Denise Vorraber 7 Mistakes you shouldn't do on stage

Automatic Summary

Seven Stage Presence Mistakes to Avoid

As someone who is passionate about speaking on stage and connecting with audiences, I've learned a lot over the years. In this blog post, I’d like to share with you the seven errors to duck regarding stage presentations, particularly if you are an entrepreneur. Incorporating real-life examples from my experience, you'll find these actionable steps to help you avoid these mistakes immensely valuable.

Mistake #1: Lack of Goal Orientation

Never hit the stage without a clear goal in mind. You need to have a well-defined objective of what you want to achieve through your presentation. Take a leaf from Jeff Bezos's book - he instructs Amazon's product managers to write a detailed press release before launching a product. This clear vision guides their product development process.

Mistake #2: No One-Liner

Having a catchy one-liner at the beginning of your presentation is essential. This helps your audience immediately understand what you or your startup does. For instance, Uber’s brilliant one-liner is an example of simplicity and thoughtfulness. However, avoid stuffing too much information in your one-liner as it can lead to confusion.

Mistake #3: Not Showing Your Vision or Passion

Your vision and passion are as important as your idea. They are what drive you to wake up every day and continue working on your project. Thus, it's crucial to share your 'why' with your audience. It reinforces the passion and vision behind what you do.

Mistake #4: Lack of Practice

  • Rehearse your presentation, ensuring you dedicate an hour of practice per minute of your speech. Preparation helps prevent blackouts due to nerves and allows you to focus better on delivery.
  • Stay true to yourself, your personality, and your comfortability on stage - don't fake it for effect.

Mistake #5: Being Overly Nervous

While it's normal to feel nervous before a presentation, don't let it take over you. To overcome fear, practice positive self-talk and engage in high power poses before hitting the stage. These actions can help boost your confidence and decrease anxiety.

Mistake #6: Poor Body Language or Posture

First impressions matter, and the audience will judge you based on your body language. Maintain steady eye contact, control your hand movements, and ensure your posture conveys confidence.

Mistake #7: Not Connecting with the Audience

Lastly, remember this: "People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel." So captivate your audience and make the presentation memorable for them.

In conclusion, having excellent stage presence is a skill. By avoiding these common mistakes, you can substantially improve your on-stage performance. Remember, the goal is to inspire and connect with your audience effectively.

If you have any questions or if you want to connect with me, feel free to hit me up on social media. Don't forget to share your thoughts or feedback on this piece.


Video Transcription

OK. So it's right on time now. So I'll begin, um, I hope we have time afterwards for a few questions, but you can always, um, hit me up on social media afterwards if you have questions or want to connect. So, yeah.So my talk is about, um, the seven mistakes you shouldn't do on stage. And I want to start with a quote from Mark Twain. It says the most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. And I think when you own a company, if you own a start up, if you're really passionate about, um, a topic that is your why if you are presenting on stage. And, um, there's a topic you're really passionate about is that is your why? And that topic that started that company you really have to, um, inspire people with. And it's really important that you don't do those seven mistakes. Um, the seven mistakes I will show you are like, I want to show you the mistakes that you don't do them. But it's also very important that I will give you action, actional actionable steps. So you can pre prevent them and you, you know what to do um in action to deliver a strong speech. So this was the first time I ever was on stage. Um Oh, sorry. Um This was in the August 2016. This was like literally the first time I was on stage, I was nervous even though I didn't even have to say something on stage.

And my own um job was to just stand there um and get shown to people because we are the new one in this organization. But I was so nervous. Um But through my um jobs and organizations, I stood in so many stages, I had to present, I had to be there. So uh I really had to learn what it means to be on stage. So I can really give you some real life examples on how someone is me, really shy person at the first became very comfortable on stage. And I was really actually excited to be on stage. So who am I? I'm Denise. I'm 25 years old. I got elected in the Forbes 30 on the 30 list when I was 23. And those companies you can see here are all those companies which I'm uh currently involved. So I'm currently involved in around 10 ish companies, organizations. And those are all about the start up scene and uh female empowerment because I'm very driven by passion and by some like a bigger picture and that is why I do all those things. No one is pressuring me to do all those things. It is because I really love what I do and have a passion for what I do. So, um I don't see those things as work or as um I mean, stressful. Yeah, but not all the time.

I really enjoy all what I do and I think it's very important. Um but first things, first why is a good pitch, a good presentation even so important for you. Um When you own a company, you will know or if you own a start up, you know, that 10, 9 out of 10 start ups will fail because um I don't know if you know, most of the start-ups are really scared to talk to other people about their idea because they are so scared that another person will take their idea, their start up away from them and um that they lose their idea.

But I can tell you, sorry, I can tell you if you don't talk to other people about your idea percent on stage network, your start up will eventually die because no one will uh see or hear about you. So it is very important that you talk to other people that you present on stage and that your presentation is very good because what you can win is so much, you can have potential clients in the audience. You can have potential investors in the audience. But speaking of investors, if you aren't prepared, uh if you are, aren't prepared your pitch or your, your pitch deck. If you go to an investor, it's game over, you will be out the door faster than you can say, disruptive. Like you need to be prepared for an investor pitch if you want to, if you want money from them and you have to have a good presentation, but let's get back to the topic like seven mistakes you shouldn't do on stage, get right into it. With the goal, you can't just go to an event or um uh or or a stage and you can, and with no goal in mind, you really need a fixed goal of what of what you want out of the event? Like what is the goal? What is the reason why you're here? Um To give you an example, Jeff Bezos, you, I hope you know all of that guy. Um the way he does with his new product managers at Amazon is um they need to write a press release.

So when they introduce a new product, they need to write a press release and a press release is always usually very detailed of what the product will look like and what the product is all about. And with that press release, all those project managers have a very clear vision and a very clear goal in mind and then they can start talking, uh they can start uh making the product. So it is very important to start with the clear goal in mind. And I always talk to start ups and tell them what is your goal? What do you want? What do you really want? And they tell me like five things. I need investors. I need clients. I need a network. I need, I don't know what, but it's very important to get one goal. It because you can't tell them all those things. At the, at the end of your presentation, there, there should be one clear ending and that uh is the circle from your presentation. You start with the goal in mind into your presentation and end with the goal in your mind and really only one goal. What is the most desiring thing you want out of that presentation? Also a very good tip is start your slides. I like your slide ideas on a piece of paper, brainstorm your content of a piece of paper. Don't start, don't open your present.

I like your powerpoint or your keynote program and start your presentation really brainstorm and get a creative brain um on a piece of paper and, and scribble on that. I always do that before a presentation. A huge keynote and it helps me so much. The second big mistake is to not have a one liner. Maybe you have heard about one liners. Those are one short sentences before you start your present. Like when you start your presentation, you tell them you're one liner. That should be the one sentence of um what the presentation will all be about or uh 11 line about your start of your company to give you an example. What a one liner is. Um I have the Uber one liner with me. So Uber's ahead. Like you push a button and in five minutes, a Mercedes picks you up and takes you wherever you want to go. It's very clear. It's very simple, but it has a lot of thought about it. So let's really analyze it. You push a button, it it seems it's easy. Five minutes is very fast. Mercedes is an expensive, luxurious car and it takes you wherever you want to go, you are the boss. So in this short sentence, they really took their words and thought about it and you really have a strong sentence there and you really can't mix it up because they really thought about their one liner. But it's also very important. What isn't in this one liner?

Because so many start ups and people when they present their company or when you network start with all those features and everything they do and stuff. And it's so confusing for the people in front of you because they don't know you. So you uh Uber um didn't talk about their driver even though the driver for Uber is like the most crucial thing, but they didn't talk about it. They didn't include tech buzzwords, they didn't write, they disrupt the taxi industry. Um maybe you know the joke because all of the start up people take the word disrupt and put it literally everywhere. And uh no normal person, like a person who isn't in a start up scene knows what it means, usually, usually. And so don't, don't use that word describe in the different version. Um And they don't state where the uh where Uber is found, where, which country Uber is allowed in because it doesn't matter in the first sentence. So really think about how you can give a little bit of mystery, a little bit of know how in your first one liner and I can guarantee you, um, to get you one line of right isn't, uh, isn't like an easy fast job. You really have to brainstorm. So get really five words, concept about your idea, your start up your passion and write them on a piece of paper, like write different versions down, like write five sentences down like different sentences and then show it to friends to family and also very important to strangers because people who aren't familiar with your topic, your passion, your start up should know what you're talking about because let's be honest, friends and family will always tell you.

Yeah, that sounds good. Oh, my God. So innovative. So, really get some strangers in there and get their opinion also very important. Um, this takes time to get a one liner really good. You have to rephrase, show them to people and rephrase that takes usually a few rounds. But when you have your one liner, right? You can use it everywhere. You, you will use it on stage. When you present your company, you will use it when you network and uh you have to present what you do, you will use it literally everywhere. So it's so important to get that right. The third mistake people do is they don't show their vision, their mission, their passion because yes, you present your idea, your start up. But behind that idea, uh that start up, you as a founder are a person. And we want to know your passion, your vision because without that, there isn't really much there because I had a start up who pitched and I was in the jury and we asked him, why is it, why would, why are you in that field? Because it was so um his background didn't uh say that and stuff. So we asked him and he told us the only reason he's in that field is because his father, his father told him and he's in this field and, and we fought like OK, minus because um you can't tell that to other people that you don't have a passion.

Your father has a passion and literally that was our face. So really show us your passion. It's so so important because as Harry Jackson told us people may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. Because as you know, when a few people present them on stage or when a few people pitch like start up pitches uh back to back to back, you will not remember all those details. But if a person on a stage made you feel welcome, made you feel emotions, you will remember that. So the actual steps here are, show us your passion, really show us your passion, show us your ex uh like your excitement. What is the reason the story? Why you founded your company? What, why do you have such a strong passion for a topic? Show us that also show us you why? Yeah, like I said, why are you on the stage? Why are you here right now to present this topic, this company and also show us the bigger picture because we always want to know where do you see your company? Your start up in five years? 10 years? What do you see how the word changes through your company through your topic? That's so important to get really to get a grip from the audience and their attention. The next mistake is no practicing.

It's, it's just such an easy mistake but literally not many people think about it and it's so important. Have you ever like practiced 5 to 10 hours before an um a presentation. Usually the answer is no, but you should practice one hour per one minute of speech. This you should do like the first time you presented on stage to get a really good grip of your presentation because um what usually happens is that you get a blackout when you don't prepare and are too nervous. So really practice, practice, practice. Um So you, so you don't only have to focus on your content, but you can focus on how you deliver. Also. If you don't show, show us your office, I can talk of office in like your present personality. It's so bad. Show us uh what you are like the person you are, don't lie to us. Don't be too formal. Like in the German language, there are two ways um how you can talk to a person like in a formal way, in an informal way, use the use the informal way, it's so much more um personal and also don't think you need to wear suits, wear something you really are comfortable in and don't fake it till you make it and are really scared.

And you think like you have to be a different person, a different different personality on stage, really fake it till you feel it like um fake your confidence until you really feel it hype yourself up until you really feel it. So stay true to yourself, really practice your pitch and always wear what you feel most comfortable in um one of the uh mistakes is always if you're too nervous because I know all of the people. Um, usually everyone gets nervous. I get nervous too in front of big audiences that is completely nor normal. But the, a few, uh one hack is to give your presentation a reason. Don't see it as forced you are there because you want to also be in the present. Don't think about all the to dos the tasks, the people. Um all like all those other things really be in the present and only focus on your presentation. Those are uh a few mantras, mantras are small sentences. You can talk to yourself and really hype yourself up. So before you go on stage, talk about like I believe in my idea, everyone loves me. I will rock this stage and really hype yourself up. This really helps. Also, there are high power poses which prep your mind to be more powerful. Um Because we're quietly running out of time, unfortunately, because I always um mention so many examples. Um I will go through them a little bit faster. Um So those are the poses you can make to feel more comfortable.

You really take up a lot of space with those poses and this will prep your mind to be more um powerful and uh really, I, I have a lot of self um con confidence. Yeah. Um There are also low power poses. I will only show you those because I want you to know um to see and recognize them if you do them and then stop doing them and get to those high power poses instead because these poses will um lower your confidence and raise your stress level. So don't do them. So do th do those mantras practice your presentation and also include those high power poses before your event? And also really focus on how you talk to yourself before you enter the stage. Don't think negatively about yourself or the presentation and really talk positively to yourself before you enter the stage. The last tip is bad body language, bad posture because as you can see this person, he holds his microphone like he raps, don't do that. This seems so odd.

But what he got right was his hand like his, his present or hand is always between his chin and his belt. So do it like that person always have your microphone hand in a good distance to your mouth and always in front of your mouth. And the the other hand is also between the chin and the belt. So um a tip is also do not move your Microsoft microphone hand, the microphone hand should always be there. Some people start up. Um some people tend to gesture with their microphone hand and people can't hear you. So really don't move it hands always between chin and belt and also have a broad, broad stand. Do not cross your feet. This will also give you self-confidence, also your tip, hold your eye contact, make the double U move. So you will always um see all those people in your audience. And what is the worst thing? What can happen like you can trip? But is it like the worst thing you will stand up, dust yourself off and then you go on literally, there's nothing what can happen that you, that changes everything about you or the person, like nothing can happen. It is so bad and also everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear. So really go out of your comfort zone and grab the uh keynote stage and really inspire people.

And I want to end my presentation completely on time thankfully, um with a feedback sheet because I'm always on the hunt on feedback. So just grab your phone and scan this QR code or type that URL in your browser. And I would love to give um to receive feedback from you. And also I'm always happy to connect with you guys on social media, linkedin, Instagram. So really hit me up on linkedin. I will always, I'm always happy to connect and if you have questions, please, um Yeah, write me on linkedin or Instagram or wherever you want. I'm always happy to talk to you. So we're right on time and um maybe, I don't know, I have put some uh time for a question. I don't know let's see. Um What if the microphone goes with a headphone, what would you recommend? We, we do with our hands first things first. Um When you have a headphone, I really, really don't like it because it always is moving and it's shifting and I always have to hold it, I guess like it's usually not so uh like such a good tech thing, like when I can hold the MC from my hand, it's easier. Also. Um what is a good tip if you are both hands free is to talk with your hands like gesture. Like it's always fun and easy to talk with your hands and make like visualize, emphasize something. But you should always be in the presenter mode.

Like for example, always be between chin and belt. Like you shouldn't put your hands up there and you only and you shouldn't put your hands in your pocket as well, like really always between chin and belt. Um Let's see any suggestion for making a vir virtual. Ah The question is gone. Where is it virtual online presentation? More fun. Um So if you have the time and you want to connect with your audience, um maybe make it more interactive, ask them questions. Um Ask maybe you can uh include a, a small Q and A. Uh I've seen people make some, some um interactive stuff like an interactive quiz where uh with like a Tinder setup, like they shown uh they like he showed us a picture and asked us if it, if it is hot or not, like if the ad is hot or not, it was a marketing workshop and it was fun um to interact with that.

So there are a few ways on how to interact with it. And if it is a little game, if it is, if, is it a little bit more funny? And on the informal side, it is usually way more fun to interact with, with it also. Yeah. Yes, I am from grass. I'm from Austria. Um Maybe you have um recognized it from my uh dialect from my not native English. I'm always um trying my best but usually, I mean, sometimes my English is not the yellow of the egg that was for the Austrian people. Um Could you please give me one tip which everyone should remember in their mind who are willing to start to start up? It's a small and easy uh tip to sh to just go for it because um I've, I've shown you those organizations where I am involved in and I am also uh self-employed with the pitch training and speaking stuff and it was the absolute best decision I ever made to be self-employed because it's so much more fun to have your own business, to really start your own company, to really be in charge.

So really just go for it because what can go wrong? I know like there are some things which can go wrong money wise. And I know with co-founders and stuff or if your start up isn't the right market fit. But usually there is a lot which can go right. And if you have the mindset to really believe in your idea and just go for it and always be happy and positive, it's so much fun and you can really just have such a good experience and always, um keep in mind to really, like I said, like positive mindset to always keep pushing forward.

Even though there are some challenges I can tell you there are and there will be so many challenges and fucked up things that can happen. But in the long term and um in the, the journey is so much more fun. Like I absolutely love to be self-employed to have my own company. And I will always always tell other people to try it out themselves as well. But one tip would always also be um if you start your new company, I would uh stay on your shop where you get your um regular income month by month at the first, I don't know, like half a year until you get some revenue in your company because it's so so much more stressful if you completely dip into your company straight on and um cancel your other um revenue streams.

So it is way more, I wouldn't say relaxed, but it is way more. Um It's not so stressful if you have another income source as well. So that is why I'm also like, I, I, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so many organizations involved and also self-employed because I'm so much more easy going if there isn't so much stress on where your money is, um, is coming from. Yeah. Um, let's see if there is another question. Oh, sorry. Feedback slide. Oh, hopefully, I'm not too late for you Natalia. Um, Thank you so much for your feedback. Oh my God, you're too cute. Ah It's so cool. Thank you so much and also thank you guys for tuning in and staying and I love it so cool. You're giving me so much energy. I love it. Cool, cool, cool. OK, guys. Um So um as I said, really hit me up on social media, add me on linkedin. Let's get connected. I love to talk to you and I hope you will have an amazing experience with the rest of the Woman Tech Glo Global Conference and I hope you have a wonderful day. OK. Bye guys. Bye.