What Is Your Personal Presentation Style? How Do You Get It?

I think of my working days in 3 categories:

Showtime – intense focussed day of activity (usually just one e.g. coaching sessions)
Buffer – a day of either preparation for a Showtime day or one following Showtime for debriefing myself
Time Out – the (almost mythical) day off.

Let me start with the Time Out days. I try to make these follow a Showtime day to give myself both a reward and a recovery time from the intense activity that usually comes with a Showtime day.

Sometime, as we all know, it’s just not possible to have a “day off”. In this instance I will have a Buffer day follow a Showtime day – always hoping that the Time Out day will eventuate at some later date!

Buffer days are preparation or debrief days when I work on an intense activity and fine tune it for performance.

Showtime days are when I have to be at my very peak of performance. This is what I want to talk about in this post.

To use this categorisation successfully, you need to think of a Showtime day as performance day. Not in the sense that you need to put on an act but rather that you need to “perform” your skills and expertise at their highest level.

If you are still developing your presentation skills, you may not yet be comfortable with being yourself on these days. This is where you need to continue to develop your personal presentation style so you can approach each and every presentation knowing that when you think “Showtime” you will automatically be doing your best. It’s no different to elite athletes and a big competition.

Practice will help you develop your style. Observing others (both those who do it well and those who do not) will help you identify elements of presentations that might work for you. Once you’ve identified these elements, go back to practising and reviewing your presentations – video yourself so you can see exactly how it appears to your audience.

If you are finding it difficult to determine your personal style, try choosing a style that you are comfortable portraying. You need to be aware if you choose this path that you must be able to “perform” this style no matter what the occasion.

I honestly feel you should always try to develop your own personal presentation style. Take your time because when you have it you will be less nervous, more prepared for those impromptu moments and as a result a more powerful presenter.