Giving a presentation in front of an audience, especially a large one, can be a real rush! There you are, center stage, performing and being the center of attention. But should you take advantage of the spotlight by talking about yourself and your achievements?
The audience is the star
Presenters who focus on themselves and their accomplishments, who rattle off laundry lists of prestigious clients they work with, who brag about their own successes are really missing the point of a presentation. What they really should be focusing on is a simple question: “What needed and useful information or experiences can I provide for my audience?”
Doing it wrong
In April, I was at a tech conference. One of the keynote speakers spent the first ten minutes of her presentation not by outlining what she was going to talk about, not by pointing out how what we were about to hear could benefit us, but by talking about her own company that she’d founded. Seriously, she sounded like she was reading from her own autobiography!
Doing it right
I’m not saying that you need to not talk about yourself when you’re presenting. On the contrary, it’s important to establish credibility with your audience, especially if they don’t know who you are. But there are more elegant ways to do this that don’t eat into your speech time. For example:
“I’ve been a dog trainer for thirteen years. In that time, I’ve noticed that there are three problem behaviors that always drive dog owners crazy! Today, I’m going to tell you what they are and teach you how to correct them.”
“I don’t want to cut into your active learning time. So if you want to know more about me or if you need more information about today’s session, I’ll be providing my contact information on the last slide so you can learn more and stay in touch.”
“I was invited to speak today because of my 25 years’ experience in helping clients to resolve issues just like the one your company is facing right now.”
Easy, right? See how I’ve both called out my experience and shifted the focus to benefits for the audience? That’s much better than the 10-minute not-so-humblebrag that my fellow audience members and I were subjected to.
The takeaway
It’s easy to get caught up in yourself when you’re presenting. After all, everyone’s paying attention to you. The trick is to remember that people usually attend your presentations to gain something of value, not to stroke your ego.