How to nail your keynote presentation: best tips and principles
July 20, 2023
/
4 min read
Learning #2: Calm your nerves by interacting with the audience
One of the biggest fears most rookie speakers have is the risk of blackout. You probably imagine looking at the audience, and someone's facial expression or whatever catches your attention, and just like that your whole speech is gone from your mind. Right? I think everyone has had that thought. And there are many techniques to use to avoid blackout in a presentation. One of them is to get comfortable with some of the audience members, and keep more eye contact with them.
Right before I got up on stage, I talked to some of the audience members at the front. Since these are the faces I will see the most, I wanted to feel more comfortable with them. For example, I spoke to guy from Berlin, felt a good vibe and kept more eye contact with him during my talk. I also went up to two other women in the audience, and awkwardly said "are you nervous?" before my talk, they laughed at my ridiculous question and I knew I had two more faces I could rely on once I got up on stage.
You've heard tips like "stare above your audience, at the wall in the back" or "imagine your audience naked". Forget all of that. These types advice are awkward and weird, and will probably just make you even more nervous. Get comfortable with the fact that you are speaking to all these people in front of you. But don't make it more important that it is. It's just a talk in front of a group of people that came to listen to you. That's it.
Even if you don't get to interact with anyone, simply pick a friendly face or two, and keep more eye contact with them during your talk. Nobody will notice when the audience size is big. Believe it or not, I still remember a woman in a yellow shirt that was smiling throughout my whole presentation. Thank you mysterious friendly woman!
Learning #3: Grab your audience's attention with a story
You already know how important stories are in presentations. Stories are a great way to help people understand complex ideas by giving it context, and making it relatable to the audience. In business, presentation storytelling is probably the most common word that is being thrown around in offices around the world. Because companies are starting to understand the value of a good story, which is to create a connection between the speaker and the audience.
And you can use this to your advantage in keynote talks as well. One of the very first things I did when I got up on stage was to tell a personal story. A story that I knew people would relate to. But also that would reinforce my main message, which in this talk was the importance of a good presentation.
Sidenote: if your story makes the audience laugh as well, then you will hit jackpot! See learning 5 below.
Learning #4: Entertain as much as you educate
Many first-time speakers forget the purpose of a conference or industry event. It is not a seminar. It is not purely for information purposes, or transactions of knowledge. It should be a fun experience where you interact and network with people. And the talks should also entertain.
Keeping the attention of an audience for 30-40 minutes is not an easy task. And even if you are there to give insights and share your view on something, you need to infuse your presentation with an equal amount of entertainment in order to make it a fun and memorable experience.
Throw in some jokes here and there that the audience can relate to. Industry-specific jokes are great, because most people can relate to that. E.g. I made several comments on how bullet points can kill your presentation, how powerpoint corporate templates are hard to work with, etc. By bringing up relatable topics, you make the audience nod their heads and put their confidence in you and your subject matter. Plus it makes them relax and enjoy the experience more.
Making your audience laugh is probably the single best way to connect with them. So make them laugh in the first 30 seconds of your talk. That way you will get their attention and they will be more eager to listen to you. I started my talk with a 40 second video showing bloopers of virtual presentations. Everybody cracked up laughing. I got their attention before I even opened my mouth.
If you are not funny, you can use a video. Or a fun quote. Or an image. A story. Whatever works. But make them laugh early.
Learning #5: Your presentation slides are your best friend
Do not underestimate the power of having good slides projected behind you during your talk. It gives an incredible confidence boost every time you click forward a slide. I had prepared some fun slides, with fun visuals, great quotes, and I could not wait to pull those up to see the audience eyes light up. To the contrary, having bad slides will work against you as it will pull the attention away from you. And it will have the audience hesitating before you even start talking. "Does this person deserve my attention, when he did not even put the slightest effort into his slides?"
This topic alone on how to design better slides can be covered in many articles, but here are my top tips:
Keep it visual: keynote talks are not internal business reviews. Text-heavy slides do not work on the big stage.
Slide background color: a huge white canvas projected on a big screen can be very heavy on the eyes of the audience. Dark backgrounds work much better here. Best approach though? Mix it up. See snapshot of my slides below.
Transitions / Animations: two things to keep in mind here: (1) if there are people joining in online, be aware that some motion graphics can be laggy when streamed. General rule: keep animations to a minimum. And (2) consider converting PowerPoint animations into videos and embedding the videos into your slides. Videos play much smoother than native PPT animations.
Number of slides: "how many PowerPoint slides do I need for a 30 minute talk?" is a very typical question in this industry. My advice is always that number of slides do not matter, worry more about having a good flow and not getting stuck too long on one slide. With this said, for keynote talks a good rule of thumb is to not stay longer than 30 seconds to 1 minute per slide. Keep the flow going.
Design help: if the keynote presentation is important for you, or you will do it on a regular basis, consider hiring PowerPoint design help. An agency that specializes in presentations knows what works best for you and your topic, and can help you bring your ideas to life.
Learning #6: Make fun of yourself
It's very easy to come off as a "full of yourself" douche, when you tell stories about your life, or speak about your experience. "I've worked with top brands like bla bla bla", "I am successful bla bla". That's a formula to disconnect yourself from your audience. To avoid this, throw in some lines where you make fun of yourself. That makes people relax and like you even more.
E.g. I told a story about when I got a top job straight out of university, and being selected out of thousands of applicants. True story. But can be received as non-humble depending on how you tell it. So I threw in the fact that I got fired a couple of months later. It made me more human. And had some good laughs.
Another speaker gave a talk about body language. And the first thing he did was to make fun of himself and his height (he is not the tallest man around). He said something in the lines of "You expected a much taller guy speaking about body language right?" His talk was a success. People loved it!
In summary
Assume you will have tech issues and prepare for it
Calm your nerves by interacting with the audience
Grab your audience's attention with a story
Entertain as much as you educate
Your presentation slides are your best friend
Make fun of yourself
And if you walk away with only one learning from all of this, it is to enjoy your experience. Most of us don't get this opportunity to speak in front of hundreds or thousands often. So have fun with it!
