This Point concludes our “Winning Presentations” series, which we have presented (yes, pun intended!) over the past month. Each of these Points has been based, in part, on some of the many topics we cover in our twice-monthly, highly interactive “Corsini’s Rainmakers & Leaders Club.” This club is modeled after Toastmasters International’s proven method of developing and honing communications and leadership skills. If you’d like to learn more (or to see the previous three Points in this series), go to www.corsini.com. Additionally, www.toastmasters.org will point you toward a Toastmasters club in your area.

If you visit our archived Points, you’ll see that we’ve already discussed what to do before you speak in order to prepare, and we’ve told you what to do during a prepared presentation to make it as effective as possible. Last week, we offered you a five-step model for impromptu speaking. This week, we want to focus on what to do after your presentation.

Your work is not over just because the presentation is finished. (Although you can, if you’d like, breathe a deep sigh of relief.) You should use each and every presentation to help you prepare for the next one. (Because there will be a next one.)

Here’s how you should end your next presentation:

• Speaker evaluation forms. A presentation evaluation is an invaluable tool to help you improve your delivery. If possible, plan to give an evaluation form to your audience following any presentation. Make your form simple, and keep it to one page. This feedback offers immediate input and understanding of how well you performed. Do not get defensive—no matter what the comments say. Use this feedback as a tool to help you do what you do better.
• See yourself. Your poise, gestures and speaking ability will reflect on your competence and on your product’s quality. Videotape or record yourself delivering the presentation, and evaluate the tape later for ways to improve. You also might want to seek professional presentation/speaking coaching in order to improve your presentation techniques.
• Debrief. A lot of business-to-business presentations involve more than one person from a company (or a team of people from multiple companies) taking turns during a single presentation. Gather those involved in the presentation process together and conduct a debriefing session on what went well, what didn’t go well, and what you want to include and/or omit from future presentations. Pros are always fine-tuning their presentations. Remember this: You might give the same presentation over and over, but you still need the debriefing sessions. No presentation is ever quite the same; plus, you want to continue to get better and better. Group evaluations of your collective efforts will help you improve.
• Send thank-you notes. As we discussed in our newest book, Do What You Do Better for Salespeople, writing thank-you notes is becoming a lost art with most people today. If you send them, you automatically stand out from the crowd—in a very good way. We coach people to always send a thank-you note to the person (or persons) who gave you the opportunity to speak. Do this for any formal speaking engagement, including sales presentations, civic meetings, church groups, etc.

Use every presentation to help prepare for the next one. A presentation evaluation form can help you understand immediately how well you performed. Don’t get defensive. Use the comments to help you do what you do better. Videotape yourself presenting, and study the video for ways to improve. If your presentation includes other people, sit down together after it’s over and have a debriefing session to discuss how it went. Solicit ideas on how to enhance the presentation next time. And finally, send a thank-you note to the people who gave you the opportunity to speak.