39.  How do I prepare for a big presentation or readout?

Drew Freeman: Hey, Joe. How are you doing today?

Joe Marcantano: I am well. I am getting ready to go to a hockey game today. I've got tickets. I'm kind of excited.

Drew Freeman: Ooh, that'll be fun. Is it a professional NHL game?

Joe Marcantano: It is. The, my St. Louis Blues are in town to play the Colorado Avalanche, and this will definitely time box when we're recording. But the Blues are on a very exciting hot streak right now as the NHL seasons closes, so I am a happy Blues fan.

Drew Freeman: Well, enjoy the game. I'm very sure that you will.

Joe Marcantano: I always do.

Drew Freeman: All right, so jumping into today's episode, this one is, actually pretty timely because the question that we're asking is, in fact, something that Joe has been doing for the last. How long has it been, Joe?

Joe Marcantano: Gosh, I've been. I found out about three months ago, four months ago, that I was gonna be talking at this conference, and I've been poking at the talk ever since.

Drew Freeman: All right, so our question for today is how do I prepare for a big presentation or a big readout? And as Joe has mentioned, and I'm sure we'll give another plug for the conference, he's been working on a talk for a conference for a couple of months now, so it's a good time to peek behind the curtain and see how Joe's been doing it.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah, I would definitely say this has been different. like, I've given big readouts in the past. Right. And this is a little different. but I think that there's huge amounts of overlap in the preparation and the things that I'm doing to ensure that I'm ready to give a talk that's valuable for folks that is also a little bit entertaining because there's 100% of, a performative aspect to giving a big talk, a big greet out, a big presentation.

Drew Freeman: Yeah, absolutely. So let's maybe kind of define, like, what do you consider a big presentation or a big readout as opposed to a normal presentation or a normal readout?

Joe Marcantano: That's a really good question. And I think that's going to differ for a lot of folks. obviously, like, a big research project is going to get a big presentation, and by big, I mean likely Time wise and expense wise. Right. If a lot of resources went in, it's because the business values it, so a lot of people are likely to attend. So in that aspect, like attendance, if there are a lot of people there, we could call it big. But then also the value of what you're presenting is another thing that's going to determine if it'se big or not. If I'm delivering a topic on an existential threat to the business or a decision that could make or break the quarter or the year, that is also a big readout. So is I think this is one of those things where like it's really easy to point to it and say that's a big one. But like to create a definition is a little tough.

Drew Freeman: The only thing that I think about when it comes to big or important that you didn't touch on is who I am presenting to'good.

Joe Marcantano: Call. Really good call there, Drew.

Drew Freeman: So if you know a quote unquote, normal readout is my development team, my product leads, that those kinds of people, maybe a big or important one includes our directors or maybe even a VP or maybe even the C suite, like those are big and important.

Joe Marcantano: That's so true. Both in the, like, it's people who you're not really presenting to normally, so there's this like stranger aspect, but also like the importance that their roles bestow.

Drew Freeman: On their responsibilities and just the sheer decision making power.

Joe Marcantano: Absolutely.

Drew Freeman: All right, so let's dive in a little bit and kind of walk me through how you started this process of getting ready for your talk.

Joe Marcantano: So this is where it differs a little bit from from what I would do to prepare for a big presentation. Right. Even if CA level folks

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Joe Marcantano: were going to be there to let folks know here, you know, I've done virtual talks and lots of presentations, but I've actually never spoken in person at a conference. I've never like stood on a stage in front of a thousand plus people and given a talk on a subject. So I knew that this was something I wanted to really nail. didn'I. Wanted to have an engaging talk that was also valuable. And so the first thing I actually did, Drew, was I went and got a speaking coach, somebody to help me kind of frame this story in a way that was digestible for folks and work a little bit on stage presence.

Drew Freeman: I think that's awesome. I also think that that kind of help is something that would be or could be beneficial for folks. Even if you're only, quote, unquote, only giving a virtual presentation because it Just means that the stage is smaller. The stage is now just that box that we all live in. M in the virtual meeting.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. The thing that, like, comes to my mind is one of the things that helped me with that quote unquote, smaller scale stuff was just doing it over and over again. Right. Like, getting used to the feeling of, like, the little jitters that come beforehand and, you know, running through the talk several times. And I think that, like, a great way that folks can kind of start to get this practice if they're not getting enough of it at work is there's an organization called Toastmasters, and they've got chapters all over the world. but it's a group that just meets and folks give talks. And they might give a talk on their favorite hobby, they might give a talk on whatever. Right. It's less about the topics of the talk and more about just learning how to talk in front of folks, Learning how to be comfortable in front of crowds.

Drew Freeman: Yeah. I think practice is the best way to get better at this and also to become more comfortable with it. For sure.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah.

Drew Freeman: Okay, so you've figured out what your topic is. You've contacted this coach. What did you do next?

Joe Marcantano: Well, I guess good call out there as well. The first thing I did was come up with a topic because I had to submit that to talk at the conference. coming up with something that, like, is a problem for folks that I wanted to talk about, that I had an idea for a solution. But so once I had that and once I had the coach, it was. We sat down. And this was one of the reasons I chose this particular coach was know I wanted help with, like, physical stage presence. Right. Because I've not done that yet. But I also wanted help with crafting the story because I know how to craft kind of the research inside story. But, like, conference talks can sometimes be a little dry. They can run together. And I really wanted to craft a story for this talk that kind of was punchy and stood out and was a little bit sticky. And that was something this research or this speaking coach said was like, I want to really help you nail the content, really nail the story. Because if you are comfortable with the content, the stage presence, the actual delivery, the mechanics, that's incredibly easy if you know the content and you're confident in it.

Drew Freeman: That is such a great insight and speaks to why researchers really need to know their research inside and out before they give a readout.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. You know, one of the things that I did, and I'm skipping ahead a little bit here, because right now the talk is pretty much crafted, it's pretty much done. So one of the things I'm doing now is there's a Q and A after the talk. And so I'm kind of looking at it and saying, if I were listening to this talk, what questions might I ask? Just trying to get an idea of, like, what are the things that aren't in the talk that I should kind of have an answer ready for? And as researchers, Drew, I know you and I do this, and I think this is one of the things that really sets apart exceptional readout delivery, folks, versus kind of the middle of the pack is you'll look at your deck and you have this intuition, this sense of this is important enough to include in the readout. This does not get included. But knowing that this thing that doesn't get included might get asked about. So I'm familiar with it, I know it. So if a stakeholder asks that question, I have the answer ready, either verbally or in my appendix.

Drew Freeman: 100%, absolutely. One of the things that I think all researchers should do is view your presentation and try to put on your stakeholder hat and try to anticipate the questions that you expect your stakeholders to ask you. And that's really valuable, both from a

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Drew Freeman: being prepared to answer those questions, but it also helps you get into the mindset of the stakeholders and really think about what message, what story, what presentation is going to be most effective in reaching them.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah, we've talked before about, like, as a researcher, you don't need to be the expert in the product, you need to be the expert in research. This is where that comes to fruition. This is where that really shines. You need to be the expert in your project, in the study that you did, so that when people ask questions about it, you have those answers ready. This is. We've talked before about, like, academics who come into UXR and some of things that we've seen them, sort of trip up on. But this is one of the areas where academics who transition to UXR really shine because they've defended a thesis. They know what it's like to have somebody ask these hard questions and to be ready with the answers.

Drew Freeman: But it's also important to remember when you get questions and you don't know the answer, the best policy is to say, I don't know. Let me look into that and I'll get back to you. Don't try to b'your way around an answer.

Joe Marcantano: You know, I don't remember if I've told the story on this podcast, but when I was still a policeman, this is actually when I was a little baby cop and I was going into trial for the first time, and a detective caught me on the way out the door, and he said, you're going to testify for the first time? And I said, yeah. And he goes, m. I'm gonna give you a piece of advice. Don't ever guess. Don't be afraid to say, I don't know. Because if you guess, the defense attorney will try to corner you and try to imply that you were lying. Whereas if you say, I don't know, I don't recall, there's nothing they can do about that. And it's the same thing I always say, like, there's nothing wrong with saying, I don't know. You just follow it up with. But let me check and get back with you on that.

Drew Freeman: Totally, totally. Okay, so we jumped ahead a little bit to kind of the Q and A or the. The finishing touches of presentation prep. So let's jump back and talk to me about the. Like, what mechanics did you actually go through to set up your deck, to set up your visuals, to set up the outline of the story?

Joe Marcantano: So I'm so glad you phrased it that way, because the first thing I did was create the story before the deck was made. And I think this is an area where researchers misstep a little bit, because oftentimes we have these templates, and it's really easy to just follow this slide, then this slide, then this slide. But what I did with the help of my speaking coach was we crafted the story almost in its entirety first before a single slide was made. And then we went and made the deck to match the story that I wanted to tell.

Drew Freeman: Yeah, and I think that'I think that's the approach that we should always be aiming for, even if we don't live up to it. There's a lot of different ways that you can create the story or outline the story. Some people do that in a word type document. Some people do that with, like, a storybook, like a comic or like a cartoon story book. Storyboard. Sorry, not storybook. And then some folks will actually do that outlining in deck format and just like a skeleton deck. Whatever works for you. That's great. That's fine.

Joe Marcantano: The next thing I did was I thought about my audience. Now, in this case, this conference takes place in Europe, and actually most of the attendees will be European, so I had to think about some of the cultural references I was making. to ensure that they would land with this crowd, I, had to think about the language I was using because for most of these folks, English is not a first language. It's going to be a second or a third language. And so, for example, when I did the drive in recently with the conference organizers, they caught a word, that I thought would be common enough that everyone would know. But as with English being their second language, it was just not a word that was common enough that they got. And you couldn't guess the definition from the context. Right. Like, it was the crux of what I was saying. So I had to retool that a little bit to kind of account for my audience.

Drew Freeman: That's really interesting because I actually was a dry run participant for you prior to that, you kind of with the meeting or, the conference organizers. And that was specifically something that we were all looking for. So I love that because we were all English as a first language group,

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Drew Freeman: we still missed stuff. That's awesome.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. And, you know, it was the. So I guess this will kind of transition into the next point, like practice. Right. And I don't mean that there is a fine line between rehearsing with a script and, doing a practice delivery. I would strongly, strongly encourage folks not to practice with the script because you are going to kind of mentally learn and build the muscles for that kind of mechanical delivery. Rather, have an outline and practice delivering the talk with an outline. And in this case, I actually did several dry runs, both with folks like you, who I trust and wanted their feedback on. But then the conference also required it that I had to do a dry run with a couple of them to make sure that it kind of fit the general theme and then like, also to pick out these cultural nuances.

Drew Freeman: So for your conference presentation, do you actually have a script that you're going to follow or, do you just know your topic and your presentation well enough that you're gonna kind of go from an outline only?

Joe Marcantano: So I would say that, So the short answer is no. And I will even expand it to say I never. Even when I'm doing just a basic research read out. Never do I have a script. Never.

Drew Freeman: No. I would say yeah, I would say the only time I would consider having a script is for something as big as what you're doing with a, conference presentation.

Joe Marcantano: Yes.

Drew Freeman: For a regular readout, a script is one, not necessary and two, actually going to be detrimental.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. So for this, I never even wrote a script. I wrote an outline. And we intentionally formatted it in such a way that I have three main points, that I have an intro in a closing. I have three main points I wanna talk about. And each point has four parts. There's the kind of introducing the part. I have an analogy, a story, and then a closing for each part. So it became really easy for me as I kind of rehearse this and did the dry runs that I. Now, when I do a rehearsal or a dry run of this, I don't have anything in front of me. And I don't think I'll even bring the outline on stage with me. I think I'll just. I know this well enough now that I can kind of rattle this off. I want to say from memory, but it's not. Again, not like a formal speech or an actor delivering a monologue. It's me telling stories. And I know the stories well enough that I can do so without notes.

Drew Freeman: I do think that for folks who are maybe more nervous than you are about this, it is totally fine and you will not be looked down upon. If you bring a couple of note cards or, you know, have, have a little, have little reminders and a little bit of an outline to help you in case you get somewhere where you, you get stuck or you get nerves and need a little reminder to, to get you back on track. That's totally acceptable.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. You and I have talked about this before. Like, I am not somebody, thankfully, who suffers from anxiety. And so'this for me feels easy. But that does not mean that, like, me is the only way to go. Right. Like, there are folks who suffer from anxiety who maybe just haven't talked in front of crowds before. Having note cards, in this case at this conference, have. They'll have a TV on the stage pointing towards you exact. And give them your notes ahead of time. but, there's 100% nothing wrong with that.

Drew Freeman: Yeah. Most presentations you're not going to have a monitor that you can use as the speaker, but I would highly recommend to Joe to use that. Use that monitor. But also to anyone giving a presentation, use whatever tools you have available for yourself.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. And if you're using Google Slides or PowerPoint or whatever for your readouts, there is a speaker's notes section and there is, I mean, like, I do it know, for research presentations. Like, if you have a research presentation, that's not a conference talk, so you're not rehearsing it and working on it and tweaking on it, you're maybe throwing it together and then doing one quick Run through before the presentation, use the speaker notes, Throw stuff in there that you don't want to forget. Zero wrong with that.

Drew Freeman: It's interesting that you say that, because the speaker notes are actually the last place that I put that kind of information.

Joe Marcantano: Oh, really?

Drew Freeman: Myself? Yeah. The speaker notes don't work for me. Like, it just doesn't work. So what I do is I actually put those little cues and those little reminders into the slides

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Drew Freeman: themselves.

Joe Marcantano: Okay.

Drew Freeman: So I'll have on the slide, like, one line that says X, Y and Z. And that's my little mental trigger for. Okay. I say xyz. But then I also say all of the little, like, supporting sub points and details that go into that. So that's kind of how I do it. I almost put my. I almost put my outline into the deck itself.

Joe Marcantano: You know, especially with giving a presentation remotely or virtually, which are most of them nowadays, depending on your monitor set up at home and the specifics of the program that, you're using, there's a hundred ways to do it, and they are all correct. The best way is the way that works best for you. So experiment with a few different ways. Keep a dock open on one tab, then try the speaker notes, then try Drew's method, then try something else entirely. There's no wrong way to remind yourself of the things you want to say when you're giving a readout.

Drew Freeman: You want to be really old school and actually have post its, just taped to your monitor. The outside of your monitor. Go for it.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah, 100%.

Drew Freeman: Okay. So, Joe, is there any other part of your presentation prep that we haven't talked about yet?

Joe Marcantano: Yes. So the actual physical delivering the presentation.

Drew Freeman: Yep.

Joe Marcantano: u. And this is something that I think a lot of folks might struggle a little bit with when they're doing readouts. And some of it sounds silly, Right? Like, what do I do with my hands? Where do I look? How do I deliver this stuff?

Drew Freeman: How do I hold my body?

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. And, so first of all, these are not silly things. Let's just put that out there. These are.

Drew Freeman: No, this is incredibly important.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. So I have some tips and some things that I do when I'm doing, research readouts that I'll talk about, and then I'll talk a little bit about what I'm gonna do actually on the stage. So when I do research read outs. And again, this is what Joe does. What works for Joe. I am very much a dress comfortable person. So especially on the, like, virtual readout, where it's kind of Chest up. There is a 99.9% chance that I am wearing basketball shorts and I am either wearing flip flops or barefoot and.

Drew Freeman: Wearing as casual ass, shirt as you can get away with.

Joe Marcantano: Exactly. Now, there are other folks who the feeling of dressing up like that ritual of putting on some dress ofier clothes puts them in the mindset of presenting. And that is totally cool too, where what you, what will make you feel most comfortable when you present while adhering to your company's dress codes and kind of having that air of professionalism. But be comfortable. Do the things that make you feel like you're ready to be a good speaker.

Drew Freeman: Totally. And there's also a bunch of research and tips out there about the body language and the body poses that you do before actually giving the presentation. So, like power poses. I know there are people who swear by, you know, I'm gonna use the restroom right before, right before my presentation and I'm just gonna do my power pose in the mirror for 30 seconds or, you know, whatever it is.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. The other thing logistically, and this is like, I am probably the worst offender at this, is when you are actually delivering your talk. Remember that for most of us, our camera is just above our monitor. And so when you are looking at your monitor, you're actually not looking into the camera. You're not making eye contact. Now there are some AI tools that will kind of adjust your eyes automatically. In my experience, none of those really look natural. There are some cameras that have a little drop down arm and then the camera is at the center of your monitor. If that doesn't distract you, go for that. Otherwise, just remember to kind of look at the camera. Remember that making eye contact with someone on the screen is not really going to work ca because the cameras and the eyes don't really line up. and again, like, I am very guilty of this because I always forget to look at the camera.

Drew Freeman: The nice thing is that really you don't have to look directly at the camera. But even if you're looking like a couple of inches down from the camera, you're probably fine.

Joe Marcantano: Yep. And then the final thing when you're kind of doing these virtual, readouts is move your hands. Your hands may not even be on camera. And like, people can't see me now, but as I'm talking with you, I'm gesturing, I'm kind of moving my hands with how I would talk because it feels more natural for me to talk that

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Joe Marcantano: way. It's not that anyone will see you making gestures or moving around your hands. It's that it will put you in this mindset of I am delivering, I am speaking right now and help you with kind of that little tiny boost of confidence.

Drew Freeman: It'll also just help your speaking sound more natural.

Joe Marcantano: Absolutely.

Drew Freeman: People won't have heard it because Joe will have cut it out, but there's a section in this episode where I was moving my hands and I hit the mic. So it made a weird sound.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah. And you know, like I said, it doesn't matter if they see it or not. The hand movements and the gestures are not for them, it's for you.

Drew Freeman: The other thing that I always like to remind folks, especially if they're struggling with some public speaking nerves, is that you are. Your stage is a box that is all that people can see of you is what's inside that box. And if, if you can keep the nerves outside of that box, let the nerves happen. You know, your foot can be shaking the entire time. As long as you're keeping that out of the box, out of the stage, you're totally fine. Just remember that you're in a little box and that's your stage and you own that stage.

Joe Marcantano: So some things that I'm thinking about for being on a physical stage, Speaking of stages, u, one of the things I was thinking about is, you know, as I saw pictures of the setup, there's no podium, so I'm gonna be moving around a little bit.

Drew Freeman: Good.

Joe Marcantano: And that's good.

Drew Freeman: Getting locked behind a podium is awkward.

Joe Marcantano: It is. And for me, I'm somebody who's a little more expressive when I talk. And so that moving around is good. Now I did some googling and some reading of articles and what I've learned is that youn to be kind of in that front quarter of the stage, if you step back a little bit, you're kind of creating even more of a gap between you and the audience, which totally tracks and makes sense. So one of the things I'm going to be conscious of is not standing still, not planting my feet in one spot and giving the whole talk, Moving around a little, but also ensuring that when I do so, I stay towards the front of the stage so that I'm more engaged with the audience. Even if because of the sage lights, I can't see them. I want to be able to create the air of connection.

Drew Freeman: All right, so as we kind of come to the end of this episode, what's your final thought?

Joe Marcantano: Where do you want to leave people with anxiety aside? Right. Like clinical anxiety because that's a separate beast. You're going to feel nerves and nervousness before any talk. I've been doing talks for years, and even the smaller scale ones, I still get a little bit of it. There's nothing wrong with that. It means that, you know, it's important that you care about doing your total job. So, like, don't listen to this episode and think, I'm going to deliver 10 talks and on the 11th, I won't be nervous at all.

Drew Freeman: That's not how it works.

Joe Marcantano: Not how it works. And it's good that you have a little bit of nervousness, acknowledge it, recognize it, and it will feel less and less as you get more practice. But it's okay to be nervous. It's okay to have a little bit of that, like, we'll call it jitters. Totally fine.

Drew Freeman: The thing that I want to leave with people is make sure that you know the topic that you're presenting and make sure that you know the story that you want to tell. Everything else flows from there.

Joe Marcantano: I could not close on a better thought.

Drew Freeman: All, right, Joe? Well, again, it is. If we've gotten our timing right, your conference presentation will actually be tomorrow as this is released. So tell people about where they can hear what you'what. You're going to be speaking.

Joe Marcantano: Yeah, so I'll be at the UX Insight Festival, and it is happening in Leeden in the Netherlands. you. If travel is not in your budget, there are virtual tickets and I would throw out there that I am probably not going to be the best speaker. And I think that the speaking lineup is amazing and incredible. And even if you don't want to hear me talk, you should hear some of these other topics and some of these other speakers. You can see the whole lineup. You can get tickets@uxinsight.org.

Drew Freeman: That'S awesome. Thanks, Joe. Really appreciate it. Also really excited to see you on, on a big stage like that.

Joe Marcantano: I am excited as well. I think it's a really cool opportunity and I'm thankful to have it.

Drew Freeman: And hopefully you get to meet some. Maybe there'll be, a listener or two. That'd be awesome.

Joe Marcantano: That would be very cool. Yeah. If you're listening to the podcast, I'll be there. I'm gonna have some, stickers for inside UXR come up and say hi.

Drew Freeman: All right, thanks, everyone, for

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Drew Freeman: listening today. Really appreciate it. Please give us, a like or a subscribe or a review on your podcast platform of choice that really helps us reach new folks please send us the questions that you'd like to hear us talk about. You can send those to us@inside uxrmail.com do with that. I'm Drew Freeman.

Joe Marcantano: And I'm Joe Marcantano, and we'll see you next time.

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