Presentation Brain Cramps

If part of your job is to give presentations, at some point you’re going to experience what’s often called a “brain cramp”. In case you’re not familiar with the term, it’s when you blank out while on stage. You forget where you were or what you were going to say next.

It happens to everyone and it’s no big deal…unless you make it one. Don’t panic or draw attention to not knowing where you are. Just buy yourself some time with a transition.

Here’s an example: In the middle of your presentation you get asked a question about something you covered earlier or will be presenting later. It could even be something off topic, something you hadn’t even planned on covering today.

I prefer a strategy of answering questions when asked, not asking them to wait, or trying to find the right slide in my deck. I simply hit the “b” key https://www.labarberagroupuniversity.com/blog/the-b-key to blacken the screen. That way their eyes are on me and not the slide I have up there. It eliminates message competition. When finished, I hit the “b” key again to get back to the slide I was on when I got the question.

A good transition is, “All right, let’s get back to where we were…” This buys you time to reset. You can then either summarize that slide or even start at the top of the slide (if you have bullets) and re-present.

You could also say, “Where were we?”, as a rhetorical question and then summarize or re-present.

Or, you can be a little bolder and make it an actual question. “So, where were we?” Pause and let someone in the audience summarize what’s you covered. You’ll see how well they’ve been listening (and how well you’re presenting). If no one does, you then summarize or re-present. Multiple options.

Sometimes our brain cramps come without an audience question. We just lose our place. We have a picture slide and forget what we were going to say. And, we feel stranded because there aren’t any words up there to prompt us.

But don’t let that fear cause you to create bullet-laden slides and presentations. They put audiences to sleep.

Here’s a better solution: Create lots of interesting graphical slides and utilize a “cheat sheet”.

A cheat sheet is your presentation safety net and prompter to prevent and recover from brain cramps.

To build one, grab an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. List 3 - 6 bullets with no more than a word or two on them. These key words represent the key points of your presentation. These are the things you have to present in order for it to hit your objective. When lost, you glance at your cheat sheet for guidance.

The reason I prefer a big piece of paper instead of using a phone or iPad is not just because paper doesn’t time out. It’s so you can write big (1 to 2 inch bullets) and see them from a distance while walking around. Just place it on a podium or table and glance at it to find your place. 

The only caution is to make sure you don’t print too small or put too many words on your cheat-sheet or you’ll stare at it and may even end up reading from it.

So, as part of your preparation, you create your life preserver (cheat-sheet) and practice your transitions. No need to worry about brain cramps.

Have a great week!

Bob

P.S. If you’re wondering whether this is the kind of stuff that’s included in What to Do Next, the answer is yes. The goal is to have answers to hundreds of sales problems and obstacles, all instantly accessible to you. And, no, these WON’T be coming from ChatGPT or some other AI program. That’s because they’re not in the public domain. These are field-tested, but private. They’re coming from my personal experience and those of my clients. There’s still time to become a founding member. Here’s a link to see a sample of the situations: https://www.labarberagroupuniversity.com/what-to-do-next-situations