19 How to Practice
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This chapter focuses on how to practice for your team presentation. The first section addresses ways you can prepare individually to ensure that you are ready when your team meets to practice. The second section focuses on what and how to practice as a team.
Practicing Solo
- Practice out loud
Speaking out loud is much more effective than practicing in your head or whispering. It helps you work on your vocal inflection, enunciation, and projection all of which are critical to a successful presentation.
- Use Index Cards
Using your outline as a guide, break down your presentation into sections. Write each one on a note card. Instead of writing a full script, label each card with key points like:
-
- Opening hook
- Preview
- Oral Citation
- Main Point 1
- Transition between point 1 and point 2, and so forth.
Shuffle the cards and practice starting from different points. This helps you become more flexible and confident in your material.
- Dual-task Practice
Try practicing while walking or doing another activity that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. Walking or something that gets your heart rate up can be a low-stress way to simulate anxiety. Because you are doing a secondary task (walking) simultaneously, it is also helping to prepare you for distractions that might come up during a presentation.
- Familiarize Yourself with the Space
If you can access the room where you’ll be presenting, practice there. Each space has its own feel, and getting used to it can help reduce anxiety on the big day. If you can’t use the actual space, try to visualize it as you practice.
- Simulate Presentation Anxiety
Don’t let yourself get too comfortable while practicing (i.e. avoid only practicing in comfortable spaces, like your room). Try to simulate the anxiety you might feel during the actual presentation by putting yourself in different settings. This way you’ll be better prepared to handle nerves when it is time to present.
Practicing as a Team
While practicing independently is crucial (coming to team practice sessions having prepared on your own is important so that your team can use the time together to focus on team elements and not necessarily individual issues), nothing replaces the value of being able to practice together as a group. Team practice sessions allow you to focus on choreographed details. You want your team to look and present cohesively and with a consistent style. While your team is made up of a number of different people, the audience should experience your presentation as one seamless presentation.
Areas to focus on during your team practice session
- speaking order
- transitions between speakers
- designating a slide driver (and an alternate)
- coordinating where people will position themselves
- coordinating any planned movements
- timing
- Q&A
- non verbal delivery items like eye contact and facial expressions to make sure the team sounds enthusiastic about their material.
- vocal inflection and vocal projection.
TEAM PRACTICE PLAN
Here is a sample way to run a practice session:
- Designate a leader for the practice session, ideally one of your stronger presenters.
- Run through the presentation once at the start of your practice session and record it. Do not stop or start over if someone makes a mistake. This will give you a sense of the starting point for your team.
- After the initial run through, discuss as a group what the areas are that need work and jot them down.
- Select one area to focus on at a time and run it like a drill. For example, if you are working on transitions between speakers, start at the beginning of the presentation and for the content, just say blah blah, then state your transition in full. Let the next speaker pick up that transition with their first couple of statements and then pass it on to the next speaker. This is effective because it isolates the issue you are working on.
- At the end of the practice session you should run the presentation in full again without stopping.
Conclusion
Effective preparation is key to delivering a successful team presentation. Individual practice helps you become confident in your material and delivery. Team practice sessions allow you to refine your coordination and delivery, making for a cohesive and polished presentation.
