It is amazing how many speakers appear bored when making a presentation. There they are, up in front of a crowd with a golden opportunity to impart knowledge, create excitement or persuade a group to embrace a new idea and yet … they look as if they’d rather be almost anywhere else. Bored. Listless. Resentful.

You don’t have to be a motivational speaker to have permission to be passionate and enthusiastic about your topic. If you’re excited about what you have to say, show it. If, on the other hand, you aren’t passionate about your topic but you have to deliver the speech anyway, there’s only one thing to do: fake it.

Yes, I really mean that. Fake it till you make it.

Of course, if you’re not engaged in the topic, you probably shouldn’t be making the presentation in the first place, but there are many times when speakers, salesmen, lawyers and supervisors are forced to make speeches or give seminars against their will. In those instances, if the choice is between showing a lack of energy or displaying an enthusiasm that you don’t really feel, go with the fake-out every time:  Fake. It.

Energy is contagious, yes. But the reverse is also true. If you can’t muster any energy for your presentation, how do you expect anyone else to?