5 Things You Should Do the Night Before a Presentation

Night Before a Presentation Tips

The big presentation is tomorrow. What should you do tonight to help ensure that everything goes smoothly? Here are our five tips for preparing for a presentation the night before: 

1. PracticeIf you haven’t already – and even if you have – it never hurts to run over your presentation one more time. Give the presentation to your spouse. To your friend. To the mirror. To your cat. Whatever will help you get the key points of your presentation down, do it.  

The goal is to know the material backward and forward so that you DON’T have to memorize every last word. If you know the material, you can speak conversationally about it and answer off the cuff questions – which you should encourage your spouse or neighbor (or cat) to ask you. But if you’re instead memorizing the exact words you want to say, your presentation will come across as wooden or overly rehearsed. 

2. Eat a healthy dinnerEat foods that are familiar to your stomach and that you know won’t cause any gastrointestinal distress tomorrow. Don’t drink, save for perhaps one beer or a glass of wine with your meal. And remember to hydrate. 

3. Stop practicingEspecially as you get closer to your bedtime, put your presentation aside and let your mind relax. Watch a favorite show or play a game. You don’t want to be thinking about your presentation right before you go to bed, because then you’ll start fixating and won’t be able to sleep. 

4. Pick out your presentation outfitYou don’t want to give yourself added stress in the morning when you realize the suit you were planning to wear is still at the cleaners. Choose your clothes – right down to your socks and/or jewelry – and actually set them out so that you know everything is clean and ready to go. 

5. Get lots of rest, and set lots of alarmsTo help ensure that you can sleep soundly, set a few extra alarms for yourself in the morning. That way you won’t wake up every five minutes worrying that you’ve overslept. If possible, set them on a few different devices on the off chance that you accidentally leave one device on silent. 

6. Rock itOnce you’ve done all your preparation, the only thing left to do is to trust yourself and go into the presentation with confidence.And if confidence isn’t something that comes naturally to you, you can always try executive speech coaching. A Chicago speech coach can help you refine your presentation, bolster your speaking skills, and deliver your speech with gusto. To learn more, give our office a call today.