Every time I sit down in the audience for a keynote or breakout at a conference, I am hoping I will hear a brand new insight or innovation that can make the world better sooner! But excitement doesn’t always translate to absorbing and adopting new ideas. When most of us encounter true innovation, it passes us by because it is too unfamiliar for us to understand.  

So, what can someone with a brilliant new idea do to speed up the rate of understanding and adoption to their new idea? There is a method to introduce fresh concepts in a way that feels familiar to the audience. I call it the “speaker’s overture.” 

On my recent trip to New York, I was lucky enough to catch Gypsy, starring the unparalleled Audra McDonald. Gypsy premiered on Broadway in 1959, and was written by Jule Styne (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and Arthur Laurents (book). This powerhouse team followed a musical tradition that presenters and public speakers can borrow. 

Before the curtain rises, the pit orchestra plays a medley of the tunes you are about to hear, called the overture. The overture contains a riff from “Let Me Entertain You,” a snippet of “Small World,” and a taste of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” For audiences that have never seen or heard the show, these new melodies are being gently introduced to our brains. When the songs come back within the story of the show, they feel familiar. Our brain recognizes the musical idea. We can absorb them. We can almost hum along. 

In presentations, we call this “telling them what you are going to tell them.” If you have brand new ideas, programs, and innovations for our field (and we hope you do!), sprinkle some of those big ideas into your intro, so that when we get to the meat of your presentation, the audience can absorb them. “Hey, that sounds familiar.” Which is a whole lot better than, “I’m not sure I’m understanding this. Sounds risky.”  

Great examples of the speaker’s overture can be found in a few of the most popular TedTalks of all time (according to Oprah Daily). Watch the first minutes of Kelly McGonigal’s talk, How to make stress your friend, and you will hear strains of her big idea that changing your mind about stress can change your body’s response to it. In Sir Ken Robinson’s talk, Do schools kill creativity?, before the 3-minute mark he shares, “all kids have tremendous talents, and we squander them, pretty ruthlessly.”  

Your opening will help the audience absorb and adopt your new ideas, if you play them a speaker’s overture. 

“Oh, no!” you think as you glance at the screen midway through your presentation. “This is the wrong slide.” Suddenly, you are keenly aware of all the eyes that are on you and the slowly expanding silence in the room. Your pulse races while your brain comes to a dead stop. The only thought you can muster: “Please, let this be a dream.”

Nobody’s perfect. Mistakes happen to all presenters, but what distinguishes the best from the rest is how they recover. This is where skills from improv can be very handy. I’ve been studying and performing improv for half of my life. I’ve honed my craft at some of the most famous improv houses, including the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Groundlings Theatre. At my current home, Impro Theatre here in Los Angeles, we improvise full length plays in the style of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Jane Austen, Tennessee Williams and other distinctive writers. I was even fortunate enough to land a series regular role on a fully-improvised comedy, “Ten Items or Less,” that ran for 3 very fun years on TBS.

I love performing improv, and I’ve come to appreciate how an improvisational mentality has benefited the rest of my life. I apply the rules and ethos of improv to everything I do, and they are particularly useful when I’m facilitating workshops and presenting. So, I’m delighted to share three rules from improv that will help you handle presenting mistakes with humor and grace.

Let’s begin with an all-purpose recommendation: breathe! When your presentation runs into any kind of pothole, take a moment for a full, deep breath. Your brain needs both the oxygen and a moment to reset. Now you’re ready to start improvising:

Tip #1: “Yes, and…” Yourself

Let’s begin with improv’s most famous rule: to “Yes, and…” in an improv scene means to accept whatever your scene partner has said (or done) and to build on it. For example, picture two actors, whom we’ll call “A” and “B,” walking on stage for an improv scene. The audience has been told only that they are pirates. Actor A begins the scene by miming swabbing the deck of a ship:

A: “We must swab the deck or be forced to walk the plank!”

B: “Aye, matey! And we, the only crew the captain has not yet murdered.”

As you can see, not only has B said “yes” to the premise that they are pirates swabbing the deck, he has added more information about what is happening on the ship.

But what if there is a mistake? A few months ago, I was performing in an improvised play, “Jane Austen, Unscripted,” that was staged outdoors, which required all the actors to wear microphones. During a scene, one of the microphones cut out as the actor wearing the microphone was in the middle of a speech. All of us on stage could see the audience leaning forward, struggling to hear his un-amplified voice. This was not the kind of unscripted moment the play’s title had advertised.

But that’s the beauty of the “Yes, and…” training, because another actor broke into the speech, declaring, “Cousin! My hearing is very poor, and I need you to stand next to me and speak very loudly into my lapel!” The audience understood what was actually happening – one actor was telling another to use his working microphone – but the request had been weaved into the story. The line earned a big laugh, and the awkward moment became a display of improvisational skill, which is exactly what the audience came to see.

Now let’s return to your awkward moment: the slide that appears at the wrong time. If you “Yes, and…” yourself, you might say something like: “Okay, this slide actually comes a little later in my presentation, but the point it wants to make is so important, it couldn’t wait any longer, so it jumped into this position. So let’s talk about it.” Or, if it’s too early to make that point, you could say, “There are several important points I want to share with you today, but some of my slides get impatient and can’t wait to be shared, so please forgive this slide for jumping ahead.” Then you can turn and face the screen and scold the slide directly: “Get back where I put you, and don’t do that again!”

As with the faulty microphone, the audience will know what’s actually happening, but they will appreciate your command of the situation – not to mention a little bit of humor – and what could have been an awkward moment will reassure them they are in good hands.

Tip #2: Don’t Let Ramone Drive the Bus

Stephen Kearin, a genius improviser and one of the best teachers I have had the privilege to work with, taught me about “Ramone.” Ramone is the name Stephen has given to his inner critic. Stephen envisions Ramone skulking around, smoking a cigarette and passing judgment dismissively of everything Stephen does on stage.

Naming your inner critic and giving them a persona may sound silly, but it works. It allows you to see yourself as separate from that pesky voice of fear and judgment that pounces when you are less-than-perfect. Notice that Kearin doesn’t give his students a trick to make the inner critic disappear. That’s never going to happen. As Kearin says, “Ramone is gonna be on the bus. I just don’t let him drive.”

When things have taken a wrong turn, our inner critic can’t wait to get behind the wheel and drive us over a cliff of despair, panic and self-doubt. If you make a mistake in your presentation and that voice comes in shouting, “You are an imposter. I knew you would make a fool of yourself,” just acknowledge the voice and then tell them they aren’t in charge. “Thanks, Ramone, but you are in my seat. You just hush up and move to the back of the bus.” Then you take the wheel. You got this.

Tip #3: See Mistakes as Gifts

Tina Fey says that in improv, “There are no mistakes.” At Impro Theatre, we say it a little differently.  “Mistakes are gifts.” Years ago, I went to an audition for a part in a comedy. I was nervous. Every audition is hard to come by in Hollywood, so I rehearsed my lines to death and worked with a friend to coach me through the scene. I was epically prepared.

When I got in the room with the casting director, I started the scene. Immediately, I could tell it wasn’t going well. I felt stiff and the casting director looked bored. Then, a miracle happened: I fell off my chair. I was so nervous and shaky, I just slid right off it. The nightmare of nightmares, right?

As it turns out, this mistake woke me up from the zombie-like performance I was giving. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself a bit and relax. Suddenly my senses were alive again. I was back in the room, not inside my head thinking about how badly I wanted this role. The casting director sat up, too. She was now rooting for me. I had a real human moment, and it probably didn’t hurt that it was funny to watch. This was comedy after all. That casting director cast me in the role and called me in for other projects for years.

Your presentation isn’t a comedy audition, but if you can start seeing mistakes as gifts, as opportunities to be human and to bring yourself back into the moment, then if won’t be so terrifying when you make one.

In their book, Life Unscripted, Dan O’Connor, a brilliant improvisor and director, and Jeff Katzman, a professor of psychology, share a game for getting people to be more comfortable with mistakes. “In this game, we ask participants to think quickly of something that went wrong this week, some way in which they failed. When they’re ready, we begin a celebration. One by one participants come to the front of the group and announce their failure with great enthusiasm while taking a circus bow – throwing their hands up in the air (and acting like they just don’t care) and then bowing deeply… everyone [else] claps and responds with wild enthusiasm… This game cultivates the general spirit that mistakes and failures are inevitable, we embrace them and we even applaud them.”

So embrace your mistakes. See them as opportunities to improvise. Applause will follow!

Effective presentations give your audience what they want in the way they want to absorb it, which is why we’re firm believers in The Platinum Rule of Presenting: “Present unto others as they would have you present unto them.” But how do you know precisely what audiences want? Fortunately, we asked on your behalf – twice!

In 2006, we conducted unprecedented research across North America, surveying 2,501 professionals at nonprofits, foundations, government agencies, colleges and universities, and mission-driven businesses. We asked them to talk about in-person presentations: what works, what doesn’t, and why. The results were published in our groundbreaking book, Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes.

In 2020, when almost all presenting moved online due to the pandemic, we updated our research, gathering the newest best practices from over 4,400 respondents in the US and Canada. We published those findings in our report, “Unmuted: What works, what doesn’t, and how we can all do better when working together online.”

You can download both of these publications here and see all the results for yourself, but we’ve also combined the learnings from both reports in a new two-hour course. “The Platinum Rules of Presenting” will take you through 10 audience-driven rules that can help you become a more effective presenter whether you’re working face-to-face or screen-to-screen. Course curriculum includes:

• Top-line research results from both reports
• Audience-driven guidelines for structuring your presentation
• Tips for slide design
• Adapting presentations and delivery specifically for virtual audiences

Sound like what you need? Click here to register now.

If you’re completely satisfied with your PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slide presentations and believe they couldn’t look any better, please skip to the next article. For the remaining 99% of us, however, there are two new resources which are chock full of tips for sprucing up your decks:

The Better Deck Deck: 52 Alternatives to Bullet Points is a clever bundle of good ideas from Nolan Haims, a guru of presentation design and co-host of The Presentation Podcast. As the deliberately redundant title suggests, the ideas are presented in a deck of 52 cards, and each card presents not only a design idea but also three examples of its execution of the reverse side. The entire deck is divided into four sections for design ideas with text, shapes, images and diagrams. You can order the cards, a PDF version, or the PowerPoint source file with the actual slide examples here.

Everything I Know about Life I Learned from PowerPoint is Russell Davies’ latest book, and it also offers more than 50 tips for improving the structure and design of your presentations. Davies knows a thing or two about designing eye-catching, mind-opening presentations, having designed for Nike, Microsoft and Apple, written about it for Wired magazine, and even having delivered presentations at 10 Downing Street in London. Rest assured that if you work with Keynote, Google Slides or Prezi, Davies has practical and usable tips for you, too, despite the book’s title; and I can assure you it’s a fast, funny, and highly worthwhile read. Find out more about the book and order your copy here.

Imagine attending a dinner party that begins with scrumptious hors d’oeuvres and drinks, proceeds to a delicious meal with lively conversation, concludes with a decadent, mouth-watering dessert, and then the host suddenly exclaims, “Sorry, we’ve run out of time!” and hustles everyone out the door in thirty seconds. A perfect evening has just been ruined by an abrupt ending, and as you hastily depart, you’re probably thinking, “We’re never going there again.”

This unspeakably rude scenario has an all-too-common analog in the public interest sector. More often than I can count, I have attended presentations and webinars which got off to a promising start, delivered solid content, but dropped the closing curtain with the speed (and equally disconnecting effect) of a guillotine blade. Now, I don’t wish to imply that a mangled ending automatically invalidates everything that came before, but your closing is a critically important part of the entire experience.

In short: endings matter, especially when your objective is to inform, educate, or motivate. So, as we head into December and bring another year to a close, what better time than now to focus on the best ways to end a presentation, webinar or just about any gathering of humans be it face-to-face or screen-to-screen.

In his book, Teaching & Training: A Handbook for Instructors (Macmillan, 1977), H.R. Mills presents a graphic rendering of students’ attention spans in the classroom (see illustration). “Interest starts off high,” Mills writes, “though no matter how good an instructor may be, he will rarely have the full attention of all the class. Interest drops. Fatigue and boredom set in and persist until banished by the pleasant anticipation of the end of the period” (italics mine.)

Based on my 20+ years of experience giving presentations, leading webinars and also being an audience member, I’m convinced the same pattern exists among our colleagues in the public interest sector. It’s just human nature. When a session begins, we are curious about the speaker(s) and the subject and usually hopeful that the hour (or more) will be time well spent. And when we hear the words, “In conclusion…” even those among us in the deepest reaches of REM sleep will arouse and listen more closely for those words of wisdom that make it all worthwhile.

Most presenters and webinar leaders recognize the importance of a strong opening, but it’s still surprising how many pay scant attention to the ending. “Well, I see we’ve run out of time,” they’ll say before issuing a few perfunctory thank-yous and abruptly ending the session. Given the spike in attention that’s just been handed to them, this is a wasted opportunity. Consequently, I always recommend leaving enough time for a three-step closing:

Step 1: Summarize

There’s a maxim in public speaking that goes so far back I cannot find agreement on the original source: “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em; tell ‘em; tell ‘em what you told ‘em.” Step 1 of a good closing is that last piece — simply spending a few minutes recapping the major points that were made during the presentation or webinar.

Step 2: Take Questions

Even if you’ve taken questions earlier in the session, it’s always advisable to have one final Q&A segment to address any lingering concerns. But above all, do not end your presentation with Q&A. Questions may stray from your topic, be relevant for the questioner but not the larger audience, or may not be questions at all – just an opportunity for someone to hold forth and hijack your session. Even if all the questions are on point (which I wouldn’t put money on), letting someone else have the last word is a risky proposition, especially when the audience is paying attention again. Which bring us to the third and most important step in your closing…

Step 3: Stick the Landing

The final minute or two is your opportunity to tell one more story, restate your message as concisely and eloquently as possible, or provide an inspiring vision. Above all, this is your moment to express in no uncertain terms what you hope the audience will do with the information they have just received or the skills just acquired. (If you are moderating a panel discussion, you can give each panelist a prescribed amount of time for a closing statement along these lines.) When you Stick the Landing, you make sure that the last thing ringing in the audience’s ears is the one thing you want them to remember.

Gosh, looks like we’ve run out of space. See you next month! (JK)