One of the creative directors in my Speak with Impact Lab shared a story about seeing an early iteration of Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle talk .

It’s the 3rd most viewed TED Talk of all time and it launched Simon Sinek to fame.

It also started as a talk for 8 people in someone’s living room.

The moral of the story?

Your talk doesn’t need to be perfect at the outset.

In fact, it’s almost certain that it won’t be.

Perfection shouldn’t be your aim.

Just get started – let the first draft be messy.

There may be countless iterations and living room talks on the way to your big talk but that’s part of the process and getting feedback is essential.

Need an audience?
Here are some ways you can get one.

• Have a dinner party and give your presentation for friends

• Practice for your housemates

• Practice for your children

• Practice outside as people walk by

Want help developing your practice plan? I’d be happy to hop on the phone with you. Reach out to me at madeline@madelineschwarz.com.

Want to write a good talk?

The key is surprisingly simple: You need to EDIT.

According to Chris Anderson, the creator of TED,

“The biggest problem I see in first drafts of presentations is that they try to cover too much ground... If you try to cram in everything you know, you won’t have time to include key details, and your talk will disappear into abstract language that may make sense if your listeners are familiar with the subject matter but will be completely opaque if they’re new to it. You need specific examples to flesh out your ideas. So limit the scope of your talk to that which can be explained, and brought to life with examples, in the available time.”

If editing is the key then you may be wondering how to decide what to leave in and what to take out.

First, you need to get clear on your objective.

Your audience is never going to remember everything, so you want to be very clear about the main message you want them to walk away with. Once you know your objective, you can examine whether your content is helping you achieve it.

This is where editing comes in. You might want to tell your favorite story, but if that story isn’t the best example to illustrate your point, leave it out.

Grab the template to write your objective in 4 Steps to a Winning Work Presentation. This simple tool will help you get organized, get clear, and get confident.

“The most valuable of all talents is never using

two words when one will do.”

I found this message in a fortune cookie but it could have been written by my dad. He was a journalist for over 25 years and considered word count an art form.

My dad was also a ruthless editor. He taught my sister and I how to write short, clear sentences and ingrained in us the power of brevity.

Getting to the point is as important in your presentations as it is on the page.

When it comes to speaking, chances are you know more about your subject than your audience. You may be able to speak on your topic for 45 minutes, but that doesn’t mean your audience has an attention span of 45 minutes.

Less is More.

Share too much information, and you risk losing your audience.

The key to an effective presentation is editing.

After writing the first draft of your presentation, ask yourself, where are you using two words when one will do?

Wondering how to get started or which words to choose?

Download 4 Steps to a Winning Work Presentation to get organized, get clear, get confident. They’re free!

3 Simple Strategies to Increase Audience Engagement

When I saw Grace Bonney speak at Creative Mornings, she talked about the importance of in-person connection. She said:

"Real people matter, real life experiences matter, and what happens on the internet matters a whole lot less."
 

You can apply this same idea to presentations.

What happens on your slides matters less than the relationship you build with your audience.

You audience wants to know you’re talking to them so the next time you’re speaking in front of a group, focus on connection.

You’re allowed to be nervous but don’t let nerves paralyze you and turn you into a robot at the front of the room.

Use these 3 simple strategies to build connection:

1. Look Them in the Eye

I know it can feel scary standing at the front of the room with all eyes on you. If you’re nervous or shy, eye contact might be the last thing you want to focus on. But consider this:

Your audience wants to know you’re talking to them.

So look them straight in the eye.

People often ask how to make contact with a big room of people. Here's a Tip: Look at one person at a time and tell them a whole thought. Then, move on to another person and tell them your next thought. With practice it will get easier. 

2. Smile

If you’re nervous and don’t feel like smiling, do it anyway. 

Smiling helps you relax.

It triggers different hormones in the body and when you smile, people in the audience are more likely to smile back at you. It creates positive feedback loops and if you're having fun so will your audience.

 

3. Be curious

Find out who your audience is and make sure your topic interests them. For instance, you might research them in advance and find out their profession, age range, and educational background. Once you know more about the audience, tailor your content to suit them.
 

Want more strategies to build your speaking confidence?

Sign up for 7 Steps to an Engaging Presentation so you can stop freaking out and start being the authority.

This article was originally posted on the Ellevate’s Medium page.

Have you ever passed up an opportunity because it required presenting? It’s easy to think that public speaking is a skill that passed you by.

Would you believe me if I told you that that public speaking is something that can be learned?

It’s okay if you said no…I would have, too! It took me well into adulthood to realize that it is absolutely a skill that can be learned.

It would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights had I discovered sooner that this commonplace fear was a solvable problem, something you can pick up through practice, like knitting or softball.

I want to address several misconceptions about public speaking where I see people stumble, and give some hard, fast skills you can use to get past them.

Getting over my fears of public speaking was probably the most liberating experience of my adult life. Here’s what I have learned:

You don’t need to be an extrovert to speak with impact.

Introverts can be great speakers. In fact they’re often more powerful because they use their superior listening skills and observant nature to read the audience.

You might be shy, you might not like where your skills are today, you might even think you’re a terrible public speaker, but finding a safe place to practice can help you discover your strengths.

If you’ve watched a lot of TED talks, you might think you need to walk around and make giant gestures, do the things that you see speakers do on big stages.

While these aren’t bad ideas if you’re already comfortable on stage, these are not the things to focus on if you’re just getting started. It is possible to give a captivating talk standing in one place using just your voice and facial expressions.

Your talk doesn’t need to be perfect.

It’s okay to laugh, it’s okay to forget what you were going to say, it’s okay to be human.

People often get tripped up because they think public speaking needs to be really serious. They’re so focused on appearing professional that they’re stiff and robotic and forget to bring their personality to presentations.

At the end of the day, you’re talking to other people, and when you remember that you’re talking to other humans, it makes presentations more natural, more conversational, and more fun.

How can you apply these ideas to feel more confident in your own presentations?

1) Practice, practice, practice.

Practice is the number one thing that will help you feel more comfortable and confident in your presentations. But people don’t do it, because:

• There’s not enough time.

• They’re intimidated.

• Practicing feels awkward.

• They’re afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of their colleagues.

• They’re not sure that practice is going to help.

• They hate public speaking, so they avoid it before the presentation, have an out-of-body experience and then pretend it never happened.

Do any of these sound familiar?

Practicing in front of colleagues in nerve racking. Presenting for coworkers is often harder than presenting to clients. That’s why I have a host of practice techniques you can use at home in your living room.

The most important thing is to practice out loud.

Break down your practice into chunks. Block fifteen minutes a day for three days before your presentation and do a run through out loud.

It will make a world of difference if you’re not searching for the words for the first time in the big meeting.

2) Know your why.

It is so much easier to give a good presentation when you know why you’re talking in the first place.

Decide at the outset what you want to accomplish. What’s the main message you want the audience to walk away with?

When you know your objective, you can direct all your content to that goal, and it will help you stay on track, even when you’re nervous.

3) Remember to breathe.

When people are nervous, they often forget to breathe. They stand up and start speaking before they’ve taken a breath, and as a result, they swallow their opening words.

If your voices quivers when you’re nervous, if you talk fast, if you have trouble projecting, focus on breathing. Pausing and breathing allows you to collect your thoughts, gain your composure and start strong.

This might be hard to believe today, but being terrified of standing up and talking in front of other people is something that can change. It’s not going to happen overnight, but with consistent practice and the right tools, you can learn how to be clear and confident in your presentations.

Use these tips to stay present in the moment, and remember: No matter how you feel about your skills today, it does not need to be an indication of how you’ll feel tomorrow, next week, or next year.

Want more tips? Grab 4 Steps to a Winning Work Presentation.

Think back to your childhood and what it was like trying to hit a baseball for the first time.

Now think back to a recent presentation or the first time you had to give a big presentation.

You may have stumbled, gotten stuck on a word, or failed to connect with your goal.

Learning to speak in public is like learning to play a sport.

• It’s physical

• Practice builds muscle memory

• You get better with repetition

• It’s more fun as you get better

• You need to focus. My dad used to tell my sister and I “keep your eye on the ball” during batting practice. It’s great advice and it applies here. If you don’t have your eye on the ball, if you’re not clear on your message, it’s hard to have an impact.

• A positive mindset helps. Are you more likely to hit a homerun standing on the mound with your eyes closed or if you practiced and have a specific goal in mind?

You probably didn’t knock the ball out of the park on the first try.

You may have lost your balance, spun around, fell over, struck out.

But you showed up and you practiced. So if you’re feeling discouraged about where your presentation skills are today, keep practicing. The good news is that presentation skills are something you learn.

So if you’re panicked about a presentation, start here:

Set an objective

Answer the question “What’s the main message I want my audience to walk away with?

Review your content

Ask yourself whether each piece of information is steering the audience toward your objective.

Practice

Set aside 10 minutes a day to practice your presentation out loud.

And remember, how you feel about your speaking skills today is not an indicator of how you’re going to feel next week, next month, or next year.

Last week I attended Finding Her Balance, an event about women’s mental health at work hosted by Berlin Cameron. I was moved by the honesty and bravery of the speakers who shared stories about eating disorders, depression, anxiety and the fragile mental state that often accompanies entrepreneurship.

As an introvert, I tend to keep my personal life private. But as a speaker I know that sharing my personal story is what allows me to connect with my audience.

I spent years in the shadows of loud talkers and hyper critical bosses, and it was draining. Being talked over was demoralizing and being overlooked was frustrating. It made me hold back in so many places.

Getting comfortable speaking up was probably the most liberating experience of my adult life.

That’s why I felt called to share 3 takeaways from Finding Her Balance that you can use to help you share your message.

1. GROUND YOURSELF

Joyce Englander kicked off the morning with a short meditation. She led us through a simple grounding exercise to plant your feet, engage your legs, and feel the ground supporting you.

I do a similar exercise with my public speaking clients to help them calm their nerves and  remember that at the end of the day, they are talking to other people. Speaking in public doesn’t have to be an out of body experience. It is possible to be present in the moment, to be clear and concise, and to connect with your audience on a human level. Use these easy steps:

1. When you stand up to speak or get called on at a meeting, first take a breath

2. Stand up if you can (it helps you feel more powerful)

3. Take a deep breath (this builds anticipation)

4. Don’t start talking until you feel your feet on the floor (if you don’t feel your feet, keep breathing)

This gives you a moment to get settled, collect your thoughts, and be present with your audience.

2. CHOOSE WONDER OVER WORRY

While we can’t control situations, we can change how we think about them. Amber Rae challenged us to choose wonder over worry.

You can use this same idea to shift your perspective about public speaking:

• When you feel nervous, think about how you can use the opportunity to grow outside your comfort zone.

• When you feel afraid, focus on what you can learn from this experience and what you give your audience

3. SHARE YOUR STORY

The statistics on mental health in the workplace are staggering and all the speakers talked about the importance of speaking up and sharing your struggles.

Amber Rae shared this lovely sentiment that “Your mess is your message.”

Sharing your message can feel scary, especially when so many thoughts are jumbled in your head, but it’s also liberating.

What would it be like to free some of those ideas in your head?

Do you need help taking that first step? I’d be happy to hop on the phone with you and help you get clear on your objective. Schedule here for a free presentation pep talk.

And if there’s something you’re passionate about, start talking about it.

I used to be terrified of public speaking. I avoided it like the plague.

I was a nervous wreck if I had to present in front of more than 4 people. My heart pounded, my voice quivered and I didn’t know how to make it stop.

Then I found my way to Toastmasters (a public speaking club for those who don’t know). I was welcomed by a supportive group of speakers who cheered me on, gave me pointers and provided a safe space to practice. And I practiced A LOT.

Getting over my fears of public speaking was one of the most liberating experiences of my adult life.

It was a long road, but I learned something incredibly valuable. The ability to talk out loud to other people, to organize your thoughts and get them out of your mouth in a fashion that other people understand, is a skill.

Presentation skills are just that – a skill, something that can be learned, like knitting or baseball. That’s the good news. The bad news is you have to PRACTICE.

If just the thought of a presentation makes you shudder, grab 7 Practice Strategies to Ace your Work Presentation. They’re free!

When I worked at a design agency, one of my colleagues continually impressed me with her amazing presentation skills. She persuaded her audience without being pushy, she answered unexpected questions with grace, and she remained cool under pressure. She was a gifted presenter and she taught me an important lesson – She practiced.

She did a run through before client meetings. Every time.

The single most important thing you can do to improve your presentation skills is to PRACTICE.

This might seems obvious, yet it’s the thing we rarely leave time for. As creatives, we often spend all our time on the visuals, making the deck, etc., and we walk into meetings unprepared to talk about our work.

So how do you practice?

Try out new techniques and update your game with 7 Strategies to Ace Your Work Presentation. (Hint: Tip #3 practice in front of your dog)... And share this with your colleagues and friends who want to improve their speaking confidence.

Happy practicing and reach out if you need help getting started.
 

Are you an aspiring business owner? New York City provides an incredible array of free business resources to help you get your business off the ground. There are so many in fact, it can be hard to know where to focus your time.

These are my top 3 resources that I constantly direct people toward:

1) SCORE

SCORE is an amazing organization of retired executives that provides free one on one business mentoring. Mentors come from a wide variety of fields and provide expert guidance on topics ranging from business planning to marketing, ecommerce, accounting, legal and more. I met with an incredibly helpful marketing expert when I was first getting started. You can find a mentor here  or reach out to me if you’d like the name of the woman I worked with.

2) POWERUP!

The NYC and Brooklyn Public libraries run an annual business planning competition with cash prizes for the winners. This is a great way to build in motivation, accountability, and structure to finish your business plan. The program provide classes, templates, mentoring, and acccess to a number of other free resources available at the business libraries, not to mention the opportunity to network with other new business owners. Past winners include GreenLight Bookstore and a local business in my neighborhood, Prospect Gymnastics. Did I mention the first place winner gets a $15,000 cash price to start their business? Applications open in March and you can find out more about it here.

3) NYC Department of Small Business Services

NYC Department of Small Business Services runs free workshops almost every day on topics such as Business Planning Basics, SEO, Funding (crowdfunding, how to get a loan), Small Business Accounting, How to Sell to Government, the list goes on and on.

You can find out how to register as a Woman or Minority Owned Business and take advantage of great resources to help you scale. Did you know that SBS will help you recruit employees for your business (you know, that arduous task of screening resumes and send you a list of their top picks) AND reimburse you for a percentage of training costs for new employees. Check out their list of workshops here.

If you don't live in NYC, check out your local SBS and SCORE chapters and find out what resources are available at your own public library.

Do you have a resource you like? Let me know about it!

Below are 4 communication strategies that I wish were in every employee handbook.

1. ACKNOWLEDGE AND VALIDATE

Imagine this scene:

Your Account Manager comes to your desk (or messages you on Slack) at 12:30pm to check on the deck that was due at noon. It’s not done and it’s pretty clear that you’re going to miss the 3pm client deadline.

Account Manager says: “It’s late. This was supposed to be finished at noon.”

You answer: “We didn’t have enough time and we can’t show it because it’s not approved.”

Things go downhill from there.

Sound familiar? I’ve been in this exact situation dozens of times.

Imagine if you instead answered: “It makes sense you’re nervous because clients look to you when things are late.”

2. PREPARE FOR THE TOUGH QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE

If you anticipate that your teammates or your boss are going to ask tough questions, prep for them ahead of time.

Here are few questions that often come up at the end of a presentation:

• How are you going to build that?

• We love it, can we see the next round tomorrow?

• It’s not quite what we’re looking for, can we see 6 more options tomorrow?

• How much will it cost?

Plan out your answers ahead of time.

If the project is going to cost 5 million dollars and the budget is 2 million you might want to have a few speaking points prepared about why it’s worth the extra investment.

3. REFRAME THE SITUATION

If you go into a presentation or a meeting thinking it’s going to be terrible, chances are good that it will be a waste of time.

If you think of those meetings as an opportunity to show off your best skills, get creative, and collectively brainstorm, it will probably be more fun (and make your whole team look good).

Designers, your account or project manager is not asking you how it’s going because they want to drive you nuts. There’s a lot of business on the line and they have clients breathing down their neck. Think about how you can help them do their job better and the information you would want in their shoes.

And project managers, your designers aren’t ignoring you because they are ignoring your project. They’re working on it, along with the 10 other projects on their list. How can you help them prioritize?

4. USE I STATEMENTS

When you feel yourself getting defensive, try to steer clear of accusations like “You’re stressing me out" and use this formula:

I feel ________________(emotion) when you __________________ (do this action).

Going back to the example presented in Tip #1, this might sound like:

"I feel nervous when the deck is only 30% done and it’s due tomorrow."

It removes some of the finger pointing and allows all parties to take responsibility for how they’re feeling.

Want more help navigating the murky waters of difficult conversations? Download 4 Skills to Master Tricky Conversations.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be about gratitude but for many people seeing family can heighten tension and nerves (and seeing them on Zoom doesn’t necessarily make it any easier).

It’s easy to fall back into the patterns of your childhood and find yourself arguing with siblings or parents.

Here are a few helpful tips to respond thoughtfully, ease stress, and deescalate arguments.

1. ACKNOWLEDGE AND VALIDATE

When you feel your blood pressure rising and your voice getting louder, try this technique:

Stop the conversation and say:

“I want to take a moment and acknowledge we have different viewpoints. It makes sense you feel that way.”  

Acknowledging other people's reality is the quickest way to end an argument.

Note, this doesn’t mean you agree, but it does give each person permission to feel the way they feel.

Mastering this technique can be the difference between a holiday meal filled with arguing and virtual food fights, or friendly dinner conversation.

2. ADVANCE PREPARE FOR THE DREADED QUESTION

Your mother, aunt, grandparent is not asking you those questions to torture you, despite what it might feel like. They care about you, and are interested in what you’re doing, and unfortunately that sometimes shows up in the form of interrogating questions.

How’s your job search?

How’s business?

How’s single life?

Answer with something simple like “It continues” and pivot by asking them a question.

3. REFRAME THE SITUATION

If you go in planning to have a bad time, chances are you’ll have a bad time. So if you’re feeling uneasy about Thanksgiving dinner, how can you reframe the situation?

Is it an exercise to practice tolerance, use your best listening skills, fancy dinner and drinks?

4. USE I STATEMENTS:

When you feel yourself getting defensive, try to steer clear of “You’re stressing me out" or  "You’re pissing me off” and use this formula:

I feel ________________(emotion) when you __________________ (do this action).

It removes some of the finger pointing and allows everyone to take responsibility for how they’re feeling.

Want more tips on how to stop arguing with your family and work team? Grab 4 Skills to Master Tricky Conversations.