Table of Contents

Asked to speak about a topic? You may actually be an imposter… just not for the reason(s) you think.

You've been asked to speak... but are you a presentation imposter?
feeling like an imposter

I’ve seen a lot written about “imposter syndrome” on LinkedIn recently.  In short, imposter syndrome is when you doubt your own abilities, especially when you’re asked to publicly show them off.

My colleague, Heather, wrote about this phenomenon among L&D professionals last year in this blog post.

I’ve worked with a number of people – from early career professionals to senior staff – who express doubts about what kind of wisdom they could possibly have to offer others. It’s quite a natural sentiment.

The truth is, however, that I’ve seen more actual imposters among those who have been asked to share their expertise with an audience and who feel confident in their wisdom and their experience. I’ve seen imposters among doctors, lawyers, tech executives and learned academics (among others). They’re smart people, to be sure, but where they come across as true fakes is in their ability to actually present in a way that is respectful to their audience.

It can be both flattering and humbling to be asked to share thoughts, ideas, skills or expertise with a group of people, and it’s definitely a boost to the ego! But with great power, comes great responsibility… namely the responsibility to present in a way that is engaging. Your audience shouldn’t have to work too hard to want to pay attention to you.

Different presentation forums, room set-ups and audiences can call for different strategies, but no forum, room set-up or audience should be an excuse for not adding engagement strategies to your brilliant message. Following are three ideas to keep your audience mentally engaged:

Storytelling with Structure

Who doesn’t love a good story?

Actually, busy people may not love a good story… unless it has something to do with your content. I work with a lot of trainers and presenters who looooooove to tell their stories. Their stories are (often) quite interesting, but when I have other things to do, I don’t want to work too hard to follow along or make the connection between their stories and their content.

Last Monday I offered the S.T.O.R.Y. model for storytelling. Telling a story with intent and structure can help keep everyone on the same page while offering some real-world examples of how your concepts or content play out on a daily basis.

Top 5 List

Not every situation or presentation calls for a story. Sometimes you simply need to share your information (aka: lecture). Even though lecture may be the best method to share your information, it doesn’t have to be dry, boring or meandering.

A simple “Top 5 reasons that…” list can be an easy solution.

  • The top 5 reasons that people struggle with…
  • The top 5 reasons we’re switching IT systems
  • The top 5 reasons endothelial cell transplants will change the world
  • The top 5 things you can say during an interview that can lead to a lawsuit

Offering a listed approach to your lecture helps give it structure, helps book-end your key points, and allows your audience to know what’s truly important (and why).

Put the Audience at the Center

This is the guiding principle that should be at the heart of any presentation design. You’ve been asked to share your knowledge, skills, experience or expertise with others for a reason… and that reason typically isn’t because people like your voice so much that they should just appreciate hearing you talk.

Taking an audience-centered approach means you’re designing your presentation by asking: what can I do to help make sure the audience leaves smarter and more capable? How can I help them solve a problem they have?

The first two ideas above follow this strategy, though they are more passive approaches to audience engagement and still depend on the willingness of your audience to stay mentally engaged with you.

You can also put them at the center by getting them actively engaged with you. Strategies for this can be basic, like simply asking people to turn to the person next to them before your next presentation and share what their biggest challenge is related to your topic. In doing so, you’re forcing them to think about their own situations in relation to your topic.

You can also go crazy and get your participants engaged through any of these 18 activities.

Whichever strategy seems to be the best fit for your own comfort level and the context of your situation, keep in mind that if you were asked to present, someone clearly thinks you know your stuff… just don’t be a presentation imposter by failing to design your presentation with maximum engagement in mind.

 

Instructor-Led Training Resources

These are some of our favorite resources to support everyone involved with instructor-led training.

Training Delivery and Facilitation Competency Rubric

A rubric is a way to assess performance with a standard set of evaluation criteria. The next time you need to assess the performance of someone delivering training (even if that someone is you), you may find this rubric helpful.

The Role of Co-facilitators

Co-facilitators play an important role in a training workshop. The most obvious benefit is that when you co-facilitate, you get a break from leading the

18 Instructor-led Training Activities

Engaging, intentional, face-to-face and virtual instructor-led training activities can make the difference between a session that helps learners to apply new skills or knowledge and one that falls flat.

Articles Similar to Asked to speak about a topic? You may actually be an imposter… just not for the reason(s) you think.

facilitator competency rubric
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Training Delivery and Facilitation Competency Rubric

A rubric is a way to assess performance with a standard set of evaluation criteria. The next time you need to assess the performance of someone delivering training (even if that someone is you), you may find this rubric helpful.

instructor becomes the pupil with kassy laborie and zovig garboushian
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Turning the Tables: From Trainer to Student

As people who have designed and delivered effective training, Kassy Laborie and Zovig Garboushian know a thing or two about good learning experiences. So what nuggets have they gleaned from a 9-month course that they’re both attending, and that all of us should consider when designing our own programs? Today’s podcast answers that question.

John Crook on role play
ILT & VILT
Brian Washburn

Is this the world’s most effective role play?

When it comes to your training participants, two of the dirtiest, or perhaps scariest, words you can say during a session may be: role play. In today’s podcast, John Crook, Head of Learning at Intersol Global, offers some thoughts on how to make role plays more authentic and robust.

Subscribe to Get Updates from Endurance Learning

Brian Washburn, Author

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll send you the latest updates from our blog. Thanks for following!

activities cookbook

Download the Training Activity Cookbook

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Endurance Learning Activity Cookbook.

training facilitator evaluation rubric - page 2

Download the Facilitator Evaluation Rubric

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the rubric to help you assess the skills of someone delivering training.

Find Your L&D Career Path

Explore the range of careers to understand what role might be a good fit for your L&D career.

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the What’s Possible in L&D Worksheet.

What's possible in L&D

Let's Talk Training!

Brian Washburn

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll get back to you soon.

Download the Feedback Lesson Plan

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the lesson plan as a PDF.

feedback lesson plan
MS Word Job Aid Template

Download the Microsoft Word Job Aid Template

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the Word version of this template.

Download the Free Lesson Plan Template!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you a Word document that you can start using today!

free lesson plan template
training materials checklist

Download the Training Materials Checklist

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Training Materials Checklist.

Subscribe to Endurance Learning for updates

Get regular updates from the Endurance Learning team.