How Do You Help Someone in Presentation Meltdown?

I have been in MAJOR pitches where everyone felt like everything was on the line - and one poor individual was literally hitting the wall. It is painful to witness. When that happens, you should know there are five things you can do immediately to help.

1. Get Them Calmed with Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR): Get them alone and help them take a deep breath. Have them squeeze their core muscles tight, then release. It allows the body to stop shaking. Reassure them that everyone gets stressed, even you. And they will get past it.

2. Get Them Off Their Script with Applied Improvisation Techniques: Walk through their script with them to simplify the content. Reduce down to as few as four specific headlines of the story that they can remember. And assure them that the audience has no idea if they have left something out. The important thing is the point of the four headlines. The exact words don’t matter.

3. Help Them Focus on Specific Points of Emphasis: Help them internalize one (or two) key points of emphasis that accompany each specific point they are making. Help them say those points of focus with spirit and passion, stopping to make eye contact with the audience and take in the reaction.

4. Get Them to Involve the Audience: The biggest impact you can have is to turn their presentation into a two-way conversation – where they are talking with the audience not telling them. Help them embed open-ended questions, sharing points and stopping points for discussion. This gets the pressure off them and shares it with the audience. Works every time.

5. Casually Rehearse Them to Comfortable Consistency: Literally, once you have gone through the preceding four steps, you should have them recite to you their four headlines, the accompanying Points of Emphasis and their audience involvement cues. They shouldn’t present the long-form presentation, just these elements. Have them recite this to you four times. And then pat them on the back… they are ready.

If you can spend 40 minutes with someone in meltdown, these five points will vastly improve their situation and make you a lifelong friend.