Dr. Mark’s Ten Rules for Creating and delivering Transformational Presentations Using InsideOut Formula:

The greatest thing I’ve got going for me is my ability to believe in other people’s talents. I am a feedback mirror because I hear and see people doing things they can’t hear or see themselves doing. Every great communicator needs that kind of feedback or they will not be stimulated to change or grow.  Having confidence in yourself is important, but it helps to have someone who believes in you, too, whether it’s a spouse, a friend, a teacher, or even a coach. To be a great a presenter takes “Truth telling” which begins with courage and belief in yourself. So if you want to come across to your audience as authentic practice daily the actions listed in my “ten rules for presenting” they will speak volumes of who you really are and transform a speech into a transformation experience.

Dr. Mark’s Ten Rules for Creating and delivering Transformational Presentations Using InsideOut Formula:                                             

1. Be clear and concise, confident and compelling about your goals for the presentation.Don’t present anything you won’t want to sit through yourself

2. Learn that “Connecting with Others” is more about you than the audience. Do you believe in what you are presenting? Are you comfortable in presenting ideas and information to others?

3. Believe in your self—Know your strengths and use them. This will allow you the freedom to overcome nervousness and self-doubts.

4. Know nothing will bother or interfere with your performance and your ability to stay on message and in the moment.

5. Radiate and Resonate. Love what you are doing and your audience.—Be confident responsive and respectful. Your radiance is coming from the pure, utter joy of feeling alive–of being connected to your message and the audience.

6. Speak with passion–be energized and excited that you get the privilege of presenting  what you know that can help the audience members live a more fulfilling life.

7. Stay focused but flexible on audience interests, needs and engagement.

8. Be natural and authentic—Don’t try to hard to be someone you are not or say things you don’t believe.

9. Don’t worry about evaluations and results of the presentation. Stay in the moment observe, respond and focus on the process of conveying your message and connecting with the audience.

10. Seek feedback on how you are meeting expectations as you are presenting—use checkpoints

11. Close with a bang. Check for understanding. Wave the flag. Call for commitment, change and action

Extra Idea for getting ready to speak– Use “relaxation and release” tools to start in a great state of mind and energy…   be open to whatever arises.

Want to be a “Sticky” presenter focus on making your communication visible and tangible

We have reviewed and explained how to use the R.A.T.E.R. checklist  tool for more effective and “sticky” presentations in another blog on the Wick

R. Relevant to experience and daily lives of participants. Tap into their needs and wants. Meet their expectations to learn something they can use.

A. Assurance that your ideas have merit and basis in fact and experience–make your case evidence based with best practices woven in to emotional solutions.

T. Create a message that is Tangible ( concrete, specific and practical) not a high level theory. Keep message simple. appeals to sensory and visual needs of the audience. Let them discover the answers. Make the message tangible or concrete by using physical objects and specific fact-based evidence.

E. Focus on showing empathy and understanding of the audience POV by telling emotional and feeling stories. Meet expectations and tap into members experience through involvement and interaction.

R. Be responsive to audience questions, skepticism and challenges.  Use CPR technique (clarify mis-understandings, paraphrase and restate audience comments and input, reflect audience feelings and degree of support or disagreement) and active listening to connect with the audience. For example, when you are asked  for opinion deflect question to the group to stimulate discussion and generate ideas. Then summarize comments and agreements/disagreements  before giving your expert advise or opinions on the topic being discussed.

In the book Made to Stick, the Heath brothers argue that concreteness or tangibility “helps us understand– it helps us construct… insights on the building blocks of our existing knowledge and perceptions.” They suggest that tangible or concrete ideas “stick” better and are easier to remember and spreed to others. Nothing lends concreteness to ideas more obviously than the use of  physical objects or specific scientific-based  evidence.

A physical object is something tangible that the presenter brings forward to show and let them touch during the presentation—it can be a book, rock, picture or factual idea. The reason to use one is if its presence lends more concreteness and provides more interaction and discussion to your presentation. Does the physical object make something clear that is confusing? Does the a tangible provide and reinforce a visual explanation of something abstract? Does the physical model or fact  make your presentation more grounded in reality rather than theory? Use it only if you answered yes to those three questions. Don’t use a physical object or concrete fact in a casual way. Use it as a center piece of your presentation to connect and engage the audience.

Make it Memorable

Now in order to be an idea virus or something audience members will want to go out and tell others about you must also make your message memorable, clear, concise and compelling. Demonstrations, physical object and startling facts can create some of the most dynamic, memorable moments in a presentation. Audiences are very likely to remember the prop you used, and what you did with it, so don’t stumble in your presentation or your risk will not be worth the benefit you were seeking. Ensure that your tangible object has a dynamic, unforgettable purpose in your presentation. If there’s a chance it’s going to be perceived as a gimmick or fall flat with the audience, or its purpose is not relevant enough to the topic at hand, don’t use it.

When presentations disappoint, one cause most likely starts with a failure to recognize that presentations are two-way communication processes and that boredom comes quickly when audience members get lost on too much information or you have not painted or provide reality based tangibles for the audience members to engage and interact with.

Consider ways a Tangible can strengthen and intensify your presentation. If you’re speaking about a device, it’s fitting to show the audience the device at the beginning of your pitch. If you’re reporting a statistic, it’s very effective to make the visual “stick” by bring out a tangible object. Be creative! Have fun with it. And take the risk to enhance your performance and message please share your stories with the rest of the Wick Community.

Winning from Within: To be experienced as a “sticky presenter” learn about “thin slicing” concept and other ideas.

 

You will gain tremendous credibility, become much more believable, facilitate your audience understanding and engagement if you look one audience member in the eyes and provide a clear, concise and compelling message. Instead of leaving audience members shaking their heads and saying to their neighbor “I don’t have any idea what he just said.”  “Experts” who use jargon and acronomes to communicate bold ideas generally leave audience members in the dark, disinterested and bored.

Malcolm Gladwell touches on this phenomenon in his book, Blink. He talks about “thin-slicing,” or “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.” He explains how too much or too complicated slides can cloud an individual’s ability to accurately analyze a situation, and how an excellent communicator needs to be concise and clear in presenting their message or suffer the I don’t care what you are saying reaction. In other words, mini-impressions do count. And although you never get a second chance to make a first impression, you do get a chance to make your next presentation understandable and clear to your audience. It will help you build your credibility and connection with the audience.

Three Other Strategies for “winning from within”:

Capture your audience’s attention. Think about one of your favorite presenters? What style or techniques did they use draw you in — humor, tangibles, relevance, emotions, surprise, or something else? Think about how you could incorporate strategies and techniques into your next important presentation.

Convey a clear and compelling message. Consider the key message for your audience. What do you want to try and convey to engage and connect with them, and how are you going to use your connection with audience members to generate curiosity and aqttention? How are you going to frame the message to make your point sticky and meet the audience needs? Now, think about your own messaging — what is the most critical takeaway you would like the audience to understand and receive? How might you deliver your message to ensure your audience walks away with this understanding and commitment to take action?

Focus on differentiation. Think about what distinguishes the best communicators from the rest. How does the speaker use his presentation to connect with people in a unique way? What sets you apart from other speakers? How can you stick and highlight your distinctive message?

When you combine these three elements, you’ve got the potential for a persuasive “hotspot.” The key is having these components ready so that you can recall them under the pressure of giving a speech or presentation. To access these elements on the spot will require mental toughness and calmness. For example, the best presenters are always prepared to connect with the audience by thinking quickly on their feet and changing their address to fit the needs of the moment. Similarly, the best leaders often are not those who provide the most data, or speak the loudest or longest but are those who speak in a memorable and inspiring way over and over again.

Our world is filled with noise, information, distractions and rules; so having someone’s undivided attention — even for 60 seconds — is an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. If you can use those 60 seconds to capture their attention, deliver your message, and distinguish yourself from others, you’re likely to be heard, understood, and remembered. What presenter  wouldn’t want that? Remember: never let the rules over-rule your common sense and intuition as a communicator. 

Part 1: How Negative Perceptions and Bias triggered Zimmerman to shoot?

The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”  Marcel Proust

One youth dead, neighborhood watch citizen goes free. Everyone wants to know how and why did this shooting happen? One reason maybe that Zimmerman’s past experiences and his negative perceptions of black youths as thugs and therefore automatically dangerous to him and his gated community neighbors. He never learned how to balance his negative filters that colored his  experiences with black youth. What if he saw black youths in a more bright, optimistic and flexible light.  Instead he focused on the dark, pessimistic and inflexible thinking that constantly reminded  him that black youths are people who were always causing trouble and needed to be feared. 

Almost every creature comes into world more wired for negativity than positivity or optimism. Why? Fight or flight response. Say you’re wandering through the woods and you fail to notice the pretty wildflowers under your feet. Inconvenient perhaps, but not catastrophic. Now imagine that the thing under your feet is a rattlesnake. Fail to notice this, and its good night, Mark. Which is why we give the bad things in our lives so much more attention than the good ones—a phenomenon known as a negativity bias. The more you defy your innate negativity bias, building from your strengths, finding relief by looking at things from a more positive frame, and embracing delight wherever you can, the more you become stronger in controlling your own way in life. The impact of optimism  of one person living in acceptance of good things happening in life are immense. Become that person, and you’ll find that in spite of everything, when their is positivity in your life you will experience more happiness and positive interpersonal relationships.  It won’t necessarily change the reality of the situation, but the positiviness has a strong ripple effect on anyone coming in touch with you.

Most research on perception and thinking show how your memory of the past helps you determine what to pay attention to in the present but does not lock you into forever thinking that way. Checkout the 10 irrational thoughts that cause people trouble by Dr Albert Ellis. Recognizing faces or race is a simple way to distinguish friends from strangers without a thorough background check each time you encounter someone. We all use this function in perceiving our environment so we are not overwhelmed with too much information. We use this discriminating perceptual process to distinguish different types of birds or poison berries from edible ones. This is a good use of this perceptual function but we also use it as a short-cut for identification and discrimination of people and this can be a bad way to us this function depending on the situation an ensuing action.

We unconsciously make unfortunate  emotional investment in things that have happened to us in the past creating a closed, inflexible mindset that all “black youths wearing baggy pants and a hoody” spell trouble. According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his popular book Blink, many of our life decisions and especially social interactions are based on little information that are generalized to specific situations almost in an automatic way.

Almost every creature comes into world more wired for negativity than positivity or optimism. Why? Fight or flight response. Say you’re wandering through the woods and you fail to notice the pretty wildflowers under your feet. Inconvenient perhaps, but not catastrophic. Now imagine that the thing under your feet is a rattlesnake. Fail to notice this, and its good night, Mark. Which is why we give the bad things in our lives so much more attention than the good ones—a phenomenon known as a negativity bias.

The more you defy your innate negativity bias, building from your strengths, finding relief, and embracing delight wherever you can, the more you become stronger in controlling your own way in life. The impact of optimism  of one person living in acceptance of good things happening in life are immense. Become that person, and you’ll find that in spite of everything, when their is positivity in your life you will experience more happiness and positive interpersonal relationships.  It won’t necessarily change the reality of the situation, but the positiviness has a strong ripple effect on anyone coming in touch with you.

My hypothesis is that Zimmerman, the shooter, may have used irrational beliefs based on past experiences in his encounter with Travon. When he saw Travon, on that raining night, he inaccurately identify someone as a “no good black youth up to no good” the hoody reinforced his suspicion and led to a self-fulfilling prophecy that this person was dangerous and something bad was going to happen any moment. With this expectation in mind he called 911 and began to actively pursue this dangerous person, even though he was told not to follow or pursue and wait for the police to arrive. He  expected to see danger or a possible attack, just as you do when you look at every plant expecting to see poison ivy or poison mushrooms. Past experience can set your filters up to see in either a positive, optimistic or negative, pessimistic light. Automatic filters are necessary, otherwise, your life would be bogged down in the need to resolve every minute doubt, prepare for every possible situation. But Zimmerman’s maladaptive thinking may have led him to belief that Travon, a young black man, signaled trouble and possible danger to him and his neighbors. These triggers led him to make a snap judgment based on past experiences. For example, when you listen to the 911 audiotapes of  Zimmerman with police authorities you hear his negative triggers and fears at work, he said something like these type of punks usually get away with breaking-in or doing harm and it wasn’t going to happen again on his watch. If in the past he had a positive past experiences with black youths his automatic “fight response” may not have been triggered and his snap judgment and action based on fear might have been stopped. Thus, averting the terrible shooting that left one person dead and the shooters life in shambles. If he had reacted in a more positive automatic filter or perception he might have seen the situation in a different light that would have made Travon’s and his life happier and help him to see the best in a person wearing a hoody and walking down the sidewalk in his gated community in a more neutral way as an ordinary citizen to be respect and treated with dignity.

So how do you in the moment of decision stop or block the negative triggers in your mind from putting you and other people in harm’s way and advert a dangerous encounter. By challenging your negative triggers and past experience which lead to negative stereotypes, poor decision-making and inappropriate actions. It is a thinking process I call the STOP. CHALLENGE. REFLECT. ACT. LEARN. REPEAT. learning cycle that gives you time to overcome your impulses and automatic behavior. I will cover how to STOP negative bias and impulsive actions more on my next post. Thanks and I hope this post provides some ideas on why this tragedy took place in Florida. We can all do better. Just STOP and Challenge our irrational thinking before acting.

Death by “boring” presentations and how to Eliminate them

“Speech is power. Speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” Ralph Emerson

 When you have a captive audience take advantage of the opportunity, do not bore them to death. Presentations are critical in promoting your ideas and advancing your career. Presentations are a wonderful platform for capturing people’s attention, interest and changing their point of views. It is one of the few mediums that if used properly contain the human interaction  necessary for changing and promoting new ideas and behaviors. Yet with the innovation of PowerPoint and other presentation templates the opportunity to make a ” unique connection” is generally lost or squandered on uninteresting and boring lectures.  

Most presentations today could be finished in five minutes by simply handing out your deck of slides.  Most rules of “adult learning” are violated in boring presentations. For example, some speakers try to influence you by “telling and selling” rather than engaging and connecting with the audience needs and wants. These type of presentations end-up being speaker and content centered rather than audience-centered.

So the question becomes if presentations are so boring and unproductive, why do we continue to have meetings and presentations that are obviously a waste of time and resources?

Critical Factor for Creating Trust as a Leader and Organization: DWYSYWD–Case Study ACE Hardware

Quote – ” Helpful is our business–Caring is our commitment” . Then prove it in every interaction with your customers because your integrity and trust are on the line.” MW Hardwick 

 

Recently, I had an interaction with a hardware store. Specifically, ACE Hardware over a warranty problem and found myself in a “moment of truth” situation for executing their corporate motto of  ” Helpful is our Business – Caring is our Commitment.” The core issue was a simple one:  would they do what is necessary to create what they promise excellence in customer service.  After many phone calls to the store and many more to corporate headquarters, (two unanswered e-mails and a letter to CEO of ACE) and hours of talking to the manufacture who but up bureaucratic hurdle after hurdle so as to not have to meet their promise to honor the warranty. Needless to say my frustration boiled over. I was caught in a trap of trying to solve their internal requirements and non-responsiveness to my situation.  This incident which is still unresolved after nine days demonstrates to me the increasing frequency of people saying they will do something by a certain time, but failing to actually follow through and do it. I am sure you have had similar problems with one of your recent buying experiences. Dealing with a business that promises to “help and care” and then does neither breaks trust and sends buyers to their competitors. I will never shop at ACE again and I recommend they change their motto to: “We don’t care, so don’t ask”.  

This experience took me back to one of the key factors I teach in a our seminars and to business students–How do you to instill trust in others.  The simple and customer friendly answer is be dependable and do what you say you will do… When you say you are going to do something–do it to the best of your ability. Give the task 100%. If you run into problems or find yourself in a bind don’t run and hide or stay stuck–Ask for help. In other words in a very tangible and responsive way DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO. PERIOD.The short handed “maxim” which is easy to remember is –DWYSYWD.

When you let others know your word can be counted you are making a personal commitment of time and effort to “walk the talk”. This is a powerful and credible way to build long and trusting relationships. The principle establishes the credibility that is needed for you to be experienced as a leader who everyday earns on a person to person level their trust and commitment to focus on the activities that are crucial to accomplishing goals of the organization. For me the reality of acting on your commitment is the critical factor of this principle not the words you speak. A credible leader learns how not to just communicate shared values and visions but actually can be trusted to do what they say they will do. This forms a bond of  trust that creates strong teams and inspires people not to work just in their own best interest but to acknowledge nothing gets done without the support and trust of their colleagues. 

Creating Trusted Business Relationships: Be a Person for Others

Daily Quote: ”I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson, First African American Major League baseball player

“The friendships which last are those wherein each friend respects the other’s dignity to the point of not really wanting anything from him.”- Cyril Connolly

Reflection:

Core of Respect for others is a mindset that fosters building effective and long-term trusting relationships.  In this instance, it involves listening to and understanding the other person, noticing details about them and their situation, and then taking an active role in doing something about it. I really consider this to be a strong Quality of worklife (QWL) culture where respect + solution oriented action =friendship and loyalty. Taking action is about participating rather than observing which is essentially communicating disinterest or not caring behavior. Unique connected behavior has the benefit of the concept many are calling purpose-centered behavior which is the reward system for doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Everything we do, say and act on has a reaction –there are no neutral moves. Because we are connected, almost as quickly as one positive happens the next is sure to follow. This concept is so important, it will change the way you think and do things indefinitely as well as everyone you come into contact with.

Call for Action: What can you to today to create trust and respect at your work place?  Use the Stop-Think-Do technique to get started in creating a more respectful climate and more trusted relationships.   

Part 1–Art and Science of Presentology

” …the key question for Mastery: is the potential for mastery innate or just hard work ? …How  anyone can commit to 10,000 hours of deliberative practice… the difficulty is how anyone can motivate themselves for 10000 hours of grueling deliberative practice” ? Boscoh

Four Pillars of Presentology–Designing and Delivering Extraordinary Presentations

Successful Strategies for “Winning from Within”

1. Message

2. Methods

3. Mechanics

4. Mental

So what makes a Master Presenter? I didn’t create any kind of scientific ranking while making my choices, but did consider five criteria:

1. Does the individual’s message and ideas resonate to the audience—Relevance Factor?
2. Are the ideas presented in a way that connects with the participants needs and expectations? Unique Connect Factor?
3. In what ways can the message inspired me to take action or put the ideas to work immediately? Action Factor?
4. To what degree has the presentation affected me personally? Memorable Factor?
5. Know your strengths and “go with what you have” and make improvements from this starting point to reach your goals? Focus Factor?

For example, if you want to be more expressive and charismatic find out through feedback what you need to change and then use Ericsson’s Deliberative practice or a process like “Smart Steps” for personal change.Tell me what you think works or doesn’ t work with this Presentology framework.

Daily Quote and Reflection: Personal Development Through Interjective Coaching

Daily Quote:”Oh, what a great gift we would have if we could only see ourselves as others see us .” – Robert Burns

Reflection: I believe that finding your own path to development is critical to any progress you want to make in changing your behavior. I have found that special friends and therapist can help. But like any selection of professional services you must be comfortable with the helper and their philosophy. I have found and develop one process that may fit your needs and style for receiving help and support. This process is called Interjective Coaching which entails a partnership with a trusted friend or coach/therapist. The key elements are open communication, observation constructive feedback, active listening and collaborative problem solving not advice giving.

Action Plan: 

Interjective coaching represents the reframing of mental maps to understand that improving performance requires the ability to assess current performance and be open to feedback that can improve future performance levels. 

The process focuses on providing support (focusing on strengths), and providing observational feedback in real time (focusing on areas for improvement–gestures, appearance, and obstacles/fears interfering with optimal performance), and taking action that aligns clear thinking with behavior. 
 
Interjective coaching is a process that promotes trust and open communication through caring confrontation. Interjective coaching is empathic understanding delivered through non-judgmental support. 

The skill-building process involves the following seven components of Interjective Coaching:

1. Observe me and provide feedback on my present behavior
2. Provide behavioral interventions on how to do things differently (Give me the “know why” as well as the “know how”)
3. Show me how to do it (Model the complete skill for me)
4. Let me try it (One part at a time)
5. Give me feedback (interjective coaching)
6. Help me develop a customized action plan and identify specific behavioral tools to try out and practice.
7. Develop a “continuous improvement plan and feedback loop” through deliberative practice, feedback and adjustment until I have identified the cognitive and behavioral changes that work for me.

Daily Quote and Reflection: Personal Development Through Interjective Coaching

Daily Quote:”Oh, what a great gift we would have if we could only see ourselves as others see us .” – Robert Burns

Reflection: I believe that finding your own path to development is critical to any progress you want to make in changing your behavior. I have found that special friends and therapist can help. But like any selection of professional services you must be comfortable with the helper and their philosophy. I have found and develop one process that may fit your needs and style for receiving help and support. This process is called Interjective Coaching which entails a partnership with a trusted friend or coach/therapist. The key elements are open communication, observation constructive feedback, active listening and collaborative problem solving not advice giving.

Action Plan: 

Interjective coaching represents the reframing of mental maps to understand that improving performance requires the ability to assess current performance and be open to feedback that can improve future performance levels. 

The process focuses on providing support (focusing on strengths), and providing observational feedback in real time (focusing on areas for improvement–gestures, appearance, and obstacles/fears interfering with optimal performance), and taking action that aligns clear thinking with behavior. 
 
Interjective coaching is a process that promotes trust and open communication through caring confrontation. Interjective coaching is empathic understanding delivered through non-judgmental support. 

The skill-building process involves the following seven components of Interjective Coaching:

1. Observe me and provide feedback on my present behavior
2. Provide behavioral interventions on how to do things differently (Give me the “know why” as well as the “know how”)
3. Show me how to do it (Model the complete skill for me)
4. Let me try it (One part at a time)
5. Give me feedback (interjective coaching)
6. Help me develop a customized action plan and identify specific behavioral tools to try out and practice.
7. Develop a “continuous improvement plan and feedback loop” through deliberative practice, feedback and adjustment until I have identified the cognitive and behavioral changes that work for me.

Daily Quote and Reflection–Why do Presenters fail to connect?

Daily Quote: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

Reflection:

1. Presenter assumes communication or message is interesting or understood by audience

2. Presenter doesn’t spend time building rapport or trying to connect with audience, so confidence and credibility are questioned

3. Material is not useful or relevant to audience needs and expectations

4. They’ve heard it all before—you don’t stimulate their curiosity

5 . No roadmap or agenda, is provided so participants—are lost, bored or  confused

6.  Presenter doesn’t take learning styles into consideration and presents too much information or just lectures without any involvement of audience members eg, too detailed and too many PPT slides.

7.  It’s too long  and attention span of participants wanes or  you go over the allotted time

8.  Close is just not compelling or powerful enough to inspire participants to action

To Win from Within–Start with Straight Thinking and Straight Talking

INTRODUCTION: THE BIG IDEA –Redefining the Inner Game                                      

Approximately 40 years ago, Tim Gallwey developed a powerful self-development model called: the Inner Game. His principles and methods over the years inspired and continue to ring true for many people. His principles have been the foundation for people to improve their performance and self-confidence inside and outside the sports world. The exciting thing now is how neuroscience research on the brain says that the joy of feeling good is a conscious state of mind, rooted in the neocortex, the region of the brain responsible for thinking, planning, and decision–making: You ace you opponent in tennis or get a standing ovation after a speech and think, “I really feel good.”

This research on the brain is shedding light on how the inner game is tied to the neocortex synapses and neurotransmitters. The brain works to influence and propel our outer world behavior. The critical cornerstone of Galleway’s model and the Inner Game principles is the distinction between different internal voices called Self 1 and Self 2.  For definitional purposes Self 1 is the voice characterized by critical and doubting internal self-talk that evaluates and provides obstacles for performance improvement, and Self 2, gives voice to the natural source of your talent, confidence and capabilities to be the best you can be.  Self 1 is the unproductive thinking driven by fear and self-doubt that interferes with your ability to reach your true potential. Self 2 is the voice that emerges naturally from your own deepest experiences, convictions, values and mental wiring.  Many of the difficulties in succeeding in business are related to the ability to be an effective communicator, whether speaking one-on-one  or 1 to thousand in a big ballroom.

New Presentation Playbook for “Winning from Within”

“Knowing yourself and being present and sensitive to expectations and needs of others is the beginning of “learning how to learn.” Mark W. Hardwick, Ph.D. 

In a world where communication effectiveness is the critical key to success for team and interpersonal interactions–many of us do not spend enough time on improving our people skills. In essence, my vision is to change the world of presentation one performance and one person at a time. The way I teach it varies from engagement to engagement and person to person. Some of my teaching is one on one coaching, sometimes in small groups and some times to large audience trying to model and demonstrate effective engagement and connection strategies and tactics.I like to thoroughly understand who I am talking with and identifying what they want to accomplish to become better communicators.

The Presenter’s Playbook for Winning from Within. Includes but is not limited to the following principles:

1. Embrace the challenge of the presentation and opportunity to show your best.

2. Trust and believe in your message and ability to deliver it in a memorable way.

3. Get out of worrying about acceptance and results and into the process of connecting with the audience

4. Be audience-centered and focused not self-centered and arrogant.

5. Be prepared to accept surprises and be confident that nothing will upset you on the platform.

6.  Learn to be flexible and open and ready to change at any moment by reading your audience and listening for non-verbal feedback

7. Don’t just “wing it”  learn to love planning, design and deliberative practice.

8.. Love your message and audience–don’t effort or try so hard be authentic. Learn to be in the moment and play to your natural strengths

9. Respect audience attention span and learning capacity.–Don’t over load them with facts , figures and information

10. Remember — Perfection is a killer to spontaneity so be  present in the moment and  have fun doing it. Be your own best friend.

 

 

 

The Presenter’s Voice–Overcoming 7 Errors of ineffective Communication

” Communication between leader and constituent is at the heart of everything.” John Gardner

Process with Structure key elements: Process and principles trump techniques every time

• Deliberative Practice
• Curse of Knowledge
• Delivery and design Principles–Unique Connection

Seven fatal errors of communication– The biggest flaw with communicators is assuming that they have connected, their message has taken place. and people will know how to execute it.

1. People are listening and with listening the message has been internalized

2. People understand what was communicated–check to see if they get it.

3. People care what was communicated–Show people what is needed to be more selfless

4. People agree with was communicated–Communicator must over come cynicism and doubts

5. People are inspired and motivated take action on new ideas–Create support systems and models for change

6. People are willing to change their ways without evidence that it is the right thing to do–Provide facts and emotional reasons for change that overcome the fears of changing 

7. People are able to push pass uncertainty and doubt with only limited exposure to a message.–Need for continuous and frequent reinforcement of message by communicator

Daily Quote and Reflection:Sticky Presentations –Nail the Close

Daily Quote:  Winston Churchill once said: “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Reflection: We all could learn from this advice. Strong opening that hooks and captures the audience members curosity and a strong closing that inspires them to action. In my coaching I have seen presenters hurriedly do a summary, ask for questions while packing and other closes that flop or plop. The flop is a close that doesn’t impact the audience or reinforce your message like a quote that is not relevant to the message you want the audience to remember. The flop could be as bad as saying–”well folks that’s all I have to say.”  The “plop” is a remark that goes out to the audience but doesn’t get a positive response. It is important to close your speech with as much energy as when you open the speech. This is a time to have a powerful story that reinforces your message or request that is so powerful to move people to action or change their thinking.  This lack of nailing the close is an opportunity missed. For example,I recently saw a doctor when presenting keep looking at his watch and flying through complex slides just to get to the finish line on time. He ended is speech by saying, well I guess that’s all the slides I have. Thanks. WOW what a let downer and terrible closing that was. In fact, your last remarks when presenting are valued all out of proportion to the total amount of effort you put into the presentation. This powerful factor of audiences remembering the last thing they have seen or heard been studied by communication experts and linguist and is called the Recency Effect.

Action Activity: For your next presentation work on fine tuning your final message by practicing it in front of some colleagues and getting feedback on how it grabbed them or in what way it needs improvement. Some expert presenters memorize their closing and use the story format or quote to reinforce their message. Don’t missed an opportunity for your message to be experienced as inspirational, memorable and energizing. Remember your closing will be how your performance in the main is judged . Good Luck.

Daily Quote and Story: Winning Isn’t Everything

In the run up to March Madness and other activities in your hectic life don’t miss this story from NPR by Frank Deford–When there is more to Winning than Winning 

Quote: ” It was senior night, and the loudest cheers went to Cory Weissman, No. 3, 5 feet 11 inches, a team captain — especially when he walked out onto the court as one of Gettysburg’s starting five. Yes, he was a captain, but it was, you see, the first start of his college career. Cory had played a few minutes on the varsity as a freshman, never even scoring. But then, after that season, although he was only 18 years old, he suffered a major stroke. He was unable to walk for two weeks. His whole left side was paralyzed. He lost his memory, had seizures.

But by strenuously devoting himself to his rehabilitation, Cory slowly began to improve. He was able to return to college, and by this year, he could walk without a limp and even participated in the pregame lay-up drills…” Read more at When Winning is more than Winning

Reflection:  Away from the  ”Big stage” of Division I Basketball the true worth of sports shines through when you hear a story like this. I would like to hear and see more stories like this rather than the latest drug use, or money issues in the NCAA. It is very inspiring to see how kind and respectful we can be when we stop to do the “right thing”