Her hands had shaken for 20 years. Then something remarkable happened.

She was a good presenter, confident, and had been a top marketeer for 20 years.

"Yes, I'm pretty confident," she said. "But I don't enjoy it. Whenever I present, my hands shake. A LOT. Yeah, I'd love it if you could stop my hands shaking."

And indeed, when she presented, her hands shook. At the end of her first presentation, which lasted about five minutes, I asked her how it went.

"That was fine, but my hands shook. They're still shaking."

"OK," I said. "I want you to present just to me, forget the rest of the room, but I want you to really look to connect. To help you, I'll interact and ask questions."

She started presenting.

"Today I'm here to talk to you about..."

"No, talk to me," I said.

She started again.

"Hi."

"Hello..."

"How you doing?"

"Good, thanks..."

"Yeah, so..."

And on she went. I might have interjected one more time, when she asked a question. Otherwise, she was the only speaker.

At the end of three minutes, she stopped speaking. I'd understood everything. Moreover, for the first time I'd felt emotionally invested, in other words, I actually cared about her story and her business challenge.

She looked at her hands.

"Look," she said. "They're not shaking. That's the first time in 20 years."

Twenty years of shaking hands. And in three minutes, something had fundamentally changed.

We hadn't worked on breathing, posture, vocal projection or any of the other techniques that traditionally populate presentation skills courses (and which I should do have immense value).

She'd stopped presenting at me and started talking to me.

She was explaining rather than performing. She naturally slowed down as she instinctively measured her pace to match my ability to process information. She could breathe, be present and explain.

She and the room were profoundly moved by her rapid transformation. We then discussed how she could repeat this. After all, while it's nice to experience the profound advantages of connection, it'd be nicer still to be able to call it up at will.

"Essentially, it's about mindset and intent. You have to make your communication about your audience. You have to want to connect, then with empathy and humility, lean in."

"Yeah, yeah. I get that. But what's the quickest way to connect?"

Good question. So here are three things you can try the next time you present.

1. Stop presenting. Start talking.

Imagine you're explaining your idea to one interested person rather than delivering a presentation to an audience. Use the language you'd naturally use in conversation and focus on helping them understand rather than remembering what comes next.

2. Make it about them, not you.

Before you speak, ask yourself: What do these people really need from me? Not what do I want to tell them, but what would be genuinely useful, interesting or valuable to them? The more attention you give your audience, the less you'll have left for worrying about yourself.

3. Look for connection, not perfection.

Don't measure success by whether you remembered every word or delivered every slide perfectly. Notice how people are responding, whether they're following you and, most importantly, whether they care. Be prepared to adapt, respond and occasionally surrender control.

Because the goal isn't to be a perfect presenter. It's to be a human being worth listening to.