When you’re pretty good at something it can be easy to get into a comfortable spot and stay there. It happens to me about once a week, when I’m sitting there thinking, ‘That went rather well. God I’m good…’ and for those 15 seconds of warmth and complacency, all is rather nice with the world….
Philip Larkin, late, lonely, lovely English poet, wrote a short and bitter little thing that leads us into why so much rubbish is spouted to us by people who really should know better. ‘This be the Verse’… They F*** you up your Mum and Dad’ They do not mean to but they do, They fill you…
It’s your instrument and most people don’t really know how to play it. 1. Rehearse in the place where you’ll make your speech if you can, it makes a full dress rehearsal and readies you for the real thing. If you can’t use the venue, use somewhere like it. 2. Project to people at the…
Role models, free lessons, blogs and other ways of keeping you sharp. 1. Watch the way that TV news (anything but CNN where there’s just too much going on) tells a story with graphics, text and voice. 2. Look at the structure of a story in a newspaper, notice the headline, the grabber first paragraph…
Remember that the first 2 minutes are the point at which you have the audience’s full attention, use it to full effect. 1. Contact as many people as you can before the date and ask them what they want to get out of the session, what they’d like to know and what they don’t want….
1. Call the venue to specify how you’d like the room set up well before the event, confirm in writing after the discussion and expect that it won’t be done when you get there. 2. Arrange to show up early on the day to check out the room set-up and that all of the equipment…
Paul had just finished his presentation and the room was dead. His boss, a notorious bully, said, when asked, if he had any questions, “Yes, I’ve got a question for you. What was the last half hour about?” Paul said “Er, what do you mean? I’ve just told you haven’t I?” Boss said, “No, you…
It will help you to get the most out of this blog, if you have a clear picture in your mind of the kind of presenter you are now vs the Fit, Focus & Flair model we use in our work with our world-class clients. If you’re committed to improving your presentation skills, I’d like…
Steve was a guy I worked with many years ago and he was a great role-model as a presenter. He showed me that it’s OK to look to amuse your audience as long as there’s a serious point lurking in the background and he taught me the value of a story to make a powerful…