We’ve often written about the importance of preparing properly for any successful presentation.
It is also something we stress during our presentation skills courses.
Preparation is crucial to your presentation being delivered successfully. It is the starting point of any good presentation or speech.
But can you over-prepare?
That may sound contradictory, but it is an important issue.
There are plenty of people who believe you can never be too prepared. And you don’t have to search too far on Google to find articles that claim over-preparation doesn’t exist and that you need to have your presentation etched into your brain.
But we disagree. You can have too much of a good thing. And during our courses, we point out how being over-prepared can damage your presentation, whether delivering it face-to-face or online.
Over-preparation often comes from a sensation we are probably all familiar with - the pressure to deliver a great presentation.
I know I experienced it several years ago when I was asked to deliver what I considered at the time to be a high-stakes presentation.
I was new to my role and determined to make the right impression. So, I spent weeks memorising what I was going to say and reverted to reading my visual aids and slides aloud.
The result was a scripted, robotic performance devoid of any personality or spontaneity – as well as several nosebleeds from the pressure I put on myself.
But I know I’m not alone in having taken this approach. I’m aware of others who have gone further and also memorised the gestures and facial expressions they would use when they reached key points in the presentation.
Over-prepared presentations can look like bad acting and can make it almost impossible to develop that crucial connection with the audience.
And over-prepared presenters are often unable to adapt if something goes wrong, and they become flustered. Or it becomes clear they haven’t captured the focus of the audience.
But how can you tell if you have done enough preparation to deliver a great presentation? Or you have over-prepared?
That can feel like a grey area and a bit of a tricky balance, so here are a few helpful tips from our new online presentations skills course to help:
You are prepared when:
- You feel confident about delivering your presentation
- You’re clear on the message you want to get across and how you are going to support it
- You know how you want the audience to feel
- You have anticipated likely questions
- You know the technical setup and have a plan B if anything goes wrong
- You've considered how to finish your presentation with a bang
You are over-prepared when:
- You are lying awake at night trying to memorise your presentation verbatim
- You have written and memorised answers to every audience question you have anticipated
- You have rehearsed the facial expressions and gestures you will use at key moments
- You have put your entire presentation into a huge deck of PowerPoint slides.
A good course will show you how to prepare a presentation and how to become the best version of yourself when you present and overcome nerves. Audiences want to see your personality, your character and some spontaneity. In short, a natural delivery.
They don’t want to be spoken to by a robot who has become focused on achieving perfection.
But if you still need persuading that you don’t need to memorise your presentations word-for-word, it is crucial to remember that some of the best lines in memorable speeches were not scripted.
Dr Martin Luther King’s speech notes didn’t contain the powerful “I have a dream” part.
Similarly, George W Bush’s famous speech after 9/11 was also improvised. Responding to someone in the crowd saying they couldn’t hear him, the then President said: “I can hear you. The whole world hears you. And whoever knocked down these buildings will hear all of us real soon.”
Keen to find out more? Our new online Presentation and Personal Impact Skills course will help you get your preparation right and ensure you don’t over-prepare.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with more than 35 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
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