Episode #93: The Importance Of Analysing Your Own Presentation Performance

Why Do Most Professionals Fail to Improve After Giving a Presentation?

Busy professionals in 日本企業 (Japanese companies) and 外資系企業 (global companies) often move straight from one presentation to a flood of emails, meetings, and project demands. As a result, the opportunity to extract lessons, sharpen skills, and build long-term presentation mastery disappears almost immediately.

Why This Happens

Because review and reflection were never built into the plan. Once the presenter returns to the office, urgent tasks displace meaningful improvement.

Mini-summary:
Most presenters fail to improve not because of a lack of skill, but because they skip the post-presentation review that fuels long-term progress.

Right after the presentation ends—before meetings, before email, before re-entering the “noise” of the workday.

What Executives and Managers Should Do

Go to a quiet space—ideally a café—and take 40 minutes to reflect while your energy is still high and memories still fresh. High-energy presenters, especially those in leadership roles across 東京 (Tokyo), benefit from this decompression, as delivering with passion is physically and mentally demanding.

Mini-summary:
The best review window is immediately after the presentation, when insights are most accurate and actionable.

Executives attending プレゼンテーション研修 (presentation training) often ask what exactly they should review. Use this structured checklist rooted in Dale Carnegie’s 100+ years of global expertise.

Before and During the Presentation

• Arrival & preparation: Did you arrive early, check the venue, and speak with attendees to gauge expectations and expertise?

• MC introduction: Did the MC use your prepared introduction, or did you need to fill in missing details?

• Opening: Did your opening land as planned?

• Pacing: Did you maintain a steady, listener-friendly pace?

• Voice modulation: Did you vary tone and emphasis to maintain audience engagement?

Connection & Delivery

• Eye contact: Were you consistently giving 6-second focused eye contact to build trust and test audience reaction?

• Gestures: Did your gestures reinforce key points?

• Content flow: Did you keep the structure and sequencing of your main points?

• Slide management: Did you control your slides, or did they control you?

Leadership Control of the Room

• First close: Did you clearly signal your first close and move smoothly into Q&A?

• Q&A control: Did you paraphrase questions for clarity?

• Final close: Did you deliver a strong second close to shape the final impression?

• Personal branding: Did you step off the podium to engage with attendees afterward?

Mini-summary:
A structured, behavior-based checklist creates a repeatable system for continuous improvement.

Executives and managers in Tokyo must observe:

• Were people nodding or reacting to your key points?

• Were questions hostile, neutral, or curious?

• How many attendees stayed afterward to speak with you?

• How many compliments felt genuine vs. polite?

• Overall—how do you feel it went?

Then ask:
“What did I do well?”
Followed by:
“How can I make it even better next time?”

Avoid negative self-talk. Improvement requires momentum, not criticism.

Mini-summary:
Audience behavior and personal perception reveal your real performance more accurately than casual opinions.

Generally, no. Most colleagues rarely give presentations themselves and offer opinions that lack expertise—and may even lower confidence.

If you want reliable insight, invite an expert in プレゼンテーション研修 (presentation training), リーダーシップ研修 (leadership training), or エグゼクティブ・コーチング (executive coaching) to evaluate you. Expert evaluation accelerates growth far more than casual feedback.

Mini-summary:
Seek expert—not amateur—feedback to ensure constructive, growth-oriented insights.

Yes.
Audio recordings are helpful, but video recordings are significantly more powerful. Because business professionals in Japan may deliver few presentations per year, recordings become essential tools for maintaining and advancing presentation capability.

Mini-summary:
Video review is a high-leverage method to develop presentation excellence despite low annual speaking frequency.

About 40 minutes—long enough for reflection, short enough to be realistic for busy executives and managers.

Write down key insights and review them before your next presentation, ensuring consistent improvement over time.

Mini-summary:
A structured 40-minute review creates a powerful feedback loop for continuous growth.

• Build post-presentation review into your plan—not as an afterthought.

• Conduct your review immediately while the experience is vivid.

• Use a detailed behavioral checklist to evaluate delivery, control, and engagement.

• Rely on expert—not casual—feedback for genuine improvement.

• Record your presentation whenever possible to accelerate learning.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both 日本企業 (Japanese companies) and 外資系企業 (global companies) with world-class training ever since.