him as he had previously given the content practically all of his attention. 

His observation was particularly insightful. In the context of presenting, right from the preparation stage to the conclusion, how well you do has everything to do with your attitude.  You need to bring positive mental energy to the task. Presenting is first and foremost about confidence. The most important tool you can give yourself for pulling off a successful meeting or presentation is trust in your own ability grounded in self-belief.

“You will never change your life until you change your belief about what you are capable of” – Leadership speaker, author and musician Robin Crow, from Jump and the Net will Appear.

Decide you can do it

An upfront decision to put together and then deliver a professional and compelling presentation will set you firmly on the road to success. The reason is quite simple, really. People with clear goals tend to achieve them. Our brain is designed to take instructions from our subconscious minds and we achieve what we set our minds to.

If we approach the task at hand with the conviction that we can succeed, our brain will demand a strategy from us that will enable us to achieve what we have set out to do. Without a clear conviction, we can expect our progress to be inconsistent and our results dubious. So making the decision is the best starting point.