They want you to make a presentation, deliver a speech, moderate a panel or run a workshop and you’ve got a case of the flutters so bad you want to...

Well, you’re not alone. Even after making hundreds of talks in public, I still get the flutters and wonder why I got myself into this.

What I have come to see is that speaking is a lot about power; when you feel comfortable and are in a take-charge state, you will do better, be more relaxed and be more effective.

Each presentation is a learning experience because each audience is different and I try to make notes on what I learn when I speak so I can make it better the next time.

Here is short list of “Wisdom Learned on the Road” that I hope will make you feel more comfortable and make your presentations brilliant.

1) In a word, the secret is in the rehearsal. If you are speaking to a group of five or a room of 100, you need to be prepared and that means rehearsing what you are going to say. Say the words out loud and if your wife or dog begs for mercy or falls asleep, take that as a sign that you are boring. Rehearse your presentation until you can make it without reading it.

2) Never, ever, read more than a few sentences. Use note cards with key points, but don’t put an audience through a reading session. It’s up to you to keep your audience alert and awake. Hardly anyone wants to be read to, unless they are children listening to a Kermit the Frog story.

3) PowerPoint may be a great invention but far too many speakers simply read their PP presentation out loud. It’s content and energy that win, not high tech projection devices, slides, videos or overheads. Those who put people to sleep deserve to be stoned with dinner rolls.

4) Visit the venue before you speak. When I am invited to speak, I try to visit the room when it is empty and rehearse for a few minutes, making my presentation out loud, seeing how the room sounds and determining how loudly I need to speak.

5) You may not always need to start with a joke or funny story, but it can help. What you can do is to tell your audience what you are going to talk about, how long you are going to talk and what you would like them to do with the information.

6) Make eye contact with everyone in the room at least once. Notice that President Bush has taken to leaning on the Podium? Not even the President can take that much license. Stand up straight and try to move around. Demonstrate you are alive and full of energy. Be forceful! Have conviction! Be a storyteller, not a dull speaker.

7) Research keeps telling us audiences remember 10 percent of what we say and will remember 90 percent of how we acted, how comfortable we were, what we wore, how much in control we were. Ask that cell phones, pagers and PDT’s are “off.” If you want questions from the audience, say so. Take charge of the room!

8) Look at your audience. Are they interested and alert, or are they wandering, asleep or in another zone? It’s your job to read the audience and react to how they are responding.

9) Keep it simple, whatever you are doing. The human mind can only absorb so much (see PowerPoint, above). Better to make a few points well than try to get across plates of statistics and facts.

10) Summarize your presentation, ask for questions and insist that an evaluation form be distributed. Tell the participants you want an honest appraisal. Learn from your mistakes and glory in your victories.

11) Handouts are sometimes useful and no one should ever leave a presentation without knowing who you are, what your business is and what your credentials are. Unless you are being paid to speak, you’re entitled to a commercial announcement – give your elevator speech!

Now get out there, take a deep breath and… break a leg.

(Editor’s Note: Bill Hoke of Hoke Consulting in Manette provides business building strategies. He is author of ‘Secrets From the Red Tool Box” and “The 90 Minute Marketing Plan”©. He can be reached at hoke@hokeconsulting.com.).