Many years ago when I was about 15, I was at a new school where the kids were much bigger than me.

This scared me, so I tried to be like the other kids, in the hope that they would stop singling me out. But one day, I was in the office of Dr. Wiehl, one of my favorite teachers of all time. While we were in the middle of talking about something else, she leaned over her desk, looked me straight in the eye, and said, very sternly, “Matt, you are not like the other kids. If you try to be like them, you are guaranteed to fail.”

Note that she did not say “highly likely” to fail. She said “guaranteed” to fail.

I’ve never forgotten that. And even now, decades later, I’m grateful to Dr. Wiehl for knocking some sense into me before I went astray.

Here’s what this has to do with your presentations:

Remember that, when others in the business world are presenting, they tend to eliminate all reference to themselves, to anonymize their presentations as much as they can.

I’ve never understood why this is the norm, but it seems to be, and it’s almost universal.

Fortunately, it’s very easy for you to stand out in an environment like that.

Put some details about yourself into your presentation.

You don’t have to, and probably should not, make your presentation about yourself. But sprinkle some small details about yourself into your presentation. Step out of your comfort zone. That alone will, almost always, make you not like the others.

This breaks the pattern, and therefore your audience will pay more attention to you, even though they are not quite sure why.