It’s Valentine’s Day, which makes it a good time to talk about feelings. Don’t worry, we aren’t going to offer you creative date ideas or relationship advice, but we do want to talk about your passion for presentations. Or your lack thereof.
Take a quick self-assessment about how much you like each of the following activities: developing, designing, and delivering presentations.
Now that you’ve explored how you feel about each category of the presentation process, let’s break things down. You can choose your own adventure by jumping to the section or sections that you enjoy the least, or you can read through all of them to find ways to keep your presentation passion alive.
Developing
Developing your presentation is the stage that involves the bulk of the researching and writing. You might include storyboarding in this phase as well. If you aren’t feeling great about developing the content for your presentations lately, here are a few things you can do to rekindle that passion:
- Switch up your research. Sometimes it can feel like you are just circling around the same old ideas and the same old sources. When you get writer’s block, read. And don’t just read the types of things you always read, read outside of your field. When I read, I almost always find examples and stories that relate to what I’m working on, and it gives me a fresh perspective from which to start.
- Brainstorm with a team. Even though we usually view the writing process as something one person does, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you don’t feel like going it alone, ask a few friends or colleagues to brainstorm your presentation content with you.
- Watch great presentations. The presentation rut is a real thing. All of us fall into patterns that feel comfortable and familiar. But like any good relationship, you need to shake and spice things up from time to time. To get some fresh ideas for your presentation content, take some time to watch other presentations. We’d suggest starting with the 10 most popular TED Talks of 2022.
Designing
The designing phase of your presentation involves creating your slide deck and any media that you’ll be using. If this is the part of presentation prep that you don’t have any passion for, see if one of these ideas can help:
- Collaborate with a designer. Presentation design involves specific skills and not everyone knows how to create a color palette, layer design elements, focus audience attention using gestalt theory, or even pick a good font. If those types of decisions overwhelm you, it’s no wonder your flame goes out when it gets to the designing phase. That means it’s time to call in the experts! A presentation design agency like Ethos3 exists to help bring your slides to life. Check out our list of 5 things to look for in a presentation design agency to help you make the right decision.
- Use AI to help you get started. We’ve written a lot about how AI is changing presentation design in our blog recently. You no longer have to be stuck designing from scratch. Things like PowerPoint’s Designer feature offer attractive slide layouts in a flash. Learn how to use PowerPoint Designer here.
Delivering
Maybe the part of presenting that you like least is, well, the actual presenting. If you’ve lost your presentation passion, try these:
- Reframe the presentation as an opportunity. We know that reframing the way we think about something can drastically change our perception and experience. Harvard researcher Alison Wood Brooks found that simply relabeling pre-performance anxiety as excitement can be helpful. Instead of thinking of the presentation as something you have to do, think of it as something you get to do. Retrain your brain to view it as a rare honor.
- Shift your attention to the audience. If you hate the delivery phase because you are worried about how you’ll perform, think about the audience instead. When you shift your attention to how you can help your audience, it takes your mind off of yourself.
- Hire a presentation coach. All of us can become better presenters. Often we just need someone giving us solid and specific feedback. If you want to elevate your speaking skills, see how one of our presentation training experts can help.
At Ethos3, our passion for presentations is strong all year long. But we know even the best presenters get frustrated with parts of the presentation process from time to time. If that’s the case for you, if you are struggling to find your passion, we’d love to come alongside you in the development, design, or delivery of your next big presentation. Reach out to us now.
