Present Like a Pro: Essential Tips for School Counselors (Meet the Counselor)

Tips for Rocking Your Presentation

Hey friend , it's here , the time of year that so many of you dread , the thing that ties your stomach and knots , makes you quiver with anticipation not in a good way and really makes you consider whether or not you can call in sick on a staff professional development day . What is it , y'all ? What is it ? It is the dreaded meet the school counselor talk , or the dreaded school counselor training for your staff . So many of you hate this . You don't enjoy the public speaking . Maybe you've never done it before . Maybe this is going to be your first time standing up in front of your school staff wondering what the heck do I do and how do I do it , without looking like I'm nervous as I'll get out because I am sweating bullets up here . You ever been there ? I'm laughing because , my friend , i have been there . Oh , my goodness , have I been there .

So I'm here this week with a set of tips and tricks to help you not only survive your Meet the Counselor session , but really knock their socks off . Wouldn't that be awesome ? Before we get into that , you know I usually read a review for the podcast , but we haven't had any new ones come in for a while . So , guys , we're slacking . We are slacking . I would love to be able to read your review on the podcast . So if you have a quick minute , hop on to Apple Podcasts and submit a quick review . It doesn't have to be anything fancy . Usually people's reviews are two or three sentences long and that is absolutely enough for us . It helps Apple know to send our podcast out to everyone else And , interestingly enough , there are some other podcast platforms that use that information to recommend podcasts to their listeners . So it's super important . We would so appreciate your review .

All right , so let's talk about our presentations for our school staff , whether that's Meet the Counselor , whether that's some sort of mandated training that you have to provide And sometimes we get some really dry things that we have to train our staffs on things like , you know , child abuse , human trafficking , mental health , first aid , those kinds of things . So we want to make sure that we bring our A game , and not only so that we just don't look like a complete doofus standing up in front of everybody , right ? Or don't create the worst day ever for ourselves because we're such an introvert we just don't even want to think about being in front of the staff . But we also need to portray a certain level of expertise right , and so I hope that doesn't make you nervous . But it is important for you to set yourself apart from your school staff just a little bit , all right , not in a hierarchy kind of way , not in a way that says I'm better than you or anything like that , but there should be a little bit of a difference , right , and one of the ways that you can portray that is through your expertise and your presentation skills . So let's talk through some things that can really help you bump your presentation skills up to the next level , and I will tell you these tips and tricks are . Some of them you may have heard before , but I got a little bit of a twist on most of them . Some of you , if you're in my Mastermind program , probably know or if you've been in get the job with me , you definitely know because I talk about this a lot . But otherwise you may not know that I come from a performing arts background . I would be a performing arts teacher before I got into counseling , and so , as a performing artist , i developed some skill sets along the way to get over the stage fright , to get over the intimidation of standing in front of a bunch of people I didn't know and having to deliver something that was going to wow them right . So I'm going to bring those insights into this conversation so that you feel like you have a really good grasp on what you can do to look like a total rock star . So , first of all , you want to make sure that you've prepared and practiced , and preparing and practicing can look like a lot of things

Preparing and Practicing for Presentations

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When we think about preparing a presentation , we often think about , you know , getting some slides ready , standing up , walking through it , just like we're going to do it for our school staff . And while that could be helpful right , many people enjoy preparing that way There are other ways that you can prepare and practice for your presentation . Number one , depending on your MO and how you like to work , having a script might be helpful , but having a bulletin outline is probably best . So you want to just kind of outline your basic points and get to the place where you can just kind of speak off the cuff about those bulletin points . It's going to make you sound much more authentic . It's going to make you seem much more genuine and knowledgeable about your craft than constantly looking at notes , or oh my goodness , this sets me on edge every time I see it reading directly from the slides on the screen . My friend , if you can avoid doing that , that's half the battle right there . Because you know when I know , the majority of professional development presenters do exactly that .

So rehearse it . You can rehearse it a lot of different ways . You can rehearse it with another person and then just ask them do I look like a total spaz ? Get somebody that'll give you some honest feedback on that . You can practice in front of a mirror . You could record yourself with your phone to see what you look like .

But I am going to tell you you're going to be your own worst critic , and so I don't often hand that advice out . Take it with a grain of salt , if that's the direction you want to go , and remember that you're always going to be your own worst critic . It's like trying on swimsuits . You're never , ever going to find one that you're like oh , that's just amazing . Nine times out of 10 , you're going to find something wrong with every single one . You're going to pick the one with the least amount of problems . You're going to walk out in it and other people are going to say wow , that's amazing , you look great . Right , it's just the way we're built , so know that you're going to be your own worst critic and give yourself a little bit of grace . Another thing , though , that I think we don't utilize often enough that's a great preparation and rehearsal for presenting is closing your eyes and imagining yourself giving the presentation . You don't have to be able to imagine it word for word , you just kind of fill in the blanks again with that bulleted list , you've probably kind of got it memorized in your mind already . Just imagine yourself talking through it .

Now , if you've been in my get the job program , you've heard this story . There was a research study done and I'm going to try to cite it for you in the show notes , if I can find it again . The finding is going to be the tricky part , but it went something like this They took three different groups of subjects and assigned them the task of increasing muscle mass . One group was assigned heavy weightlifting exercises to do I don't know it was every day or something . The second group and y'all I'm paraphrasing this and I'm going from memory , so it shouldn't be exactly right , but you'll get the gist The second group was tasked with doing some moderate weightlifting and kind of you know in every other day sort of situation . And then the last group was not given any weightlifting exercises to do and instead were only told to visualize building muscle mass . At the end of that study , the group that did heavy weightlifting of course gained the most muscle mass , but the middle and the bottom groups so the ones that did moderate weightlifting and the ones that visualized hang pretty close to the same gains And they talked a lot about just kind of that mind over matter , the power of visualization and actually changing your body chemistry somewhat .

There's some real stuff to that . In the performing arts we do that all the time . We have mental rehearsals all the time . If you ever walk backstage in a concert hall sometimes you'll notice this , even on football games on TV . The guys will walk in with their headphones on and they look like they're in another dimension . Some of them are zoning out , trying to calm themselves down , but some of them are mentally rehearsing . Some of them are visualizing the place and how they're going to attack their jobs out on the field . Visualize yourself when you are doing some mindless things brushing your teeth , cleaning out the bathtub , maybe like when you're laying down at night to go to bed . It's an awesome time to visualize your presentation .

Second , i think engaging with your staff , with your audience , is a huge leg up in your presentation skills . A lot of people just kind of look at you , but they're looking through you , if that makes sense . There's not any intentional eye contact there , which is a shame , because when I'm in a room with a presenter that gives genuine eye contact , i feel it I want to pay attention and listen to more of what they have to say . Kind of establish eye contact with people in different areas of the room . Don't linger in one spot . Don't just look at the people directly in front of you . Work the room a little bit and you don't have to necessarily acknowledge them much , but just make that eye contact . It will make a big difference . You're just like your counseling skills right . A student's not going to feel like you're talking to them if you're looking at the corner while you're talking . You've got to look at them .

Second , i will just tell you from a quarter of a century in education now , half the room , while you're giving these presentations , they're not even thinking about what you're talking about . They're thinking about bullets and boards . They're thinking about lesson plans . They're only half listening to what's going on anyway . No offense . If they had the option , they probably wouldn't be there , right ? So don't get too wrapped up in trying to think about what they're thinking .

A lot of times we're giving presentations . We're trying to read our audience , right . We're trying to figure out what they think about our content . Are they appreciating us ? Do they think we're completely lame ? What's going on ? And trying to decipher that , especially in a teacher audience , is dang near impossible . It is just almost impossible to do . And remember too that if they're not looking at you it doesn't mean they're not listening or they don't care . They might just have a different learning style .

It reminds me of back when I was years and years and years ago , when I was a high school student , we had a performing ensemble that would travel around town and we would recreate pop songs for audiences . We would sing our little hearts out , y'all this is back in the days when we had microphones that still had chords . We had to plug everything in , you know , and so we were singing and dancing around and jumping over these chords . And , oh my gosh , i still , when I think about it now , i don't even know how we did that , but anyway it was pretty cool , and we would travel all around town . We get requested all the time to go put on a performance somewhere , and every time we would ask who's the audience . And if we were ever told well , you're going to perform at a teacher meeting or a teacher banquet or a teacher appreciation lunch we would all just groan and say , oh no , because we knew that teachers were the worst audiences . Sorry , if there are any teachers listening to this , i'm sure you're the exception , but as a general rule , teachers are the worst audiences . I don't know what it is about them . Maybe things have changed in the years since I've been in high school , but I would say that probably still rings pretty true based on my experiences . Teachers are just not eager audiences . They have too many other things going on , too many things on their mind . So don't get wrapped up in worrying about what they're thinking or how they perceive you . Just continue making that eye contact , continue being personable as you're talking , with your prepared presentation , but not reading off the slides , and you'll be fine .

Third , i would say your breathing and your body language are going to be very important , not only for the perception of you as a presenter but your own feelings about yourself . So deep breathing before you present , you know , is going to help you regulate and lower your anxiety levels . It just is . It's that parasympathetic nervous system . You're bringing things back down home and into center , right . So some deep breathing , some grounding exercises can really help you when you know that your return to bat is coming up . Second , lower your voice pitch as you're talking , and this is something that's great that you can do when you're practicing your presentation as well , especially if you're female . We tend to go into a much higher pitched voice when we are nervous or stressed , so it becomes really important for us to really breathe from down , deep in that diaphragm , really speak through the full resonance of our voices and not get trapped in that upper register . It's also going to make you sound like you know what you're talking about a whole lot more , as well as calming you down too .

Presentation Confidence and Tips

Third , when you walk up to the front of the room or whatever it is you're presenting , as you present yourself , before you start speaking , walk into that space like you own it . Fake it if you have to . This is your time . You can regulate as you walk . So you're not rushing , you're not shuffling to hurry up and get there . You're taking your time , you're maintaining an open posture as you walk and you're owning that room . Then , as you begin your presentation , maintain that open posture . Don't cross your arms across your chest and start to talk Don't you know kind of cave in and fade into yourself . Own this , own this presentation , own your amazingness and remember you have a freaking master's degree in mental health . I mean , just take a minute and think about what it took you to get to this point All of the schooling , all of the papers , all of the studying , all of the tests , all of the comprehensive exams Freaking , own this material . So go prove it . Go prove it and I promise you if you can walk in with that mindset , you are going to be amazing Y'all .

It is so normal to be nervous before a presentation . Even as a performing artist , i get nervous sometimes when I'm going into some new situations or unique situations for presentations . I can remember even in our School for School Counselors Facebook group , before doing like a Facebook Live video back in 2020 , i legit would sit at my desk and psych myself up for probably 30 minutes trying to get up the courage to push the button to stream . It was a lot And so I get it . I've been there . I felt those feelings . If you can push through it and you can try these things , i think it's really going to help your confidence . So prepare and practice , not only overtly , like you're going to do it the day of , but in your mind . Right that mental rehearsal . Engage with your audience , use your eye contact , work the room , make some connections , make some nonverbal connections , and remember that your staff may not be looking at you That doesn't mean they don't care . And then , third , regulating your breathing , your breath and your body language , so deep breathing before you go up , using your breath to lower your voice , pitch , to not only regulate yourself but to help convey expertise to your audience and own the room as you move . Try them for your next presentation , see if I'm right , see if it doesn't help you And if you have a presentation like this coming up .

You know a lot of you do like meet the counselor or something like that . I have one I do every year . That's called What does the school counselor do all day and why should I care ? That's the one that I present to my staff and I show them all my stats from the previous year all the hours of time spent in individual counseling and parent meetings and 504 meetings , all the things , all the things . I put all the stats up on a screen and it never fails to get the most rewarding gas rewarding for me to see my staff finally go , oh right , i just love it .

But anyway , if you have a presentation like that coming up , we actually have a template in our mastermind library meet the counselor templates where you can go in . You can just pop your information in there , really quick and easy , super colorful and bright and cute , with enough information on those slides to keep you kind of on track and where you need to go , but not so much that you're going to be reading off of them , right , and that can be used for staff presentations , presentations to parents , you name it . Or some of you are doing videos on your school website . This can help you craft that as well . That's in our mastermind library and guys , we are enrolling people in this mastermind like crazy right now . It is so cool to see this thing growing and taking off and seeing the connections and relationships that folks are making inside .

You've heard me talk about it quite a bit on the podcast . I'm not going to go into a whole bunch about it today , but if you'd like more information . You can head over to our website schoolforschoolcounselorscom . Slash mastermind . You can get all the information , what it looks like when you get in there , what's included , how to join .

And I'm telling you right now , even if you don't feel like you're much of a joiner , even if you're kind of an introverted soul you don't really like putting yourself out there and meeting and jumping into things where you don't know people you're going to want to try this . So black screen is fine , muted mic is fine . Come jump in with us anyway . We just want you to soak up all the goodness . We want you to build your fluency and expertise So when people talk to you on campus about their concerns , you have some potential solutions . If they ask you for your thoughts , you have them and you're ready to go . We want you to be a thought leader on your campus . We want it to be very obvious that you know your craft and you know the way we get better at anything is to practice right Over and over and over again , and one of the easiest ways to do that is inside of our support and consultation chats in the mastermind . So if you want to next level your school counseling here , come join us . We'd love to have you in the mastermind .

All right , my friend , i hope this helps your presentation skills . I hope it helps take a little bit of the edge off right . I don't want you thinking about calling in sick . I'm having a nervous tummy the night before you have to present . Some of you are laughing because you've never been in that situation , but a lot of you , i know , struggle with it , and if I , as a performing artist , have had those moments , i know we're all having them . So holler at me if you try these . Let me know what works for you . I'd be really interested to know . Hop on our School for School Counselors Facebook group . Tell me all about it . All right , i'll be back very soon with another episode of the School for School Counselors podcast . Until then , i hope you have a refreshing summer . Hopefully have a few weeks left before you hop back into the daily grind And I'm going to love watching you jump in the new school year . I'm going to be right here to support you all the way . Have the best week , take care .