Learn how to deliver Sticky Presentations–Try the R.A.T.E.R. technique

                        

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

 1. Battle your fear of speaking by being thoroughly prepared. Know your material and trust your ability to communicate it to the audience. In addition, take the time to practice and get feedback on the presentation. As Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a habit”. You have a captive audience so take advantage and deliver a powerful and meaningful speech. 

 2. Act Natural and be authentic. Leave audience wanting more and with a positive impression of your flexibility, openness and responsiveness to their concerns and needs. Remember the audience is on your side they want you to succeed.  

 3. Present things aligned with who you are what you do well; don’t try to fake it or “make stuff up” MSU’s are out. 

4. Don’t gesture for the sake of gesturing.  There must be a reason for your gestures and they need to connect to what you are saying.

 5. Show the private person who is relaxed and confident in conversations. Bring that same confident style to the public stage. Start with high energy and get to the point and close with enthusiasm. 

6. Bring relevance, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness to the presentation. (RATER)

The Art of Caring Confrontation-Solutions for Fort Hood and Columbine shootings?

“When everyone in an organization accepts responsibility, shows respect and holds each other accountable to do the right thing through caring confrontation, everyone wins.” Gus Blanchard

One of the most overwhelming negative feelings a person can have is that of being put-down and shunned. The outsider feels alienated and lonely, not being accepted, loved, or respected by others. Such mental maps and feelings can have a major effect on the way a person views the worth of their lives and how they interact with their culture and fellow citizens. Let’s look at two recent mass shootings– Walter Reed-Fort Hood and Columbine.

Negotiators–Creating Win-Win Agreements

” Whenever people exchange ideas with the intention of changing relationships, whenever they confer for agreement, they are negotiating.”  Gerald Nierenberg, author of Fundamentals of Negotiating 

What do you think of or visualize when you hear that organizations, two CEO’s or a husband and wife are negotiating such and such…? Most research says that most of us think of a formal process of trying to win an argument, win the contract, or play the game of “tough guys don’t back down” and use an aggressive approach to get our way. Most of us experience these interactions as hostile, conflict riddled, or end in I win-you lose game. 

Critical Conversation Tool: Socratic Questioning

Socrates once said, “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” Have you ever experienced the Socratic way of teaching–asking participatative questions to challenge learners to think and discover the answers? This method gets people more involved in learning through critical thinking and makes the learning more relevant to their lives. Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning.  Socrates stated that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching. It illuminates the difference between systematic and fragmented thinking. It teaches us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas and not just memorize stuff for regurgitation on an exam. It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds to cultivate deep learning. The art of Socratic questioning is intimately connected with learning because the art of questioning is important to the excellence of thought. What the word “Socratic” adds to the art of questioning is depth and interest in assessing the truth or  information about others and the situations they are confronting. Other people are afraid that by asking questions they will look weak, ignorant, or unsure. They like to give the impression that they are decisive and in command of the relevant issues. They fear that asking questions might introduce uncertainty or show them as uninformed or incompetent. They like being perceived as the expert. In fact, asking questions is a sign of strength and intelligence – not a sign of weakness or uncertainty. Great leaders constantly ask questions from many different people and are well aware that they do not have all the answers. Some people are in such a hurry to get things done that they do not stop to ask questions because it might slow them down. They risk rushing headlong into the wrong actions.