Robin Williams was a master at it.

There are entire classes dedicated to it.

Most of us can’t accomplish it successfully.

Let’s walk down the road of one of your presentations and see if one of the following scenario sounds familiar:

Scenario 1

You are in the middle of your presentation and things are going well. Everything is on point, the audience is with you and your confidence is soaring.

As you start to make your way to the end section, you get this sudden urge to add something you didn’t practice or outline. There was something stirring inside of you that you felt necessary to share with your audience right then and there.

You sidetrack, lose track of where you are and stumble to get back on point.

Suddenly, you’re feeling kind of stupid or guilty about going down that road.

Scenario 2

Despite your best efforts to prepare and make sure you’ve included everything in your presentation, you get the sense the audience isn’t with you.

Maybe they didn’t laugh at the joke you carefully planned, clap at the penultimate moment, or gasp at that one point.

Instead of continuing on, you decide right then that you need to get that reaction you planned. So you desperately take a side tangent to anything that might help your cause.

You realize the presentation just got worse and you potentially lost your audience.

Your confidence feigns for the rest of your time.

Stop Improvising!

Ad-libbing, improvising, or otherwise going off tangent are skills only a well-trained presenter can execute successfully. Even then, those presenters are not so much improvising as they are drawing upon experience.

Anyone who’s watched a seasoned comedian might marvel at how quick they are on their feet; being able to go off on wild threads and then bring it back to the topic at hand, or instantly respond to almost anything an audience member does. I promise you, all of those are practiced and prepared.

I once gave a keynote where I hit a key point and unexpectedly, one audience member began to cheer. The rest remained silent. I was not expecting any response, but wanting to break the tension of the moment, I immediately responded,

“And this is why I bring my mom with me to these presentations.”

The entire audience laughed and the room felt comfortable again. That particular line was one I used during my magic career and took over fifty performances before I was able to execute it perfectly. There is nothing ad-libbed about it.

Show Restraint

Our minds are pummelling us all day long with thoughts. While giving a presentation, your neurons will begin firing randomly related memories to what you are speaking about because that’s where the focus is at the moment.

While it may seem exciting to pull on one of those random moments, restrain yourself.

Consider that exciting point as something to add next time you give this presentation, when you’ve had time to explore it further and see how it fits into the bigger context. Otherwise, it’s going to come across to your audience the same way it came to you in the moment: choppy.

Besides, if you add it in later and have to repeat that presentation for an overlapping (or identical) audience, it will be a nice addition for them.

You Don’t Have to Script Every Word

When I prepare my keynotes, I begin with an outline and unpack important points I aim to cover. In my notes, I will put down the items that need mentioning with each of these points, alongside the stories that go along with them.

I know my material and feel confident enough that a simple sentence is enough to keep me on track. The challenge is resisting the temptation to add points and stories that I didn’t prepare beforehand.

It’s not necessary to write your presentation word-for-word and then read it to your audience from memory. Keep in mind this may actually be a helpful method and guarantee you’ll nail your presentation, alongside being able to repeat it at any time. It all depends on your level of comfort.

Doing it both ways, you’ll always find things to tweak, add, or eliminate completely… after your presentation is done.

Question Time is Not Immune Either

While you should make sure to be prepared for questions that will come your way, there will always be questions you never anticipated.

Again, the temptation is to pull from the most recent fired neurons of your memory and give a convoluted answer that leaves audiences more confused than before.

Here what you could do instead:

See if you already addressed it in your presentation. You may simply need to repeat the information. If it wasn’t covered and is completely unrelated, tell that audience member to speak with you afterwards.

Take a moment to think through the question and your response. It may seem awkward to have a moment of silence, but when you answer it with confidence after waiting a moment, you will come across much stronger than bumbling through some words before you get to your point.

Whatever you do, don’t leave your audience hanging.

Find a way to get back to them, even if it means getting everyone’s email address and sending a message afterwards.

Finish strong and keep the improv well scripted.