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Presenting to the boss can turn highly talented, intelligent, and creative professionals into nervous, chattering, sleepless messes — but not if you know the critical mistakes to avoid.
The strangest analogy I’ve heard was from a former colleague who left the office looking rather pale after presenting to the CEO for the first time. When asked how it went, she replied, “Well, I’m not too sure. It started well; he was smiling, attentive, and very polite, but it felt like I was meeting with my gynecologist in that I would soon be leaving the room feeling a little violated.”
Sometimes, an excellent way to learn is through knowing the mistakes others have made before you. With that in mind, here are my top 10 presentation tips from my personal and professional experience.
1. Don’t “sit on the fence.”
There is nothing more annoying than listening to someone drone on and on for 20 minutes, drowning you in data and facts when it’s clear that they aren’t committed to the topic in terms of making it clear where they stand on it. Take a position, stand by it, and make it clear which side of the fence you are on.
Don’t sit on the fence. Otherwise, you really will get some seriously painful splinters.
2. Lose the attitude
All day long, your boss deals with people trying to look good, impress them, or suck up to them somehow. It’s not very attractive, and even though it’s the essence of many business presentations, the outstanding leaders find it tiresome — they don’t need their egos stroked. What your boss wants from you, more than anything, is to see the real you, so tell it as you see it.
Don’t give the “corporate spokesperson” speech. Let them see the real you; that means losing the jargon too.
3. Skip the small talk
Your boss doesn’t have time for small talk, so ensure you get straight to the point. Don’t be like a comedian and save the punchline for the end. Deliver your crucial message straight away and do so with impact.
4. Don’t just present
I don’t know anyone who enjoys the process of being presented to. Most people don’t have the time, attention, or patience to sit there listening to someone read bullet-point slides.
Craft a conversation instead. Get them thinking. Ask them questions. Could you help them to use their imagination? If appropriate, challenge their perspective — don’t just accept theirs because they are the boss.
5. Surprise them
I can promise you that for every ten presentations your boss endures in a week, all ten will be very similar in most respects. You have a fantastic opportunity to inspire, enlighten, and engage your boss, so please don’t waste it.
Tell them powerful stories, use props or provocative slides, and make them curious and laugh. In short, be creative, dare to be different, and surprise them somehow.
6. Help them to feel something
Most business presentations are boring.
Don’t just talk, but try to connect with them emotionally by asking yourself, “what do you want them to feel?”.
7. Don’t make them read
The very last thing your boss wants to do is to read your slides or report while you are talking to them.
It’s not a presentation or conversation if they are forced to read. It’s simply you making them read, and they won’t thank you for it.
The spoken word elicits a far more significant effect than the written word. It’s your job to breathe life into your report, update, or idea; you will never achieve that by simply making them read it.
8. Make them look good
It’s human nature for each of us to want to look good and to impress our audience when presenting; that self-imposed pressure is often the most significant cause of anxiety many professionals experience.
When all you can think about is how well you must perform and how much your reputation is at stake, you are making it all about you rather than your audience.
Focus instead on how you can help your boss and how you can make their life, job, department, or company better and stronger.
9. Be playful
Remember when we were small children, and we asked our parents if we could go outside to play with our friends? One of the first responses you would often hear is “Yes, but play nicely.”
When it comes to presenting, playing nicely doesn’t mean fooling around or making jokes. It means not taking yourself so seriously, lightening up, relaxing, smiling, and having a sense of humor.
Your boss is human too, so “play nicely” with them.
10. Get out of your head
That doesn’t mean smoking or consuming some mind-altering substance before you present — it means being in the room rather than in your head.
Many professionals make the mistake of not quietening the noise in their minds before they present it to the boss. They enter the room with their minds furiously popping thoughts around like a popcorn maker.
“I hope they don’t ask me a question I can’t answer.”
“I bet I’ll mess this up.”
“I wish I’d done more research on this.”
“What if they don’t agree?”
Staying in your head like this serves no useful purpose to you or your boss.
Your job is to be completely present in the room as you speak. That’s the only way you will connect with your audience. You can achieve that by simply taking a couple of minutes to focus on your breathing, meditating to calm the noise in your head, and pausing and smiling before you speak.
