From Behind the Desk to

the Front of the Stage

From Behind the Desk to
the Front of the Stage
How to Enhance Your
Presentation Skills

David Worsfold
From Behind the Desk to the Front of the Stage: How to Enhance Your
­Presentation Skills

Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2019.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other
except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior
permission of the publisher.

First published in 2019 by

Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-63157-909-7 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-63157-910-3 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Human Resource Management and Organizational

Behavior ­Collection

Collection ISSN: 1946-5637 (print)

Collection ISSN: 1946-5645 (electronic)

Cover and interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd.,

Chennai, India

First edition: 2019

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Printed in the United States of America.

 Abstract
A practical guide to presentation skills based on four decades of experi-
ence of public speaking around the world and of training and coaching
people.
It deals with all aspects of public speaking, but with a particular
emphasis on the skills people need to be successful in their business career
or when representing or presenting to a wide range of organizations.
It covers a wide range of different presentation skills, including
­making an impact in the boardroom, conference speaking, using multi-
media, and bringing complex subjects to life, as well as hosting everything
from roundtables to awards presentations.
There are many practical hints and tips and exercises that people can
do to improve their presentation style, as well as detailed advice on how
to create and structure content to make maximum impact.
It has a business focus and is aimed at people who need to be good
on their feet in order to progress in their careers or promote the topics
they are interested in. It also covers some of the challenging events such as
awards ceremonies, as well as formal and informal social occasions.
Its USPs are that it takes people on their journey from behind their
desk to the front of the stage in a sympathetic and insightful way, helping
them to build on their strengths and gain confidence as they go along.

Keywords
audiences; autocues; awards ceremonies; conferences; content; cue cards;
facilitating; gestures; humor; interactive technology; introductions;
microphones; pitch and pace; powerpoint; preparation; presentations;
public speaking; relaxation techniques; rhetoric; roundtables; scripts;
slides; stance; structure; style; video; visualization; voice; voice exercises
 Contents
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix

Chapter 1 You Want to Succeed and So Does Your Audience!���������1

Chapter 2 Preparation: The Foundation of Success��������������������������5
Chapter 3 Learning to Relax����������������������������������������������������������13
Chapter 4 Content Versus Style�����������������������������������������������������19
Chapter 5 Components of Style����������������������������������������������������25
Chapter 6 Making the Most of Your Voice������������������������������������35
Chapter 7 Amplification and Microphones������������������������������������47
Chapter 8 Content: Keep It Simple and Direct�����������������������������55
Chapter 9 To Script or Not to Script?��������������������������������������������67
Chapter 10 Making Slides and AV Work for the Audience��������������75
Chapter 11 Hosting and Facilitating Events������������������������������������81
Chapter 12 Making Roundtables Work�������������������������������������������87
Chapter 13 Chairing Conference Sessions and Panel Debates����������97
Chapter 14 Making Awards Ceremonies Sparkle���������������������������107
Chapter 15 Social Events: A Different Challenge���������������������������115
Chapter 16 How to Improve���������������������������������������������������������121

Conclusion�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������129
About the Author��������������������������������������������������������������������������������131
Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������133
 Introduction
A speech is a solemn responsibility. The man who makes a bad
30-minute speech to 200 people wastes only half an hour of his own
time. But he wastes one hundred hours of the audience’s time—more
than four days—which should be a hanging offence.
—Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Unitarian minister and uncle of architect
Frank Lloyd Wright

There comes a time in the careers of everyone who wants to be success-

ful and reach the top of their chosen profession when they have to start
standing up in front of audiences and—here is the tough bit—speaking
to them.
For some, this is a challenge they relish and seem to rise to with ease.
For many, however, this journey from behind the desk to the front of
the stage is filled with terror. Surveys of popular opinion on what people
most fear in life frequently put public speaking at the top—it even comes
out ahead of death in some polls.1 That is a sobering thought for anyone
grappling with the prospect of having to stand up in front of colleagues,
business prospects, conference audiences, or even family and friends.
Why is this? And, more importantly, what can people do to overcome
that fear and master the art of effective public speaking?
Running away is one option. In modern business life, however, that
will be career limiting. Despite the explosion in digital communication
channels and social media, people still place a very high value on face-
to-face communication. People relate to people more than screens and
machines. We want to hear stories told by people. We want to look people
in the eye to judge the truth and sincerity of what they are saying. Often,
we want our emotions to be engaged: we want to be inspired, moved,

1
  “Are You Scared of Public Speaking?” 2013. The Guardian. https://theguard-
ian.com/commentisfree/poll/2013/oct/30/public-speaking-phobias-scared-glos-
sophobia (accessed July 9, 2018).
x Introduction

entertained, enthused, and enriched. In this world dominated by screens,

working at home (alone), and social media, the value of good face-to-face
communication has soared.
That makes the prospect of stepping out from behind a desk and
striding toward the front of the stage even more daunting. It also explains
why that journey is so important, and why we must all be brave enough
to navigate its many potential hazards.
Most people faced with the prospect of having to start that journey
and speak to an audience will instantly find that fear and nerves take a
tight hold.
Let them take over and you will struggle on all sorts of levels, let-
ting yourself and your audience down. Nobody can take away the nerves.
Indeed, they should not really try to because you will need that nervous
energy to help you project your content and your personality to the audi-
ence. Anyone who promises to cure your nerves is guilty of selling a false
promise. The trick is to harness the nervous energy and channel it in
­positive directions. It can help you do a better job than you might ever
have imagined yourself capable of.
I have trained many people in public speaking and have never once
promised to take away those nervous butterflies, but I do endeavor to get
them flying in formation by the end of a course.
The advice and techniques I coach on my courses have stood the test
of time and earned the appreciation of many novice speakers, as I have
taken them on that journey from behind the desk to the front of the
stage. They have also helped experienced speakers, including chief execu-
tives and business leaders, take their presentational style to a fresh, more
engaging level.
The one thing I will never do is turn people into a boring clone of
the safe but oh-so-dull management consultant. We have all heard them
at conferences, armed with their endless slides, measured speaking style,
perfectly constructed presentations (superficially at least), but devoid of
personality. Few remember them, or more importantly, what they said.
The best, most engaging speakers build on their own personal strengths
to communicate their message to their listeners in a way that will make it
memorable. That is the constant focus of the advice in this book.
 Introduction xi

I am very grateful to two very experienced speakers and trainers for

the advice, guidance, and comments that have made this book better
than it otherwise would have been. Stuart McLean, who has had a long
career as a human resources director in the publishing industry and Caryl
Oliver, trainer, consultant, and international sportswoman. While their
advice has improved the book, its defects are still mine.
 CHAPTER 1

You Want to Succeed and So

Does Your Audience!
They can because they think they can.
—Virgil, ancient Roman poet

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t—
you are right.
—Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company

There are people who are imbued with supreme self-confidence who will
leap at the opportunity to stand up in front of colleagues, clients, confer-
ence audiences, or dinner guests and make a speech. It will not necessarily
be a good speech because that takes time, effort, planning, and practice.
But, they have that first crucial ingredient required for that journey to the
front of the stage—self-belief.
If you are one of the vast majority for whom that degree of self-belief
does not come easily, you have to find it from somewhere. This does not
mean striving for a false persona that will probably just appear brash and
pushy to most people, but instead laying a firm foundation using your
own personality and its many strengths, which may be hidden from you
or seem rather elusive when faced with the challenge of making a speech
in public.
This means starting by striking out some of the obvious negative
thoughts that can grip you before you even get to the stage.
People’s fear of public speaking often starts with the thought of doz-
ens—if not hundreds—of pairs of eyes staring at them, scrutinizing their
every word and action. This fear is almost always misplaced. Is that focus
on critical scrutiny your mindset when you sit in an audience? It is very
unlikely that it is so; learn to treat audiences as supportive, wanting you to
be successful, and effective in getting your message across to them.
2 From Behind the Desk to the Front of the Stage

You want to succeed and your audience wants you to succeed, so be

positive from the moment you accept a speaking engagement, whether
that be opening a conference, making a major sales pitch, delivering a
detailed discourse on a complex subject, explaining a change in the way a
business runs, or even speaking at a wedding reception.
If you think about what works for you when you are in an audience
and what does not, then you will be well on the way to understanding
how to make a good speech or presentation.
If you are not experienced, do not start by thinking you would like to
come across as the most inspirational speaker you have ever heard. Start
with more modest ambitions. Focus on what you know does not work,
such as speaking too quietly, using a monotone voice, over-complicated
slides, too much statistical information, or awful jokes. Now, ask yourself
how you are going to avoid those obvious pitfalls.
Keeping it simple is a core mantra for effective public speaking, never
more so than when you are a relative novice. Do not try to be clever if
you are not certain you can pull it off. The clever techniques you have
seen employed by speakers who you admire have almost certainly been
polished up through years of practice. They will have learned what works
for them and their audiences. They will have tried a variety of techniques
to find out what is most effective for them. This perseverance is what has
made them successful, although they will almost certainly have experi-
enced some failures along the way. They made sure they learned from
them, moved on, and did a better job next time. It is rather like the top-
class golfer who misses an easy putt: by the time they hit the tee shot on
the next hole, they have put that behind them. They do not dwell on it
because they know that will pull them down. That is how we must learn
to cope with the occasional bad experience with a presentation: learn
from it, but put it firmly behind us.
There are very few circumstances in which an audience, or part of it,
wants a speaker to fail.
The most obvious are hostile political audiences. They are tough—
very tough—which is why even the most experienced politicians are
nowadays kept away from them. Political spin doctors do not want their
charges thrown off their stride by well-timed, pointed interventions, or
hecklers. For them, it is all about control. That is something perhaps
 You Want to Succeed and So Does Your Audience! 3

many other speakers can learn too, as the more you feel in control, the
better job you will do.
Hostile audiences in the world of business and commerce are very
rare, so are not worth losing sleep over.
You will almost certainly be speaking to audiences that want you to
do your best. At any event, the majority of the audience would rather be
where they are than where you are and are not there to judge you harshly.
You can take great comfort from this.
They actually want you to succeed. Whatever role you are there to
play, they want you to do it well, so the event meets their expectations.
Nobody wants to come away from a conference thinking all the speakers
were boring or had nothing new to say, or find themselves cringing at the
leaden after-dinner speaker with a grim repertoire of poorly told jokes.
For a business presentation, people want to be engaged and informed.
Those are their core expectations, and they are not as hard to meet as
people might imagine.
The audience will be on your side when you stand up. The trick is to
keep them with you.
One thing for certain you will never know whether you can do that
if you run away from opportunities to speak or make a presentation. Of
course, the early opportunities must be the right ones. They must be sit-
uations in which you can—once you have banished the more corrosive
negative thoughts—imagine yourself succeeding in if you get the right
advice and support. This book is firmly focused on the sort of practical
advice that can get you up and running.

Getting Started
• Believe in yourself.
• Remember that audiences want you to succeed.
• Start with simple techniques and structures.
• Do not be too clever.
• Do not let nerves drag you down: harness them to create
positive energy.
 Index
Amplification, 47–53 Facial gestures, 31
Attention, 59 Facilitation
Audience five rules of, 85
AV and, 75–80 overview of, 81–82
conference sessions and panel preparation of, 82–85
debates, 98 Full script, 67–70
level of, 6–7
PowerPoint slides, 75–80 Gestures, 30–33
for roundtables, 89
for success preparation, 6–7 Hand-held microphones, 53
Autocue, 70–71 Headset microphones, 52
AV work, 75–80 Hecklers, 125–127
Awards presentation Hosting events. See Facilitation
checklist, 114
description of, 107–114
Improvement
checklist, 127
Benefits, 59 dealing with problems, 127
Breath control, 16 description of, 121–124
interruptions and hecklers,
Conference sessions and panel 125–127
debates, 97–106 microphone failure, 125
audience, 98 off-stage noises, 124
key points, 106 Interruptions, 125–127
speakers, 97–98
subject knowledge, 97
Microphone, 47–53
technology, 98–99
checklist, 53–54
venue, 98
failure, 125
Consonants, 43
hand-held, 53
Constructive feedback, 32
headsets, 52
Content
size of, 47–48
direct, 55–65
Muscle tension, 16
simple, 55–65
vs. style, 19–23
tips for, 65–66 Off-stage noises, 124
Credentials, 59
Cue cards, 72 Pace, in voice, 38–39
Participants, 88–89
Direct content, 55–65 Pitch, 38–40, 42
Direction, 59 PowerPoint slides, 75–80
Prompt cards, 72
Event management. See Facilitation
Eyes, as style component, 28–30 Quotes, 64–65
134 Index

Radio mics, 51–52 gestures, 30–33

Rehearsal, success preparation, 10–12 stance, 26–28
Relaxation voice, 33
breath control, 16 Subject knowledge
checklist for, 18 AV and Powerpoint slides, 82–83
importance of, 15 conference sessions and panel
overview of, 13–14 debates, 97
reducing muscle tension, 16 for roundtables, 87
visualization, 17–18 for success, 6
voice, 17 Success preparation
Roundtables, 87–95 level of audience, 6–7
audience, 89 overview of, 5–6
key points, 95 rehearsal, 10–12
participants, 88–89 subject knowledge, 6
subject knowledge, 87 technology, 9–10
technology, 90 venue, 7–8
venue, 89–90
Technology
Scripting AV and Powerpoint slides, 84
checklist, 74 conference sessions and panel
cue cards, 72 debates, 98–99
full, 67–70 for roundtables, 90
opposite form of, 72 for success preparation, 9–10
question and answer sessions, Teleprompter. See Autocue
73–74
timekeeping, 73 Venue
using autocue, 70–71 AV and Powerpoint slides, 83–84
Simple content, 55–65 checklist, 12
Social events, 115–120 conference sessions and panel
Speakers/panelists/guests debates, 98
conference sessions and panel for roundtables, 89–90
debates, 97–98 success preparation, 7–8
facilitation, 83 Visualization, 17–18
Stance, 26–28 Voice
Style making the best for, 35–46
basics of, 33 pace in, 38–39
checklist, 23 pitch in, 38–40, 42
vs. content, 19–23 for relaxation, 17
Style components as style component, 33
eyes, 28–30 tips for, 46