You know that there is such a thing as too much practice. You’ve been running through your presentation, but it still doesn’t feel right. Or it did feel right, but now it doesn’t. If you’re new to presentations you may be getting the message that you’re not putting enough effort into it. That may not be the case. What may be happening instead is that your practice has become unfocused. You’re running through the whole presentation instead of drilling a problem area.
One way this happens is that you’ve gone into automatic pilot. You’re running through the presentation from start to finish, the same way every time. You’re starting to feel more comfortable because you’re starting to feel more familiar with it. That isn’t improvement. A better approach would be to find the spot where you get uncomfortable. Then start with that area. Say it once, focusing on the content. Say it again, this time focusing on the editing. Say it again, this time focusing on the emphasis. That will help you to stay focused in the practice instead of going through the motions.
You know you’ve hit a plateau when you’re trying to practice confidence. That will lead to unfocused effort because confidence is a result. What you can practice is precision. If the introduction isn’t working for you, practice the first four sentences until you can deliver them without stumbling. If you’re losing your train of thought in the body, practice two key points without slides until you can clearly hear how they connect. If you aren’t ending powerfully, practice the final sentence until you sound authoritative when you say it. Confidence will creep back in when you feel like you have a handle on the framework and the transitions aren’t so wobbly.
Another good way to break through a plateau is to change the kind of feedback you’re getting. Overall impressions at this point won’t help much. Instead, ask if your core message was clear after the first minute, if any visual was confusing, or if any section felt like it took too long. You can use that kind of feedback because it points to a specific decision. Recording your practice can also help, but don’t watch it to see how you looked. Watch it to see where you lost focus, where your voice constricted, where the visual was doing too much of the work.
Sometimes a 15 minute plan can be more helpful than an hour long practice session. Spend five minutes saying your presentation without slides, focusing only on the structure to guide your narrative. Spend five minutes rebuilding a problem section with concise language and smooth transitions. Spend five minutes practicing that new section in context by running into it from the preceding section and out of it into the following one. That keeps your practice specific and avoids the frustration of practicing a full presentation when you’re really only struggling with one section. If the plateau persists over several days, shift the focus in each session so you’re not working on the same issue in the same way.
Sometimes plateaus are a sign that you need to refine your presentation, not just bull your way through it. A section that isn’t sticking may be trying to do too much, a visual may be competing for attention, or your words may sound more written than spoken. If that’s the case, the best thing you can do isn’t to bull your way through another practice session. The best thing to do is make your presentation easier to handle. Cut a line. Clean up a slide. Strengthen a transition. Say your core idea in a more straightforward way. You’ll find your improvement creeping back when you refine your presentation, and refinement almost always comes from adjustments to the details rather than from putting your foot on the gas.