Authenticity is key in a presentation.
Always be authentic.
If the audience feel you are not authentic, you will lose, no matter what else you do.
If the audience feel you are authentic, they will forgive some other faults.
Always bear the above two statements in mind when you are tempted to try something out for the first time.
I want to share contrasting examples here.
Speakers at two different conferences, a year apart, tried the same technique.
The technique is a rather dramatic one where the speaker rips up their speech in front of the audience and decides to speak ‘off the cuff.’
The sight and sound of the tearing up combine to create a potentially powerful effect.
Enter speaker one.
After a few minutes they stopped and spoke directly to the audience – due to a Government decision the previous evening, the rest of their planned speech was no longer relevant.
They ripped it up.
And delivered an impromptu speech around the topic that reflected a response to the decision taken by the Government.
They knew the topic well, so they had solid content.
And they were clearly unhappy with the decision, so they had passion.
The speech was authentic and the audience loved it.
Enter speaker two (at a completely different event, a year or so later).
After about a minute, they paused and ripped up their speech.
They said the speech material was too stilted and too scripted.
So, they decided to ‘speak from the heart.’
However, it did not really work.
It raised a lot of questions…
Why did they bring a speech that they felt was too stilted?
What changed in the single minute from starting to speak that meant they had to change tack?
Why was their impromptu speech so structured?
The audience, quite rightly, did not buy it – it felt like a gimmick.
Part of me wanted to go to the podium afterwards to see what, if anything, was on the original speech!
But it proved too awkward to do so.
The lesson here is simple – always be authentic when you give a presentation.
I close simply by reiterating the two statements from the start of this post.
If the audience feel you are not authentic, you will lose, no matter what else you do.
If the audience feel you are authentic, they will forgive some other faults.
For more presentation tips and guidance – check out the following article on ensuring you maintain eye contact with your audience when presenting…
