Audience-Centric presenters harness the Physical Power of their bodies by standing and delivering with credibility and confidence. Because your audience only knows what it sees, your body can be a great natural visual aid. It can also show nervousness or lack of confidence very quickly and clearly. So … look the part you’re playing – a confident and credible presenter.
Presentations
Engage Your Eyes
If I only had time to teach my executive coaching clients one delivery skill, it would be to maximize their eye contact. Properly done, engaging your eyes produces several positive results for your audience … and for you. Nothing says more about your credibility, power and confidence than what you do – and don’t do – with your eyes. Everything else is a ‘B’ priority.
Speak Up to Energize Your Listeners
Your Vocal Power – volume, inflection and rate of speaking combined – can significantly impact your audience’s attention, interest in your message … and positive impression of you.
In our culture, we tend to interpret a soft-spoken voice as coming from a speaker lacking in confidence or credibility. Not good reactions for your audience to have about you. Even on a microphone, the soft-spoken voice delivers that weak impression loud and clear. It doesn’t matter if these reactions are valid or not – remember the Perception is Reality demon. If you sound weak to the audience – you are!
Choose Your Words Wisely!
The words you use in routine workplace writing, interactions and presentations do make a difference. They can impact your results, professionalism and image as a receiver-centric communicator. Or, your words can detract from those results. So, choose your words wisely!
To help you on this journey, enjoy this summary of 12 Best Practices or ‘Recurring Themes’ I typically share in my training or coaching engagements. I don’t ask participants to change any of their word use or style habits. But, I often ask them to challenge those habits themselves in light of what we discuss. If they decide to change any of them, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine, too.
Start Strong
I recently engaged in a LinkedIn discussion group about using jokes in the introduction of a presentation to gain audience interest. Here’s a summary of my rant on that topic.
I totally agree that the first few minutes of any presentation are most important. Start strong, powerfully and engaging – immediately. But, I totally disagree with telling a joke unless you were hired to be an entertainer, it’s an after dinner speech and the only goal is to be humorous. Jokes rarely work in a typical workplace presentation and can create a very ineffective impression from the beginning. It’s often hard to recover from such a weak start.
The Power of the Platform
Why Speak?
Whether you’re marketing your employer’s products or services, your own business or just enhancing your image in the marketplace, the “Power of the Platform” can be a simple, quick and no-cost strategy. It is very parallel to the “Power of the Pen” previously discussed. Delivering workshops and presentations can help you accomplish several important self-marketing goals:
Beware Dog & Pony Shows from Hell!
Team-Delivered Presentations (TDPs) are common in the workplace today, especially with higher-end sales pitches or senior executive project updates. But, unfortunately, so are those that become ‘Dog & Pony Shows from Hell‘. What pushes them over the edge is poor planning and preparation, just as with other facets of workplace presentations.
And You Can Quote Me!
( My response to a recent LinkedIn Group discussion question that asked about the value of using quotes in presentations.) I regularly use a lot of quotes in my training, speaking and writing. However, I’m adamant about putting the sources in proper context. Few people are so well known that they don’t need any reference, … Read more
So, you don’t do presentations at work …
(And a recent LinkedIn discussion was about people who don’t make presentations at work.) Besides delivering presentation training and coaching engagements for corporate clients, I teach a presentation skills course at the University of Phoenix, Cleveland Campus. Unlike many universities, we require all students to take this course and they do Learning Team presentations in … Read more
Practice Does NOT Make Perfect
Remember when a parent or your piano teacher told you that ‘Practice makes Perfect’? They didn’t know it at the time, but they were wrong. Practice does NOT make perfect. Practice only makes Permanent! Only Perfect Practice makes Perfect.
So what does this bit of philosophy have to do with workplace presentations or sales pitches? Well … everything. That’s how you get into the Presenters Hall of Fame.