Presentation Information |
Super Preparation - Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every Presentation
Super Preparation - Novice and expert presenters alike have had the experience of feeling a little (or may be a lot) nervous before giving a talk. In working with hundreds of people to help them improve their presentation skills, one consistent theme has emerged: once people get started, assuming things go relatively well, they begin to relax, become more natural, less self conscious, and therefore more effective. Since the opening of any presentation is critical to the message and the presenter's credibility, and since this is often when presenters are most nervous and cautious, it makes sense to have strategies to make that opening the best it can be. I call the strategy "Super Preparation". How to Do It Here are the steps to Super Preparation:
2. Practice the opening. You need to "own" the great opening you have developed. Practice the first 3-5 minutes of your talk thinking about everything: the words, vocal inflection, gestures, movements, pace and more. Know the flow of your words, find the best places to pause for emphasis. Your goal is to have the first few minutes so well prepared in your mind and heart that your nerves and apprehensions about getting started are greatly reduced. You won't reach that goal without practice. 3. Visualize success! Spend some time thinking about how successful the opening will be. How engaged and interested your audience will be. How confident and relaxed you will be. Visualizing those things are a big step towards making them happen. 4. Rehearse. I know, I already told you to practice. These rehearsals are the final mental run-throughs that incorporate both the practice and the visualization. These rehearsals might be in your car, the shower, as you lay in bed, whenever! 6. Don't memorize! All this talk about practice and rehearsal may lead you to think, "I just need to memorize my opening." Nothing could be more wrong. When we memorize, we focus on the words. If we mess up the words we've lost it! Super Preparation is about preparing for a super result - and super results in presentations are always focused on the audience, not ourselves. Forget the memorization. Remember the audience. Focus on the message, your approach and your desired outcome. Results The results of utilizing Super Preparation include: ? Greater confidence Aren't those reasons enough to try it? The Rest Will take care of itself. You will have set yourself up to succeed with greater confidence and energy, which allows you to build on the great opening, rather than trying to recover from a poor one. Try the Super Preparation approach to your next presentation and prepare to persuade with greater effectiveness than you ever have before! ©2004, All Rights Reserved, Kevin Eikenberry. Kevin is the President of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps their Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. Go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/training/training.asp to learn more about customized training and workshops on Presentation Skills or contact Kevin at toll free 888.LEARNER.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Super Preparation - Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every Presentation Super Preparation -Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every Presentation Novice and expert presenters alike have had the experience of feeling a little (or may be a lot) nervous before giving a talk. In working with hundreds of people to help them improve their presentation skills, one consistent theme has emerged: once people get started, assuming things go relatively well, they begin to relax, become more natural, less self conscious, and therefore more effective. Powerful Presentations: How to Write and Deliver a Presentation to Remember If the mere thought of standing up in front of an audience makes your knees quiver, you should know that you're not alone. Public speaking is one of the top fears listed by Americans and for good reason- most of us don't do it very often. Close Deals in Record Time! Remember back when the ability to create a slide show presentation using PowerPoint was cutting-edge technology? PowerPoint presentations changed the way that companies and seminars did business. It was easy to take along your presentation material; just grab your laptop and go. Public Speaking Training Tips For Better Business Presentations To Culturally Diverse Audiences Audiences around the world are all different. Cultural, social and religiousdifferences impact on how people learn, take in information and interactwith presenters. Beetle Bailey and Presentation Skills In March 2002, the comic strip Beetle Bailey contained a valuable lesson for business presenters. As General Halftrack walked into his office, his secretary asked: "How was Lt. Building a Trade Show Display If you are taking your newest products to a trade show then you will need to come up with some ideas on how to build a trade show display in order to adequately market your products. You might seem at a loss and cannot think of anything, however building a trade show display is not so difficult if you sit down and think about it. Choosing a Presentation Remote Control If you deliver electronic presentations using PowerPoint or other programs, you can manually move forward to the next slide with the keyboard or the mouse. One way, however, to deliver more effective presentations that improve your connection to your audience is to add a remote control to your presentation tools. Tips to Temper Speaking Anxiety People take it for granted that leaders have achieved some skill in public speaking. Yet anxiety persists because leaders face very challenging situations and have a great risk of embarrassment. Secrets of Successful Presentations Does the thought of speaking in front of others send you running in the opposite direction? Youâ??re not alone. Many people avoid public speaking at all costs â?" and there is a cost. If You Want Business - Throw a Seminar! Why is throwing a seminar good for business?If you want to clean your house, you should throw a garage sale, and if you want to increase business, throw a seminar. A seminar is a way for you to contact many people all at once. Cross Cultural Presentations The international flavour of many people's jobs naturally means that there is greater interaction between people from different cultures. Within the business environment, understanding and coping with intercultural differences between people is critical to ensuring that interpersonal communication is successful. Plasma Screen Hire - What Do You Need to Know for Presentations How many people will need to see the screen? A 42" plasma screen is the most common size and will usually be sufficient for a smaller meeting - up to 20 people. Several other sizes, bigger and smaller, are available, including 32, 37, 40, 50, 61 inches and now up to 81". The End is the Beginning People remember best what you say last. In a presentation, what people take with them to put into action or to connect with what they already know depends to a large degree on how you end the presentations. Is This Thing On?: Keeping Your Audiences Attention First and foremost, you must deal effectively with your own emotions, ego, hang-ups, inhibitions, and fears. This will release you to focus on the audience is their attention level. The Seven Deadly Sins of Presentations Every day, so many tens of thousands of innocent clients and employees are bored to tears by presentations that it ought to be considered a crime against humanity.Are your presentations guilty of the following sins?Illegibility. Facilitating Panel Discussions A client recently called to say she was going to facilitate a panel for the next business meeting. She had never done so before and asked if I could coach her. How to Make Good Use of Your Web Conference Session Preperation is vital when conducting a successful videoconference session. Thus there are a number of steps to remember prior to the videoconference session itself:Always test the equipment before hand. Chairing A Meeting The Most Effective Way How many times have you attended a meeting where the only thing that gets decided is the date of the next meeting? Or where one person dominates the meeting? Or the meeting is swamped with trivia or unrelated information?It is a commonly held assumption that chairing a meeting is simply a matter of reading out the agenda - that is assuming there is an agenda and that the addenda actually covers the topics which are most pertinent to the matter in hand.Chairing an effective meeting is a skill. Quick and Easy Rehearsal Tips Never rehearse at the last minute. This creates undue tension and nervousness and does not allow sufficient time for correcting mistakes and polishing delivery. The Ten Essential Tips On Writing A Powerful And Persuasive Presentation Have you ever had to give a speech?Do you remember that feeling? A knot in the stomach, sweaty palmsand a panic attack!Not a very pleasant experience. And yet, I'm sure your speech was a successbecause 90 % of a typical audience want the speaker to succeed. |
home | site map | contact us |