Expertise, Confidence, Presence

"I find many peers who are lacking confidence and it shows in delivering the material. The slideware is fine. They’ve practiced. They just don’t have confidence and come out of the gate roaring like a dying mouse… How can they prepare mentally? How to convince themselves they are the expert?"

A friend asked this great question. A week later I had an interesting chat with another speaking coach that hit on the same theme. Today I discussed this with another friend.

Let me start with a little clarification: I help a lot of clients with presentation anxiety / stage fright. And I post about that on a frequent basis.

THIS IS DIFFERENT: a mix of imposter syndrome and lack of expert presence. And it doesn't just manifest itself in presentations... it can show up in meetings and conversations, too.

Expert Identity

Many presenters struggle with recognizing and owning their own expertise. When I give a class, webinar, or consulting event, I often hear embarrassed comments like: "My customer knows more about this subject than I do" or "The audience already knows this stuff" or “He’s forgotten more about this topic than I’ve learned.”

When I press them on why THEY are presenting THIS subject to THIS audience, we usually uncover they know more than the audience about a specific aspect of the subject. Examples:

• A feature

• The schedule

• User training

• Project status

• How this team will implement

Or they have specific knowledge or experience the audience doesn't. For example:

• What other companies or industries are doing related to this subject

• Recent end user feedback

• Upcoming regulatory changes

• Solution, feature, or process changes

The big takeaways to share with peers (or consider if you struggle with your own expert identity):

1. You don't have to be THE expert in a field to be AN expert in something specific.

2. If you can help your audience improve their outcomes, you must know something they don't. That's valuable.

3. Own your expertise because you've earned it. Just don't oversell it.

Expert Message

In my friend’s quote that started this article, he says "the slideware is fine"... but is it?

I often see slides that look fine... but don't leave a lasting impact or impression.

The root cause of the problem usually isn't the slide itself... it's the selection process on what should go onto slides.

It's easy to default to 'book report' mode: simply rinse and repeat the same general message & slide deck.

Heck, you don't even NEED slides. You have other options.

Most presenters WANT to sound like a TED Talk without changing what (and how) they present. Or worse, using a ghostwriter or AI to generate their content... that's not demonstrating expertise, that's reading someone else's script.

EFFECTIVE experts share a message the audience deserves. They don't try to educate the educated (on a given subject) with an information dump. Instead, they share insights and convictions. They focus on what's most important, differentiated, conventionally misunderstood, or changing. They help their audience think about a subject, opportunity, or challenge in a different way. They move the audience to action.

Having that mindset - with a message and media to match - makes it feel more like a conversation than a lecture. Which helps us feel like a peer sharing expert advice, rather than a technician seeking approval.

And it should determine what the expert deliberately decides to include (and exclude) in their message and on their slides.

It’s okay to strip out the information that isn’t absolutely required. If the audience wants more detail, they will ask. That's a GOOD thing - it means they're engaged and contributing the solution. And being able to answer those questions demonstrates expertise.

The big takeaways here:

1. The expert's message should focus on helping the target audience, not educating the educated

2. Less is more (when it comes to content and information) so be very deliberate in the choices made

3. Audience questions are good

4. It's easier to feel like an expert when providing expert-level insight

Expert Delivery / Presence

When a presenter isn't comfortable or confident in front of the room, it's almost always because they have public speaking anxiety (glossophobia), or they're worried about forgetting what to say on each of their 47 dense slides, or they're worried about their relative level of expertise. Or a combination of the three.

Even when they are deeply knowledgeable and experienced.

But the audience can perceive that lack of confident delivery as lack of the presenter's confidence in the recommendation... or the presenter's expertise.

Our delivery, our presence... are critical signals for our audience as they assess our recommendations. When it comes to credibility, perception is reality.

That's why an expert can't afford to "come out of the gate roaring like a dying mouse" (I love that description!) So what can an expert do to build that confident presence?

Let's start with body language:

• Don't hide (get away from a podium, keep your hands visible, don't mask/cover parts of your body for extended periods)

• Own your height and space (stand up, no crouching, no 'praying' or other submissive gestures)

• Make & share eye contact with individuals in the audience

• Smile (especially when talking about anything positive - value, success stories, crazy experiences)

• Don't show defensiveness (backing up, crossing arms, moving behind the podium) when you get questions or pushback

• The larger the stage, the larger the gestures (help the back of a big room see your energy)

Language & voice:

• Assertive language ("We have...", "This will...") is better than aspirational language ("We hope...", "This might...")

• Active voice ("I see..", "We use...") is better than passive voice ("I am seeing..", "We are using...")

• Reduce filler words ("Um", "like", "right?"). The first step is self-awareness!

• Pauses have power

• Vary your voice (pitch, volume, speed) as a monotone delivery invites the audience to tune you out; the larger the stage, the larger the variance

• A conversational tone sets up a peer-to-peer or 'trusted advisor' atmosphere... it feels more like a talk than a lecture

• In general, SLOW DOWN

What's wild is that looking & sounding more confident also makes us feel more confident.

My recommendation is to assess the biggest delivery gaps (through peer feedback or recording & watching the practice runs)... and work to improve one or two things at a time.

The big takeaways here:

1. Presence / delivery is critically important in establishing credibility

2. Presentation anxiety leads to behaviors that the audience can perceive as low confidence in the solution or lack of expertise

3. But improving our body language and vocal delivery can boost our credibility

4. Focus on improving one or two aspects of your delivery at a time. The goal isn’t perfection… it’s ongoing improvement & increasing influence

Expert Practice

An expert needs PRACTICE before taking the stage, leading the meeting, starting their presentation, or diving into an important discussion.

Practice is important because it:

• Pressure tests message and media

• Builds confidence in our own delivery so the audience will see it too

• Lets us experience physically saying the words and navigating the flow

• Tests timing ("Will I deliver this in the time available?")

• Shifts focus from memorizing to polishing

Do NOT practice until you are perfect and lose any variance in delivery.

Practice enough to build your own delivery confidence so your authentic beliefs, emotions, passions, knowledge can SHINE.

Practice tips:

• Practice must be OUT LOUD. Not in your head. Not reading in silence. Not reviewing slides.

• Don't try to memorize a script or talk track. Memorize the flow (order) and the key points.

• It's okay to refer to notes (don't read them). Keep your notes at an outline level.

• Practice multiple times.

• Practice your launch (the first few minutes) so many times you can do it in your sleep. If anxiety strikes, it will be during the launch and this extra practice will help you get through it.

• Include vocal and physical delivery as part of your practice. Smile, make eye contact, pause for effect, emote...

• Get feedback. Practice in front of a trusted coach, peer, or friend. Get their candid feedback... on your message, voice, body language, media.

• Record your practices. We all have phones, so there's no technical excuse not to do this.

• First, just listen to your recording. Did your message make sense? Did you vary your tone, volume, cadence? Any repetitive filler word? Did you finish on time?

• Then mute and watch yourself. Did you smile? Were you making distracting movements? How were your gestures and expressions? (Pro tip: watch this at 2x or 4x speed… any repetitive body language becomes painfully obvious)

• Practice getting interruptions & questions, practice effective responses, practice getting back on message.

• When possible, practice at least once on location (or a similar environment). Big stage presentation = practice on a big stage. Presenting over Zoom = practicing in Zoom. Important conversation = role play that conversation with a friend.

The big takeaways here:

1. Practice takes you from knowing your content to influencing with confidence

2. Practice has to be out loud to count

3. Include your delivery and managing interruptions in your practice

4. Get live feedback when possible. Or, at a minimum, record & review your practice.

Final Thoughts:

Expert insights + confident delivery + a rough slide deck

will always beat

Beautiful slides + comprehensive body of information + shy delivery

Contact me if you (or your team) need to boost your influence while communicating. I know a guy that can help ;)

Kev