Practising My First Presentation with a Colleague

Thanks for staying late, Mark. I'm really nervous about tomorrow.

No problem. How long is your presentation?

Ten minutes. It's about our new delivery app.

Great. Pretend I'm the sales team. Go ahead!

Okay... um, hello everyone. Today I'm going to, um, talk about...

Okay, stop there for a second. Can I be honest?

Oh no. Was it that bad?

Not bad at all! But you were speaking really fast.

And you didn't look up from your notes once.

I know... I always do that when I'm nervous.

Have you tried starting with a short story?

A story? What kind of story?

Maybe a customer who had a problem with a delivery.

Oh! Like the woman whose birthday cake arrived three days late?

Exactly! People will remember that.

And after each main point, just pause and breathe.

Okay. Let me try again from the beginning.

Last month, a customer ordered a birthday cake from us.

It arrived three days after the party.

Ha! Poor woman. Now I want to hear the rest.

That's why we built the new app!

Very good. But what if someone asks about the cost?

Hmm... I'm not sure yet. Should I guess?

Never guess. Say you'll check and get back to them.

That's good advice. I'll write that down.

You'll be fine tomorrow. Honestly, you've improved a lot.

Thanks, Mark. I owe you a coffee!