Posts Tagged ‘Presentation Skills’
Skills for Winning Presentations
May 13th, 2009 | Public Speaking
| Presentation is the process of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience. (source – Wikipedia.org) |
Your Motivation
If you are in the process of researching presentation skills, then chances are you have a presentation coming up. Few people set out learning these skills unless there is some strong motivation.
Why - because most people in our society have a fear of public speaking? … and people don’t confront fear unless they have to.
When it comes to presentations skills, “have to” usually means that they are required to give a presentation for their employment or a social event (such as a wedding or a funeral).
If this is the situation that you are in, then you have come to the right place.
What are you looking for?
Most people who are confronted with an important presentation/speech are looking for help in a combination of areas:
• Help in overcoming the fear of public speaking
• Help in composing and preparing the presentation
• Help in delivering the presentation
With your permission, I would like to assist you in all of these areas. I would like to show you how you can easily:
• Overcome your fear with less effort than you thought possible.
• Confidently compose a captivating presentation
• Deliver it in a inspirational manner
These skills will not only help you in the short term – dealing with your upcoming presentation. They will also help you in the future.
Can you imagine how it will feel when you are asked to give a presentation because you are a truly skilled speaker. Think about how it will feel as you accept the task with confidence – knowing that in no time, you will be speaking confidently before an inspired audience. Can you imagine what effect this will have on your career?
Picture the admiration and recognition you will receive from others as they acknowledge your speaking skills and confidence.
STOP!
Now I want you stop for a minute. Did you really read the previous section and picture your success? Did you really imagine what it would feel like?
This is more important than you realize. One problem that we have when confronting our fear is that our subconscious keeps sensing danger and taking over to protect us. That’s why we still experience a paralyzing dread every time we have to address an audience, even when we know logically that it is not dangerous.
I cover this in depth in my course, Three Simple Concepts to Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking – but for now I just want to share one small tip from it. You can start to reprogram your subconscious by visualizing what you want it to believe.
So… do you really want to succeed with presentation skills? If so, then just take a moment to “feel” what it will be like to deliver an inspirational speech with confidence. Imagine the audience captivated by every word. Picture them being inspired by your every point.
This little exercise can have surprising results… believe me, I know. I too was afraid of public speaking – and had very few presentation skills.
My first speech was before an audience of 300 people. I was terrified, but I was also prepared (that’s important … as your presentation approaches, make sure that you’re as prepared as you can be).
I learned from that experience that I could overcome my fear and deliver an excellent presentation. I also learned that with a little guidance anyone else can as well. I learned as much about public speaking as I could. I also applied knowledge from other subjects that I know and developed a public speaking system.
I helped a few people on the internet and got tremendous feedback. More people wrote me and I answered them as well. I ended up getting deluged with questions. People we’re seeking me out because of my unique approach.
I put together a course (Three Simple Concepts to Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking) to teach my system. I also created a membership area where people can view videos, listen to audio programs, read articles and communicate with others about presentation skills.
You can join the membership area for free. Once you sign up you will be able to access
• a series of articles I wrote about overcoming the fear of public speaking
• a couple of audio recordings of me speaking at seminars about fear and presentation skills
• some interviews with former students of mine were they discuss what ideas have helped them the most
• the complete introduction to my course, Three Simple Concepts to Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking.
• a couple of videos that discuss two very powerful techniques – paradigms and social proof.
… AND … my S.C.P. Public Speaking and Presentation Skills course
The S.C.P. course is delivered in short 5-7 minute audio lessons. You receive one lesson per day for 7 days. Each lesson discusses one aspect of composing a winning presentation.
On day 7 you will also receive access to a 40 minute conference call. In it we move on to preparing for the delivery. We also discuss some techniques for overcoming the fear of delivering presentations.
I have had countless people write me and tell me how much this material has helped them
If you are ready to move past the visualization exercises we just talked about, and make them reality, come on over to EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com and join the community of people how are overcoming their fear and going on to deliver excellence in presentations.
The key to an effective presentation is preparation. The key to effective preparation is knowing how to go about doing it. You will find clear, concise information on how to do just that in the membership area.
Sign up for a free membership at http://www.EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com
To your speaking success
Free Presentations Training
April 28th, 2009 | Public Speaking
I have pointed out that one of the leading causes of stress in our society is being held accountable for an outcome without having control of the situation. In business situations this is commonly caused by office politics. An employee is expected to deliver a particular result, but not allowed to make the changes that would allow such a result.
Another cause of this situation occurs when an individual is held accountable for performing a task – without the proper tools or training.
I can think of a couple of situations where this happened to me.
| When I was in University I had a work placement with one organization that did not have a computer for me. That would have been fine other than the fact that my job was to learn a particular tool and program databases for them.
I was told to read the manuals for three weeks until they found a computer for me. |
As silly as that sounds, it doesn’t compare to the second example.
| One of my first job placements involved my manager putting me on the accounting systems support team. That too would have been fine if weren’t for the fact that I only had a rudimentary knowledge of accounting principles, a less than rudimentary knowledge of COBOL (which the systems were written in) and no knowledge of the mainframe computer that they were running on.
I asked my manager for training, to which he responded with, “Don’t worry, you’ll pick it up.” The good news was that this company reorganized itself more often than it produced quarterly results. After several months of slogging my way through my assignments, I was assigned to a new department. I didn’t know this system either – but then again no one else did either. The first thing my new manager did was arrange for proper training. I Felt Instant Relief It was like I could once again breathe. |
The feeling I had is not unfamiliar to those who have the responsibility of a presentation thrust upon them.
You have no presentation skills, but we expect you to do the job anyway. We’re not going to give you training – or even explain what would make your presentation successful. We just expect you to do it.
All of a sudden you are being judged – that is being held accountable – for something you have no control over. You have no control over the success or failure of your presentation because you don’t have any presentation skills.
But What if?
Can you imagine how you would feel? |
An Easy Source of Presentation Skills
I created EffectivelySpeaking.Com to provide people with the information they need to overcome the fear and go on to excel at speaking in public. With that in mind, I have created this section to hold a number of articles about delivering an effective presentation – I will be adding more over time.
A Free Course on Presentation Skills
In addition, if you are in a situation that is similar to the one I described, then I would encourage you to take my S.C.P. presentation course. It will only take you a few minutes each day for six days, and then about 45 minutes on the seventh. By the time you’re done, you will have a solid understanding of what goes into preparing and delivering an effective presentation. Best of all, I have made the course available for free to Effectively Speaking Members.
If you want to experience the same relief that I described, then head on over to EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com and sign up. You’ll find a whole lot more “relief generating” information – and best of all, you can sign up for free.
Posted in Presentations, Public Speaking | Tags: Accounting Principles, Accounting Systems, Business Situations, Causes Of Stress, Cobol, Control, First Job, Free Presentations, Job Placements, Leading Causes Of Stress, Mainframe Computer, Office Politics, Presentation Skills, Program Databases, Proper Tools, Quarterly Results, Rudimentary Knowledge
We’re Always Presenting
April 24th, 2009 | Public Speaking
It’s important to remember that we constantly making presentations - whether they are formal or not.
When we share our ideas, try to convince others, or just talk about our weekend, the style with which we say it is going to determine whether we captivate those we are talking to, or just lose them.
Here’s an excerpt from an article that makes the point quite well.
Posted in Presentations, Public Speaking | Tags: Audiences, Cinch, Excerpt From, Experiences, Extent, Focus, Friends And Family, Lunch, Moving, Presentation Skills, Presentations, Speaking In Public, Speaking Skills, Tastes