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For those who don’t like prep sessions, dry runs, murder boards, and mock interviews, here’s a bit of advice from the professionals who play on the biggest stages.

I recently had a conversation with Franc D’Ambrosio, the actor/singer who was awarded the title of the “Worlds Longest Running Phantom” (Phantom of the Opera). Franc says that a great performance before the live, ticket-paying audience is in direct relationship to the rigor and effort put into practice and rehearsal. He’s even sounded this out with his peers in the sports world – gold medal winning Olympic athletes. Elite performers say that their practices have to be so rigorous and true-to-life that by the time they get into true competition, game or match, their performance is almost automatic. If you practice well, slight changes in a game or show won’t throw you off. To the contrary, if you haven’t rehearsed enough, little things can have a big negative impact on performance.

D’Ambrosio’s comments track one of the central points in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Gladwell cites research that it takes 10,000 hours of practice of constant repetition and coaching to get good at sports, playing musical instruments and countless other endeavors.

I’m not sure why, but an increasing number of executives have been trying to avoid the serious rehearsals. We have heard reasons such as: “I’ve been through training before.” or “I’ll read through the material tonight before tomorrow’s pitch, (speech or interview).” or “Make sure that the newer presenters get rehearsed.” I’m not a psychologist, so I won’t analyze what’s behind all the reasons why business people don’t want to rehearse. Here are a few of the ways to avoid rehearsing” I’m too busy. There are other things more important to do today. I’ve done this a million times before. I don’t like to show any weakness to my staff that is in the rehearsal room. We haven’t finished the speech or the deck, so how can I practice if the content isn’t done. I’m already pretty good. I can just go with the answers in the FAQ document.

The short answer to all of these reasons (excuses) is that to avoid the communicators disease of “woulda, coulda, shoulda” it’s imperative to invest the time in training, practice and rehearsal.

Here are a few suggestions to maximize your rehearsal:
• Place rehearsal time on the calendar. Once it’s on your schedule, it’s harder to take off.
• If you don’t like a big crowd, rehearse in front of a smaller group.
• Practice the toughest questions.
• Work on both style and content.
• Use video, even if it’s a “flip” type camera so you can watch yourself and make adjustments.
• If you don’t like the performance or an answer, keep working at it until you get it right.

Cliches are around for a reason. This one makes sense: Perfect practice makes perfect performance.

How valuable is this very moment to you? Do you realize that this moment represents all of the possibilities that exist right now in the present and all of the possibilities and potential of the future?

How valuable is your time? Do you spend it wisely? Do you focus your time on the most important tasks and value-added activities? Or do you fritter your time away, aimlessly going from task to task, or activity to activity, accomplishing very little?

Have you ever determined how much your time is worth on an hourly basis? Try it. You may be surprised at the amount of time you waste doing things that someone else could do better – leaving you to concentrate on the things that you do best.

A time/value analysis definitely gives you a better appreciation for what it costs you to spend your time on low value activities. Conducting a time/value analysis is easy – just take the total amount of money that you earn during an average eight hour day and divide the total by eight. For example, if your time is valued at $100 per hour, why would you waste your time doing things that you can pay someone $8 per hour to do for you?

Think about this – everything that you will ever accomplish is determined by what you do in this present moment.

The idea behind the power of the present moment is that everything that you aspire to be, have, or do is based upon your actions right now, in this present moment.

Do you want to be a millionaire? What are you doing to make it a reality? Are you studying millionaires? Are you starting and running business enterprises? Are you investing? Are you creating valuable products or providing needed services? These are just a few ways that people are becoming millionaires today.

Are you using this present moment to achieve the outcomes that you desire?

What do you have to do differently in the next five minutes that will bring you the results that you want in the future?

The present moment is powerful because if you think about time on its most basic level, you realize that every thing that is and everything that will be, is or will be created in the present moment.

Everything you see is a result of someone taking a specific action resulting in something growing, something expanding, and something evolving.

Every high achiever has mastered the present moment to organize their actions in such a way that great wealth and abundance manifested in their lives.

How can you use this present moment to improve your life; to live your dreams; to walk into your limitless potential?

The power of the present moment is the greatest asset you possess because it is the only asset that you can use to obtain any other type of asset including money, contacts, resources, etc.

How you use your time is a major factor in what you accomplish in this lifetime. You can be, have, or do anything as long as you use your time wisely.

So, what are you DOING with this PRESENT MOMENT?

The power of the present moment affects your entire life. For example:

Family Life

Love Life

Business Life

Spiritual Life

Health/Physical Life

Finally – what if you can learn from the lessons of your life and you don’t?

This article is not meant to condemn you or to make you feel bad about actions that you did not take in the past. The purpose of this article is to help you understand that in every moment you have an opportunity to do something different. In every moment you have an opportunity to start over.

You can start accomplishing your goals. You can start becoming a better person. You can start taking action on becoming the person you were meant to be. You can do this and much more… but, will you?

Action: Decide what you want out of life and use the present moment to start moving towards your desires.

Remember once you lose this moment you can never get it back – use each moment wisely.

Are you unable to grab enough audience although you are working with one of the best presentation design company? Why? Because, you might just be doing it the wrong way. To make your presentation effective and one of the best presentation designs simultaneously, you need time and proper planning. But what’s the use of creating one, if it doesn’t convert your audience or let’s say at least grab their attention? So here are some mistakes that you dare not make in your target towards an effective presentation.

Not using enough white space:

Experimenting with too much colors is not what a business presentation demands. Colors are good but when it comes to corporate presentation designs, you need to be extra careful while choosing colors. Not using enough white space can be a major mistake when it comes to corporate presentations. White space promotes clarity and makes the slide content look cleaner. This may enhance your audience’s attention towards your presentation.

Using too much text:

We understand that you have a lot to convey to your audience. But stuffing too much information in every slide is irrelevant. Make sure your designing company knows this for a fact. Because your audience is not going to read any of those slides line by line. And even if they did, they wouldn’t understand any of it. All they need is a gist of what you want to convey. They simply need to know how your presentation is useful for them. That’s it. So, minimum texts and explaining the rest is what you need.

Using the same old graphics:

Let’s face it, the audience is bored of seeing the same old graphics. According to psychology, humans always want to see something new every time. Repetition bores them. Say goodbye to those in-stock graphics/images. Instead ask the presentation design company you’ve hired to try some more professional looking images that can grab you more audience.

Using a lot of Jargons:

Jargons are good but too many of them can spoil the language of your presentation. You need to understand that not everyone is well versed with Jargons. And repetitive usage might raise chances of misinterpretation among the audience. Ask the designing company to use Jargons sparingly and wisely so that it doesn’t spoil the presentation.

Too many slides:

You might not realize but your audience might just be losing interest, while you’re busy rushing from one slide to another. The audience needs time to absorb the content of one slide. And bombarding them with another one might just be a killer. Do not overload the audience with a lot of content in one go. It would make a simple thing look complicated. Ask the designing company to design few relevant slides only.

No coherency in Slides:

Before presenting to the audience, ensure if the slides are in flow. You should know which slide should be displayed first and which one later. Lack of a flow will distort the entire meaning of the presentation and the leave the audience confused. Maintaining the overall flow is therefore, a welcome step to create an effective presentation design.

No questions-answer round:

You cannot end your presentation without addressing the queries of the audience. As much as an effective presentation design is important, so is a question round at the end. And a lack of it might let your audience go with confused heads. So instead of ending the presentation vaguely, keep a separate section for questions, answer them confidently and there you go! You have a made a client already.

Not making a proper eye contact with the audience:

When it comes to confidence, eye contact plays a very important role. Clients/audience need assurance that they can trust you when it comes to your product/service. And it partially depends on the way you present. And it’s your responsibility rather than the presentation design company you’ve hired. If you consistently face your slides instead of the audience, they might have a tough time trusting you. This can further damage your reputation. Make sure you practice a lot before the final presentation to build up a confidence level.

Presentations and presentation designs are important part of your business deal. It’s the single chance you get with the audience to make them trust you. So, make sure you give your best. Don’t make the above mistakes and ruin that one chance with the audience. Find out where you go wrong, work on it and ace your next presentation!