This article detailing the three steps to deliver a trades education talk was written by David Richardson from NCI. David is an excellent educator with lots of public speaking experience under his belt, and he has shared some great tips to help people share their valuable trade knowledge. If you have any questions for him or would like to get in touch, his contact information is available at the end of this article.

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At the 7^th annual HVACR Training Symposium, the HVAC School team is introducing a new speaking opportunity called “Bry-X.” These sessions are 20 minutes long and focus on HVAC educational content that includes industry advancements, testing techniques, or practical solutions to field problems. 

Unfortunately, many who have something to share, such as through opportunities like Bry-X presentations, won’t. The fear of public speaking or the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to start can seem like too much to overcome. I can relate because I felt the same flood of emotions when I presented at my first HVAC event. 

If you’ve ever considered speaking in front of others but don’t know where to start, this article is for you. It’s based on lessons learned from a lot of mistakes I’ve made over the past 20 years. I’ve broken down these tips into three steps to help you with any other public presentation you might be asked to give.

1. Prepare Your Talk Content

The first step might sound obvious, but it’s the one that’s easiest to skip. That’s because preparation is boring and takes the most creative effort. Great talks don’t magically happen. You’ll spend a lot of time mulling over your ideas, internalizing them. If you see a presenter who makes their talks look easy, understand that they put in a ton of work before ever saying a word.

I like to prepare my presentations by writing down ideas for potential topics I want to include. There’s no right or wrong way to get your ideas down. It’s whatever works best for you. I’ve used 5×8 index cards, a notebook, a dry-erase board, PowerPoint slides as digital index cards, and mind-mapping software. All these options have their strengths and weaknesses. No matter which one you choose, just get the ideas out of your head onto a medium you can work with. Think of each idea like a LEGO block you can move around and connect to something else.

Pick a Topic

You may already have an idea for a talk. If so, that’s great—knowing what to talk about is usually the hardest choice. However, if you struggle to find the right idea, think of topics you find interesting. Maybe there’s a unique way you solved a problem or a lesson you learned that others can benefit from. 

A trick I used for many of my first talks was to write them about what I wished I had known two years prior—a time before I understood the principle or technique I would share. Talks like this are real and make it easier for you to embrace the content because it’s personal. You can recall the details and emotions you went through at the time you learned those valuable lessons. 

Come Up With a Title

As you capture your ideas, write some potential titles for your talk. The title should briefly describe what attendees can expect your talk to cover. This step can be tougher than it sounds and may take some time. If you struggle with it, put yourself in the shoes of the attendees and write it from their perspective. Write the title so that they can look at your talk and know what’s in it for them. 

Distill the Contents Into a Description

Next, write out ideas about what your session will cover to put together your talk description. Dump everything you can think of that attendees can expect to take away from a high-level perspective. Then, whittle everything you wrote down to a couple of paragraphs. With titles and descriptions, less is more. Try to be general so that you don’t back yourself into a corner. 

Outline Your Talk

Once you have the title and description done, you’ll start to outline the talk. In this step, remove any unnecessary information and organize your ideas so they sequence logically from one to the next. The title and description serve as a filter for the ideas you should put into the presentation. The talk should have an introduction to your topic, supporting materials for your topic, and a conclusion or steps for the audience to use what you’ve presented.

Don’t be surprised if the outline takes several attempts. It’s rare to get it where you want on the first try. This process helps you to identify what stands out and what doesn’t, what is essential and what is filler. 

If you used one of the methods I recommended earlier to capture your ideas, such as using index cards or a notebook, this part is easier because you can move your ideas around and organize them. Keep in mind that the presentation will go by quickly, so be realistic about how much you can cover in the time slot for your talk. Once you organize your ideas, you can put them onto presentation slides or new index cards with bullet points to talk from.

AI: A Prep Tool With Pitfalls

Preparation is a lot of work, which can be a turnoff for many. It’s hard to carve out the time to follow these steps. Some of you may be tempted to use AI for the heavy lifting and skip the creative workout. Be aware that there are benefits and dangers in using AI for your talk. It’s an incredible tool for generating additional ideas and organizing your thoughts. However, if AI does your creative thinking, it could hurt your presentation. Remember, you need to own the content; otherwise, when you’re standing in front of an audience, you may go blank as you try to remember something that isn’t personal to you.

2. Practice Your Talk

Now that you’ve prepared your content, it’s time to practice. There’s an old saying that practice makes perfect, and it’s 100% wrong. Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes permanent. If you practice the wrong things repeatedly, you’ve only learned bad habits. 

Practice makes perfect only when you repeat something perfectly. That’s hard to do in a presentation. Instead of aiming for perfection, aim for improvements with an intended goal you’re working towards. It’s an ongoing process, not just reading your talk to memorize it but to know the material by heart and how it connects with your audience.

Practice also involves rearranging, sorting, and deleting topics so that your talk has the right flow. It’s hard to plan how your ideas will come together until you see and hear them in action. You’ll see new connections you may have missed when first capturing your ideas, and that’s a great position to be in as you see your talk take shape. 

Unfortunately, some of you will feel lost, doubtful, and frustrated at this point. You’re questioning whether you should even give this talk. The hardest part of practice is pushing through because your ideas aren’t connecting like you want them to. Sometimes you need to walk away and let your ideas sit. Give yourself some time, and I bet everything will click when you least expect it. This is one reason why your talk description should be as general as possible. There’s a good chance your session may slightly change direction at this point.

Write Out Your Talk

If you have the time, write out your presentation as you would say it. This step helps you internalize your talk and get your words out in black and white. Plus, it may turn into a future HVAC/R School article. Use this document to practice and understand your talk’s direction and timing, not to memorize the words. 

If you don’t have the time or don’t want to write out your talk, it’s helpful to put your revised ideas on new index cards (paper or PowerPoint) with bullet notes for practice. Use them first to walk through your talk multiple times by yourself and then to a trusted friend who will be brutally honest with you. They can help point out blind spots in your presentation.

Think About Visuals

Some of you will want to use PowerPoint slides in your talk. I have a love-hate relationship with PowerPoint slides because they’re great for showing visuals but can easily turn into a teleprompter if you aren’t careful. You’ll be one step ahead if you prepare PowerPoint slides as digital index cards because you can use them to create your presentation slides. As you assemble them, keep only what is necessary for attendees to take notes or visualize concepts you’re discussing. If you have slides full of text, delete them and find another way to show or discuss your points.

Props are another great way to show and explain your ideas. They’re a solid option if you choose to avoid slides and help visualize invisible concepts like pressure or airflow. Ty Branaman with the GRIT Foundation is one of the best at using props in his presentations; if you plan to use a prop, study Ty’s methods and learn from him. His 5th Annual HVACR Training Symposium session, Teaching the Invisible, has some great tips:

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Practice is where the hard preparation work pays off. It’s the time you invest that no one sees until they attend your session. Effortless presentations are the result of purposeful practice, not perfect practice. Once you’ve put the work in, it’s finally time to present.

3. Present Your Talk

Your presentation doesn’t start on the day of your talk. It begins the night before, when you’re tempted to hang out late with friends you haven’t seen for a long time. If you can, break away a little early to reset your mind and get ready for the coming day. I like to bullet out my entire talk the night before in a notebook so that it’s fresh on my mind and I can sleep on it. Get at least seven hours of sleep to fully recharge your mind and body.

Choose your clothes wisely on the day of your presentation. If you’ll be in a place like Florida, wear cool and comfortable clothes that breathe. Layers work great in colder climates or if there’s an unexpected cold front. During my first HVAC/R Symposium presentation in Florida, I wore a long-sleeved button-up shirt and black slacks. I was miserable. Since then, I’ve been wearing a short-sleeved golf shirt and jeans that are much more comfortable. 

Note that 15 to 30 minutes before your presentation, you’ll want to prepare yourself mentally. Personally, I like to chat with friends and then slip away to pray for guidance and give thanks. If you aren’t the praying type, you can still step back and take a deep breath or close your eyes to meditate. The key is to reset and focus on what’s coming so you can clear out the mental cobwebs.

No presentation will go exactly as planned. There is the presentation you plan to give and the one you do give. The quicker you accept and embrace this fact, the easier your talk will go. You will forget your place, or someone will ask a question that interrupts your train of thought. Think of these situations as unexpected gifts. See where they take your session because it might be better than what you planned. 

Start Off On a Positive Note

It might sound hokey, but start with a smile—not an insincere, creepy stalker smile but one that lets people know you’re happy for the chance to share your ideas. Smiling is a simple but underestimated gesture that will put you and the audience at ease. You’ll want to start strong and enthusiastically. It helps to overcome the nerves and lets you settle in. Just as with smiling, there’s a balance to how much enthusiasm you start with. The level of enthusiasm must match your personality and be authentic.

Stay On Target

The number one rule of presenting should be a hashtag titled #gttp (get to the point!). People invest their time to come listen to you, so respect it. Use the simplest words possible when you speak to get your points across and help others understand your ideas. All of us have been to presentations where we left with no clue what the speaker said. Nothing they said clicked. Even worse, they talked about themselves endlessly and then tried to sell you something. Don’t be guilty of these speaking sins.

When speaking, find three anchor spots on the stage you feel comfortable talking from. You’ll want to move comfortably between them, but not nervously, like swaying back and forth or pacing. Instead, be purposeful. As you talk, be aware of your talking speed—it’s easy to sound monotone or hypnotic, so pace yourself. As you speak, make eye contact with people you feel comfortable with in the audience, but don’t look through them or stare. That’s just weird.

It’s likely people will get up and walk out of your session, appear inattentive, whisper to others, laugh, and seem like they don’t care. Don’t take it personally and let it sidetrack your talk. These folks might be distracted for reasons that have nothing to do with you or are having a bad day. Enjoy your time on stage because you’ll blink and it’s over.

Perils, Pitfalls, and Pointers

Every presentation has perils, pitfalls, and pointers we all wish we knew before we opened our mouths. You can take care of many of these issues when you prepare and practice the right way. Unfortunately, some you will only learn through experience. You can’t plan for them. I’ve already talked about quite a few, but here are some more I wish I had known earlier:

• Focus on the audience instead of yourself.
• Don’t tell everyone you’re nervous or scared; the Symposium crowd already knows you are but wants to see you succeed. They’ll be your biggest cheerleaders. 
• Beware of the curse of knowledge and experience; talk to the beginner, not the expert.
• Have a clear direction for your content.
• Don’t jam a day’s worth of content into 20 minutes of time.
• Use your hands wisely; don’t flail them around wildly or keep them stuffed in your pockets. Instead, use them to supplement your words and ideas.
• Be yourself. Don’t wear a mask or try to impress others.
• Don’t memorize your talk. Instead, know your material so well that you can present it even if you don’t have slides and props.
• Limit your filler words and phrases like uh, um, and you know. They will detract from your message.

To become a good speaker, watch great presenters inside and outside the HVAC industry. I was fortunate to watch the late Rob Falke, a founder of National Comfort Institute, present for years, and I unconsciously adopted many of his speaking habits. You’ll do the same for those you learn from. Also, study materials from Dale Carnegie, Toastmasters International, and TED; these are three premier organizations for public speaking and presenting. In the end, if you speak with your audience like you would a good friend, it’s hard to go wrong. 

There’s nothing new in this article. You may have heard many of these suggestions before. Regardless, I hope you find at least one helpful tip. I remember how thankful I was to have friends and peers to bounce ideas off of when I did my first presentation. If you decide to go for it and submit a session topic, feel free to contact me with questions as you prepare. Some of you reading this are already exceptional public speakers. Why not share your best tips? I know I skipped over a lot.

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David Richardson serves the HVAC industry as Vice President of Training for National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI). NCI specializes in training focused on improving, measuring, and verifying HVAC and Building Performance. If you’re an HVAC contractor or technician interested in learning more about improving the industry, contact David at ncilink.com/ContactMe. 

This article was written to help new Bry-X speakers at the 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium on January 22nd and 23rd. Many of these speakers will touch on some interesting industry developments and niche topics, including geothermal heat pumps, dehumidification, and more. If you would like to watch these sessions for yourself, you can learn more about the event and purchase your in-person or virtual tickets at hvacrschool.com/symposium.