If there is one skill we learn as architects and designers, it's how to talk. We know how to dress up our ideas and present them eloquently and compellingly. As a result, we sometimes build a tricky habit of winging presentations. This happens in school and in professional practice. Most of the time it turns out well, especially for those more seasoned practitioners. 

I remember the first time I went to a client presentation when I was just starting out. A colleague of mine and myself had worked diligently on a project for a lucrative client. On the presentation day one of the principals was going to present the design scheme to this client. We briefed him on the work we had done for maybe 5 minutes or so before the meeting. To my colleague and I this concept was very complex and nuanced, after all, it took us two weeks to figure out. 

In that 2 weeks this principal maybe spent about 2 hours of time working with us on this project (which is totally fine, this is to prove to the point), but when we went into the meeting I was astonished at how much he was able to articulate about the work we had done, he was able to answer all of the questions the client had, and in most cases explained it better than my colleague and I could. I will never forget that meeting, and after that, I saw this again and again from this particular principal. Granted, he has about 4 decades of experience.

For the rest of us less-seasoned professionals going in with no kind of prior planning or rehearsal can be a risky move. At the very least, follow this one small tip before a presentation:

Write out your thoughts

In The Architecture Student's Guide to Presentations we talked in depth on how to approach a presentation in school. With this bit, however, writing your thoughts down can come in many forms. It could be merely writing a stream-of-consciousness monologue of what your work is about. It could be an outline of the points you want to hit. It could be flash cards. The main key here is the physical action of writing down what it is you want to articulate. It will force you to organize your thoughts and save you from the cringe worthy "uhs and ums" we all want to avoid. 

Give it a try. Even if it's just bullet points, anything to organize your thoughts will do you well, especially if the current approach is to simply go up and improvise.