At the 11th hour…!

Having to present with little or no time to prepare can be greatly distressing. But today, such situations are more the rule than the exception. Here is what you can do to rise above these:

1. Never declare your lack of preparedness or apologize to the audience for the lack of it. What they don’t know can’t harm them!
2. Since you are unlikely to have all the data needed or the time to build fool-proof arguments, make your presentation more conversational than confrontational , more dialogue than download.
3. Here’s are simple building blocks to build your presentation quickly and powerfully:
   1. Begin with thanking the audience for the opportunity to present and find something worth appreciating about them.
   2. State the objective of your talk in brief making sure to indicate that they are also participants in your speech

• Share 2-3 key points of useful context building – what was the original objective of the project, where it stands now, who is involved, what are the benefits and consequences of the topic at hand etc.

1. Propose (not declare) your conclusions
2. Open up your speech to comments and questions to involve the audience
3. Listen well, probe, acknowledge others and assert your own ideas and build on others’. Let the presentation evolve!

Allow yourself to be delighted with whatever emerges. Sometimes the unpremeditated mind works more miracles than the practiced one. Finally, cut yourself some slack! Don’t stress out trying to score 100% under constraints. Make the audience your allies, smile and believe in yourself!