My husband has a saying when it comes to getting out the door with me and my two teenage girls on time. He says, “the struggle is real.” I’m sure you’ve felt that sentiment at one time or another in your own life while trying to strike a balance between two seemingly impossible tasks.
When it comes to presentations, it can be tough to find the balance between coming off as a professional speaker and a personable one. Try to appear too professional, and you can come off as cold and unrelatable. But try to appear too personable, and you could come off as too relaxed or lacking credibility. So let’s talk more about these today in hopes of finding some tricks that can help us achieve that crucial balance.
What Does it Mean to Be “Professional?”
Professionalism can be hard to define. It’s one of those things where you think about it more when it is lacking. As in, you know when someone does something that would be considered unprofessional. The US Department of Labor says someone can be considered “professional” when he or she is “responsible, ethical, and team oriented, and possesses strong communication, interpersonal, and problem solving skills.”
Things like showing up on time, completing work with a degree of excellence, and offering good customer service are part of nearly every job. But in order for a presenter to come off as both professional and personal, we need to look at two specific things, their content and delivery.
Displaying Professionalism Through Solid Content
Content is a large part of how public speakers show their professionalism. It is hard to look and sound professional if the information you are presenting is inaccurate or outdated. It’s the “responsible” and “ethical” part of the definition that we shared above. Professionals must have a solid handle on their field. Which means taking the necessary time to research and write. For those presenters who love the spotlight or actual delivery, this part of the process doesn’t provide any glory. So it can be tempting to skip over it. However, true professionals work to build their expertise behind the scenes.
Speaking of expertise, that’s where some speakers get into trouble. For example, I’m currently working toward my PhD. And my cohort all joked in the beginning that we were going to work hard not to brag about our education and become jerks in the process of obtaining our degrees. There is something about reaching a certain level of expertise that comes with a natural inclination to put yourself on a pedestal. But it’s one thing to be an expert and another thing to act like an expert.
Once you start acting like an expert, you move away from that balance for which we are aiming. Your expertise can actually become a barrier between you and your audience. It can prevent you from understanding their needs. It can prevent you from communicating at the level that feels most comfortable for them. So the goal is to put in the proper research time so that you can create solid content. But then, you need to shift your focus to delivering that content. In other words, to being personable.
Achieving Confident, Yet Personable, Delivery
Once you’ve written solid content that displays your expertise, it’s time to communicate that. While delivering your presentation, you should aim to appear both confident and warm. Which is another tricky balance. But it’s one that can be achieved.
In the Science Direct article “The Dynamics of Warmth and Competence Judgments, and Their Outcomes in Organizations,” researchers say that “warmth (e.g., friendliness, trustworthiness, empathy, and kindness) and competence (e.g., intelligence, power, efficacy, and skill)” are the “fundamental dimensions on which individuals are perceived.” They went on to say that “warmth judgments are made more quickly than competence judgments and have a greater impact on overall attitudes toward others.” In other words, as you are trying to find the right balance between being professional and being personable, remember that research has proven which one is more important to your audience. It’s being personable.
Part of my education involves attending lots of doctoral dissertation presentations. And for the most part, it’s fascinating to hear about the cutting edge research coming out of the field of communication. But I’ve found something to be true over and over again. And it aligns with the research from Science Direct above. It doesn’t matter how interesting your research is or how novel your approach is. If you can’t communicate it in a way that is relatable, the audience (even an audience full of academics) won’t be invested in the presentation.
Recently I attended one such presentation in which the speaker read to us for 30 minutes. She literally read a paper word-for-word. This is called manuscript delivery. While I’m sure it helped calm her nerves and kept her on track, it came with a lot of downfalls. Mainly, it was boring and the audience didn’t feel like we mattered at all. You never want a presentation to feel like it would be the same with or without the audience present.
So one of the simplest ways to keep from sounding like a stuffy professional is to find little ways to remind the audience that they matter. Here’s a couple ways to do that:
- Use names. I’ve seen some presenters who refer to people by name during presentations. They would say something like “Joe will probably find this interesting given his line of work” or “Stacy and I had a chance to talk about this next point in depth last week.” Simply bringing others into the presentation creates interest and makes it seem more conversational.
- Make the presentation an experience, not a performance. Remain adaptable and present. If something happens during a presentation that you weren’t expecting, it’s usually a good idea to make it part of the presentation. Referring to it tactfully and in good humor reminds the audience that you are in the present space and moment together. Ignoring it often feels awkward because everyone has to pretend something didn’t happen in order to continue the presentation performance.
- Use pauses. One of the biggest differences between conversational communication and presentations is the cadence, or pacing, of speech. Instead of plowing through a presentation like you are reading from a paper, use pauses thoughtfully. Give the audience time to think and to laugh and to respond during these pauses. In this small way, you remind them that their responses matter and you encourage them to respond more.
The Sweet Spot Between Professional and Personable
Somewhere in between knowledgeable and nice, between competent and warm, lies the sweet spot. And it’s not that you have to be less knowledgeable or less warm to find the balance. You need to be both. Aim to be an approachable expert whenever you present. If that’s your goal, you’ll strike that tricky balance between being professional and personable.
And as you strive for this balance, remember that your presentation is just one small part of a larger relationship with the field, with your audience, and with event organizers. Aside from developing great content and delivering it personably, great speakers make an effort in all of the little things that add up and matter. They show up early and come prepared. They communicate with event organizers before the presentation. And they take time to follow up after the event. They are both professional and personal all throughout the process.
Want more tips to take your presentation to the next level? We can help.
